California Sunroof - Questsion from newbie
 

Hi -

I'm considering purchasing a car that has the California sunroof. Having previously owned a Mercedes hatchback with the Panoramic sunroof, and a $2000+ repair bill when it failed, I'm being cautious and asking questions first...

1. Is the Cali sunroof subject to expensive maintenance, replacement, failure?

2. Is the car louder than other non-sunroof or "standard" sunroof cars when the Cali roof is closed?

3. What is the headroom cost with the Cali roof as compared with no sunroof and standard sunroof?

Anything else I should be wondering about the Cali sunroof?

thanks!
Scott

1. Depends. There is a gear that can break which is not available.
2. It's has a big hole in the roof. A 98+ may be a little quieter than an earlier model.
3. From what I remember, there is a little more headroom I think.

Add: http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21803

I've don't have a cali roof, but I wanted one, so I have read everything I could find on them. Bottom line: they are more failure prone than than a sun roof, and expensive to fix unless you can do it yourself. Having said that, they just look like a lot of fun!

We tend to forget how old these cars are. Yes, it could easily fail as with anything that has moving parts and is old. That said mines a '96 and it still works great. As for noise level I've heard others complain but closed mine isn't problematic. I only ever have it open around town cause it is noisy at highway speeds open. Pretty much like a convertable. As for headroom, open the sky is the limt closed it must be pretty close to a standard roof. I like mine. I however view it kinda like a convertable or t tops, you tend not to open it up as much as you thought you would. I think the biggest thing you should think about when buying is, am I up to all the headaches an old car can be? If you aren't willing or able to do minor repairs any car over 10 years old or 100K miles might not be a good choice. Otherwise, these sure are fun little cars and the cali top is pretty cool.

I've pretty much decided against the Cali roof. I don't like sunroofs and never use them and it's one more thing to break. I also got burned really badly on a 2002 Mercedes C230 coupe with the panoramic sunroof. That cost me $2000+ to have fixed when the car had 70,000 miles on it.

As for dealing with the problems with older cars....

07 Prius - 92,000
71 Mercedes 250 C - 120,000
67 Mercedes 250 SL - 100,000+
85 Mercedes 300 TD wagon - 202,000
66 Alfa Duetto - unknown mileage

My daily driver is the 300 TD wagon. My husband's is the Prius, unless he is driving the 1971 BMW Motorcycle...

I'm fine with cars that have things that break, but I tend to want to avoid the expensive options that I don't use.