What exactly is the appeal of the convertible automobile?
For starters, they have a higher initial cost than an equivalent hardtop. They’re also less safe than a hardtop, particularly in a rollover or if you slam into an SUV that rides higher off of the ground.
They are much noisier, even with the top up. And your hair gets all messed up if you drive with the top down. Structurally, their frames are not as rigid, so they don’t handle as well as hardtops unless the underside is heavily reinforced. The have more aerodynamic drag, so they’re slower and get worse gas mileage than a hardtop.
And then there’s the issue of theft. You might as well just leave the door wide open because anyone with a pocket knife can get inside in just a few seconds.
And then think of all the dirt and bird poop you get on the roof of your car. Image what it would be like if all of this got on the inside of your car.
I could probably come up with several more reasons for not driving a convertible, but I can’t think of any good reasons for driving a convertible.
I’ve owned a couple of convertibles and can say that driving with hood down on a beautiful, sunny day is one of lifes most enjoyable guilty pleasures. Its hard to describe why, it just is.
Its important to live in the right climate for them though. I owned mine when I was in San Francisco because the surrounding area has pretty much the perfect climate for them; sunny and hot but not so hot that you fry. Here in the UK owning a convertible is purely for the purpose of vanity. It is very, very rarely hot enough to really enjoy a convertible. Even when the temperature is high, you still freeze your ass off at 70 mph here.
Why drive it? Well, why do people like eating meals outside? Or sitting outside on the porch on a nice day? It’s NICE to be outside, breathing fresh air and feeling the wind on your face. I don’t give a rat’s ass about my hair getting messed up or the gas mileage. The feeling of driving my cute lil’ car with the top down is WONDERFUL.
As far as dirt and bird poop - I have never once had a bird poop in my car. It does get dusty on long drives, but in general I’ve had very little difficulty getting it clean again. Vacuums work wonders.
I think it all comes down to… if you have to ask, you’ll never understand. You either get it or you don’t. So just sit in yer hardtop and leave the fresh air to us convertible people!
Because they’re fun. I love the feel of wind in my hair, and I don’t mind brushing it again when we get where we’re going if need be.
Besides, you know that horrible, stuffy heat that builds up in your car during a summer day? The one that it takes several minutes of A/C to get rid of? My husband just pops back the roof for a second, and POOF! it’s all gone. He can leave the top down, or put it back up, but either way the difference is incredible.
I wouldn’t have picked his car out for myself. The seats don’t fit my butt and back right, and there’s something funky about the way the steering wheel is positioned relative to the seat and pedals, and the rear window is tiny. But that’s why it’s his car and not mine. He has just as many problems with my beloved little Saturn.
However, his Cabrio gets really good gas mileage, handles well, is pretty quiet, and has a roll bar for safety. As for the bird poop, I’ve never seen any in it, mainly because he puts the top up when he parks. And it’s just as easy to break the window in a hardtop as it is to cut through a convertible top, so I guess I might as well leave my doors wide open, too.
I’ve vacillated for years about getting one. Time was when I really, really wanted one, but now I’m not sure I see the value of it for day-to-day driving. I did rent one for a road trip once, though, and it was fantastic.
On the plus side, to address one of the drawbacks listed in the OP, the prices as compared to comparable hard tops are still higher, but not ridiculously so as used to be the case.
I had an orange '75 MGB in college. There was nothing like driving that bad boy through the country. It’s halving the experience of a motorcycle with 100x more safety.
Ok, maybe you can’t call an MG a “bad boy”. Let’s just say roadster.
I think a convertible would be a nice second car, but I wouldn’t want one as my main. I had a friend with one and it seemed to be a huge hassle. Though it could be fun!
I second the “If you have to ask, you’ll never understand.” Go rent one or something. Nothing better than cuising around on a beautiful summer evening with the top down, tunes on the stereo, watching the sun go down, ahh…
I’m no sure I would get one as my primary vehicle, though. In our case, it was car #5, so no biggie i it wasn’t practical. In fact, not being practical was kinda the point.
I’ve had a little Miata as my only car for years now. The only downside is having people fight over who gets to ride with me. It gets better gas mileage than my last car, handles amazingly well, and has a little hard top I can snap on when convertible season is over. If I don’t want my hair to get blown around I put it in a pony tail or wear a scarf.
Some people think it’s an inconvinience, but in eight years I’ve never not been able to do something or had a bad experience because of my car. Heck, my friend with a sedan called me when she bought a ladder and I was able to put the top down and drive the ladder right on home. The looks I get when I’ve bought my Christmas tree are priceless, too.
