Hi there,
I am considering buying a hardtop, however people have been telling me that it isn't worth it because I would'nt be using it often.Considering the sun shines for 300 days a year they have a point.

 

I think the hardtops look really sharp. My S2000 is not my daily driver and so it only comes out on nice days. I'd sport a hardtop if it was a DD (bad winters here sometimes) or if I took my car to shows. I bought the car to put the top down and that is what I will do with it.

I've read that it is not good to put the top down on really cold days. A hardtop may prevent that temptation.

 

My feeling is that if you:

- drive your car a lot on the highway (i.e. over 100km/h a lot)
- live in an area that's really cold in the winter/has relatively long winter/rains a lot (which is not your case)
- constantly worried about people slashing your top cuz you park the car outside
- live in an area where the weather is so hot that you need a hardtop to insulate the A/C a little better

then the hardtop's highly recommended.

If you don't fall into one of those categories ... it just boils down to personal preference -- i.e. you prefer to have less road noise in general and don't care much about the top down feeling. I personally find the road noise to be bearable, unless I'm driving for more than 2.5 hrs on the highway (it gets so loud that I couldn't even hear my cell phone ringing!!! this may have to do with the poorly paved roads in my area ...)

 

Just curious, why not?

 

Now we are talking about winter time cold, but I believe it says so in the manual although I do not have mine here right now to verify. Perhaps someone could look it up in the lowering the top section. I believe it has something to do with damaging the vinyl top as the vinyl is not as flexible when cold. Also the lucky S2K owners with a plastic rear window may find that it cracks very easily in cold weather.

 

Ohhh I see ... that makes sense. I guess it'll be okay if I just keep the soft top up in the winter?

I'm still deciding if I should get a hardtop for myself (mainly to do with storage space and price the hardtop) -- that's mainly for the "winter" factor.

 

Hi all,

I am a potential owner and was thinking about whether to get the hardtop or not. I live in Houston and the heat and humidity can get pretty high over here. Is the hardtop easy to put on and remove? Or does it take a few hours to install and remove?

Also, how's the a/c in the S2000, is it strong enough to cool the car down in high 90s?

Thanks!

 

Don't know about the hardtop, but I live in central Georgia the capital of high humidity. My ac does very well during the mid 90 average temps we get here during the summer

 

[QUOTE=rl168,Jun 8 2006, 09:44 AM] Hi all,

I am a potential owner and was thinking about whether to get the hardtop or not.

 

The A/C in the S2000 is very good, and the cabin is very small, so it cools down quickly. I wouldn't get a hard top unless I drove the car in a very cold climate, but if I lived up north, I'd probably have a beater.

Also, I love the S because its a convertible - the top is very quick to lower or raise (especially if you mod the speed sensor so you can drop the top while moving), and if you have a hard top, you're just driving a coupe. If I wanted a coupe, I wouldn't buy an S and add a HT. Also, the manual says you can safely lower the top as long as its 40