General 500 C owners

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General 500 C owners

steffo

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I'm thinking of changing from a hatch to a convertible and have a couple of questions
1: Does the convertible give you wind in the hair motoring or is it just like a big sunroof?

2:Can anybody give me the measurements of the boot opening as i need to fit in a mobility scooter that measures 36" long and 19" high and need to know if it will fit through the opening?
 
I'm thinking of changing from a hatch to a convertible and have a couple of questions

1: Does the convertible give you wind in the hair motoring or is it just like a big sunroof?



2:Can anybody give me the measurements of the boot opening as i need to fit in a mobility scooter that measures 36" long and 19" high and need to know if it will fit through the opening?



I’ve not driven mine with the room down yet but I’ll measure in the morning.
 
Certainly not as "wind in hair" as, say, an MX5, but you do feel in the open. Haven't had a chance to measure the boot I'm afraid.
Apart from the more restricted boot access, it's mostly as practical as the hatch, very little extra noise with the roof up. One significant annoyance during the recent awful weather - unlike the hatch, the C doesn't have a rear wiper, and that upright rear screen quickly becomes opaque in the wet!
 
I’d be amazed if you would get a mobility scooter in the back, but I’d love to be proven wrong.

The 124 spider is probably more practical than the 500c except for the lack of two rear seats.
 
The boot lid should be exactly the same width as the corresponding part of the hatch - mines's 31" at the bottom, narrowing to about 30" at the top. The height, measured at the centre of the opening, is 14".

You have also to bear in mind that the opening is heavily radiused at the corners, further restricting utility.

As for 'wind in the hair' I can say that I've had my hat blown off on many occasions but only in a cross-wind with the windows open; the interior stays quite calm and quiet and you don't have to shout to be heard.

I'd never consider swapping for a hatch, they feel too claustrophobic after the 'C'.
 
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Wind in the hair will depend on your height and how far back you move the roof. It definitely has a very wide open feeling when the roof is fully opened.:)

Bear in mind the boot is not box shaped when you look at the loading capacity. It's a lot shorter at the top, so you may need do (paritally) fold the back seats down. On the other hand you can always open the roof and but in bulky things from above (if you can lift them).
 
Thanks for the replies guys.Might have to have a re-think about the boot space then.
 
A Brompton fits in the 500c boot, if that's your idea of a "mobility scooter". Seat backs must be folded forward though because of the required depth. One Seat back is probably sufficient, but I don't remember exactly.
 
The Golf would give more space, but a later one would be better - I think the MkVI is the most complained about car on the Honest John website.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/golf-vi-2009/good/

The mk6 cabriolet is a very different car, firstly and most importantly they are largely hand build on the production line in osnabruck the old Karman factory rather than on the production line of the normal golf. Everything backward of the bottom of the A pillar is completely different and they carried on making the cabriolet up till 2016 long after the mk7 hatch came out. Many of the problems on the hatch don’t exist on the cabriolet. The later euro6 cars have much better engines with more power and better economy. My 2015 euro6 diesel is 150hp and does match if not beat the MPG figures you’d get out of a 500c with pretty much any engine fiat fitted.

Back seat is bigger and GT models came with a wind deflector, also the boot is massive for a cabriolet, even much bigger cars like the Audi A5 don’t have as big a boot. Also the design of the boot and roof means roof up or down you don’t lose any boot space, try looking up the Cabriolet on the same website

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/golf-vi-cabriolet-2011/ Scores much better.

To this day they have not made a mk7 or announced a mk8 cabriolet, the next best thing is the T-Roc cabriolet, which is basically the same car as the mk6 golf cab with big wheels.
 
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Get a golf cabriolet, the boot of my is massive in cabriolet terms and it has a roof you can put fully down.

You can get one starting at about £5k for a 2012 model
Good point allthough then your stuck with a golf ;)
Nice cars just have no character about them like most VW's
I like the Eos they used to make but from what ive heard they had massive water ingress issue's
 
Good point allthough then your stuck with a golf ;)
Nice cars just have no character about them like most VW's
I like the Eos they used to make but from what ive heard they had massive water ingress issue's

A standard golf has little character, but then when they are made of rubber and plastic, i'd argue the "character" is what the owner/driver wishes to see in it. I don't think any german car has any less character than any italian car, then again some cars with losts of "character" like the PT cruiser, where just terrible cars.

The Eos is a Mk5 golf, with a leaky roof. Which isn't a problem if you want to spend £50 on a small bottle of special "Krytox" oil thats 100ml size (£500 a litre) then treat the seals with it once a year on every service, then the roof won't leak.

The golf doesn't have this issue, and for the purposes of this thread. You can get things in the boot which you can't do with the 500c. The golf has a much more useable boot than the Eos and is also quieter inside when driving.
 
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Sounds great, still looks fab after all these years. Some Abarth owners are reporting thefts, so worth getting a secure mechanical locking device unless its parked securely. Enjoy!
 
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