[Rich C]

heated seats/ heater blowing setting 3 kept the cabin nice and warm.

BUT I've noticed that at high speeds, whilst there's little wind movement in the upper part of the cabin thanks to the wind deflector, there's quite a bit of cold air moving through from the back in the lower half.

Most of my previous cabs have been 2 seaters so the rear balkhead would stop this sort of air curremt - think I'm going to have to look into designing some sort of 'wind deflector plus' that will go across the inside of the car behind the front seats below the level of the wid deflector obviously from when the back seats aren't being used - a mini-project at last!

Think something involving velcro, elastic and some fine black mesh material should work - prefer a fabric solution so it can be easily folded up and stored when not in use.

Watch this space for the results....

 

[Lexuslover]

Must admit, it's my legs that get cold when blatting around in the cold weather - my top half is nice and warm! Actually thinking of getting a motorbike coverall which I could put on before commuting to/from work - it would even keep me dry when I forget to not use the windscreen washers!

 

[Rich C]

That's the other little 'annoyance'.

Previous cabs have had a little lip across the top of the windscreen which pops up when the roofs down. because of the Mini's clever sun roof feature it hasn't got this which means any moisture on the windscreen comes over the top when the roofs down.

Mind you - on the Boxster it used to creep up the side windows and flick all over you...

I suppose it's wht they call character

 

[MadisonMini]

Keep your hands on the wheel

I know what you mean by the cold backdraft. With the heated seats and the front vents pointing at my hands, I stay pretty warm. As soon as I take one hand off the wheel and lower it, even a little, it's freezing!

I've said that the only time the wind deflector would be of use is really cold driving. It's not too bad around 42F if the weather is calm, but if it's windy, it's tough to stay warm. I say this as I always drive with the windows down when the top's down. I never like the look with all the windows up and top down. I'm sure it would be warmer that way, but I'm not fond of the look.

Another point I've found: I thought it was silly when I read Mercedes has the "wind scarf" where the head rests blow warm air onto the back of your neck. I thought "why bother, when you can just have heated seats?" Then I found with chilly top down driving, even with the seats heated, if I put the collar up on my shirt or coat, I INSTANTLY felt warmer. The cold draft on the back of the neck makes a huge difference in overall comfort.

 

[Rich C]

Test drove a 350SLK the other day with the airscarf - got to say it's a great feature. Still going for the Boxster S as my other car though - roll on March for that...

 

[marrsbar]

Test drove a 350SLK the other day with the airscarf - got to say it's a great feature. Still going for the Boxster S as my other car though - roll on March for that...

Good choice, the SLK's a girls car. Boxster is a much better choice.

 

[Rich C]

Prototype....

well as it was a beautiful, but cold, day today I had a bit of an experiment as obviously I HAD to have the roof down.

Nothing fancy, just to see what the impact would be - I used an old jumper, tied the arms around the headrest mounts so that the body of the jumper hung down between the seats.

Boy what a difference to the temp inside the cabin. Without that breeze coming back between the seats it held the temperature from the heater a lot better. It also made the breeze coming down between the side of the car and the seats a lot more noticable so next step is to see what a difference something stopping that will be. But for now, if you see a black mini cab with a jumper tied between the seats it's mine!!!

 

[cymrusteve]

That's too funny! (but actually not a bad idea at all ) That draft between the seats is crazy.

~steve

 

[jean-ji]

I drove for over an hour on Saturday, top down, 38 degrees, going 70mph all the way. Heated seats, wind deflector, gloves, hat and silk long johns under the jeans and I was warm, of course my definition of warm has changed since I got the convertible.
As long as the sun is out, I find I stay warm, sun goes under a cloud or down: brrrrrrrr.
I am looking forward to some sunny winter days.