Deciding between coupe and T-top

[natcc99]

As you can see from the various feedback, there no wrong or right answer. It's all about preference and what we enjoy the most.

@DIRTY_ELECTRIC What is your objective? Are you looking to purchase one?
What will be your use case? Tracking? Canyon carving?

I have a targa and will share my experiences in hopes it helps you out.

Interior Space:

• As many has mentioned, there is extra bracing in the targa to compensate for the cut roof. No brainer there. It's not immediately noticeable in pictures, but there is an extra bracing behind your head to support the roof. Therefore, if you lean back, your head will hit it. I have a lower seat cushion that provides extra head room. On track-days, I switch out to a bucket seat so I can fit with my helmet. (This is why @RYU mentioned headroom in his post)
• Anytime I have to work inside the car (fixing or cleaning), it's great to be able to remove the roof and stand inside the car. To give you an example, I remove the roof when I swap seats for track-days.

Transmission:

• NA1 Coupes comes with a 5 speed with really long gears. It's still a wonderful transmission, but folks wished the gears were shorter. Some swap to the JDM 5 speed gears as an upgrade, but those are nearly impossible to find now.
• Targa 97+ come with a 6 speed and eliminate the long gear scenario. (95-96 are also targas, but has a 5spd)

Heavier:

• Because the car is heavier, everything is beefier. Bigger engine (3.2L), bigger brakes, power-steering with manual cut-off at speed, etc. @Old Guy had a good suggestion of looking at the Wiki page for full details.
• Do I notice the weight? Not really because all my other modern cars are so heavy; it makes the NSX feel like a light weight in comparison.

Open Top:

• My previous vehicle was a soft top full convertible. It also had a hardtop, but it was cumbersome. My Targa is the perfect combo. I can remove the top by myself and store it over the engine vs my previous car where I needed 2 people and difficult to store away.
• Being able to store the top over the engine is amazing packaging. Yes, I agree with @Old Guy that it can get hot, but it's never burn me. I also agree that it's heavy, but someone makes a CF option that should make it lighter. Because I can store the top, I never have to worry about it and it doesn't have to take up trunk space. My buddy has a C8 Vette and it takes up his storage space.
• Hearing the motor is better with the top down. That's an added plus in my opinion. You'll be surprise how "quiet" the car is inside the cabin. I'm not saying it's a Rolls Royce. In other cars, you have engine and exhaust noise in front of you and the sound passes through the cabin. In the NSX, with everything behind you, all the sound is out in the back. By the way, the car still sounds glorious with the top on, so Coupes still benefit from the sounds. I'm just saying there is more with the targa, especially driving through a tunnel.

Looks:

• Thankfully the Targa looks nearly identical to the Coupes. Both look great. There is a little "wing" that sticks out of the pillar. It's design to hold the window in at high speeds. On the Targa, that little "wing" is on the A-pillar. For Coupes, it's on it's roof.
• All Targas are body colored. All Coupes have black roofs. The only exception that I know is the Zandari edition which is a body colored fixed roof. Anyways, as @OE2 mentioned, one can wrap or paint their Targa to black. I've done that and I enjoy the black roof. Plus, it gives me extra protection to the roof as I take it off and on.

Summary:

• I enjoy my targa.
• Yes I take it to the track and it probably flexes, but I'm not fast enough to notice it. I'm just having fun.
• I live in an area that has lots of good weather, so taking the top off is a joy. Driving through the hills with the trees overhead is one of the greatest experiences to get away.
• I personally wouldn't trade mine for a coupe; happy as is.

I hope with this and all the other post, we helped you out. Cheers.

 

[90210nsx]

As you can see from the various feedback, there no wrong or right answer. It's all about preference and what we enjoy the most.

@DIRTY_ELECTRIC What is your objective? Are you looking to purchase one?
What will be your use case? Tracking? Canyon carving?

I have a targa and will share my experiences in hopes it helps you out.

Interior Space:

• As many has mentioned, there is extra bracing in the targa to compensate for the cut roof. No brainer there. It's not immediately noticeable in pictures, but there is an extra bracing behind your head to support the roof. Therefore, if you lean back, your head will hit it. I have a lower seat cushion that provides extra head room. On track-days, I switch out to a bucket seat so I can fit with my helmet. (This is why @RYU mentioned headroom in his post)
• Anytime I have to work inside the car (fixing or cleaning), it's great to be able to remove the roof and stand inside the car. To give you an example, I remove the roof when I swap seats for track-days.

Transmission:

• NA1 Coupes comes with a 5 speed with really long gears. It's still a wonderful transmission, but folks wished the gears were shorter. Some swap to the JDM 5 speed gears as an upgrade, but those are nearly impossible to find now.
• Targa 97+ come with a 6 speed and eliminate the long gear scenario. (95-96 are also targas, but has a 5spd)

Heavier:

• Because the car is heavier, everything is beefier. Bigger engine (3.2L), bigger brakes, power-steering with manual cut-off at speed, etc. @Old Guy had a good suggestion of looking at the Wiki page for full details.
• Do I notice the weight? Not really because all my other modern cars are so heavy; it makes the NSX feel like a light weight in comparison.

