Worth having or a useless feature you regret having?

My current thinking is when the suns out the top of your head gets hot, when it’s raining you just see streams of water on it. If it’s open my lack of hair isn’t going to protect me from the sun.

Better off with a solid roof and looking out the windows, or the sort of thing once you have one you miss it when it’s not there?

They usually have a blind to cover them when it’s really sunny.

I like them as long as they don’t prevent fitting roofbars. Quite handy to check your bikes are still attached too.

You’re kind of on the right track, I reckon.

We had one in our last car & it does let a lot of light in obviously.
They always market them with blue skies & bright sunshine, but invariably we’d get complaints that it was too bright from my daughter in the back, on those days. The blind was split in ours front & back, but was manually operated. The front was OK, but the rear was a rear ballache to reach while on the move so if it was a bit shall we-shan’t we, it would stay shut.

It probably got used the most on dull days or rainy days as it still lets a load of light in.
It was also good for keeping an eye on the cars on the roof, although that’s probably a bit of a niche advantage 🙂

I’d say if it had come with an electric operated blind, it would have been more useful.

EDIT – I wouldn’t worry about getting a burnt bald head. I think most (if not all) car glass doesn’t let UV through.

On our current car I actively worked not to get one, after years of leaky Peugeot sunroofs, 4 years down the line I would much rather have it than not.

Glass is tinted/treated so no glare and top of head no hotter, ours has a canvas cover thing that comes over to shut it off if wanted. When you first get into a hot car it’s a great way to get airflow and cool it down. Ours opens a crack for airflow when leaving it parked up.

Biggest benefit is making car feel airy and light.

Biggest downside is on some cars it removes headroom, it’s usually an expensive addition and doesn’t seem to give any extra value on resale.

Perhaps not the kind of car you’re considering, but I have one on my Ford Galaxy and it’s ace – really brightens up the inside of the car through Autumn, Winter and Spring. Very rarely have it open though, rather have the blind open and climate control on – though that said often have the ‘blind’ shut in the summer though – all that glass heats the car fast in the sun!

When I was looking at Golf estates a while ago I really liked the look of the glass roof but the owners on the Facebook groups referred to it as a ‘sprinkler system’ due to the prevalence of leaks.

Had them in a couple of cars in the past and generally always had the blind across as when it’s sunny the light blinds/cooks those in the back. I also found that they reduce the headroom enough that I could feel my hair rubbing on the blind which was just a bit irritating (and I’m no Marge Simpson). The only time I found it useful was when I was carrying my bike on the roof bars and I could glance and make sure it wasn’t about to go tumbling down the dual carriageway.

EDIT: I did once have it stuck open as it would go to close and it was like it was hitting something and kept opening back up again due to a fault with a sensor. Luckily it was a dry day and as it was a company car it was sorted out pretty quickly (and at no cost to me) by the dealer. It didn’t get opened again after that.

Our CRV has a non opening one, pretty pointless, I keep the blind closed 99% of the time. Summer gets too hot with direct sunlight and winter just causes cold air to come down from it. It’s maybe a selling point for the manufacturer but in reality it’s useless.

The wife has one on her car. It’s brilliant really. I was not bothered at all when she was speccing the car, but it really makes the interior very light and bright. There is a full length blind so no issues with wind noise (when closed) or heat…in fact we never use the blind at all, been open since the day we picked the car up, and the air con works well enough to control temp inside when the sun is out. As for leaking…well its not a Peugeot so no issues there – to be fair I’ve had a fair few cars over the year with tilt/slide sunroof’s and never had an issue with leaking…but never had a Peugeot. Think it was more of an issue with aftermarket sunroofs rather than factory fitted ones.

I use the opening feature more than the wife does. Like any sunroof or convertible car, the idea of wafting along with the roof open or down is nicer than the real experience. In reality its noisy at any sensible road speed and just not really bearable at motorway or dual carriageway speeds. Also on a really warm day you want A/C rather than the hot sun bearing down on you, but on cool days its nice. But you may as well have it than not if the car is spec’d with it. You might not regret not having it, but you’ll certainly not regret having it.

Before I bought my current Skoda Superb, which doesn’t have one, the one I looked at did have one. When I test drove it it added loads of light into the car. Admittedly that was in January so it was a nice feature. Would I want one in summer? Probably not as I’d have the air con flogging it’s guts out.

My Wife’s VW UP! (With an !, I’ll have you know) has the glass panoramic roof. She wanted it because it had that roof. It’s actually really nice pottering about with it open when the weathers nice.

I think they look lovely, my friend has one and the boss had one on his old car.

They do seem like a bit of a liability though, the Audi ones need “servicing” every few years to ensure they don’t a) leak b) squeak and I’m still not over the fact my gearbox needs a service that’s different the the service the rest of the car gets, I’m not paying £200 to service a piece of glass.

