Am I the odd person out for wanting/preferring a soft top?

[Irish Creig]

It blows my mind that a vast majority of jeeps i see are hard top. The main reason why i special ordered my 2021 JLUR is so i could get the premium soft top, and not have to deal with a hard top.

I just ordered my JL 3 days ago and I got both! I am moving to Erie Pa and wanted the soft top for summer but wanted the hard top for the winters

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[JHTS]

Our two soft tops, I would get the premium. I will get one when I replaced Tigers top.

 

[Heimkehr]

It blows my mind that a vast majority of jeeps i see are hard top. The main reason why i special ordered my 2021 JLUR is so i could get the premium soft top, and not have to deal with a hard top.

There was a practical element to my choosing a soft top for my 2021 JL: headroom. This choice was validated when I sat in a hardtop Rubicon that was in the showroom. The flat fiberglass panels seemed much closer to my head than the vehicle's external appearance would otherwise suggest would occur.

I'm tall, and since the Wrangler isn't excessive in any single dimension, I need every advantage that I can find.

My previous Wranglers were JKURs fully loaded and I can't believe I am thinking about going to the opposite extreme. Somehow it just seems appealing to me.

Wonder if I can remember how to roll down a window or use a key to open a door?

I'm loving the retro vibe of my JL Sport.

I'm trying to decide between hard and soft top and I see none of the soft top owners in the thread mention getting broken into which is my main concern.

It just seems like soft tops would be a magnet for thieves who couldn't resist a peek inside when they see one. I guess owners here are either careful where they park or rarely leave anything worth stealing in the jeep?

The unfortunate irony of a soft convertible top is that rarely does anything need broken in order to gain illicit entry into the vehicle. Yes, the ease of said entry is an enduring concern. Make the choice that best reconciles to your personal circumstances.

I'm fortunate that I'm no longer commuting to a large city each day, and that my soft top JL is parked in an attached garage at night. Had the former still been occurring, I might have deferred the purchase of my 2021 Wrangler.

When I purchased my soft top/half door YJ new in late 1994, it was the middle of a Pennsylvania winter. The rig was parked outside at work, and at my apartment. I lived in an old mill town with a settled population. Knowing my own circumstances, I bought exactly the vehicle I wanted, and that was that. The theft or vandalism that I didn't expect to occur, never did.

 

[Punknhed]

i ordered mine....
6spd
premium soft top, lsd, sport s, upgraded wheels,
i love my soft top, i did put a sunshade on it, which i like, because im a redhead and dont like my head fried. lol. drove it in the winter in Virginia, and honestly it gets very warm and toasty inside. Its fairly quiet on the freeway at 80 also. i love being able to flip it open on a nice day. My first jeep also. My brother has a JK hardtop and it just felt weird inside w the hard top.

 

[beachbumm78]

I got lucky and found 2 softop manuals on lots back in 2018. Mine was actually on the way to the lot. I snagged it before anyone drove it and could have screwed up the clutch.

That’s awesome. You got lucky. Mine was such a unicorn I couldn’t find anything specifically how I wanted it.

 

[Bback58]

I bought a new 97 TJ with dual tops - hung the hard top in the garage in the summer and put it back on in the winter. I recently ordered a Willys with the premium soft top only. The sun rider feature (I think that's what you call it) will make it very easy for the open top in the summer and it looks like it is much easier to put the top all the way down than the old one. For the winter I'm sure the heater will be the same as my Gladiator and that appears to be able to crank out the heat so I think I should be good. And for the really cold days, I guess I will use the JT.

 

[Oldbear]

I had soft top TJ’s before a lot of folks here were even born. These days it’s a hardtop for me. I dont enjoy roasting in the sun, and a few bouts of skin cancer will certainly convince you that’s truly not a good choice. I also like the security of the hardtop. YMMV. Get what you want and enjoy it. Topless is a ton of fun on overcast days and evenings and I can get there in a few minutes if I really want to, however these days it’s mostly just not worth the trouble to me.

 

[BadAssBumbleBee]

Every Jeep I've owned prior to the JL (2 JK's, a TJ and 2 YJ's) was a 2 door, and every one of those Jeeps had both a hard top and a soft top that I would switch out twice a year.

Unfortunately, owning a 2 door JL meant picking either the soft top or hard top because Jeep decided to do away with the dual top option for the 2 door JL's.

I decided to go with the hard top for a couple of reasons. First up here in the Great White North, we have winter weather for about 5 months of the year. While the Wrangler has always had a fantastic heater, I've seen a number of cracked soft top windows after parking outdoors in -25C or colder temps for a few hours. Second, compared to the JK, TJ and YJ, I didn't like how bulky the 2 door JL soft top looked when it was folded down. The JL soft top also doesn't fold down nearly as low as previous Jeeps. Third, even as of today, there are virtually no secure storage options for the 2 door JL if you run a soft top. The YJ's, TJ's and JK's all had some sort of security enclosure available from Bestop, Tuffy or Mopar that you could install behind the rear seat. It wasn't a massive amount of space, but it was enough to safely store my laptop or camera equipment without worrying about it being stolen.

 

[Archeonomy]

I had no interest in having a hard top.

It was the reason I ordered a 2 door JL instead of waiting for a 2 door Bronco that only comes with a hard top.

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