I’d like to know why people drive convertibles with the top up and the windows wide open. If you’re not going to put the top down on a nice day, why bother having a convertible at all?
BTW: I’m 6’2; I’d love to have a convertible so I can put the top down (weather permitting) and not have to duck on entrance/exit. Same for a targa or a T-top.
The extra headroom can be very useful , you can pack a lot of furniture into the back seat with the roof down. Driving with the top down is just more intense than with a hard top car. You get better all round view, you hear other vehicles, smell the trees, and feel the wind through your hair.
I drove a 69 Triumph TR-6. An 86 Mustang conv. A couple of motor bikes. A 74 Camaro with an after market sun roof almost as big as the car. An 84 'Vette with T-Tops.
Because it is fun to drive. Because it (used to) get me more ass than a toilet seat at a girls school. Because I can afford to.
Your “assumptions” about fuel milage and handling are bunk, especially when you consider many convertables are only offered in that form, so there is no baseline for comparison. Sure, a BMW 325 convertable is slightly less stiff than a coupe, but not enough to matter in the real world.
So, like 99% of your querys, it can be summed up with “Because people like to”.
My first car was a 1966 MGB roadster that I got secondhand from my mom. Its top stowed in the boot, so if it started to rain I’d get a little wet. But there was nothing like driving it on a cool sunny day. I owned two used 1977 MGBs concurrently, and I am having a 1966 MGB restored now.
My motorcycle is “less safe” than a convertible. I have nothing between me and that SUV except for my helmet.
Convertibles are designed to be as rigid as they need to be. Not an issue. My motorcycle is much noisier than my MGBs were, what with the deafening wind noise on the helmet. And the helmet messes up my hair every time I ride it.
Same with a bike. My entire Vance & Hines exhaust system was stolen a few months ago.
Don’t park under trees. Anyway, that’s why they have tonneau covers.
In any case, you may as well ask why people ride motorcycles.
Certainly there are issues that must be dealt with by people who drive convertibles (or motorcycles). But life doesn’t last very long, so you have to have as much fun as possible. You could drive 55 mph all the time in a car that’s built like a tank, but where’s the fun in that? You could sit in your house all the time instead of flying or scuba diving or kayaking or hiking or bicycling or doing other fun things, and you’ll probably be safer; but most people don’t. Convertibles are fun. It’s nice to not be fully enclosed in a cage. Many of them (like the MGBs and the Miatas) handle very well. What’s the point of living if you don’t have fun and have your hair blown around once in a while?
Because they’re fun. Most of my cars have been convertables, at least all the ones I really liked.
By the way, not to drag another thread into this one, but I think it’s interesting that you note that they are slightly less safe. You’ve argued elsewhere that when an increment is small enough, one needn’t worry about the results.
Same logic goes for handling, gas milage, and increased exposure to theft. Each of these increases of risk or cost or performance are slight at best.
It’s been said in different ways here already, but basically driving a convertible is not something you logically come up with reasons to do. It’s just something you do.
I owned a 1965 Triumph Herald convertible and loved every minute that I spent driving it.
The fact that I spent nearly as much time sitting idly at the roadside waiting for roadside assistance was of course due to the engine being held together with elastic bands or something.
I think in a lot of cases, it also invokes a certain nostalgia for the ‘good old days’ of motoring when most cars were open top.
There are two types of people in this world. Those that love convertibles and those that just don’t get it.
Anybody want to guess which group Surreal belongs to?
Some modern convertibles have as good if not better safety records than sedans. I have, at work, a set of pictures of a convertible that launched into air at about 125 MPH. Did 5 endos. Needless to say this car was destroyed. The driver recieved a cut on his cheek, took 10 stiches to close. There are not too many sedans where the driver would have fared as well.
::: shrugs::: Give me a rag top
Martha’s Vineyard in the summer. Warm evenings at dusk. 1969 Cutlass Supreme Convertible top down. Grateful Dead, Boston (the band), New Riders of the Purple Sage ready for the 8 track. Cruising down the beach roads, music blasting, nothing between us and the ocean air and the blazing colors of the sunset. Then the stars come out and they’re right there above us, parked on the shore, with no other lights, listening to the sounds of the waves. Open air, flying free.
Even if I never put the top down for the rest of the time I had that car, those moments were absolutely worth having it. They carried me through the winters in New England and I still have them 25 years later.
Hair can be brushed and dirt can be cleaned. You’re not going to get that feeling in a hard top. And if you can’t understand that, as someone else said, you probably never will.