Hello, first post here, I am on the lookout for a 500

This will primarily be for my wife's use, mostly about town (well, the suburbs really).

We have been struggling for a couple of months to find a car that fits our spec: Lounge, white or red, about £8.5k, auto, and within Greater Manchester. There are lots "down south", but it seems that autos are not that popular up ere!

However, one or two 500 convertibles, albeit costing a tad more than we wanted to spend, are on the market right now.

Having owned a Jag XKR convertible in the past :devil:, I'm a fan of top down motoring. But I am not so sure about this feature on the 500c. Would any owners care to comment on the pros/cons?

In particular, I am concerned that when the hood is up (let's be honest, most of the time), the car will be quite dark inside, given that there is no glass roof or sun roof. Is that so?

Thanks in advance.

I have the Ivory ambiance on mine so this makes the most of the light but I don't regret having the convertable. The only time I notice that its darker is when I put the roof up after driving with it down. I have owned mine since Feb 1st this year and I have managed to get the roof down at least twice a week but generally if its dry the roof comes down. The roof can be raised and lowered while driving up to 50(ish) MPH so theres no stopping to put the roof down/up you just do it when it feels right , couldn't imagine driving a hard top version now.

Why on earth does it have to be within GM? are you walking to see it?
The right car is worth travelling more than 15 miles for surely?
you should re-evaluate your criteria and prepare to look a bit further afield.

Ontor

My wife has a 500C which is her first convertible and absolutely loves having the top back weather permitting , we own two other cars with large panoramic sunroofs , which are great, however, my wife doesn't miss this in the 500 as with the roof closed it is still quite light as it has a cream roof lining . If you can stretch to a 500C I would recommend one if you can find a nice example . Good luck in your search for one .

Mark

ontor said:

Why on earth does it have to be within GM? are you walking to see it?
The right car is worth travelling more than 15 miles for surely?
you should re-evaluate your criteria and prepare to look a bit further afield.

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It doesn't HAVE to be within GM - which is rather more than 15 miles across I can tell you! I would obviously prefer not to have to travel 100 miles or more (I have EXTREMELY limited time) for a viewing with an uncertain outcome. From bitter experience over decades, I know too well how frustrating it is - I'd say I'm only happy to purchase about 1 in 4 cars that I see.

ontor said:

Why on earth does it have to be within GM? are you walking to see it?
The right car is worth travelling more than 15 miles for surely?
you should re-evaluate your criteria and prepare to look a bit further afield.

Ontor

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:Offtopic:It doesn't matter why as that wasn't the question. He was asking about convertables

Very long time ago I used to have a car with the conventional 'sun roof' and since then all the cars I had had that feature. Then I've bought a 500 tin top with no panoramic or any other kind of sun roof and realised that I've actually preferred the 'cave like' interior while driving. Ask your wife to try both and then decide. As far as I'm aware there are no cons to having a convertible apart from roof looking tatty sooner than on tin top. Somebody with the convertible will be along shortly to give more real-life advice. Good luck!

I've had my 500c for three years now. The only con I can think of is that if it's raining, the spray on the rear window is awful and makes it difficult to see out of the back. Although putting the heated rear screen on seems to clear the rain (not sure how it does this ) and makes it easier to see out of. But you do need to clean the back window more often than the rest of the car.

Apart from that, I wouldn't drive anything else. You can put the roof up and down while you're driving round town so there's no need to pull over if it starts spitting. And there's nothing like opening the roof on the way home from work and having ten thousand miles of head room.

oh - one more con - remember you've got the roof down if you're going to start singing along to the radio!!

Janep1 said:

oh - one more con - remember you've got the roof down if you're going to start singing along to the radio!!

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Surely this is a pro as more people can enjoy your dulcet tones .

One apparent 'con' is that you can't take it through conventional car washes, which to be honest is no bad thing. As it only takes about 10 mins to wash conventionally its not even a hardship.

Surely this is a pro as more people can enjoy your dulcet tones

.

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Not all that dulcet judging by the looks I've had!!

scout500 said:

:Offtopic:It doesn't matter why as that wasn't the question. He was asking about convertables

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It's a legitimate statement though

Also don't forget with the C you have a much reduced boot space so it's no longer really a hatchback as such

Mercky said:

Also don't forget with the C you have a much reduced boot space so it's no longer really a hatchback as such

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I don't know about a hatchback, its not a hatchback, although the back seats do still fold down. Lets be honest here if your looking for a roomy hatchback your not going to buy a 500 in the first place. I can get the weekly shop for a household of four in the BOOT of my 500c, how much bigger do you need?

306maxi said:

It's a legitimate statement though

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But not in the context of the question asked and of absolutely no help in getting an answer to it either. Now I'm going :Offtopic: so I'll stop.

You may get less boot space but the C is VERY Ikea friendly. Anything can be loaded in the back

scout500 said:

I don't know about a hatchback, its not a hatchback, although the back seats do still fold down. Lets be honest here if your looking for a roomy hatchback your not going to buy a 500 in the first place. I can get the weekly shop for a household of four in the BOOT of my 500c, how much bigger do you need?

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Merely pointing out to the OP who asked what are the downsides to a convertable that the boot arrangements are different in a C and although theres still plenty of room it could be restrictive, the standard 500 with the seats folded down allows quite large objects to be fitted in which you may struggle with on the C. Contrary to the tone of your reply I was not complaining about it just pointing it out - reasonable? yes? no?

Seems perfectly reasonable to me Mercky.

But you know what some folks here are like.

Mercky said:

Merely pointing out to the OP who asked what are the downsides to a convertable that the boot arrangements are different in a C and although theres still plenty of room it could be restrictive, the standard 500 with the seats folded down allows quite large objects to be fitted in which you may struggle with on the C. Contrary to the tone of your reply I was not complaining about it just pointing it out - reasonable? yes? no?

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Just pointing out that the 500c was not a hatchback, as you stated, what's so contentious about that?

Thanks for all the replies, they are very helpful and much appreciated. As it happens a 500c has just come on the market just 5 miles away, and there's another very tempting one at The Car People in Wakefield (who get excellent reviews).


One other thing I've read about the "c" in a couple of places is that the fabric roof lets in quite a bit of noise, especially on motorways. I'd say that's a given, really, in comparison to a hard top. But is it intrusive to the point of spoiling ownership?

I've been on the motorway a few times (with the roof closed) and the 500C cabin noise has been perfectly normal for me, it's about the same as my dad's 1999 Corolla. Not overly loud or annoying. I'm very happy with it.

I'm not sure what the noise is like for the rear passengers though, as I drive by myself most of the time.

Oh, a con for the 500C: maintaining the fabric roof, obviously. You will grow to loathe birds. Bird poop mania, enough said. When birds crap all over your top for the third time in a week, you'll want to start standing guard with a shotgun :devil:

I have my fabric roof coated with Nanolex Ultra fabric sealant which helps, but it's still a pain to get the bird crap off. Rinsing with water usually doesn't get everything out, so I use a horsehair brush and wash the roof with 303 convertible top fabric cleaner to get the rest out.

When the car is parked I put my California PopTop cover on (see attached pic) which is great, but birds have a nasty habit of dive bombing my bambino when I'm on the move.

Otherwise, having a convertible roof is great fun. I must say I miss the look of the hardtop 500's rear spoiler though, that is one funky looking piece of gear.

Definitely don't take a 500C through a car wash. I don't like scratches and swirls, so I only use microfibre mitts and cloths to wash and dry my car, with the 2-bucket method plus the occasional snow foaming with a high pressure washer.