Why do owners of cabriolets do this ?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Nope quite happy with my 30mpg anymore and I would feel I am being spoilt [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

I just checked my MM and my average for the last ~5000 miles is 27.2mpg however that is mainly short trips and I do have a lead foot. That green economy dial in my car always shows more accelerator than coasting :oops:.

So 30 is pretty good.
 
I originally had a ‘96 Audi cabriolet which for some was an icon but for others was just a piece of junk, so I was never too bothered about leaving the roof down. The other thing about owning a 23 year old car was I could see the wear locations from the continuous opening and closing of the system. Despite its age, a replacement roof is still very expensive.

So with the E-Class, I am always more conscious about the whole thing, particularly the extra complexity of the system, although whether I’ll keep it for 23 years is questionable. In light of that, if I’m away from the car for about 5-10 minutes or if it is always in my sights, I do tend to leave the roof down. Otherwise I’ll put it up, particularly if it’s under a tree!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
As far as I'm concerned it's their car and their choice..... Live and let live!
 
Pretty sure that I read somewhere that MB convertibles have a special UV protection treatment on the leather.

We're talking about old skin here! One car is 23 years old, and another is 25. If it's that good, they should go into cosmetics!
 
...........

So with the E-Class, I am always more conscious about the whole thing, particularly the extra complexity of the system, although whether ................

I think (hope) the roof mechanics are reasonably good these days . My SLK had the roof being opened and closed 2x per day (during the week) and most weekends for the whole time I had it ~4 years. Say ~2000 actuations without trouble.

Probably find that most convertible cars in the UK will do that (2000) in 20 years.
 
I just checked my MM and my average for the last ~5000 miles is 27.2mpg however that is mainly short trips and I do have a lead foot. That green economy dial in my car always shows more accelerator than coasting :oops:.

So 30 is pretty good.
That was a trip reading my overall is nearer 22 mpg as wife does plenty 1.5 mile trips!

However on the trip today to Falmouth it was reading 33.6mpg pretty good for a V8!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 
Pathetic isn't it - one buys a soft top and non soft top people criticise us for when and where we can raise or lower our roofs WTF?
Get a life lads. People with soft tops love the roof down - end of.
Popping into a pub or a store for no more than an hour does not present a threat. Yes if you left it there during a film or a football match - maybe.
Bird shit / rubbish / grafitti / theft - almost unheard of in my 900 years of driving.

Join us and soak up the sunshine :p
 
Nope quite happy with my 30mpg anymore and I would feel I am being spoilt [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
That's good economy, I'm averaging 23-25 mpg from my SL500, 29/30 mpg on a decent motorway run.
 
I think (hope) the roof mechanics are reasonably good these days . My SLK had the roof being opened and closed 2x per day (during the week) and most weekends for the whole time I had it ~4 years. Say ~2000 actuations without trouble.

Probably find that most convertible cars in the UK will do that (2000) in 20 years.

Yeah true.

The Audi has a manual locking mechanism which had to be replaced.

The other w&t area was in the front creases of the roof fabric near the windows. Small wear holes started to appear and the underlying protective layer started to crack.

a7ebc668735d6f67d4c3378d00c54344.jpg
 
I had a fantastic remote roof module put in my 99 SL 4 years ago and it was so much better than holding down the button while the roof closed. It was great until it fried my roof ECU last year :0 now i'm back to holding that damn button and waiting. With this in mind I generally leave the roof open if nipping into shops. Its also worth mentioning that with a cloth hood the car gets very very hot in the sunshine so its better to leave the roof down as well. My old girl also has 13 pumps for the roof, i've been told, and as she's 20 years old this year i'm not wanting to over stress those pumps. Oh and before I forget, the R129 SL plastic windows in the soft top don't like the roof being continually opened and closed and look bloody awful when they start to crack.
 
Oh and before I forget, the R129 SL plastic windows in the soft top don't like the roof being continually opened and closed and look bloody awful when they start to crack.
Main issue there is putting the roof down when it's cold and the plastic is less flexible.
 
Probably, though haven't had hood down in winter for a few years, getting too old. Same thing happened in my SL320 exactly same place in the window. I've also had proper seatbelts fitted to the year in place of the lap belts and the mechanism in the roof space is starting to rub away at the roof.
 
I had a fantastic remote roof module put in my 99 SL 4 years ago and it was so much better than holding down the button while the roof closed. ......................

I'm going to order a SmartTop for my car (might be what you had). I had one in the SLK and it is an excellent bit of kit. Has loads of features but the main two for me are:
1) Not holding the lever while opening / closing (i.e. one push)
2) Remote opening & closing the roof. Can open the roof from some distance with 3 clicks of the key fob and ditto to close & lock the car.
 
I had a fantastic remote roof module put in my 99 SL 4 years ago and it was so much better than holding down the button while the roof closed. It was great until it fried my roof ECU last year :0 now i'm back to holding that damn button and waiting. With this in mind I generally leave the roof open if nipping into shops. Its also worth mentioning that with a cloth hood the car gets very very hot in the sunshine so its better to leave the roof down as well. My old girl also has 13 pumps for the roof, i've been told, and as she's 20 years old this year i'm not wanting to over stress those pumps. Oh and before I forget, the R129 SL plastic windows in the soft top don't like the roof being continually opened and closed and look bloody awful when they start to crack.

I have a module ready to fit to my R129, which module did you fit and do you know why it fried the roof controller?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pathetic isn't it - one buys a soft top and non soft top people criticise us for when and where we can raise or lower our roofs WTF?
Get a life lads. People with soft tops love the roof down - end of.
Popping into a pub or a store for no more than an hour does not present a threat. Yes if you left it there during a film or a football match - maybe.
Bird shit / rubbish / grafitti / theft - almost unheard of in my 900 years of driving.

Join us and soak up the sunshine :p

Years ago my wife accidentally left our roof down overnight after an absolutely glorious day. It wasn’t bird or trees that were a problem the next morning....I opened the curtains and said to my wife ‘oh it’s raining’.....then I looked to the right and saw the car!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I have another good reason for leaving the roof down.
Many years ago I drove into work in my MGB roadster with the roof up.
To say that I had a windy botty on the way in is an understatement in the extreme.
Car sat in the hot sun with the aforementioned content festering all day. Nearly blew me socks off with the stench when I finished work.
Great example of why us cabriolet owners should leave the car with the roof down on sunny days.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom