What would you miss most about your hard top?

[p4R4d0x]

I'm thinking about selling mine, but don't really know what life without it is like since I don't have anywhere to put it when it's not on the car. I never keep anything valuable in the car, and don't really care about noise, so those aren't concerns, but will I not be allowed to run at certain autocross, time trial, track, etc. events without it? Am I overlooking something about a hard top that I'll really miss (besides actually being able to see out of the rear window ).

[ryuu]

is it a dd or a toy?
we have bad hail storms, I will always have the HT on if there is a chance because of the nice folks that feel it is fine to stop in the middle of the freeway regardless of everyone else.
if it's a toy then it doesn't matter.

[p4R4d0x]

^ It's a DD until I graduate and get a 'real job'

[black roadster]

Take the hard top off and store it on my car. Drive around a while and see if you miss it.

[redmenace]

Rare to nonexistent will be the track or competition event that says a hardtop is any better than a soft top for tech purposes.

You should run with only the soft top for at least a month before selling your hardtop. If you sell it and regret it, replacing it will be a PITA.

[Sharpie]

i've had my car for 10 + years and this past month is the most the hardtop has ever been on the car. I wouldn't miss it until it was gone.

[p4R4d0x]

Take the hard top off and store it on my car. Drive around a while and see if you miss it.

I could rent it to you

Let me pose a different question then - why do you want one?

Rare to nonexistent will be the track or competition event that says a hardtop is any better than a soft top for tech purposes.

That's good

You should run with only the soft top for at least a month before selling your hardtop. If you sell it and regret it, replacing it will be a PITA.

Unless black roadster takes me up on my renting offer, I have no where to put it I stored it inside my apartment for a week or so when we first moved here, but now we have furniture and cats that are very generous with the application of their claws to my property, lol. I didn't miss it then, besides actually being able to see out of the rear window when the top was up (mine's yellow now), but it was warm then so the top was down most days anyway. Carrying it up and down three flights of stairs alone was a real pain though.

i've had my car for 10 + years and this past month is the most the hardtop has ever been on the car. I wouldn't miss it until it was gone.

Why this month, just because of the weather?

Thanks guys.

[Rob®]

In all seriousness, put it on my car for a month or two. The car stays in the garage day and night: it doesn't even start right now, and probably won't get touched again until after my wedding (end of May)...*maybe* spring break if I'm lucky (and it still probably wouldn't get driven then ). The only reason the garage door is even opened at this point is to take the trash cans in/out, so your top wouldn't even be seen more than twice a week, and it certainly would never be used/driven with/whatever action verb you want to use at all. I know it sounds like a joke, and it kind of is, but I am actually serious - it'd be like free storage of it for a month or two, and I honestly wouldn't even remember it's on the car.

That said, the only time a hardtop was on my car in the few-months-shy of 10 years I've owned it was when I picked one up for a friend 1/2 way across the country and delivered it to him on my car. Had the car in NJ, NYC area, upstate NY (Syracuse: think only like 4 months of above freezing temps), FL, and now TX. So it's seen just about every different type of climate you can imagine. Car saw snow flurries once, but it's been driven in below *zero* temps a few times. Quite a few times, actually. The only time I really wanted one was when I had to do an auto-x in the freezing rain since they made convertibles run with the top down. I personally see no point to them, with the exception of track-only cars - I would want one in that situation.

The yellow window thing sucks, but sell the hardtop, buy a new top, and still have a bunch of cash left over.

[SirHustlerEsq]

I could not own Miatas without a hardtop.

Reasons I like the HT:
less noise
holds cold air better in the winter
theft sucks, thugs don't know when you do or don't have something worth stealing in the car
better fuel economy (2-4mpg)
I can see out of the back window
less blind-spot area with the HT

[Foreverzero89]

reasons i will never get a hard top: the miata was meant to be a convertible, when you do want to ride with top down its a PITA, top down is badass, refer to previous step.

