Glass Roofs

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

Caporegime
Joined
9 May 2005
Posts
32,078
Location
Cambridge
While shopping around for a car for the Mrs we ended up in a honda dealer. I noticed quite a few of the models had full glass roofs.

Whats the point?

We found a model she liked but neither of us like the glass roof. We couldn't ever see a time where we wouldn't have the blind pulled. Especially with a baby in the back.

How tough are these roofs? Are they likely to get chipped/cracked and ever need replacing?

What about in a shunt?

I'm just curious to how safe it is :confused:
 
I love mine. I assume that honda have had the safety aspect checked.

Its nice to have open on a sunny day (cant wait until we get one).

The civic has bigger faults to contend with before the roof will become a problem.
 
I'm not sure I'd want to roll a car with a glass roof.

Obviously, rolling one is not the best idea in the first place, that said, if I did put one on its roof, I'd guess a metal one would be the better for such a bad situation !
 
I noticed them with the Fiat 500, did make the car nice and light and airy inside :).

But, without being elitist, Renault weren't able to ever get the sunroof right on mums Clio, so I decided that I didn't trust Fiat to do a glass roof. I could just imagine all the hassle of getting it fixed constantly! Similarly I'd only buy a convertible from a proper make, e.g. BMW and above.
 
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My parents were involved in a crash in a new shape Civic where the car rolled serveral times and the Glass roof was fine.

When I'm at work tomorrow I will try and find a picture of the car after so you can see what kind of state the roof was in after. The car rolled 2/3times and came to rest on it's roof so it was given a good seeing too lol :D
 
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R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
I'm not sure I'd want to roll a car with a glass roof.

Obviously, rolling one is not the best idea in the first place, that said, if I did put one on its roof, I'd guess a metal one would be the better for such a bad situation !
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Rather roll a car with a glass roof than a convertible with the roof down.
Can imagine that they are going to meet the required safety standards plus all the joys of open'ish top motoring.

Saying that, i wouldnt want one since i have enough problems in cars with sunroofs on very sunny day. Joys of not much hair on top. Can imagine them getting very hot if left in the sun with blinds open.
 
mattyg said:
I love mine. I assume that honda have had the safety aspect checked.

Its nice to have open on a sunny day (cant wait until we get one).

.
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See my mrs current car has a sunroof, it already had it fitted as an option and it was pre-registered. We wouldn't intentionally want or chose one. In 3 years the only time the blind has been slid back and the roof opened is to clean the seal :D

As I said most of these honda cars that have it are family cars and I can't see many people sliding the blinds back in the summer as most people have shades in the windows to stop the sun getting in little timmys eyes.

I just can't see the point of them.

We wanted the better spec'd car but it comes with the glass roof, so will probably take the lower option.

BenjiSayers said:
My parents were involved in a crash in a new shape Civic where the car rolled serveral times and the Glass roof was fine.

When I'm at work tomorrow I will try and find a picture of the car after so you can see what kind of state the roof was in after. The car rolled 2/3times and came to rest on it's roof so it was given a good seeing too lol :D
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to see those pictures :)
 
We had a full-length roof on our C Class SC. My parents had a nasty smash and the crews were unable to use the 'jaws of life' because of it.
Something to think about, although it did perform very well in the frontal collision.
 
My Tomcat had a glass targa.

Was a lot easier once it shattered for the fireman to get me out with the car on its side :D

Most roofs like that will be laminated though and the roof rails will be reinforced so the glass doesnt act as much of a stressed parts as a typical metal roof.
 
Shoei said:
Rather roll a car with a glass roof than a convertible with the roof down.
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I had the misfortune a few years back of being a passenger in an XR3i Escort convertible that flipped over with its roof down, I was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the car and walked away without a scratch.

The Fireman who had to cut the driver from the wreckage said I'd have been dead had my belt been on & kept me in place!

So that one, for me! is a bit difficult to call!

And to think my girlfriend can't understand my hatred of convertibles and wonders why I'm trying to put her off getting one? :rolleyes:
 
Is that the XR3i with the massive roll hoop/B pillars design way back before the days of computer aided engineering techniques?
 
I love the one on my dads Targa, brings so much more light into the car and makes you have most of the outdoor light airy feeling as a convertible even on a dreary day when its raining and you dont want to have the roof down, and when the weather is good can get it back so you have a massive big hole to hear the Flat 6 roar :D
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Is that the XR3i with the massive roll hoop/B pillars design way back before the days of computer aided engineering techniques?
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Thats the one! Somewhere, I have some old photographs of a B reg one with that post bent round over the passenger seat (where I was sitting prior to ejection!)
 
Laminated glass may actually be stronger than a steel roof skin. But regardless of the material used, it only provides tension to the frame, like a stringer, the A pillars actually run back the length of the roof and provide the structure of the passenger safety cell.

I don't think I could make much use of a glass roof either though.

Shoei said:
Can imagine that they are going to meet the required safety standards plus all the joys of open'ish top motoring.
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Not really, Best bits about an open top are:
-Sounds of the outside of the car.
-Nothing at all around you except the windscreen.
-It's windy.
 
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I've always thought these large sunroofs were somewhat awesome. Got a sunroof in the Coupe (yeh it's an old T-Bar one) and I love it. Had it open today :cool:
 
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