Of course. Unless the funds for a vehicle are unlimited, one has to choose which features to pay for. The numbers show that "convertible" is not a feature that as many people as before are opting to pay for.
It's called math. More people are choosing an SUV over a convertible. What's not to understand?
The "market" can be determined by the number of convertibles sold vs. the total number of vehicles sold and expressed as a percentage. If the number of vehicles is going up (as consumers in the Emerging Markets begin to purchase vehicles) but the percentage of convertibles is going down, then the *global* market is declining.
No, I serviced a lot of cars that were not broken - customer list of vehicles I saw 3 or more times a year for regular maintenance was well over 600 - plus all the ones I saw once or twice a year - or only once. - and that was at my last job in "the business" The two jobs before that were general repair shops - I was usually the only mechanic - sometimes with an apprentice and often 5 - 7 cars in one day - othertimes only one really twisted one for a day or two
I helped a friend rebuild it. He's got more cars than he can drive - so I get to exercise one every once in a while. I prefer the MG over the Fiat cinco even though it has a roof and windshield. See if he gets the Isetta finished this summer.
It's called math. More people are choosing an SUV over a convertible. What's not to understand?
Probably the way it was worded threw Micky off. I'm the same way: I understand things if one changes the way they explain it - even if it's not the way the majority grasp it.
I put a tonneau cover on the Sprite, fitting it on a hot summer day. It looked sharp, a white cover on a dark blue car, you could bounce a quarter off it.
The downside was coming home around 3AM in the cool of the evening half in the bag and trying to snap the thing shut.
I'm amazed. I took a quick trip to Hemmings and there were quite a few in the 15K range that looked presentable. Of course, by the time you really go looking they might not be so attractive. Still, it's better than the 911 craziness.
The fads always were unpredictable. I went to an auction and they brought out a beautifully restored Corvair. It couldn't even get the reserve and the owner looked like he was about to cry. The auctioneer finally told him he didn't have to take the low bid, but that was all he could reasonably expect. Fat fender coupes were in that year, Corvairs were dogs.
The one I always lusted after was the Messerschmitt KR175. Helps to have a death wish to go with it as you get run over by a Prius. One of my more reasonable strange likes is the Citroen Traction Avant. At least the 11's and 15's can outrun a determined bicyclist.
You can be like my father in law. He had a thing for Checkers and Batman. He'd come down the alley, hit the garage door opener, and drive into his bat cave while the door was still retracting. One evening his timing was off. Didn't bother the Checker but the lower panel of the door was never quite the same.
Let me know. In fact if you could email his phone number, I would like that.
I had a friend who gave away his beautiful big Cadillac, but instead of giving it to me, he gave it to a rich guy in his NYCith building, someone who could have bought his own, who retired it to his other home in Florida, to frolic with his other cars.** I'm just kidding, he's entitled to give it to whomever he wants and I'd be overwhelmed if I had two cars. I need a wife to manage one of them.
**My friend otoh ran out of work and ran out of money and had to move out of NYC after a lifetime of living there. But selling his apartment gave him enough money to live for years elsewhere.
Pretty much. I had no idea what was intended, as my question implied, but as my next answer said, even understanding what was meant, I still don't agree. (with the original, not the part quoted here.)
Your phrasing. People may choose an SUV over a convertible, but that does not imply the appeal of the convertible has changed. It only means for those who buy the SUV that the SUV has more appeal than the convertible, not that the convertible has less appeal than it did. It reflects the fact that you can't get both features in one car.
Maybe it's one of many ways the market can be described but I think it's the gross number of cars that matter, and the market is staying the same, very low.
This is what that url says about India and China: "And consumers in fast-growing markets such as China and India?which increasingly are dictating the strategies of automakers?prefer the enclosed comfort of SUVs and sedans as a barrier to smog and a buffer from crowded streets."
Nothing about the market going down. And the last clause is one of those unsupported leaps. To show that the appeal of SUVs and sedans versus convertibles is influenced by the smog and crowded streets, they'd have to show that people bought convertibles more when there was less smog and less crowded streets, and that's not true and they don't try to show it, and they don't even claim it. There were never more than a teeny tiny number of convetibles in those two markets, probably brought by rich Americans working there or American consular officials or their families. The biggest supply of unsupported leaps is found in the last sentence of most TV evening news stories, and probably other similar offerings. If you pay attention to the last sentence, it is usually a generalization, a conclusion, a moral, a witticism, or something like that, and it is almost always unsupported (or even stupid, but I'm referring to TV, not the url above).
Actually there are a lot of convertible models for sale, just no full size ones except I think Rolls Royce. Not as many as before 1975, but more than 1980.
I did remember (for a change). I was going 15 on my way out, and 15 or 16 on my way back.
