Re: How much louder are soft tops?
 

Thanks H2 rocks!

What year were both H1's? Were they Alpha's? My '96 wagon is fairly loud and I don't want to get anything louder. I do have to believe though that any of the new H1's have to be quiter than my old dog...

Re: How much louder are soft tops?
 

Was this comparison in an Alpha? Funny, because I compared the two on the freeway and could not tell much of a difference at all.

I do agree with you about the storage space. It is nice to have the interior room in the rear, but it's also nice taking the top off.

So there are trade-offs to both.

Re: How much louder are soft tops?
 

Definitly. I would not feel good about throwing a deer in my wagon. I would go open top. Consider just having the convertible and the rewards yuo get out of it. If this is a rig you want to keep long term, (even getting a daily driver on top of it) Then a soft top affords much more rewards. (JMO) I would never sell it unless it was a mechanical P-O-S.

Re: How much louder are soft tops?
 

They were both Alpha's, and I really didn't spend a lot of time in them. The soft top was one we couldn't wait to get out of. I'm not sure if the top was even tight. We noticed it wagging and moving and couldn't wait to get out.

There are definitely trade offs. I'd never allow a dead deer thrown in my truck either, soft top or not. ICK! ;) :D

I really liked the wagon and I can fit all my stuff in it with no worries about anything getting wet. If there was a rack to fit over a soft top I might have considered it more. If you have an earlier model soft top I've heard the new ones are really padded and fit great comparitively speaking. So if you like the ability to take it on and off and don't need the room, you'd probably like the one on a newer Alpha.

Good luck!:)

Re: How much louder are soft tops?
 

There are roof racks for the open top H1's.

I have an '01 open top and it is quiter than my friends '02 wagon. He drove mine for 3 hours on the interstate and couldn't believe how much quiter it was. The later year models do have better insulation and the tires have a lot to do with road noise as well though, so make sure you compare apples to apples. Also, some owners have put extra insullation in the dog house to successfully remove quite a bit of noise.