Soft top full removal, or cover when open?

[Matt The Hammer]

My XJ was stolen with a flat head and a stick. I had all my goalie gear in it too (had a late game that night) - so losing the truck was one thing, but all my gear mid -season? The worst.

I too received a call when someone found my stuff tossed.

3 weeks then they total it. Until then, it's still yours wherever it may be. That monthly payment was a treat to send in not knowing where my truck was. ha ha

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Soft top a mess? That's pretty hard. Isn't there videos of folks putting it up/ down in a few seconds?

What 4 door vehicle has a better soft top?

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[pmcgeejr]

I am curious so far I haven't owned any Jeep or Jeep Wrangler. I have did plenty of research and test drove a few Jeep Wrangler JKUs. I do see the new soft-top vs the old soft-top and how now they made it easier for one person to put up and take down the soft-top quickly. I am soon about to order a Jeep JL Unlimited but curious on soft-top vs hardtop. I am moving to Florida area and it will be a good or decent neighborhood (but any crime can happen any in good neighborhoods) but Im curious of how many people actually keep their tops on throughout the year in Florida mainly around Tampa area. I read some people in Florida keep the top down 80% of the time and if so it seems a soft-top would be lot better than a hardtop.


Advantage:
-easier to put top up and down in minutes (for weather changes)
-able to use one person to put down the softtop


Disadvatange:
-security access to get into to break in (supposedly but after research seen access security same on hardtop vs soft-top)



Please give any feedback and opinions. Thanks.

 

[smuddy]

Get soft top, don't keep valuables in it and don't look back!
I've owned 2 older cjs and a tj while living in South Florida (first ft Lauderdale and then Tampa) The weather is so awesome that you can drive with top down most of the year. However, you get afternoon rain showers and random showers at times. You wouldn't be able to put up the hard top if you get caught in a storm, obviously! Soft top, all the way! I'm in Atlanta now but moving back to tampa/St Pete in 3 years. I'm ordering a JLUR with soft top soon! My only thing is the rubicon will be overkill, big-time, down there, but I do some crawling up here now.

 

[smuddy]

I did have a lock box under front seat on my jk, but from pictures I saw of JL, I'm not sure there is enough space to put one there.

 

[CantThinkOfAHandle]

after all these years, the softtop is still a mess.

Yes, it is better than it used to be. But it is still a mess.

They could have done a lot better.

This is my only real complaint with the JL. (well and the 3/4 windows should be removable on the hard top)

(There appear to be two parallel threads on this.)

As a Wrangler newbie, I am struggling to understand the roof concept more than anything else. When I think about getting the hard top and leaving it on, I wonder why I can't just buy a Wrangler with a real roof instead. When I think about getting the soft top, I get concerned about the rear window blocking access to the cargo area when up, and the whole roof blocking it when down (compared to an SUV's full-sized rear gate). And when I indulge the fantasy of going with no roof (which, of course, is the point of the design), it doesn't seem terribly practical when used locally, and is impossible when used for trips.

I suppose I'll end up getting the soft top, mostly leaving the top on, removing the side and rear panels when I want air and, most of all, trying to find a quick and easy way to remove the rear window whenever I need to reach deep into the cargo area for gear.

 

[ThirtyOne]

I can't imagine getting a hard-top. I'm not sure I would get a Wrangler if that was my only option. Everyone is different.

 

[pmcgeejr]

I can't imagine getting a hard-top. I'm not sure I would get a Wrangler if that was my only option. Everyone is different.

I like Wrangler due to it being the only consumer friendly option for a convertible suv style vehicle. Yeah no one puts JEEP and SUV in same sentence but face it its a SUV styled vehicle that is unique. The only vehicle on the market that has the removable roof like a Wrangler is the Mercedes SUV which believe start at 100k or around that price while Wranglers are expensive but they are more around 40k for a Rubicon (non customized of course).

 

[COBoarder]

I like Wrangler due to it being the only consumer friendly option for a convertible suv style vehicle. Yeah no one puts JEEP and SUV in same sentence but face it its a SUV styled vehicle that is unique. The only vehicle on the market that has the removable roof like a Wrangler is the Mercedes SUV which believe start at 100k or around that price while Wranglers are expensive but they are more around 40k for a Rubicon (non customized of course).