[Sharpie]

My honda was broken for almost 30 days, so I put the hardtop on due to the rainy days and my soft top having a small hole in it.

[redmenace]

So after e-stalking the OP, it looks like you've had the car about five months and only enjoyed a week of top-down driving? If so, you are really missing out!

[Sharpie]

Honda is fixed and hardtop is back off. Love my top down drive home.

[sammm]

Today is a perfect example of why not to run a HT all the time.

[trickyrix]

Today is a perfect example of why not to run a HT all the time.

True dat. Since acquiring a house with a garage, the hard top has spent a lot of time leaned up against the wall of said garage. And if the weather's truly crappy, I'll drive the truck. That said, the hard top is nice on long trips - the car's quieter, more secure, etc etc etc. But I've started asking myself why I keep it around...

[Titus]

I picked up Jamie from school today with the top down and thought the same thing. I like the hardtop when it is 105 out for 3 months straight.

[p4R4d0x]

In all seriousness, put it on my car for a month or two.

That said, the only time a hardtop was on my car in the few-months-shy of 10 years I've owned it was when I picked one up for a friend 1/2 way across the country and delivered it to him on my car. Had the car in NJ, NYC area, upstate NY (Syracuse: think only like 4 months of above freezing temps),

The yellow window thing sucks, but sell the hardtop, buy a new top, and still have a bunch of cash left over.

I might have to take you up on that. I'm leaning towards just selling it, but we will see - thanks for the offer! As far as Syracuse's climate, I was born and grew up in Rome (~45 minutes away) so I know how that goes I wonder if I can just get a new zipper window... I'll have to see how waterproof/worn the soft top is and go from there.

Another idea I had for the yellow window - I bought one of those headlight restoration kits and was thinking of trying that on the plastic window, has anyone else tried that or had any luck? I know it worked wonders for my WRX's headlights, no idea what will happen to the window, but it's not like it can get much worse, it's useless.

My honda was broken for almost 30 days, so I put the hardtop on due to the rainy days and my soft top having a small hole in it.

Yeah, I have some cracks in the window that are currently duct-taped

So after e-stalking the OP, it looks like you've had the car about five months and only enjoyed a week of top-down driving? If so, you are really missing out!

Sounds about right. Maybe 2 weeks, lol. The worst part was as soon as I put the HT back on, my A/C stopped working, so I was basically driving around in a sealed toaster oven for the end of the hot weather..

Today is a perfect example of why not to run a HT all the time.

You have ridiculous timing, I had just sat in my car and rolled the windows down when my phone beeped to tell me that you posted this..

True dat. Since acquiring a house with a garage, the hard top has spent a lot of time leaned up against the wall of said garage. And if the weather's truly crappy, I'll drive the truck. That said, the hard top is nice on long trips - the car's quieter, more secure, etc etc etc. But I've started asking myself why I keep it around...

The only long trips where I take my car instead of my girlfriends is for autocross, so I should be able to live without that, too.

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. I think I'm going to try to sell it once I get some free time this semester. Anyone interested? It's red.

[Vashthestanbeto]

I might be, please let me know if you are going to sell it.

[creek]

The trunk doesn't get wet when I leave it parked out in the rain. Seriously, the hardtop stays on my car unless it's a beautiful day and we decide to just go for a ride on the great winding roads around here in the lake country. Someday I'll post a video just to make everybody jealous. Of course if the soft top wasn't hot and cold and noisy and leaky and I could see out of it I wouldn't need a hardtop.

[p4R4d0x]

Sold the top (to Vashthestanbeto), and today was my first full day without it.

It was beautiful out today, and driving to and from school/work with the top down was very, very nice. My car looks really ratty now with the faded, original 20-year old soft top, but it sounds 10 times better with the top down It also made me self conscious to be eating my lunch (Hot Pocket!) on the way to school, with the top down.. I found myself hiding it between bites at red lights.