Noiser with roof on or off?

[sirlaughalot]

Having had the Lotus since November and it not being my only car I've only managed the roof off drive 5 times so far, but it seems to me that the noise levels are lower without the roof on. I also think I can hear the CD sounds better topless.

I can only think :

a) Its all in my mind
b) The cloth roof holds the sound of engine in cabin giving an echo effect.
c) The roof itself is noisy
d) I drive slower with roof off.

Any other opinions?

Got to go Sun's out and works over. Yippee.

[UH-Matt]

I'll let you know when I pick mine up tomorrow and try both options out.

[Nightmare]

definitely noisier with roof on.....but different sort of noise!

[fergusd]

Depends on speed . . .

low speed - noisier with roof on as all you can hear is engine/transmission noise . . . roof reflects this in the cabin . . .

high speed - quieter - wind noise takes over . . . by high I mean motorway + . . .

also depends on how noisy your exhaust is ;-)

Fd

[S Works]

Tend to agree with Ferg. Having said that, this weekend was the first time I a) drove it with the roof off and b) drove it with the soft top on.

In hindsight I couldn't hear the engine or stereo the first time I had the roof off - I was laughing too much!

[james24]

The noise of the car with the roof off is ten times better IMO I find that theres noises I don't like when the roofs on, like vibrating noises and echo's!!

Think I actually drive faster with it off though (but still very sensibly of course!) because it sounds so good!

[fergusd]

james24 said:

Think I actually drive faster with it off though (but still very sensibly of course!) because it sounds so good!

Yup . . . in this nanny state all the better reason to have a NOISY car ;-)

Fd

[cinqster]

Mine's a lot quieter with the roof off, to the point that the car feels much more smoother as you don't get all those 'orrible crashing pothole noises. I think the alloy chassis creates much of the bad accoustics with the roof on.

[sweatysock]

And the hard top is even worse than the soft top. Couldn't believe the difference when i took the hard top off a couple of weeks ago!

[Roadrunner]

I've noticed the same thing, in that it's damn noisey no matter what you do. So I put a sports exhaust on for even more of a headache. Marvellous.

[Bonce]

Yeah, I much prefer driving with the roof off for noise reasons.

I found out just how loud my car was when I got black flagged at Bedford for failing the drive by noise limit.