Advantages of Hard top:
- More secure (?)
- Cleaner look

Disadvantages:
- Price
- Time it takes to put it up/down (most important for me)
- Weight
- Trunk space with top down

Debatable:
- Looks (Even the Ferrari Hard top looks bad with its fat ass. I haven't seen the Z4 though)
- Noise (S is not quiet with the regular hard top, so I am not sure...)

 

Meh. We'll be lucky to see a follow-on to the S2000 with they way things are going right now. I don't see how they could pull if off without adding significant weight and decreasing what little trunk space there is. Right now the S is great for weekend trips. With a retractable hardtop it would be entirely useless. What are you looking for from a retractable hardtop? I always find posts that say "X should have Y because Z has it" to be of dubious reasoning (assuming that there isn't another reason for such a statement).

 

I think it would have been really cool with a retractable hard top like the newer Miatas. In the Miata it does not take up any additional space (so the trunk is the same size) but it does add 90 lbs. But the S2k already has the motorized top (unlike the Miata) so it would not add as much weight. It would be nice with the added security (no cutting the top) and you would not have to worry about the top ripping from wear and tear. And in my opinion the hard top miata looks really good. Price wise, it would add more, but I don't think it would be substancial.

 

Weight isn't always an issue. Ferrari said a soft top for the new California would have been HEAVIER than the hard top.

 

It would be better just to have our rag top be less expensive and much more easily replaced.