I have had a sot top car all my driving life and with two exceptions they have all leaked a bit in heavy rain. Bit to my surprise, neither the Fezza nor the F type leak but my wife's (Mercedes group) Smart Roadster does so big time.
Together with wind noise and scuttle shake, its part of the price you pay for open car motoring
Smart Roadsters can be made 100% water tight. Milligoon has one and after over 100,000 miles it remains water tight....and damn quick!
I must contact Milligoon then to see what he knows that our local dealer doesnt.
Not if you buy a McLaren, the chassis is carbon fibre and the convertibles (Spiders) have the same chassis stiffness as the coupes so no scuttle shake. Also the roof panels are carbon fibre and do not generate the same wind noise as an old-fashioned hood.
I drove one ( the 570s) back to back with a 458 Spider and was very impressed by the progress that McLaren had made in the 5 or so years they have been making road cars. The cockpit was a minimalist masterpiece. So was the ride quality thanks to the rigidity of the body.
The roads were too smooth for any scuttle shake. However carbon fibre is just another material and there are only two ways that you can make an open car as rigid as a closed one. First is to strengthen the chassis ie slightly different structure for the open and closed versions. The second is to make the roof of the closed car non structural so that it doesnt add rigidity. McLaren have chosen the second option as I understand it - most car makers chose the first option. That said, the ability of a moulding / bonding process to make shapes that arent available to a press formed structure gives extra rigidity.
As for road noise I did say "open".
I really fancy a McLaren but my budget will only stretch to an older MP4C, and even the local dealer, who also does Lambo, was less than enthusiastic about reliability and parts cost.
