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I had an S2000. People liked to steal the seats out of the S2000. Unless you were going to take your seats with you, you're leaving even at chop shop value at least $1,000 of desirable goods in the car. The soft top isn't going to stop anyone from stealing your seats. Far more effective are seat locks but then they've already cut your top and maybe they're annoyed and just slash your seats for fun. Maybe if you leave the top down and they don't. Who knows. Either way a soft top is not going to stop anyone from getting in your car. It might stop someone from reaching in and taking your gym bag but nothing more than that. Easier to cut the top than break the window. I'd often leave the top down for weeks at a time. At home it was in a garage, at work it was in a garage. Running into the store, gym, lunch, I'd often leave it down where it was more publicly accessible I'd often leave it down if I wasn't going to be away more than an hour or so and put it up otherwise.
The parking away from a store thread made me think of this and I have wondered about it. Especially if its a rare or expensive, or new car I'd be real worried about that.
I'm talking about leaving the car while your in a store or maybe someplace where your gone a couple of hours.
Never. I always put my top up. Too many crazy people in the world to leave it down.
Considering locking a convertible or any "open" vehicle is like "Locking A Paper Bag" . . . under most conditions, I usually leave my Top / Windows down.
Also, I never lock either the Glove Compartment or the Center Console primarily because if a Thug wants in, he (or she) will cause more financial damage to the vehicle than the value of anything that may be inside.
Bottom line . . . NEVER leave anything of value, including Registration / Insurance Documents, in any vehicle at any time.
I drove a topless Jeep for a summer with no issues. Even had bike shoes and helmet in there most of the time, though if I had a gear bag, that went inside with me and the bike was locked the the roll cage.
Depending on which town I'm in, I normally leave my car unlocked/windows open. There's nothing in it of value and I'd be pretty upset to have to replace a window.
My 65 cobra replica doesn't have a top so when I'm going shopping or anywhere were the car will be left unattended for anytime it stays home. There are a lot of idiots out there so one needs to be careful.
We also have a Jeep with a softtop but the thing is to never leave anything of value in clear site and that goes for our regular vehicles too.
It is too easy for someone to reach in, cut a top or break a window and most people don't care if they hear a car alarm go off so it is in your own best interest not to leave anything of value in plain view.
The funny thing is when I drive my cobra to the office it sits out there all day but when I drive my truck I lock it or else I feel funny about it.
I have an Mercedes SLK I like to tool around in. It's older now, but still fun. I used tell my wife she could buy anything she wanted as long as it fit in the trunk with the top down....then those jerks at Chanel had to go and ruin that fun.
Anyway, I'll often put the top up because the sun will heat up the leather, or if there was overhead places a bird might poop, or a lot of sidewalk walkers. They only time I got an envy hit was on a trip to San Francisco, and some douche kicked in the entire door on the sidewalk side. A couple of hot days later the door amazingly popped back into place.
I generally stay close enough to see my MG-B if the top is down. A tonneau cover or a shorty car cover that covers just the windshield and interior are both useful for keeping trash out and poking hands as well.
Depends where I am. At a classy venue, I don't mind leaving the top down, my car would be just one of many nice cars. But in places where my car would stand out, or seem pretentious to someone, I'll close it. I've had people spit on the seats before, or throw their trash into it before, so it's just a judgment call depending on where I am.
I used to have a brownstone in Chicago, where I had a garage space and one covered space, in a courtyard type parking lot. I kept the top down all the time when there was good weather... Until my neighbors got a cat and let it roam. Damn thing was always on top of cars and used the armrest of my Jaguar as a scratching post.
a guy at work drives his cobra replica to work and parks it well away from everyone else.
When my wife worked at BMW all the soft top people always left the top down so the sun wouldn't damage the roof fabric.
I was always partial to the hard top convertibles.
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