Many of us are enchanted by the prospect of driving a convertible. It is fascinating to speed along the highway with an open top, especially if it is a nice day. Convertibles look cool and you look cool in them. Convertibles however do not come cheap. They are also expensive to run and have the added disadvantage that air resistance takes over much more of its toll than in any other type of car.

What they lose out on though is the real fuel saving aerodynamics of a normal sedan. There is more drag when air hits the uneven surfaces within your car. This makes more air pockets around the car than usual, especially when you are driving top down at high speeds. And it is quite cool to do so with a convertible, especially if you are overtaking your boss.

Top down convertibles can be good in the city where they spare you the use of air conditioners in good weather. On the other hand they certainly burn more fuel covering the same distance as the regular cars on long, high speed drives.

For fuel saving you may consider avoiding vinyl tops. This material allows more air molecules to come in contact with the top and be trapped while the painted shiny car bodies do otherwise.

The result of air not bouncing off the car’s surface so readily causes loss of fuel efficiency. This applies especially on long road trips where your average speed is higher than in the city.

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