Hard top opinions?

Is there a consensus about the hard top?

On the one hand one can cite better weather protection in winter and better defense against vandalism and theft if one has to park outdoors/overnight.

On the other hand there is the issue of storage during the summer months, and the additional purchase cost.

How many of you have the hard top, how many have regrets?

cheers

Don

Reply to
Don Q
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I'm in the UK and have a hardtop for my 1996 Eunos Roadster (Japanese Domestic Market MX-5/Miata).

I wouldn't be without my it. It goes on in early winter (late October/early November) and comes off March/April, depending on the weather.

It's much more civilised in the winter, and much warmer inside too! The car lives outside all the time, so the hardtop protects the hood (UK English for roof!) from the worst of the weather.

Storage can be a problem! Fortunately we have a garden shed that's located close to a wall, so I put the hardtop in its bag and hang it on hooks screwed into the (wooden) shed between the shed and the brick wall. I cover the nylon bag with plastic tarp for extra weather protection - in the UK Spring/Summer does not mean wall-to-wall sunshine :-)

I bought the hardtop on Ebay when I acquired my NA, it cost about £250 ($350 or so) and I recently had it sprayed to the same colour as my car

- it was silver, which goes with just about any colour, but I wanted it to match the Vin Rouge Mica colour of my VR-Limited Combination-A Eunos Roadster (aka Merlot in non-JDM markets).

I know that some of the regulars here in the hotter parts of the States put the hardtop on in high summer to get the full benefit of their aircon :-)

If you have the storage space, go for a hardtop, especially if you can pick up a genuine Mazda one second hand, like the one I found. If you find that you don't use it, you'll easily get your money back, as (in the UK ayway) there's a good market for s/h hardtops (cheap in the summer, expensive in the winter) - buy at the right time and you're laughing!

Reply to
Rob

When I bought my '91 I paid the extra for the hard top. When I traded it in on a new MX-5 in 2006 I figure that it had probably been on the car for 30 days total. For me, at least, it was not worth the expense. But you should note that the '91 probably only ever spent a couple of hundred nights outdoors. That is why, at fifteen years of age, it still had the original top in fine condition (although the plastic rear window had to be swapped out)

If I were considering a new MX-5 today I would certainly pay the extra for the retractable hardtop but never for the removable.

Reply to
John McGaw

Ditto here; I'm pretty sure the PRHT premium would be largely recouped at resale.

If I had to use my Miata for a daily year-round commute, I would buy a hardtop. But I have no more use for a hardtop than for all-season tires--the car is always garaged, almost never parked is dubious areas or driven under 40F, and the soft top is up only once or twice a year when we get surprised by a shower.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

I love mine. The rear visibility is 100% better than the soft-top, and it's definitely quieter (though mine no longer seals very well at the backs of the windows). I wouldn't want to drive a Maita in the winter without a hard-top. An NA with a hard-top is also a _very_ nice looking car. I can't really say the same about an NB, though. The lines of the NB don't look right with a hard-top.

Not really. The increased visibility is great, and plastic rear-windows get very fragile at -10F. But, unless your soft-top has holes in it, there isn't really any difference in weather protection. My soft-top actually seals a bit better around the windows than my hard-top.

It's trivial to break into a Miata either with or without a hard-top. It's not as easy to slash a hard-top, but you can probably put a rock through one easily enough.

Never lock a Miata.

I never regretted mine for a second, and I kept it when I moved from an NA to an NB.

Reply to
Grant Edwards

Interesting!

Is it because the soft top is adequate for your needs, or is it because you are top down 90% of the time?

(I used to know an Alfa guy who pretended he didn't know there was a top under the tonneau. LOL)

Reply to
Don Q

Seriously? Do you have a secondary protection like lo-jack? Otherwise isn't this an invitation for joy riders in the neighborhood? I realize a door lock won't stop a pro thief, but ...

I did not realize the two models used interchangeable tops. Good to know! (But the third gen looks too different, so I am assuming you can't keep it for another move.)

Reply to
Don Q

It came with an alarm, but I never arm it. Miatas have used had chipped keys for 6-8 years now.

From what I've read the theft rate for Miatas is very low. And nobody steals car stereos anymore...

If an ignition lock that requires an RFID chip in the key isn't going to stop a joy rider, a Miata door lock sure isn't going to slow them down.

Anybody with a coat hanger can open a locked Miata in 15 seconds.

Anybody with a brick can open a locked Miata in 5 seconds.

I accidentally locked my keys in the car once (the stupd "alarm" system sometimes decides to arm/lock all on it's own -- which is damned annoying). The guy from the locksmith company used a fiberglass rod instead of a coat hanger, but he had the car open in a few seconds.

If somebody wants to rifle around in my glovebox and then steal $3-4 worth of change from the cupholder, I'd just as soon they didn't smash a window to do it.

If I have to leave something I don't want stolen in the car, I lock it in the trunk.

It depends on the exact year/serial-number of the NB, but to move a hardtop from an NA to an NB you generally have to change out the "hook" parts on the front latches, and the rear window defogger requires an adapter cable. Details can be found at:

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Dunno.

I think my next Miata will probably be another NB.

Reply to
Grant Edwards

My '93 came with a hard top back in August 1993. For the first 3-4 years it was my daily driver and I greatly appreciated the hard top in the winter. Better sight out the rear and easier to clean snow off.

Once the miata became a summer only car, I used to still put the hard top and snow tires on every November. Just in case I needed it during the winter. The last few years I've just been putting a car cover over it and it sits from late November to late March.

I have a pulley/harness system that I bought from the Mazda dealer as an accessory for the hard top. It hangs suspended from my garage ceiling. It is easy for one person to install/remove the hard top using it.

