Quote:
Originally Posted by bestwheelbase
Seeing as you've done the convertible thing, can you elaborate on the downsides and how they effected the ownership experience? Asking both for the conversation and also because I am entering my first winter with a soft top.  |
Happy to
But before I start in sounding all negative and all, let me emphasize how much I've enjoyed owning the M Roadster and if I could logistically manage owning more cars I'd keep it and get the Fr-S additionally.
So, downsides: The major one for me is that what makes a convertible romantic and fun also makes it wearisome. The sun in your face and the wind in your hair is only fun for a while, then always arriving sunburned and windblown gets old. Or rather, I only take the Roadster if I'm not going somewhere where I need to look presentable. I also take a different car if I'm going more than 100 or so miles round trip or if there's even a slight chance of rain (it sealed fine when new, but now getting caught in the rain means getting drenched, in addition to the fact that top-up visibility is limited to the point of being dangerous). Other downsides are the extra weight from the added reinforcement to stiffen the chassis (or lack thereof on some cars with resulting chassis twist) and that taking it to the track would require a roll cage, which in turn makes it even less DD-able not to mention ruins the styling. Some people will add to the list that convertibles are chick cars, but in my case that's a moot point and I usually respond to it with something like "your point being?"
If you have anything like real winter in your area I can't offer much advice beyond consider putting it in storage or ask someone like RaceR or whaap. Around here it reaches at least the high 40s for at least part of the day so I just leave the summer tires on and make a point of taking the car out now and then when there's a gap in the rain to keep the battery charged.
Dunno if any of that answers your question lol
