Summer's Best New Luxury Convertibles

A certain type of car can be a litmus test for the American economy and confidence: When the good times roll, so do convertibles. The gilded Packards and Duesenbergs of pre-Depression years gave way to the tail-finned cruisers of the optimistic Jet Age. Sleek Euro roadsters and Detroit muscle cars played both sides of 1960s streets. But then convertibles went virtually extinct during the fuel crises and economic malaise of the ’70s.

That changed in 1989, when the Mazda Miata shook loose memories of MGs, Austin-Healeys, and other romantic British roadsters. Imitators followed, including newfangled hardtop convertibles that offered the practical lure of seamless year-round driving. But those hardtops involve design compromises, as their complex automated tops tend to steal cargo space when they tuck into the trunk, and the bulky mechanisms can also require wide-hipped bodies to make it all fit. Because of that, soft-tops are staging a modest comeback. Designers favor fabric tops that can more closely mimic the alluring silhouette of a coupe roof. These precisely fitted covers now feature multiple layers and insulation to keep noise and weather at bay.

Hardtop or soft, when the sun beckons on the shore or paints a scenic summer drive, practicality is the last thing on a convertible-lover’s mind. At that hair-mussing moment, it’s all about style, sensation, and speed, in any order you choose.

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