My New Top -- '99 with Glass Window - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

neilw · 11-20-2017, 04:49 PM

For those not familiar with the Lotus Europa, I saw one a few weeks ago at a local Brit car show. Back in the 70's, rated as the best handling car in the world. And it was kind of a predecessor to the Boxster as a compact, lower priced mid-engine.

While it had a gun-slot rear window, the rearview mirror was hardly in front of you. More alongside your head, so not of great use!

Boxstard · 11-20-2017, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilw

For those not familiar with the Lotus Europa, I saw one a few weeks ago at a local Brit car show. Back in the 70's, rated as the best handling car in the world. And it was kind of a predecessor to the Boxster as a compact, lower priced mid-engine.

While it had a gun-slot rear window, the rearview mirror was hardly in front of you. More alongside your head, so not of great use!

914 deserves honorary mentioning here, as a closer predecessor...

I'm debating glass vs original plastic myself... Just fitted hardtop for winter driving and love clarity through glass top, but I like overall profile and more retro looking with plastic window on soft top. For non-winter seasons, my top stays down 97% of time unless it is raining or below 50F, so I guess visibility or looks won't matter anyway. One downside with plastic may be that I can't put top down whenever I want to, even it is 40F, without fear of or actually cracking it.

jvfante · 11-20-2017, 06:34 PM

As mentioned above, there is an issue of getting a clear view of the following traffic in your rear view mirror with the top up. I have the same Sierra top as the OP and have to lower the seat an inch or so from what is normal for top down driving to get a clear view out the back window. It's not a big deal and the sound deadening and overall look of the new top is a huge improvement.

As for access to the engine, it's about he same as with the plastic window original top, so not an issue for me.

The Sierra top comes with DIY instruction and a hotline for questions that are very helpful. If you take it slowly, it is a pretty straightforward installation.