Jim

Reply to
Jim

Well, my wife has the Miata, and no hard-top. I have a 1996 BMW 328iC that I bought in 2000, and did buy a hardtop from an EBay vendor within driving distance the first year I had the car. Very, very nice in the winter, gives me a lot better rear visibility, seals tight, quieter driving at speed. We moved 5 years ago, new home has a large enough garage to keep both convertibles. The soft top goes up only occaionally (in summer to wash the car or if there is a shower when using the car). I do have a stand for it that was low in cost. Only trouble is that I need another adult male to help get it on and off the car - I might eventually get a hoist for it. Right now, we just put it on between mid-December and end of March, leave it off rest of the year.

Jim

Reply to
Jim

The soft top was more than sufficient. And because I garaged the car almost all the time it was never exposed to the intense sunlight which seems to be the main factor which kills tops in the long run. I gave it no special care rather than washing. After fifteen years the top looked as though it would be good for at least five more. As for keeping the top down, the best I ever managed was about thirty days straight (I lived in Alaska at the time so this is a rather amazing run).

Reply to
John McGaw

Just so Don doesn't think this is an odd thing, I second this advice, even on an older Miata without the chip protection.

A couple of other things to consider.....

The hardtop itself becomes an item of interest to some thieves. One reported hardtop theft happened in a snowstorm and left the car full of snow.

Leaving the car unlocked is still no guarantee against a stupid thief. I also remember reading about someone who left their Miata unlocked and still had the top slashed above the lock. It's just a matter of adjusting the odds a bit.

I have had two Miatas over 10 years and have never locked either one and have never had a sign of anyone being in the car that wasn't supposed to be, knock on wood.

Pat

Reply to
pws

John, do you have the link for your Miata trip around the United States?

Thanks,

Pat

Reply to
pws
[regarding my advice to never lock a Miata]

Ouch! To be betrayed by another Miata owner (who else is going to know to steel a hardtop?) just adds insult to injury.

I had a top slashed as well. The car was unlocked, sitting in a driveway in a nice suburban neighborhood in Lawrence Kansas. They never even bothered to open a door -- it was just vandalism.

I did have somebody in my (unlocked) 96M once. The alarm must have gone off, becuase they did about $200 of damage ripping the alarm switch off the steering column (which of course doesn't turn off the alarm). I think they took some of the change out of the ash-tray.

One other time, I'm pretty sure somebody walked off with a wallet of CDs that was in my 96m. But, they probably just leaned in and grabbed it. After that I switched to keeping, uh, let's say "backup" copies of CDs in the car with the originals at home.

Reply to
Grant Edwards

I would guess that some thieves understand the value of them, hardtops in general, not just for the Miata. There was one hardtop stolen from a Miata here in Austin not that long ago, which makes at least two that I have heard of.

A used Miata hardtop fetch anywhere from $500.00 to as much as $1000.00 around here, which is a lot better haul than grabbing the stereo.

With my normal luck, I am surprised that this has never happened to me. Shooting is way too good a punishment for thieves and vandals.

Sounds like a brain trust went at it that time. ;-)

I have been doing that for a while, so now my main concern if they are taken is that someone out there will know exactly how bad my taste in music really is.

Pat

Reply to
pws

No consensus from what I can read in the other posts.

As for weather protection my experience is that it must be pretty extreme else the soft top does fine.

As for vandalism someone could take a knife to it but breaking in that way is more work than one should think (there is a youtube surveillance video somewhere).

About two weeks after I bought my MX-5 someone keyed the whole right side and also burned the top with a cigaret. The cigaret left a small mark but did not melt through so the top is pretty tough.

Oh, yes. My 1999 MX-5, which I bought some December 29th some 3.4 years ago, came with a hard top. I had it on the first winter but since then it's been taking up space in the cellar (I bought a special bag for it that hangs on the wall).

I do.

While it is nice and the car looks great with it I see no need for it. I live in Denmark so the winter can be very wet and some years also pretty cold but even in the middle of winter I can find days where the top goes down. As long as you are gentle and it is not covered in ice putting the top down can be done at any temperature and driving in the cold top down is great with a little warm clothes plus the heater in the car is powerful.

It is partly by chance I discovered that the soft top works well in the winter. My car is parked outside so as my second winter came up I missed the chance of mounting the hard top while the car was completely dry and I did not want to drive all winter with a folded soft top so I stuck with the soft top.

To sum it up. The soft top works well in the winter so there is really no need for the hard top.

Greetings Bruno

PS. I saw the Elise/SLK/MX-5 thread. I think the MX-5 is the right choice but you should also check out the Honda S2000.

Reply to
Bruno, Copenhagen - Denmark

In a previous life, I bought a Dodge Caravan. While busy negotiating the price and arguing over this or that, I failed to notice it had wire wheel covers. I wouldn't have wanted them. Anyway, the right two were stolen one day and replaced. Some time later, the left two were stolen and replaced. I was adviced to get wheel cover locks, which I did. The next time someone tried to steal one and couldn't get it off, they destroyed it on the car and keyed the whole side of the car.

Reply to
Frank Berger

Thanks for the info.

At this point it looks like we will go for a used series II, so I guess if it doesn't come with hard top we won't worry too much about it.

Good point. Somehow I never remember that car. Not too many around these parts is probably why.

cheers

Don

Reply to
Don Q

My '99 is my daily driver. Winters are pretty mild here in North Alabama; in 7 years of ownership I've had zero weather- related problems with the soft top. In the spring and fall if there is the threat of strong storms and hail, I drive my old pickup truck. I did have to replace the top in 2009, which I blame on the long hot summers here. The car is garaged at night, but sits out in the blazing sun all day.

Reply to
T.J. Higgins

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Reply to
John McGaw

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