Sunroof on an E92? Yey or nay?

Bubo · 9 Jun 2010 at 19:18

I am on the verge of going for an E92, trouble is so is everyone else if the last week is anything to go by. I put this down to the extra years warranty promotion they are doing at the mo. The 3 cars I had my eye on have been snapped up annoyingly, but they have a couple they are trying to push. One is black which I'd kind of ruled out based on a previous thread, the other is space grey which I like, BUT it has a sun roof.

Now the main problem is they don't have this car in to view, they had to do a search for it on their system. Now my gut reaction was that a lighter coloured car would not suit a sun roof, and sun roofs have kind of gone out of fashion lately lately. I've tried googling for images but I though I'd ask on here to get a quick cross section of views on sun roofs in general and on the E92 in particular if poss. Am I fussing over nothing?

[TW]Fox · 9 Jun 2010 at 19:59

A sunroof is an amazing option to have! It's a no brainer.

Hope your E92 has a decent engine

paradigm · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:07

Wish I had a sunroof

NickXX · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:11

paradigm said:
Wish I had a sunroof

Me too

Housey · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:16

Noooooo, waste of an option in these days of AC.

TS7 · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:17

How can sun-roofs 'go out of fashion'? It's definitely desirable to have. Something you can leave open to keep the car cool when you're not in it aswell.

Westyfield2 · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:17

Definitely get a sunroof model over one without!

Housey · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:18

TS7 said:
How can sun-roofs 'go out of fashion'? It's definitely desirable to have. Something you can leave open to keep the car cool when you're not in it aswell.

Because AC in an E92 takes about 2 minutes to cool the car, much quicker than leaving a sunroof open and in the 70's and 80's when they became the option, AC was something for Rolls and little else.

[TW]Fox · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:19

Housey said:
Because AC in an E92 takes about 2 minutes to cool the car, much quicker than leaving a sunroof open and in the 70's and 80's when they became the option, AC was something for Rolls and little else.

When I had a sunroof it was never about cooling the car down, more about letting light into the cabin.

Rotty · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:20

Housey said:
Noooooo, waste of an option in these days of AC.

Agree, I have never missed having one since AC became standard in most cars

Housey · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:21

[TW]Fox;16719374 said:
When I had a sunroof it was never about cooling the car down, more about letting light into the cabin.

There is that, I liked it in my Fiesta and Cavalier but in the M's they simply stole too much headroom so I never had one, never missed it either.

[TW]Fox · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:21

I had a sunroof and AC in my Mondeo. I miss my sunroof in my BMW

Housey · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:23

[TW]Fox;16719402 said:
I had a sunroof and AC in my Mondeo. I miss my sunroof in my BMW

I miss my Mondeo...

TS7 · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:25

Housey said:
Because AC in an E92 takes about 2 minutes to cool the car, much quicker than leaving a sunroof open and in the 70's and 80's when they became the option, AC was something for Rolls and little else.

I wasn't denying that AC is very effective at cooling a car down. But having to first sit inside a car which has had no ventilation feels like stepping into a sauna and then sitting on burning leather is no fun either. While an open sun-roof doesn't completely eliminate this, it helps a lot.

However the point I was making was the OP isn't buying the car new. So I can't see how a sun-roof can be a disadvantage if he has found an E92 he wants which has a sun-roof.

Bubo · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:37

[TW]Fox;16719195 said:
A sunroof is an amazing option to have! It's a no brainer.

After spending an hour looking on e90post.com they actually don't look out of place at all. Actually quite like the look on the space grey. I was fussing over nothing afterall.

[TW]Fox;16719195 said:
Hope your E92 has a decent engine

Aha, this is where I'll probably get some frowns. Ideally I'd prefer the 2.0 diesel, but these have basically disappeared since this promotion, and given I am not at all bothered about raw performance and I've worked out what the running costs are going to be like spread over the time I'm likely to keep the car, against the purchase costs difference and likely selling cost, I've decided there is no reason not to go for a 2.0i. If I keep the car 5 years it will effectlively cost me about £100-150 a year to run more than the diesel.

I'm seriously not concerned about how quick it goes. The most powerful car I've ever had was a 2.5V6 Vectra B which was about 167bhp and 230Nm. That was plenty fast enough for me. The ED 2.0i is 170BHP and 210Nm. And, bare in mind I'll be coming from a clapped out 1.8 Mk3 Mondeo so pretty much anything will be an improvement.

Its not written on stone yet though, I still have to negotiate with them and the cut off is this Sunday when the promotion ends, if I haven't agreed by then, then I will probably leave it for a few months and see what else comes up whilst I continue to run the Mondo into the ground. Unless IainD wants to take it off my hands for a grand

Housey · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:37

TS7 said:
I wasn't denying that AC is very effective at cooling a car down. But having to first sit inside a car which has had no ventilation feels like stepping into a sauna and then sitting on burning leather is no fun either. While an open sun-roof doesn't completely eliminate this, it helps a lot.

However the point I was making was the OP isn't buying the car new. So I can't see how a sun-roof can be a disadvantage if he has found an E92 he wants which has a sun-roof.

It steals headroom in my experience too, and open roof won't stop a hot seat if the sun is on it, though I concur that is the thing of nightmares! I got into the wifes MX5 last weekend, it had been outside with the roof down for perhaps 10 minutes and it was a waaahhhhhhhhh moment when legs touched seat!

Cosimo · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:50

Housey said:
Noooooo, waste of an option in these days of AC.

That and loss of headroom. I had a panoramic sunroof on my E61 and only ever used it to get some light into the cabin on dark winter days.

Haircut · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:50

Get it.

When I was looking for my car (also an E92) I wasn't looking for one with a sunroof at all, but when I found the right one it happened to have a sunroof.
It's my first car with one and to be honest I rarely open it, but it makes the cabin feel so much nicer when the sun is shining in through the top.
I tried shutting the blind that goes over it a few weeks ago and it felt so dark and dismal in there that I had it open again pretty quickly.

Bubo · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:52

Does that look like its losing headroom? It's hard to find comparison pictures of non-sun roofed cars from the inside for obvious reasons.

[TW]Fox · 9 Jun 2010 at 20:53

Bubo said:
I've decided there is no reason not to go for a 2.0i.

Other than the fact its a 2.0 4 pot in a car that really should have a proper engine, you mean?

Base engine BMW's make the baby jesus sad. Are you just after the badge or something?

The E92 is offered with some of the worlds finest engines - it has no less than 3 Engine of the Year shortlist engines available including two winners. It would be criminal not to choose one, are you just interested in some flash or something?