- They're cool, you say, they're fun and sexy.
You try to talk yourself into it,
but deep down inside you know the truth.
You know, in your heart of hearts,
they're a pain in the ass.
It's all right, though.
Breathe in through your nose and repeat after me.
Convertibles suck.
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Why do people get convertibles?
Is it to look cool and rich?
Is it the status?
Is it because you're James and you're always sweating
and need something more powerful than air conditioning?
I'll admit there are a lot of cars
that look sick in convertible form,
the Miata, the S2000, and even my
favorite car of all time, the Dodge Viper,
although that kinda falls into the Targa top category.
But there are a lot of reasons that convertibles
are worse than hardtops.
We're gonna go through a few of them in this video,
and before you bemoan and complain
that it's just our opinion, which is true,
some of these have a lot to do with personal taste,
but some of the reasons are based
on actual science, and you can't argue with science.
Let's start with something benign, noise.
Hardtops have a lot of sound deadening material in the roof
that you probably don't even notice.
I mean, why would you, that's the whole point.
When the top is down in the convertible, though,
wind, engine, and road noise is a lot louder,
which can make things like a simple conversation
with your bro impossible.
Want to listen to music?
You're going to have to crank it up much louder,
and you'll lose that sweet, sweet audio quality.
Plus you'll be that guy blasting Hollywood Undead
while driving down the PCH.
If you're cool with that, more power to you,
just don't ask me to ride with you.
Even if you have the top up on your convertible,
ragtops create much more noise than a traditional roof.
At high speed, the flutter of the canvas
basically asks like a speaker.
Plus, they're prone to rips and tears,
which can create even more noise.
You could get a folding hardtop,
like the AMG SL65, but say goodbye to trunk space.
I guess you don't really buy a convertible
for trunk space, though, but that's beyond the point.
Having the top down can have its upsides,
like being out in the sun with the wind in your hair,
footloose and fancy free.
Convertibles definitely have their own hashtag mood,
but admitting to that hashtag mood can be exhausting.
It's not always gonna be sunny and 72 degrees.
Sunburn sucks, windburn sucks,
and if you're thinking about buying a convertible,
be prepared to dry out like a teriyaki Slim Jim.
(yelling)
Being exposed to the elements
doesn't just mean sun and wind.
Fabric and leather seats will degrade much faster,
moisture can mean mold in your carpet,
and undiscerning birds will
(bleeped) in your mouth as you drive.
They (bleeped) right in your mouth.
These things can be inconvenient to say the least
in the long run.
Reupholstering interiors is really expensive
and moisture can cause rust and degrade your chassis.
But the ins and outs of everyday driving
in the convertible can be tedious as hell as well.
Putting the top up and down every time you get in your car
gets old after awhile.
Some people just leave the top up all the time
in their convertibles, which is kind of
defeating the purpose.
All of that can be annoying, but how do convertibles
compare to hardtops, when it comes to performance?
Well, pretty bad, actually.
Here's why.
(upbeat music)
One of the reasons is rigidity.
Stiffer cars handle better.
Hardtops derive a lot of their rigidity
from the roof, floor pan and the rocker panels.
Without a roof to stiffen up the body,
convertibles are prone to twisting and flexing,
and that can seriously cut down on performance.
Modern convertibles make up for their lack of stiffness
with extra support with the help of box beams
and other structural pieces that add weight,
sometimes more than 350 pounds to the frame.
Even with that extra support,
a convertible will never be as stiff
or be able to handle as well as a hardtop brother.
Not to mention all that weight
can make them sluggish as well.
Another factor that makes convertibles slow
is aerodynamics.
Fast moving air rushing over the hood and windshield
hits the slower air inside the cabin
and creates low vortices.
These air vortices make driving uncomfortable
because it's literally a tiny tornado inside your car.
These vortices also create aerodynamic drag
that slows the car down, making it less efficient.
One good example of how much airflow
can affect a convertible is the Shelby Cobra.
This historic roadster tore up the short courses.
It was a beast, but when faced with longer
stretches of track, it didn't fare as well.
The open top Cobra was aerodynamically limited
to 170 miles an hour.
(upbeat music)
Imagine going 170 in a Cobra in the sixties.
That would be terrifying.
I'd write my will before I even get in it.
Joe, you get my ferns, Zach gets my glasses.
Alex, you get all my money.
I have a lot of ferns now, for some reason.
(beeping)
So when the Cobra would enter straights,
hardtop Ferraris and Porsches
would easily pass by them.
It wasn't until Pete Brock and the team over at Shelby
started designing the Daytona Coupe,
that's when they started beating the Ferraris.
The Daytona could blaze past the Cobra's top speed of 170,
despite them being identical under the hood.
Sometimes it's not the performance
or inconvenience of a convertible that makes it dumb.
Sometimes they just looks dumb.
Have you ever seen the Nissan Murano Cross Cabriolet?
I mean, what is that word?
Ugh, how about the PT Cruiser convertible?
That crossbar is horrendous.
How about the Range Rover Evoque convertible?
What the (bleeped) were they thinking?
I mean, some cars are meant to be convertibles,
like the BMW Z3.
The body lines flow, even with the lack of a roof.
But you put a roof on the Z4,
that makes it an M Coupe, and it looks freaking sick.
And how could you forget the Miata?
It's a classic.
Oh, and the Mark 1 Cabrio.
It might look weird, but it's surprisingly sick.
I would totally rock this thing.
A little slow.
But sometimes it looks like the car companies
design the cars and then make them convertibles
as an afterthought.
Lexus SC430, anyone?
Remember the 350Z Roadster?
Ugh, what about the Solara, with the chunky butt?
That's what they called me in football.
As far as safety is concerned, though,
modern convertibles are just about as safe
as non-convertibles, which is very impressive.
The biggest danger being a rollover, of course.
- Whoo. (upbeat music)
- But convertibles now have automatic roll bars
that pop up in the event of a rollover.
They're extremely effective,
and when paired with a reinforced A pillar,
they prevent serious injury.
It's actually really impressive.
Like if they didn't invent these safety features,
convertibles might be illegal today,
like think about that.
You may be safe in a convertible, but
your stuff might not be.
Unless you keep your car completely empty of any valuables,
a convertible is basically a free box
for anyone daring to commit minor larceny.
Even if you have your ragtop up,
someone can easily cut it with a small knife
and there goes your book of CDs
that you've had since middle school.
I had Green Day, American Idiot.
Didn't have any Slipknot at that time.
(upbeat music)
Here at Donut, we love all cars.
That's kind of our thing,
and every convertible that we featured today
has been an employee car.
I think every car is cool,
so I don't want to come off as a giant dick,
'cause I don't really hate convertibles.
I actually like them.
If you're looking for a second or third car,
I think they're a great choice.
They're a lot of fun to drive and be in.
But if you're looking to own a convertible for daily driving
I would definitely give it some thought.
It's not gonna perform as well
as a normal version of that car,
and you're probably gonna have to deal with
a bunch of things like mold, rain,
and maybe someone stealing your stuff,
and of course, birds (bleeped) in your mouth.
Real quick, if you guys like this video,
please give us a like and subscribe.
That really helps us out
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so help us out.
(upbeat music)