Pam from Fort Collins, Colorado asked about a convertible for her daughter. Pam was concerned about safety. How about a targa along the lines of a Honda Del Sol?
The Del Sol is a few modals years behind in safety, plus it a lightweight car.
I know this may not sound good at first, but give the Pontiac G6 convertible a consideration. http://www.pontiac.com/g6-convertible/?seo=goo_|2008_Pontiac_Retention|IMG_Pontiac_G6|G6_Convertible|_pontiac_g6_convertible
Yeah, good point. It’s just the first thing that came to mind. The only other targas that come to mind are the old Porsche 911 and the Acura NSX. No way I’d give a 911 or an NSX to a novice driver, though. Is there a modern targa vehicle on the market? I liked the del Sol because I once borrowed my boss’ to drive across town to pick up some paperwork. My car is a Jeep. The wind inside is awful with the top off. I was driving the del Sol and had a stack of mail on the passenger seat. Out of habit, I had my hand on the stack, but noticed that the cabin wind was almost non existent. I took my hand off the stack and drove at 75 mph, and none of the papers fluttered around. Pretty impressive aerodynamic styling by the engineers at Honda.
depending on the age of the daughter, the insurance company would be able to tell them which one is better
I can’t even think of a modern targa car that would be suitable for a teenager. I’d mentioned the 911 and the NSX. The old Porsche 914 comes to mind and, of course the Corvette. There was the Camaro and Firebird t-top, a feature that I miss. The new Jeep has a three-piece removable roof, but Jeeps are niche vehicles. There’s the kabillion dollar Audi and the Porsche Carerra. Targas were pretty popular once, but have become a rarity except in high end vehicles, the Wrangler being the exception. Is it an engineering thing? I know that the frame loses a lot of stiffness when you remove the roof, but no more than a in a convertible, I would think. I think targas are great, especially the way Honda/Acura designed theirs because you could can get the top-off experience without losing trunk space when the top is stowed.
How about a fake convertible like a Scion tC with a glass roof ?
Miata. Only two seats, and it turns out that accident rates for teenagers increase with passenger count. Cheap to run too.
Hey, why not the most popular convertible in America?? The Chrysler Sebring? It isn’t a real tiny convertible so it has enough mass to be safer. It has a pretty decent safety rating and can be had at a pretty reasonable price. Besides which, it is kinda cool. (also can be had with an absolutely killer stereo)