Open Top:

• My previous vehicle was a soft top full convertible. It also had a hardtop, but it was cumbersome. My Targa is the perfect combo. I can remove the top by myself and store it over the engine vs my previous car where I needed 2 people and difficult to store away.
• Being able to store the top over the engine is amazing packaging. Yes, I agree with @Old Guy that it can get hot, but it's never burn me. I also agree that it's heavy, but someone makes a CF option that should make it lighter. Because I can store the top, I never have to worry about it and it doesn't have to take up trunk space. My buddy has a C8 Vette and it takes up his storage space.
• Hearing the motor is better with the top down. That's an added plus in my opinion. You'll be surprise how "quiet" the car is inside the cabin. I'm not saying it's a Rolls Royce. In other cars, you have engine and exhaust noise in front of you and the sound passes through the cabin. In the NSX, with everything behind you, all the sound is out in the back. By the way, the car still sounds glorious with the top on, so Coupes still benefit from the sounds. I'm just saying there is more with the targa, especially driving through a tunnel.

Looks:

• Thankfully the Targa looks nearly identical to the Coupes. Both look great. There is a little "wing" that sticks out of the pillar. It's design to hold the window in at high speeds. On the Targa, that little "wing" is on the A-pillar. For Coupes, it's on it's roof.
• All Targas are body colored. All Coupes have black roofs. The only exception that I know is the Zandari edition which is a body colored fixed roof. Anyways, as @OE2 mentioned, one can wrap or paint their Targa to black. I've done that and I enjoy the black roof. Plus, it gives me extra protection to the roof as I take it off and on.

Summary:

• I enjoy my targa.
• Yes I take it to the track and it probably flexes, but I'm not fast enough to notice it. I'm just having fun.
• I live in an area that has lots of good weather, so taking the top off is a joy. Driving through the hills with the trees overhead is one of the greatest experiences to get away.
• I personally wouldn't trade mine for a coupe; happy as is.

I hope with this and all the other post, we helped you out. Cheers.

excellent post and I agree

I will have to find the “wings” you mention

One thing I will say - to see treees above you while driving - i prefer my 95 Mr2 turbo glass top - I can see outside world, cabin feels airy and light, without the outside air coming in- which I cant do in an nsx

Otherwise love my 3.2 Nsx-T

 

[The King]

For the targa seals and the rubber on both side of the doors, do you use a small pea sized amount and rub it on there?

What else can it be or should be used for year around? I dont do this my Nsx's and would love to start a regimen.

I just get a small dab out of the tube and start massaging it into the rubber. You don't want to get too big of gob at a time, or you will get it on the paint etc. I try and do every piece of rubber seal on the car- under the front hood, targa top, door rubbers trunk, everywhere! It will take some time. I do the same with the S2000. Lots of rubber bits to do because of the convertible top.

 

[Arkaid]

As you can see from the various feedback, there no wrong or right answer. It's all about preference and what we enjoy the most.

• All Targas are body colored. All Coupes have black roofs. The only exception that I know is the Zandari edition which is a body colored fixed roof. Anyways, as @OE2 mentioned, one can wrap or paint their Targa to black. I've done that and I enjoy the black roof. Plus, it gives me extra protection to the roof as I take it off and on.

Excellent viewpoints, with one small clarification, there are a few non- Zanardi coupes with colored roofs namely, there are a few Brooklands 94 cars w a matching green roof, and 3 NA2 coupes originally ordered w body colored roofs (I guess more if you count Berlina Black NA2 coupes... or does that count as having a black roof... eh, who knows )

 

[triple18s]

I just get a small dab out of the tube and start massaging it into the rubber. You don't want to get too big of gob at a time, or you will get it on the paint etc. I try and do every piece of rubber seal on the car- under the front hood, targa top, door rubbers trunk, everywhere! It will take some time. I do the same with the S2000. Lots of rubber bits to do because of the convertible top.

How often are you lubricating the rubber?

 

[The King]

How often are you lubricating the rubber?

I've always done it yearly. I missed doing it last winter, and I can tell they are not as supple as they should be. I'm doing them for the last couple of days, and they feel great again. Not like the cars were exposed to much sun or wash water last summer, as the weather was so poor they were rarely out of the garage.

 

[RYU]

Excellent viewpoints, with one small clarification, there are a few non- Zanardi coupes with colored roofs namely, there are a few Brooklands 94 cars w a matching green roof, and 3 NA2 coupes originally ordered w body colored roofs (I guess more if you count Berlina Black NA2 coupes... or does that count as having a black roof... eh, who knows )

I've always wondered if all standard coupes have Berlina Black as the actual roof paint code. I suppose that information is available somewhere?