What are the benefits of a hardtop?
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 224
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From: Palm Harbor
By some of these posts, it appears as if people have fallen into the belief that one either has a hardtop OR a convertible. In reality, one has both a hardtop AND a convertible. Weighing something like 44 pounds, and attaching at only 4 points, the top can be easily removed/added in less than 3 minutes.
So with the hardtop you've got three "looks" for your car:
1) with the hardtop the car lines look even better
2) with the soft top up
3) with the soft top down.
So with the hardtop you've got three "looks" for your car:
1) with the hardtop the car lines look even better
2) with the soft top up
3) with the soft top down.
Banned
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,137
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From: Indy, In.
JMO. I would take the $2500 that you are about to drop on your hardtop and buy some really nice wheels and tires or some serious mods or invest it in tech stocks.
I have never seen the attraction to putting a hardtop on a convertible UNLESS it is your daily driver and you have very cold winters. I am top down all the time, baby!
P.S. Tenblade, except for your car. That thing is
ing beautiful!
I have never seen the attraction to putting a hardtop on a convertible UNLESS it is your daily driver and you have very cold winters. I am top down all the time, baby!P.S. Tenblade, except for your car. That thing is
ing beautiful!
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,355
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From: Goodyear
My S is my daily driver, and I am just the opposite of most people.
I love the hardtop for the above posted reasons - sound reduction, looks, visibility, security - plus instead of protecting my soft top in the winter, I use the hard top to protect it in the SUMMER!
Down here even at night in the summer it is over 100 degrees, not very conducive to top-down driving, so for about 3 months the hard top is an excellent choice, plus keeps the worst part of the sun off the soft top. I think it was a great purchase.
JJ
I love the hardtop for the above posted reasons - sound reduction, looks, visibility, security - plus instead of protecting my soft top in the winter, I use the hard top to protect it in the SUMMER!
Down here even at night in the summer it is over 100 degrees, not very conducive to top-down driving, so for about 3 months the hard top is an excellent choice, plus keeps the worst part of the sun off the soft top. I think it was a great purchase.
JJ
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 37,305
Likes: 18
I got the HT primarily because of my winters here. It is my year round daily driver. I have found that the HT ONLY squeaks and rattles when it has sat outside in the extreme cold for a while (I'm talking colder than -20*C) but these go away as the interior heats up and the heat finally warms up the seals. Hell, at -20*C, I squeak and rattle! 
A secondary reason is that I never really wanted a convertible in the first place, BUT I did want the S2000 in spite of it. Having owned it now for nearly 3 years, the convertible aspect is considered a "bonus". I refrained from buying this car UNTIL the HT was an available option (the first year or so, the HT was NOT available). The HT was ordered at the same time as the car, even before I ever sat in one.
As for noises, one has to remember that on a converible, the most intrusive with the top down are the normal ambient noises created by simply driving down the road - tire noise, wind noise, other traffic, echoes of these. These noises tend to drown out the other noises that your own car makes. When the HT is on, you can then hear your own car as those noises can now enter the cabin "through" the car itself. You can then hear all the engine mechanics, under-car exhaust noises, gear noises from the tranny and diff, etc. So, in this sense and this sense only, does the HT increase "noise".
A secondary reason is that I never really wanted a convertible in the first place, BUT I did want the S2000 in spite of it. Having owned it now for nearly 3 years, the convertible aspect is considered a "bonus". I refrained from buying this car UNTIL the HT was an available option (the first year or so, the HT was NOT available). The HT was ordered at the same time as the car, even before I ever sat in one.
As for noises, one has to remember that on a converible, the most intrusive with the top down are the normal ambient noises created by simply driving down the road - tire noise, wind noise, other traffic, echoes of these. These noises tend to drown out the other noises that your own car makes. When the HT is on, you can then hear your own car as those noises can now enter the cabin "through" the car itself. You can then hear all the engine mechanics, under-car exhaust noises, gear noises from the tranny and diff, etc. So, in this sense and this sense only, does the HT increase "noise".