{"id":2111329,"date":"2026-08-25T19:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2111329"},"modified":"2026-08-25T19:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T16:25:00","slug":"how-average-mpg-changes-when-you-put-a-convertibles-top-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2111329","title":{"rendered":"How Average MPG Changes When You Put A Convertible&#8217;s Top Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"columns-holder\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-widget\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-heading\">Add Jalopnik on Google:<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-on-google-buttons-row\">\n                        <button type=\"button\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"preferred-source\">Preferred Source<\/button><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXBneTRxX2Zw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"google-discover\">Google Discover<\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Fuel economy may not be the first thing on your mind when you&#8217;re cruising around in a convertible on a beautiful spring day. But whether that foldable top is down or not does impact how much fuel you burn. Granted, the difference isn&#8217;t huge, often coming down to a difference of just about 14%. But it all comes down to aerodynamics, causing you to lose a few miles per gallon with the top down.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A convertible with the top up is simply a smoother object that shoots through the air more efficiently, whereas that same car with the top down is a bit of an aerodynamic nightmare. Imagine a closed-top car as a football \u2014 smooth and able to slice through the air in a perfect spiral \u2014 whereas an open-top car is the same football but with a huge hole cut in the side. Good luck spiraling that thing gracefully. Yes, modern convertibles like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2194845\/2026-mercedes-benz-cle450-cabriolet-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">the Mercedes-Benz CLE450 Cabriolet<\/a> have windscreens and wind deflectors to smooth things out \u2014 not just for the sake of fuel economy, but also occupant comfort. Even so, physics are physics, and a difference in aerodynamics is unavoidable.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Losing mpg with a convertible&#8217;s top down isn&#8217;t just theory. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cars.com\/articles\/convertibles-and-gas-mileage-what-does-it-cost-to-put-the-top-down-1420663158190\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cars.com<\/a> once measured how having the top down affected the fuel economy of a 2012 Mercedes SLK350. With everything else held equal, having the roof off made efficiency drop from 31.7 mpg to 27.3 \u2014 a difference of 4.4 mpg, or almost 15%. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pPSyT50azo0\" target=\"_blank\">The Fast Lane Car<\/a> on YouTube, meanwhile, conducted a similar test using a 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2025-mini-cooper-convertible-is-still-an-exuberant-drop-1851702462\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mini Cooper S Convertible<\/a> and logged a difference of 5.1 mpg (37.9 mpg with the top up and 32.8 with it down, for a delta of about 13%).<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In a real-world scenario, however, there&#8217;s an argument to be made that leaving the top down subconsciously causes drivers to go slower, leading to potentially better fuel economy. As a convertible owner, the all-encompassing wind and noise of going above 55 mph with the top down is so intense that I do routinely find myself driving slower. Perhaps that&#8217;s why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/1859851\/miatas-least-driven-cars-in-us\/\" target=\"_blank\">the Mazda MX-5 is the least driven car in America<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and why\u00a0Jeremy Clarkson, as per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/life-style\/article\/the-clarkson-review-my-new-old-jaguar-f-type-is-a-bit-all-white-53rkbt29n\" target=\"_blank\">The Times<\/a>, argued that all convertibles feel the same above 30 mph. &#8220;The whole experience is so dominated by the elements and the wind that you don&#8217;t really notice any handling deficiencies or holes in the torque curve.&#8221; Perhaps all that wind will help blind you to that 14% hit in fuel economy, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add Jalopnik on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover Fuel economy may not be the first thing on your mind when you&#8217;re cruising around in a convertible on a beautiful spring day. But whether that foldable top is down or not does impact how much fuel you burn. Granted, the difference isn&#8217;t huge, often coming down [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-2111329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2111329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2111329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2111329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2111329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}