Well I am not an owner of a convertible

But if ever there were a group that would have a valid opinion and incite it's you all.

So I was watching TV last night and I stumbled upon a commercial for the new Mercedes E Convertible.
Now I must say that of the German cars I don't hate on MB as much as BMW or Audi. Their cars smell like crayons and the fast ones are REALLY fast...but soooo boring inside and anything less than an AMG isn't worth the premium. I spent some time working there (child hood dreams tend to turn out to be less than expected) and they are pretty well build but crazy in a way only the Germans (and maybe the Italians) could get away with.But bwm I just don't get, why pay so much more for the 3 series that is slower???

It appears that in their efforts to make the most out of this new platform they have added a soft top convertible to their now very common CLK,GLK,E frame. Although the aesthetics of the new clk doesn't really work for me I like to read magazines and articles on everything new. However they do have led running lights...although that only comes with a $6500 option (premium package 2) (which is mostly options that come in the G for much less $).

One thing that really jumped out at me (besides the front windshield moving spoiler) was the soft top retracting while the car is driving. The small print said that the cars' top would retract at 25mph and lower.

My question to the convertible owners is;
If your top could go down up to but not over 25mph or40kph (which makes more sense) would that be really useful?
I know the concept sounds decent but is that enough to make a soft top an option?

I saw an SLS this afternoon at the Mercedes Dealer next door to mine. It is a true enthusiast car and any real car fan would like this but it doesn't look like something that would make my personal top 5. It looks great kind of weird but I have a soft spot for AMG. Especially my favorite...
An SLR is already well established as the one I would make mine.
[url=http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/topgear ... 0089585001][img=http://www.bbcamerica.com/media/topgear ... e6_320.jpg[/img]

Just an odd observation from a car guy (who's wife did not care to engage in this conversation )

Hi Steve -
I saw that commercial last night too. Shame it is a soft top, huh?
But, to answer your question - YES, I would like that feature. In fact, my car can lower its top when not in park and while moving however, I havent tried it faster than a slow roll because I am sure something will break and I dont want to deal with that hassle.

It would certainly be a useful option, but not one to make me open my wallet for a soft top. I laugh when I see 60k, 70k, and 80+k soft top convertibles (out here in AZ there are tons). Sure they look sweet with the top down, but not many of them look very good with the top up, and the that's all I can think of, in addition to the hefty price tag.

But I wouldn't mind having a hard top that has a quicker "down to up" or "up to down" time, as well as a quieter, more refined mechanism....

So I don't see the added value of being able to operate the roof going 25 MPH or so unless you are begging to get people's attention... I think you get enough attention when the top is down as it is....

The G37s' top will go down in all gear positions (except R) and it can be rolling up to 3mph (why 3...why not? Really I have no idea). Considering the amount of work the car is already doing (massive electrical draw on the system) putting the top down and moving all the panels around this might mess with the computer on your cars. They are pretty current sensitive.

The G remains the only car in the market whos body lines were not genetically modified to accommodate the top, and I think it is second fastest to operate (but the gap is no more than 1 second I think). The G is cheaper than the bmw that's still so much slower and the lexus (which is a Japanese Caddy).

In AZ I would have only a hard top I can imagine the sun will eat your black soft top for lunch.

I know the market is tough but WTH is Mercedes up to? At least Lexus and Toyota shoot for coffin like interior crowd. Porsche and bmw have their groups but that is another thread.

So I saw the merc ad. Wouldn't that wind deflector at the top of the windshield result in more drag? I would not want to open the hardtop while driving that fast. After seeing all the moving parts etc and just for the sheer weight.