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Some pillock tried to get into the car by levering a screwdriver between the back of the drivers window and the soft top. they did a great job of distorting the frame of the soft top, rendering it useless, but did not get in. fortunately the insurance will cover the replacement.

This had lead to the question - are soft tops more vulnerable to people breaking in to steal items. There was nothing of value in the car at the time of the attempted break in.

The insurance premium would indicate that the actuaries have done the sums and found no great difference to tin tops, the premium seems about the same as other cars of similar value.

I am interested in others experiences. There are two mx-5 at my work place. An NB that had the roof slashed in her car port and my NC that had the screwdriver incident outside my house.

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I've had mine slashed while at coffee in melb last year. I'd parked in a reasonably lit side street, underneath a lamp post. Pricks didnt get too far, even leaving the coat hanger in.. I'm glad the design of the inner door lock mechanism is inside the door handle - makes it a bit harder to reach/slide. Nothing of value in the car at the time either. Gave me an excuse to save weight on the car, removing the soft top and frame entirely and fix in a hard top - now with more practical storage room inside and much less rattle.

Had mine slashed on my driveway last year. Not to steal anything, just for the sake of it. I too took the opportunity to remove my soft top and go hard top only


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I had mine slashed about a year ago in a "secure" underground carpark on the Gold Coast. Again, nothing to steal, it seems like a jealousy thing.

It happens, but its not a huge issue.

I've had to replace the roof twice. I don't think the soft top is less secure. Breaking the window would be easier than cutting in via the soft top. But I think the soft top APPEARS to be less secure - making a crook more likely to go after your car. Bad for us.

The only time my MX5 got broken into it had the hard top on. It's a PITA either way, but it's cheaper replacing a window than a whole soft top.

When I had an MX-5 I got into the habit of leaving the glove-box, centre console open & took the head-unit face off (put the face under the seat) so any potential would be thief can look in & see for themselves that there's nothing worth taking. May or may not have been the saving factor but I didn't end up with any slashed tops in my ownership. I still do the same thing to this day with my current non convertible car when being parked for a reasonable while.

if people choose to break into your car they will do so and leaving things unlocked is not going to make a scrap of difference. Its unrealistic to think glove boxes and centre consoles are just empty and even more unrealistic that all the loose items are gathered up and lugged around by the passengers. You would not want to park a soft top car in known high risk areas.

oh bugger, i wish someone told me that earlier.. thanks for the tip.

Ideally the miscreants would always be caught and sent to jail for 9 years and when they come out they get $5M+ which they donate to you as an attempt at an apology.

I've never had my roof slashed thankfully.

However, I did have a small split in the seam on my old soft top (now replaced) and people would look at it and say oh dear what happened! And then they would stick their finger in the hole, making it very slightly larger each time in the process. My mates got a knuckle on the ear, but when my girlfriends father did it, I had to grin and bear it while I watched him fingerbang my roofs girlie slit.