Would You Have Preferred a Sunroof-less Si?

Simple! Day time, no clouds, sunroof! Night time, also no clouds, moon roof!!
I like the sunroof for the car is brighter inside. If it was optional, would have ordered it with.
However, if the good ol' glass t-roof was an option, definitely be all for it. Loved my
'83 Trans Am, i think the civic would look sharp with it, especially a white one.
Back to the sunroof: could they leak? Sure! So could your side window. Would you
prefer a non roll down option? I guess not! And yes, Honda should offer the sunroof
only as an option! If someone doesn't care for, why should they have it? JMHO

The sunroof was one of the reasons I bought an Si instead of the GTI Rabbit edition, which doesn't have the option.

SCOPESYS said:

100% NO SUN ROOF.

Never use it - opened it once to check it was working, and I assume the Tint guy opened it when tinting the sunroof glass, and that has been the full extent of it's open life.

It is a potential place for water leakage.
Added weight.
Added contribution to heat in the car from overhead sunlight.

But the most important reason NOT to have that sunroof is to get a little more headroom.
Anyone over about 5 10, runs the risk of rubbing their hair, or even their head on the lowered part of the roof, taken up by the sunroof fitting. - and that is just with normal driving.
Hit a BUMP in the road in a Si, and you can easily transfer that bump to the top of your head !!

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Eh im about 6'1" and have no issues. Not as dramatic as you make it seem lol.

zakarybeach said:

Eh im about 6'1" and have no issues. Not as dramatic as you make it seem lol.

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Same, I'm 6' and never had a problem. If I hit something hard enough to ever make my head touch the roof, I'd have a lot worse problems than just a bump on my head lol

Funny I never knew so many people could hate a convenience feature.

6'2" here and the sunroof is no trouble.

The really long doors on the coupe, though, are another thing.

zakarybeach said:

Eh im about 6'1" and have no issues. Not as dramatic as you make it seem lol.

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Well, not all body part length are the same .. I assume I have a longer body, and shorter legs than you... making up by 5' 11" .
Seated in the Si, my head touches the roof, or at least the lower part where the sunroof is mounted.

i turned down sunroof package on literally ALL the cars on my sidebar because i couldnt justify the extra $$$ but wanted the car.

I LOVE MY SUNROOF!!!! dont know how i could live without one now. (convertible celica was fun, but looks terrible with the rag up. Si looks classy af all the time)

You should have done this as a poll, but anyway I prefer sunroofs. I'm glad it came with one. My last car has one, I would have been disappointed if this one did not. I use it frequently on warm summer nights, it helps to keep the car cool without having to open the windows to much or use the AC

I like sun/moon roof. I can tilt and let the air in.

Moon roof means it has shaded glass. During day time, the shaded roof provides light as a moon would have.

Sun roof as you have the option to open the sliding and the shaded glass to get the sun in.

amirza786 said:

You should have done this as a poll, but anyway I prefer sunroofs. I'm glad it came with one. My last car has one, I would have been disappointed if this one did not. I use it frequently on warm summer nights, it helps to keep the car cool without having to open the windows to much or use the AC

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After seeing these 50+ responses I am now realizing a poll would have been useful, indeed. I just had no idea this topic would be so pollarizing.
Informal poll of whether I should make a new poll thread with the same question?

Drake said:

After seeing these 50+ responses I am now realizing a poll would have been useful, indeed. I just had no idea this topic would be so pollarizing.
Informal poll of whether I should make a new poll thread with the same question?

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Nah, I would just leave it. You want to see polarizing? Ask this question: What viscosity motor oil should I use? Next say, "but the manual says 0W20" Then you will see POLARIZING! And you will need to wear a helmet

My sunroof stays closed about 90% of the time. Like it when I use it -- wouldn't really miss it if not there. Would not have chosen one if it was optional.

I've had a few wranglers and I loved flipping the forward section of the top back on short trips. Even when I had a hardtop version I bought a "sunrider" soft top section to replace the forward panels so I could enjoy nice days.

But that being said, the experience was completely different. The opening was much larger, it was similar to the feeling of a convertible and the opening began at the top of the windshield, stretched from one side of the roll cage to the other, and ended just behind your head. The moonroof on the Civic is much smaller. So while it does let in more fresh air(or as fresh as the air could get in NJ) and a little more sun, it only feels to me like opening up another window and doesn't quite approach an open air driving experience to really justify the extra weight.

Like many others have said, I wouldn't have minded if they would've saved the weight and applied the cost towards LED headlights, or something else. I also would've traded the weight of it for a small spare tire, which would definitely ease my mind on road trips.

dantwan1 said:

My question is: what kind of performance loss could happen from driving with the sunroof tilted vs open vs closed? I would imagine it would add some sort of drag but I’m really curious what the difference would be exactly.

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I talked about this with Patrik Sandell (a high-level pro rally driver) on Subarus, and he said they had actually tried to test this on a road course in Sweden. He said the drag wasn't noticeable (although it could be in a top speed straight-line race), but they thought there was slightly more chassis flex with the sunroof open (as opposed to having it closed). He actually thought there was no structural disadvantage to having a sunroof vs not having one, aside from weight.

What we often forget is that the windshield, sunroof, and back glass are actually structural pieces of the car that do play a small part in the chassis rigidity when pushed to the limits.

Of course, none of this chassis flex I'm talking about will EVER come into play on 98% of Civics out there - this is something that would only factor in if you had a car with complete race-tuned and corner balanced suspension, and chassis braces etc.

amirza786 said:

Nah, I would just leave it. You want to see polarizing? Ask this question: What viscosity motor oil should I use? Next say, "but the manual says 0W20" Then you will see POLARIZING! And you will need to wear a helmet

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I can't believe this didn't immediately devolve into a 'best oil!?' thread.

And if I had my way... the car would have had no sunroof for weight savings and maybe even a smidge of body rigidity (Nissan released a scant amount of hardtop Zs in earlier gens for race use... ditching their T-tops. They were highly sought after on the used market.) and would also dropped the adaptive dampers to a set that's essentially what sport mode always has. Assuming Honda passed the savings to us... it probably would have resulted in a car that was $500 cheaper, possibly better performing... though it likely would have been a virtually unnoticeable improvement, and could have made the parts-cost of OEM shocks 1/2 what the adaptive ones ~$300/each price tag. I'm not sure if our dash throws an error if the adaptive ones are replaced with non-OEM replacements. On the Z31s... it make the selector switch perpetually blink.