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I live in SW Florida almost year around...it gets very hot here, and the UV rays are strong.
Feel like temps of 115+ are regular, & UV ratings of 10 can go on for hours.
I could cook an egg on a glass sun/moon roof here on some days.
I've always tried to buy or lease base model cars & suv's to avoid glass sun roofs, moon roofs, or any glass or black paint on top of the vehicle at all.
I usually buy/lease White or Silver vehicles, because they handle the heat a lot better.
On a hot Summer day, just touching a black hood, roof, or trunk of a car, or any glass top panel, here can burn you.
It is getting VERY hard to avoid all glass and black areas on the top surfaces of cars & suv's now.
What has been the experience of others in Florida, Texas, Arizona, & other very hot climates, with glass tops, and/or black top surfaces?
If you wash your vehicle, can the glas crack? Does the inside get even hotter than a White metal roof vehicle?
In a few months, I'll likely have to replace a leased white metal roofed base model suv, w/o any glass sun/moon roof, so I'm starting my research now.
thx for any feedback you may have. These vechicles w/ glass covering most of the roof surface area seem slike a very bad idea to me for climates like mine.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I hate sunroofs, they are noisy when open and serve no practical purpose. Still I have had 3 cars including our current Outback with one. The problem is the way they are bundled with other more important features. For the Outback, my wife wanted the hands-free power tailgate. That came only with a package that includes the sunroof. Neither the glass part or the sliding inside cover has been open since we bought it in 2019. We are not in a hot climate here in Washington, but when we lived in California we never had any glass break when washing at as much as 105F, but the rubber moldings around the sunroof would suffer from cracking in 5-6 years if left outside all day. I have also had several black vehicles, and yes, they do get hotter inside when in the sun. Sometimes the steering wheel was too hot to even drive it.
I don't buy cars with sun/moon roofs. Only owned one car with one years ago...it was metal. Where I live snow and ice happen half the year, rain much of the rest. I'd hardly ever open the thing and meltwater potentially freezing and expanding inside the frame/drain channels causing trouble is a concern. Gaskets weather and leak over time IME. I want an uncut, solid roof on my car thanks very much! It seems to make sense that a glass sunroof would absorb more heat and faster than a metal roof, but they absorb heat in different ways. Heat resistant glass exists, but I don't know if it's used for car sunroofs. From a science perspective you may find this interesting:
What has been the experience of others in Florida, Texas, Arizona, & other very hot climates, with glass tops, and/or black top surfaces?
I had a black Honda Accord with a sunroof. It had a separator to the inside so the sun didn't shine in the car unless you slid it back. I had no issues with it in Georgia.
As far as the roof, I mean, my white Jeep gets hot too but I see no reason to touch it in the summer.
Both vehicles get hot as hell in the summer. I have a cloth steering wheel cover to keep my hands from burning.
I live in SW Florida almost year around...it gets very hot here, and the UV rays are strong.
Feel like temps of 115+ are regular, & UV ratings of 10 can go on for hours.
I could cook an egg on a glass sun/moon roof here on some days.
I've always tried to buy or lease base model cars & suv's to avoid glass sun roofs, moon roofs, or any glass or black paint on top of the vehicle at all.
I usually buy/lease White or Silver vehicles, because they handle the heat a lot better.
On a hot Summer day, just touching a black hood, roof, or trunk of a car, or any glass top panel, here can burn you.
It is getting VERY hard to avoid all glass and black areas on the top surfaces of cars & suv's now.
What has been the experience of others in Florida, Texas, Arizona, & other very hot climates, with glass tops, and/or black top surfaces?
If you wash your vehicle, can the glas crack? Does the inside get even hotter than a White metal roof vehicle?
In a few months, I'll likely have to replace a leased white metal roofed base model suv, w/o any glass sun/moon roof, so I'm starting my research now.
thx for any feedback you may have. These vechicles w/ glass covering most of the roof surface area seem slike a very bad idea to me for climates like mine.
A conventional sunroof is smaller and also has a hard shade to block the light from coming in and that probably provides some insulation to boot. In recent years though, "panoramic" sunroofs that have huge glass areas and often no shade, are used in higher end vehicles. In a hot climate, I think that might be a big mistake because you've already got windows on all four sides, and you make it a complete greenhouse if you provide a glass roof too. I have definitely heard complaints in reviews of those vehicles re hot days and the cabin getting excessively hot. I have not experienced first hand though.
The auto industry adds these glass roofs to add to the cost of the vehicels, even though most dont want the glass roofs or the added costs. I have no proof of this, its just my opinion.
Many options are unwanted, & just drive up costs, and profits for auto makers.
I think a bare bones auto maker could hit a home run in the USA.
I like the back up camera, & warning, & blind spot warning, but the rest of it is overkill.
The electronics packages are overkill too.
They are straying far far away from what I want, and these glass panoramic roofs are a no go to me after reading your posts.
I do have a 3 car garage, so it would be parked inside, but it adds $3,500 to the cost...no thx
I hate sunroofs, they are noisy when open and serve no practical purpose. Still I have had 3 cars including our current Outback with one. The problem is the way they are bundled with other more important features. For the Outback, my wife wanted the hands-free power tailgate. That came only with a package that includes the sunroof. Neither the glass part or the sliding inside cover has been open since we bought it in 2019. We are not in a hot climate here in Washington, but when we lived in California we never had any glass break when washing at as much as 105F, but the rubber moldings around the sunroof would suffer from cracking in 5-6 years if left outside all day. I have also had several black vehicles, and yes, they do get hotter inside when in the sun. Sometimes the steering wheel was too hot to even drive it.
I use my sun roof for one practical purpose - in the Summer I open the sun roof when I start the car, and much of the hot air rises out the sun roof, making the car feel cooler immediately. After about 30 seconds, I close the sun roof and the interior shade, and do not reopen them until the next time I get into the car and it's hot.
After 14 years, I do not see any deterioration of the sun roof seals. It's a 2010 4Runner.
I hate sunroofs, as a bald guy driving in CA, I have no use for them. My eyes are sensitive to light, so I always tint my cars if they don't have it. As far as I am concerned, they are selling me a car with a defective roof. Keep our cars for a long time and don't want to deal with leaks, etc.
My recent gripe is with Toyota. Want to buy a Corolla Cross Hybrid, either the SE or XSE trim but Toyota adds all the packages to them, including the sunroof. To me, this means I have to pay an extra 3K+ with taxes for something I won't use and probably have to fix.
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