At the highest point in the car -- raising the center of gravity.

Really? If that were true, I'd expect to see people crack windows on rough roads or when autocrossing.

Probably true in California as well, but it costs more to start with.

An open sunroof is nice on a good day, but not always the best thing if you take medications that make you sun-sensitive.

 

Yes, this is actually true. When my 06 MCS got a stress crack in the windshield from a rough highway when it was 6 days old, I was sure to look into the problem. Every glass person I talked to and every bit of research that I did said that glass is a very important part of the structure of the car. Since the metal frame around the glass is succeptable to flexing, the glass that fills it from corner to corner keeps it from flexing, therefore, becoming a very important part of the chassis. The reason my windshield cracked was because it wasn't installed perfectly at the factory and when the chassis started to flex over a rough stretch of road, the glass couldn't stop it, and that's the moment I heard it pop.

Look, lets be honest here... If you are not planning on putting your car in competition after competition then you have no need to worry about the sunroof hurting your performance. If the sunroof did really hurt a cars performance THAT MUCH then they would add bracing to sunroof cars as they do with convertibles. I've never once heard a car magazine say "the only difference in the two _____'s that we have tested was a sunroof and the sunroof car was slower and had much more chassis flex to it."

Now if MINI went all out and offered a Carbon Fiber roof like they do on some Bimmers now... we might be talking a worthy comparison between it and the sunroof car, but we're not.... yet.

Drew

 

^^^What he said.

I've owned cars with a targa roof, T-tops, and solid roofs. I enjoy the feeling of openness that comes with the sunroof in my MCS. I'm in Texas, and I'm a little "thin" up top...so yes...I have to wear a hat at times If it gets to bothering me too much, I suppose I can always have it tinted darker...

Anyway, consider your priorities: Are you autocrossing every weekend? Then it's reasonable to consider the weight it puts up top (or you might look into the cloth sunroof conversion). Do you like the "open, bright" feeling of a sunroof or the "protected, covered" feeling of a solid roof? Do you prefer to keep things quiet, have the windows closed and rely on the heat/AC, or do you enjoy putting down the windows, cracking the sunroof, and feeling the breeze?

Whatever you decide...enjoy

 

For non-racing use of the car, the center of gravity argument may be slightly more legit than the need for alloy wheels argument. But not much. The highest point on a MINI is still well below just about every other car of equal or greater width. Even CR, which loves to talk about roll-overs, has never suggested a car rolled or lost control due to its sunroof.

 

I didn't choose a sunroof because of cost and every time I've had one in a rental I leave the damn thing open overnight. Thunder storm in San Diego? Rare occasion and I left the sunroof open all night. The ride back to the airport was quite wet.