Brilliant makes the car really light and airy. The one in mine is tinted, never have the blind over unless its that weird half light when the kids should be asleep I have the blind closed to make it darker back there.

Also when driving locally in the tropical weather we have had the last couple of days its nice to have it open, almost a convertible.

For sure look for a used car with one, I’d never actually pay for one on a new car though. File it under “nice to have”.

had them on two cars, one opening the other not (kia sportage and nissan quashqi – can’t remember which one opened). came as standard extras on the company cars, wouldn’t bother paying for the upgrade myself and wouldn’t have one out of choice. as a man with very little on top you could feel the extra heat baking your head on a sunny day, so the blind stayed closed most of the. the wind noise was too much for it to be open at any speed above pootle / sitting in traffic. if you carry bikes on a roof rack they also significantly increase the noise on the cab from them. look great in the ad’s but not really that practicle

I wouldn’t have one, especially if I was carrying anything on roof bars. One slip, and that’s £1500 of glass that needs replacing!
My old Octavia had a tilt and slide glass sunroof, and it was a pita, it would randomly open and close, and then it started leaking, I had a half-inch of water in the footwell once, took sodding aged to dry out. I had to pull the fuse and use silicon caulk to seal it in the end.

Car will be second hand, so it may or may not be easy to find the obligatory Octy VRs estate with one. I’m not really a new car person so it’ll be pre-loved.

For some reason I am also loving the flat grey colour, which makes the selection criteria annoyingly specific. I figure an estate will work better with big daft dog as opposed to the current 3 door golf.

For some reason I am also loving the flat grey colour, which makes the selection criteria annoyingly specific.

What, like this one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2018-SKODA-Octavia-2-0-TSI-vRS-DSG-s-s-5dr

I’m possibly in the market for an Octavia so I’m checking them every day. The new isofix baby seat barely fits in the back of the 3 door Fiesta and it’s a nightmare trying to lower it in from the front. It’s going to get old immediately.

I’m looking at cheap ones though because it would be ridiculous to have an ST and VRS at the same time. Or… would it?

We’ve had a couple of Skodas with them, one electric opening & blinds, the other non-opening with manual blinds. No problems with the non-opener, but manual blinds were a PITA, especially as you need to use them quite often to avoid getting baked or dazzled.

The opening roof on my wife’s Yeti L&K was a right nuisance, and it spoilt the car really. The Yeti was just over a year old when she bought it, and the sunroof started rattling and creaking within weeks of getting it. Looking on the web, it’s a common problem with VAG sunroofs. The dealer replaced some parts and then lubed the seals with special lubricant. The latter worked for about 6 months, but then it needed redoing – while it was in at the garage the mechanic found one of the gutter drains was blocked, so he cleaned that out (he told us to keep an eye on it and feel the carpet in the footwells every now and then, as this is one of the signs the drain holes are blocked. Oh, and our neighbours brand new ‘posh’ Audi SUV had the exact same creaking sunroof problem.

Anyway, I guess you know what I’m gonna say – avoid one with a sunroof at all costs!😄

p.s. we used to have a VRS estate and it was absolutely great (wish we’d replaced it with another one instead of the Yeti).

I wouldn’t have one, especially if I was carrying anything on roof bars. One slip, and that’s £1500 of glass that needs replacing!

Nah. drop a bike on it or more usual stuff you’re likely to be carrying on the roof and its more than strong enough to withstand that..and would probably fair better than a metal roof that would be scratched or dented. If you carry alot of building materials not the roof then maybe not, but then maybe you need a van or flatbed.

We ordered a new Tiguan recently.
The panoramic roof was a £1.2k option!!
They get plenty of bad press on the various forums so spent the budget on a reversing camera & tow bar instead. The demo car we tried had one but we struggled to see how it would justify spending that much money for many of the reasons above.

@sharkattack Exactly like that and my other car is a GTi, so keeping your ST and getting a reasonable estate makes perfect sense to me 🙂

I might have been slightly traumatized a couple of years ago having to pay for the mandatory sunroof service….
In the UK and northern Europe having light from above is nice. Head down to the Med and you’ll have it all shut up as the heat build up is immense. The joy of open roof driving with blistering sun is over rated.
Overall, I like it. But within limits.

Had one on my last 4 cars (bar the cheapo passat) Kids love it, makes car bright and airy and even when open motorway speeds dont create a huge amount of noise.

I would struggle to buy a car without one now.

My Mini has a Pano roof with the front bit opening basically a large sunroof, gets a bit noisy at speed but I still like it and it does have blinds as well, my wife has pretty much a full length non opening Pano roof on her Civic with cool powered blinds, both cars came with it as someone spent a lot at the dealer..not us wouldn’t go out of my way to have one.

Good for seasucker bike racks.

I have one on the current car

Its like driving 2 completely different cars to me. I like it with the blinds over in winter and open/partly open as its is at the moment

Nice feature but you dont have to use it