If you had to choose…

[ejewels]

I live in the NH Lakes Region and have only the soft top. It takes more care in the Winter to not scratch the windows and no car wash. This past Winter had enough milder days that I could hand wash it every week or every other. Mine is garaged and not a daily driver as I'm semi retired. I just know that I wouldn't want to do the changeover every spring and fall so went with just the soft top

Thanks. Stay away from car wash with soft top? What’s that about?

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[ejewels]

My Samurai and my TJ where both soft tops. I did the full doors, half doors and no doors.

My new JL is a hard top. I'll never go back to a soft top. I enjoy the AC and stereo and heat and security and clear windows far too much.

I know folks that hate the hard top.

Not sure I understand, I have heat/AC and they work fine with soft top.

 

[Jtclayton612]

Thanks. Stay away from car wash with soft top? What’s that about?

Windows get scratched to hell if it’s not touchless

 

[CrimsonGhost]

I run my tops about 50/50. ST - May to October, then HT - November to April. I'd probably be ok with a Soft Top year round if I had a garage to park in during the winter. I like the ability to broom the snow off of the HT in the winter.

I also would consider a HT all year if I had a garage to park in with a hoist for removing the HT, though that isn't as quick as popping the ST back.

 

[ejewels]

Windows get scratched to hell if it’s not touchless

Well I should tell my dealer that as I’m pretty sure they ran it through a few times lol. I bought it used and it’s already scratched dup but still in good condition. But good to know. I have a touch less near me and from now on I’ll just go there

 

[Mocopo]

As expected, this is a very split response. Personally, I live in AZ, soft top all the way. Sold my hard top on my last jeep so I could get the Bestop Trektop. Love the aggressive look of the slant back, plus I live with the top off. Love safari mode too.

 

[Jtclayton612]

Well I should tell my dealer that as I’m pretty sure they ran it through a few times lol. I bought it used and it’s already scratched dup but still in good condition. But good to know. I have a touch less near me and from now on I’ll just go there

yeah, I’m team soft top all the way, bought mine with a hardtop and replaced with a bestop supertop ultra. Even when it’s been in the teens on the way to work it’s felt very buttoned up. Much improved from the TJ days. The heater will sweat me out easily, wind noise is also fine imo.

 

[JayCeeX2]

I went with soft top for the following reasons:

1) live in south Flordia, no harsh winters, lots of opportunities to have the top down
2) much easier to get the top down vs removing a hardtop
3) no place to store hard top when off. I keep both vehicles in the garage so no room
4) I drove both soft top and hard top. I didn't find road noise significantly worse on soft top vs hard top, of course hard top is better in that category.
5) I have a second vehicle for those situations where a soft top my not be ideal, ie places that might be higher risk for theft.

I really do enjoy the soft top, plus you get sunrider and safari positions. I didn't think Id like either because I thought looks kinda goofy (esp sunrider, that big canopy just sticking up) but I use both often.

 

[ejewels]

yeah, I’m team soft top all the way, bought mine with a hardtop and replaced with a bestop supertop ultra. Even when it’s been in the teens on the way to work it’s felt very buttoned up. Much improved from the TJ days. The heater will sweat me out easily, wind noise is also fine imo.

Yeah if you ask me, I'd say the only real reason I'd want one is for the added protection (being hard plastic) and I think it looks better/classier... but thats subjective anyways. I also hate how the ST looks in sunrider mode... like a carriage with a bundled up cloth cover lol.

 

[ejewels]

I went with soft top for the following reasons:

1) live in south Flordia, no harsh winters, lots of opportunities to have the top down
2) much easier to get the top down vs removing a hardtop
3) no place to store hard top when off. I keep both vehicles in the garage so no room
4) I drove both soft top and hard top. I didn't find road noise significantly worse on soft top vs hard top, of course hard top is better in that category.
5) I have a second vehicle for those situations where a soft top my not be ideal, ie places that might be higher risk for theft.

I really do enjoy the soft top, plus you get sunrider and safari positions. I didn't think Id like either because I thought looks kinda goofy (esp sunrider, that big canopy just sticking up) but I use both often.

Yes, I just said this in my comment before. I wish there was a way to make the sunrider position look less goofy.

 

[Kllrbee]

Hardtop for me. I actually just sold the soft. Even in the midwest winter, the soft top is perfectly fine though. I just prefer the clean look of the hardtop and the ease of the back window. I admit the soft top back window drove me nuts.
But having both is best for most people.

 

[Nitehawk92]

For owners of both hard and soft tops (preferably mopar “official” soft top)- if you had to get rid of one, which would it be and why?
I have the soft top, and thinking about getting the hard too but at $2k bucks (marketplace) is it really worth it?

If your Jeep was delivered as just a soft top, you have to spend some big bucks to get the hard top fully operational. First the cost of the top $2000 give or take. $100 for the kit that will allow the freedom panels to lock in place properly. And a cool $2000 is have somebody run all the wiring to get the rear defroster and wiper working correctly. If you have the cold weather package, the clock spring needs to be replaced. A dealer and two other shops quoted $2000 just to run the cable and connect it properly. I have the tow package so I thought about just wiring it to the "aux" switches that come with the package. It is much cheaper to buy it with the hard top...

 

[Xcoaste]

I have both the hard top and premium soft top. I run the hard top late fall to early spring. I have 2 boys that play sports and I coach so I use the rear cargo area on our 4 door a lot. Some of our things I put in the rear don't fit under the soft top tailgate bar and it gets to be a hassle undoing the rear window to fit things in. In the summer it isn't bad because I run no rear windows as much as we can.

If I really only had to pick one, it would be the hard top for that reason alone. I have a garage and storage isn't an issue though.

I might consider the sky top though if I couldn't do my current set up.

 

[ejewels]

If your Jeep was delivered as just a soft top, you have to spend some big bucks to get the hard top fully operational. First the cost of the top $2000 give or take. $100 for the kit that will allow the freedom panels to lock in place properly. And a cool $2000 is have somebody run all the wiring to get the rear defroster and wiper working correctly. If you have the cold weather package, the clock spring needs to be replaced. A dealer and two other shops quoted $2000 just to run the cable and connect it properly. I have the tow package so I thought about just wiring it to the "aux" switches that come with the package. It is much cheaper to buy it with the hard top...

yeah I've decided I'd probably just leave the wiring / rear wiper/defroster functionality out since I wouldn't wanna pay that much.

 

[Mocopo]

yeah I've decided I'd probably just leave the wiring / rear wiper/defroster functionality out since I wouldn't wanna pay that much.

When I did have my hard top I would never remember to connect the hookups for those things, and it never bothered me that I didn't have that functionality. Again, I'm from AZ, so YMMV.

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