Completely agree. My '14 JKUR (and my soon '18 JLU) is the only vehicle that I cart the family around, handle the occasional snow communte in DC, flip the top down on beautiful days then take the jeep on trails for a deer or goose hunt.

 

[Matt The Hammer]

Get soft top, don't keep valuables in it and don't look back!
I've owned 2 older cjs and a tj while living in South Florida (first ft Lauderdale and then Tampa) The weather is so awesome that you can drive with top down most of the year. However, you get afternoon rain showers and random showers at times. You wouldn't be able to put up the hard top if you get caught in a storm, obviously! Soft top, all the way! I'm in Atlanta now but moving back to tampa/St Pete in 3 years. I'm ordering a JLUR with soft top soon! My only thing is the rubicon will be overkill, big-time, down there, but I do some crawling up here now.

Man, I see the opposite. Family in Clewiston and Port Charlotte. I don't see as many Wranglers as I do in NJ when I'm there. Even then, ones I see are all hard top. So I ask - been told that the 9 months of the year when hot and humid are too hot for no top and the rain at night makes it hard. I guess from November through March is better.

The first time down there I expected to see most cars with no roof. Sadly, just regular cars with pitch black tint everywhere.

 

[smuddy]

Port Charlotte

I didn't see it...I lived it! It's pretty hot in the summer, during the day. However, you can have awesome weather at night with no top. Oct-May is pretty nice almost all the time. Even during the day, when it's hot, I'd usually have a bikini style top on with no doors.

Rain at night makes it hard to put the top up before going in? Even with the JK, where the soft top was a bit harder to put up, I had no problem doing that in only a few minutes. I guess if a few minutes here and there to put the top down or up is too much trouble, then I'd definitely not get a soft-top jeep. To me, it's completely worth it! In fact, if I had to choose between a jeep grand cherokee or similiar and a jeep wrangler with hardtop, I'd go to the cherokee/other suv every time.

Soft-top or die! ;-)

 

[randyp]

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Soft top a mess? That's pretty hard. Isn't there videos of folks putting it up/ down in a few seconds?

What 4 door vehicle has a better soft top?

just because it is the only 4-door 'vert on the market doesn't mean it is acceptable. Consumers should demand better.

Perhaps the back window could be glass, and power retracts into the tailgate. that would solve the loading issue and "where to put the back window after you remove it" issue.

This isn't unprecedented - the 4runner has a retractable back window - as did some 70s and 80s station wagons. Frameless even.

 

[CantThinkOfAHandle]

just because it is the only 4-door 'vert on the market doesn't mean it is acceptable. Consumers should demand better.

Perhaps the back window could be glass, and power retracts into the tailgate. that would solve the loading issue and "where to put the back window after you remove it" issue.

This isn't unprecedented - the 4runner has a retractable back window.

I completely agree with this analysis, but it is what it is, sadly.

For those of you with soft top JKs, how in the heck do you get at the cargo area, particularly for 2-door models? I'm used to 5-door hatchbacks, SUVs and wagons, all of which, reasonably enough, make this easy. Do you really have to remove and replace the rear window each time you need to reach forward into the front of the cargo area for a day pack or shopping bag? Or, at least, will you have to completely remove the window for the JL, with the elimination of zippers?

 

[bilash31]

For those of you with soft top JKs, how in the heck do you get at the cargo area, particularly for 2-door models?

2 doors are easy. Open the tailgate. The depth (with seat in upright position) is so minimal abnormal width backpack is about as deep as it gets. With seat tilted, you could do the same and just bend and reach in. It's really not an issue IMO.

 

[JHJLUR]

Some hate here on the soft top, obviously it’s unproven still but with all my experience in wrangler softops this really looks like a winner, sure it has a few compromises but it appears miles better then the JK or previous TJ, I have a hardtop on my current JKU and I’m really looking forward to getting back to
The soft top, the hardtop functions fine and gives you the best access to the cargo area but I really took a hit with the topless driving, the panels are unwieldy and storing them isnt that easy/convenient I found I just stopped doing it over time.

 

[TTEChris]

Just found a decent video where they go over the full features of the softop and unlatch the upper rails. I can't wait until they come out with some sort of a cover to clean up the back end with the top down.

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