QOTD: What's the Cutoff on Drop-Top Weather?
My current test ride is a Lexus LC convertible. Or was, as it went back to its home on press-fleet island about an hour ago.
Anyway, cooler temperatures draped Chicagoland right around the time that I got the car. So I didn't drop the top as much as I would've liked.
Similarly, I tested a Mini convertible last winter, during freezing temps, and as a test of my cold tolerance -- and the car's -- I dropped the top during a freezing January day. Made it about five minutes before I raised it again.
So, I ask you -- what's your line between top down and top up? Sixty degrees? Fifty? Putting it down even if snowmen are in people's yards?
Sound off below.
[Image: Lexus]
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The only way to fit skis in a Miata, 911 and any other 'vert, is with the top down. I'm personally exactly tall enough to not duck under the slipstream in a Boxster. No chance in a Miata. The 911 'vert is perfect for me. Skis in the back "seat." The S2000 was perfection; as in, perfection period; but it was either skis OR someone to ski with.
NA Miata goes topless as long as roads are dry and heater is running, windscreen in place.
I generally have a strong preference for the lower mass and higher rigidity of a conventional roofed vehicle over a convertible. In temperatures over ~1800K, the difference in stiffness narrows significantly. (Would still prefer the lower mass and expense of the non-convertible.)
I used to drive my miata from March-Nov every year, and i think i had the top down for most of those drives. Including the commutes to work at 5am. You do crazy things when you justify owning a convertible.