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www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8583171...l
Do you agree with this? Is it 'rampant male insecurity' that makes you buy a car like this, or just that they're often a good drive and they look nice..?
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No, it certainly isn't insecurity in my case, let alone 'rampant' - but it's quite difficult to pin down exactly why I like driving a convertible.
When I got to 60 (in 2008) I had a little money to spare so bought a seven-year-old BMW Z3 as a fun car. It's a grand tourer rather than a sports car, but the fun comes from the open-air feeling and the wind in one's hair, plus the glorious sound of a BMW straight-six engine.
My family call it the 'crisis' (as in mid-life) but whatever it is has spread to SWMBO who has a Mini Cooper convertible.
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From a mechanical point of view droptops are a dead loss. Loss of rigidity, added weight, loss of visibility etc. but the driving experience isn't simply about numbers!
Aeshetically speaking, it's subjective. The MX5 looks great as a convertible, as does the audi A4. But the pug 206 looks awful. I think genuine soft tops are a must. Folding metal roofs retracting into bulbous rear ends look ungauinly IMO.
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> Folding metal roofs retracting into bulbous rear ends look ungauinly IMO.
Hmm, someone tell the hacks. I've seen a few reviews of the new BMW 6-series convertible, all of which panned it for not having a folding metal roof. Personally I think it would look like cr*p with the necessary fat backside to accomodate one. As it is, it's the first BMW since the legendary 635csi that I find attractive, rather than making me want to puke at the sight of it as all the others do.
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Guilty as charged, I fit the stereotype exactly.
But why not? I wanted one, I've always worked hard and I can afford it so at the end of the day it's my choice. Mrs BC now agrees and will probably end up with one herself.
But it has to be a true soft top in my opinion.
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Folding metal roofs seem to be on the way out, well, according to VW with the new Golf and Audi have never tried the folding tin roof. Personally, the contrast of the soft top vs the bodywork looks best for me.
Ever since I first read about the MX-5 I wanted one, for it's sublime handling and quick steering. Mind you, it was 10 years before I could afford one. Sadly I only owned it for a year. Nowt wrong with the car, just a change of circumstances
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Just like Avant I was 60 in 2008 and bought a convertible, I actually was out with swmbo looking for an estate but was lingering round a CLK and just had to have it. Herself says she knows why women in those old films wear headscarves when in an open car ... 'parently they stop the hair knotting. I wear a hat to keep the sun off my spa***ly poulated crown.
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Thanks guys - I thought that the article was pretty harsh to be honest! Also it ignores the fact that we women enjoy convertibles too. I am going to try my hardest to fill the piggy bank and get myself a MX-5 when I change jobs next year. I'll bear the headscarf thing in mind; I'd like to avoid looking like Princess Anne at my age but the bird's nest hair isn't a good look!
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Bobbin,
Who cares what others think or write about convertibles. Like Avant and others I bought mine (MX-5) because I wanted it, don't always need a family box though we still have one, and could afford a mid-life toy.
I hope your piggy bank fills sufficiently to get the car you want. I am sure if you do get an MX-5 you will enjoy it.
My wife has collected quite a variety of headwear to suit all seasons, occasions and weather to overcome the hair problem.
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I hope your piggy bank fills sufficiently to get the car you want. I am sure if you do get an MX-5 you will enjoy it.
Thank you ohsoslow. If only I could stop myself from looking them up on Autotrader for the time being..!
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In the 70's working in a garage i was called out to recover an MGB that had overturned on the A21 Dual carrigeway. Not a pretty sight ! The services were still there hosing down the road and all that was left of the deceased was his torso sitting in a leather bomber jacket ! Something that has haunted me all my life so when ever i see someone driving along in a soft top I just think back to the poor guy in the MGB ! So glad some soft tops now have pop up bars but not enough for me I'm afraid .
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An understood risk that we all take in one form or other.
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Oh injection doc that must have been horrible!
It's probably a pipe-dream of mine anyway; it rains so much in my neck of the woods that I'd probably be better buying a car with a permanent roof!
I also find these convertibles with giant backsides really aesthetically unbalanced; Peugeot are the biggest perpetrators of this. I always think a convertible Audi TT looks wrong too.
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Indeed but my mid life crisis was even more danegerous. Did motorbike test and ultimately end up with 1100cc monster. Which was a hoot.
If you want to get the 'lite' version by all means do buy a soft to to get the wind in your scalp. Just have anti roll bars fitted. But for me following biking, any 'sports car' is going to have to be pretty mindblowing before I'm going to be that impressed. Say four seconds 0 to 60 I'm still 'Meh' my bike did that sprint easily in three seconds...with me hanging on screaming!
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Don't let them put you off Bobbin, if you want one, get one. There's enough dry days to make it worth it, even in the winter.
Ethan, my biking experience was always spoilt by the need to get dressed in dead cow and wear a tupperwear bowl on my head, even in hot weather. Being a lazy beggar I can just jump into the 5 and enjoy the sun, not so exhilerating but I'm getting too old for all that now anyway.
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.....I'm doing my bike test in August. I inherited a small engined bike and having ridden scooters, I would like to upgrade myself.
The MX-5 (or one of the other 2 cars on my shortlist) comes next year ;-)
This is not a midlife crisis (I hope!) as I'm only 27.
Edited by Bobbin Threadbare on 20/06/2011 at 15:12
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Good for you. Here's a tip...always wear proper gear especially in hot weather...you can do this by looking for stuff like a Mesh Jacket by Joe Rocket.
Bike apparrel from the USA was my favourite because it was designed for hot climates and came in old bloke sizes.
http://www.webbikeworld.com/joe-rocket/phoenix-jacket-pants/
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/joe-rocket/sahara-vest/
The Jacket is good ....I've bounced along a road in one with no problems. It makes me shiver to see muppets riding in shorts, tee shirts and flip flops, or carrying young girls similarly dressed.
Consider if they come off you'll see pink smears, red smears, then white chalky smears in the road as they wear through skin, meat and bones. So please...always but always wear the gear.
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Don't you worry - I am going to kit up properly. There's a lot of properly fitting women's bike gear around nowadays, especially from the US, so I am certainly looking into it. I remember when I was a kid, my dad came off his bike in the Birkenhead tunnel (rainy day, car clipped him and he hit an oily puddle on the way in) and he used to wear a waxed jacket, leather gauntlets, bike trousers and police boots. He had grazes and bruises, but considering the traffic does 40mph in the tunnels, he came off ok thanks mostly to the gloves and helmet.
Thanks for the links!
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ah yes the leather romper suit and bone dome. Well certainly a good idea and really a small price to pay for all that power, freedom and free parking. Plus 'hitting the road' really hurts doesn't it.
Yes I'm of an age too where comfort counts for a lot.
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Teenage motoring hacks wouldn't understand, I guess, but the UK climate is much more conducive to soft-top ownership. Places like Spain, even southern France where I live, can often be too hot in summer to drive top-down, even with suitable headgear.
Maybe that's also one of the reasons I see so many of these tin-top convertibles around me that never, ever, seem to have the top folded.
Yes, I am 60. Yes, we bought a proper ragtop convertible. Yes, we love it...
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