As to getting stuck in the rain, two occasions were by far the worst (not counting when I was in jail). When I moved to Baltimore I forgot one special piece of metal, so I drove back to NYC and since the car was empty, I decided to take all the scrap wood (the only other thing I left behind). I made it all the way to Baltimore, 150 miles, and was 5 miles from home when the rain poured and I had to hide under an overpass until it stopped. The wood was in the way of putting the top back up.
Another time on the way to Texas I was on I-81 going south in western Va. and it started to rain, but this was when my top motor required hitting to get the motor to start, and this time, I banged it a lot with a wrench but it just wouldn't. And traffic was stalled on the interstate. I just say in the car in the rain for 5 minutes until the traffic started moving. I wonder what the guy 3 feet behind me thought. But everything dried out. The top went up and down for the rest of the vacation only having to be hit not at all or sometimes 3 or 4 times.
And they're not even considering wind speed....The user could have a headwind, a tailwind, or a cross wind that could change the stresses by a huge amount.
"Roof operates at speeds up to 31 MPH. Pretty cool, right!"
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Aside from the fact that I think they should have used a question mark, not an exclamation point, they seem very proud of that feature.
When I first noticed the small print on the screen, I expected it to say something like "Dramatization only. Do not operate roof while vehicle is in motion."
I was quite surprised to see that the small print wasn't your typical disclaimer, but actually a brag.
Actually you CAN. What do you call a Jeep Wrangler Ultimate - or even a Jeep Renegade? Even the ultimate SUV - the Hummer, was available as a "convertible".Also, the Landy Evoque. and the Murano CrossConvertible, There WAS also the RAV4 softop and the Suzuki X90.
Same with the toneau on my '57n Fargo. It was made of convertible top material - and if it was off when the dew hit in the evening, it was off untill the sun bas bright!!! The toneau on the Td is a rather loose fitting vinyl "tarp" with snap fittings
Wow. I could n't read that. It was so small and went by in only a second I think. When I tried to stop the video, the progress bar wouldn't go away and it covered the subtitle.
Clare and you will be happy to know that I wouldn't raise or lower the top at that speed. 16 is about it.
An ongoing problem with my Buick and one or two Lebarons was that, it seemed, the vinyl would shrink. It got to the point where I had to go to shopping center, attach a come-along to a light pole and to the roof behind the rear window, and tighten it to latch the top. In the fall. One year I hadn't latched it all summer.
But this Toyota is so easy to latch, and hasn't gotten harder over the
4 or 5 years I've had it, plus the top is a lot older than that. I don't know if it's the original 2000 top or not.
And afaict, the difference is that it's canvas and not vinyl. So why did they insist on using vinyl for so long?
That would be great. And I'm sure would be thrilled with your suggestions. I didn't think of them because they're not for me.
I'm looking for it. ...
I found this,
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but it afaict, the top only comes off the rear third** of the passenger compartment. I'm usually in the driver's seat, far from that. **but maybe there are roof panels for the first 2 thirds that come off. That would be pretty darn good, I agree, even though it still leaves the tops of the doors. But it's bad that the rear part is canvas and has to be removed and replaced by hand iiuc.
This one
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is shorter, so there is only one door with windows, and the rest opens up. Unfortunaately $207 only buys the top, not the car.
Here's a better picture of a 4-door top, and below are the many models it fits. It doesn't seem to be very hard, not even the part above the first two seats, but otoh, it clearly as ribs. Not sure what size it folds to. Only $700 used:
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|Model%3AWrangler|Submodel%3AUnlimited
I found this, "Auto review: 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited is a convertible family car"
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but in the 4 minute review, he spends 20 seconds on the convertible part ("there are two roof panels you can remove.... you can get a canvas top." "you can take the top off".)
Did you know there used to be Checker taxicabs that opened up for the passenger seat. Still a roof farther forward but nothing above or behind them. 1930's or 40's until they stopped running.
AFAICT so far, this has an optional Targa top. Not enough for me. This related: I don't understand why, but even if everything I'm looking at I can see through the windows, it looks much better with the top down. In the same way it's bad if there is something behind the targa top, behind me, even if I'm not looking at it. I'd like to get rid of the windshield too, but otoh, I don't want a jeep with the canvas top that takes a bunch of work to attach. I like either the electric top or the one in the movie "The Graduate" where he just reaches behind and pulls up the whole top.
(But the opposite is also a problem. I can't use a hard top that pulls off in one piece because I have no garage, no way to lift the top off, and don't even park next to my own property. It's about 30 feet to the front yard and 130 to the back, with bushes in the way.)
Another one, "Also, the MySky panels are great in theory but not necessarily in practice. They are lightweight panels that can be removed to open up the Renegade?s roof. I found them easy to detach and install for a nice convertible experience for around town and rock climbing. " Not good enough.
I found this page from 2014, "The Jeep Renegade has an optional targa top that I think is really cool, but what if we took it a step further and made the Renegade a convertible. Thankfully, with the magic of photoshop we can see what it would look like. It reminds me of the Wrangler with no roof. "
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