Why take a soft-top over hard-top convertible?

[Gericho]

Wheel Turned Out said:

Sounds like the best thing for you would be a regular coupe with frameless windows (appreciate that's a narrow list) - when they're all open you have a nice airy space, with some shade, but with none of the convertible 'drawbacks' you've listed.

Folding hardtops, as has been mentioned, are usually just ungainly, heavy, and a bit crap overall.

Yes I think a coupe with sunroof is perfect. I love frameless windows and no b-pillar is even better.

[phil1979]

That's why I love my old R129 SL Merc... nice folding fabric roof for the summer, proper hard top plonks on for the winter. And, in my opinion, the R129 hard top makes the car look better. Weighs a bit, mind.

[phil1979]

[AC43]

Gericho said:

Wheel Turned Out said:

Sounds like the best thing for you would be a regular coupe with frameless windows (appreciate that's a narrow list) - when they're all open you have a nice airy space, with some shade, but with none of the convertible 'drawbacks' you've listed.

Folding hardtops, as has been mentioned, are usually just ungainly, heavy, and a bit crap overall.

Yes I think a coupe with sunroof is perfect. I love frameless windows and no b-pillar is even better.

That's my favourite set up by far. Merc did it with the 124CE, the SEC, various CLs etc.

I was looking at R230 SL55s for a while until it became quite clear that leaving them out in the rain is NOT a good idea. I'm not a fan of convertibles anyway; I was thinking of buying an SL (with a pano roof) despite the fact that it was a convertible really.

I've switched to looking at XK coupes now as you can get one with a roof with none of the grief mentioned above; noise, maintenance, weight, boot space. Although you can't get one with a sunroof which is shame; but still preferable for me, anyway.

[swisstoni]

The thing with the SL55 is to buy a late one. They had issues with the seal between the roof and the boot which could let water into the electrics which were stored, you guessed it, at the bottom of the boot.

This was redesigned during the run.

[captain_cynic]

-Lummox- said:

Because the mechanisms on hard top convertibles tend to have the complexity and durability of a high-end Swiss-designed watch copied in a sub-par Chinese factory.

Looks at 15 yr old SLK... Looks at your post... Looks at 15 yr old SLK with perfectly functioning roof.

Can you possibly send me something from the 1980s?