Month: September 2008

Modern convertibles are one touch affairs where you press the down button, on the dash or remote, and the electronics do everything to get your top and windows down and stowed away. This activity is almost breathtaking to watch, the hydraulic and electric dance of motors, servos, sensors and cylinders.

But this array of electronics and motors doesn’t come cheap. Most Saab convertibles (for instance) come with 5 year and 50,000 mile warranties and the factory guarantees your top will work during that period. These top designs are usually farmed out to companies like AST and are not designed in house by the manufacturers. And practically all modern convertibles are done this way.

Now that your car is out of warranty and the top breaks (which it will) what are you facing? Parts are extremely expensive… even aftermarket parts on the internet don’t give you much of a break. Top cylinders are usually $500 bucks apiece, and where they use motors, they are usually more, around a grand apiece, and there are at least 4 of them in the usual top. Potentiometers and sensors are all over a hundred each, and there are lots of them. If you have a tonneau cover that covers up your top automatically, there are more motors and cylinders involved. Then there’s the guy that’s gonna put it all together for you, he usually comes in at a hundred dollars an hour.

I’ve always been a kind of minimalist kinda guy, and I was always a fan of how Fiat did their tops in the 70’s. It took one hand to put it up or down. Nothing to break. Unfortunately there was plenty other things on a Fiat to break. Buying an older used convertible can easily turn into an expensive purchase.

greg

What is VW thinking? I’ve seen a lot of funny stuff from manufacturers but this is hilarious This is not a microbus but a Chrysler town and country minivan with a VW nose hung on it. Not only is the body Chysler stuff but the drivetrain also. I guess this is one way to make the minivan trendy.

Why couldn’t VW’s engineers come up with their own bus. (My own theory is that all the good German engineers already work for Mercedes and BMW, and there aren’t any good ones left over.) Admittedly, Chrysler has got the minivan market down, and do build a pretty good product, but this global borrowing of everybodys stuff is making me woozy. With Ford transmissions made in Japan and Harley engines designed by Porsche, I guess it’s not that much of a stretch to rebadge an old Dodge minivan. But why would VW cheapen their mystique on an old bus?

greg

p.s. I just saw septembers issue of Autoweek, and in it is an add with Brooke Sheilds touting the German engineering of the Routan. The only German engineering I see is the grill.

But it is a nice grill…