[CR4WDAD]

I liked the simplicity of the moonroof in my 1992 Sundance. Manual open, hinged latch raised the back, or you squeezed the latch, and raised it up and pulled the glass rearward to remove it.

The downside was there was no sliding shade in the headliner. I used opaque static cling film to block it otherwise you got roasted in the sun. Even then it wasn't 100% effective.

That was the problem in my mini cooper. There was nothing to slide closed- or there was- but it was a see-through mesh. Pointless. I could feel the heat from the sun on my head. I love that my forester has a sliding cover that actually keeps it dark

 

[DragonSubie7]

People have said that blasting the a/c and opening the sunroof allows you to cool the car down quickly

Because it does.
Heat rises.. Especially south of Canada.

Once driving, an open sunroof will pull hot air out allowing the incoming AC to come in more easily due to the pressure differential, while it doesn't allow hot air in like an open window does.

This aspect of sunroof functionality is typically advantageous where it is not only hot in the car but also outside.
For those who don't live on the frozen tundra, it makes a difference..

I actually miss my sunroofs on previous vehicles...

Maybe that new saw for Christmas...

 

[danornan]

I started this thread because for me, a sunroof (one that opens and closes) is useless. A moonroof (doesn't open) is ok. If I had the option though, I'd never pay extra for either. Having a failure point, extra motors, electronics and seals seems an unnecessary waste. I just wanted to see if others felt the same. Seems like more than half do.

 

[ViTB]

Also, one can get some idea of a material’s overall strength from its Young’s Modulus (E = stress/strain = force per unit area/deformation). E for glass is typically 70 GPa... E for structural (ASTM-36) steel is 200 GPa.
So, in the (hopefully very unlikely) event of a rollover, I would rather have an all-steel roof.

 

[subbieman]

I've owned several different vehicles over the years and have never understood why sunroofs were designed to open. I do occasionally enjoy the extra light from them, but have never felt the need for them to open. All of the associated hardware, electronics, motors and gaskets necessary to open and close, for me are wasted. They also create failure points. Most likely, never opening one that opens might also cause future problems. For me, I can either pass or wish they were just like a front windshield and couldn't open.

all my cars have a sunroof ,,hardly ever use them ,,,don't want to mess my hair up ,,,that's right i'm bald

 

[subbieman]

The moonroof in my Rav4 is more useful because it opens 2 ways, retract like my Forester or tip up in the rear. Tipped up offers lower wind noise and gentle airflow with rain and UV protection.

sometimes i forget to close it when i get out of the car ,,then have to get back in hit start button then close it

 

[Wangle]

We LOVE a sunroof. Open it often. I get my hair cut short for “Sunroof Season”. LOL. Had one fail on a FORD, and left our Ascent open once…. All of my cars have had a sunroof/moonroof since 1982.

 

[Mckillio]

I don't get the sunroof or glass roof thing at all and I live in a sunny place. I'd rather have a lighter metal roof for less money.

 

[RemyH]

I open the sunroof of my 2019 Forester Premium every time the weather is good and it isn't too hot. I'm in Texas, so summers are mostly for A/C.
I wish the sunroof also had a tilt function.

 

[JAGphoto]

I live in San Diego and one of the reasons I got my particular one was because it has the sun roof. I open it often here, especially since it's quieter than having the side windows open when on the highway.

 

[Normadel]

My '07 XC70, bought used in 2012, has a sunroof. Clear glass with a cover over it. I'd love to be able to open the cover and partially or fully open the glass, for the huge ventilation. But on bright sunny days the sun on my bald head is unbearable and dangerous, even if the slightly-tinted glass is closed.. So it is just about never opened

 

[skody54]

I open mine a lot. It was 40F the other day, which felt like a heat wave here in NY, and I had it open for the entire ride to work.
I love the additional air flow without as much noise as having the windows open. (Or at least is seems like less noise.)

I'm with you brother.

 

[SailorDon]

I have tried for years to avoid sunroofs, but on many premium vehicles, sunroofs are standard and cannot be deleted. Sunroofs are 50 pounds of metal and glass in the worst possible place. They are a potential rain leak, can be a maintenance headache, complicate collision damage, and they decrease head room. Here in Florida, sunroofs allow two things I do not want, sunshine and humid air. I like shade and air conditioning. To get the vehicle models I want, I have to buy sunroofs, but I don't have to open them.

 

[Todd111]

One of the main reasons I purchased the base trim is the lack of a sunroof. As a tall person, I prefer as much headroom as possible and a sunroof reduces that headroom. Although the Forester with a sunroof does have enough headroom to not hit my head (which is a rarity), I ultimately decided I prefer the added headroom of not having a sunroof. Also, if I ever go camping and sleep in the back of the car, I’ll have more room if I sit up in the night. Besides, I usually avoid the sun, so I probably wouldn’t use a sunroof. In the few cars I've owned that had a sunroof, I usually would only open it at night which made it nice to get fresh air. I will say, the Forester’s sunroof is one of the best ones out there. It’s very large and has an actual solid cover (unlike other manufacturers’ “Panoramic” sunroofs that have perforated covers).

Really, more manufacturers should make the sunroof an individual option because if I could’ve purchased a higher trim but without the sunroof, I probably would’ve considered it. Even if you aren’t a tall person who needs/wants extra headroom, maybe you live somewhere with extreme weather where you’d never want or use a sunroof. I know my particular situation isn’t very common, so I’m sure manufacturers will continue to bundle the sunroof with higher trims which will keep me in the base trim. Oh well.

 

[Ken C]

Have a 2016 Forester Touring since brand new, and have NEVER opened it. Slid the shade open once or twice, and promptly closed it -- too much light.
(1) Wife and I have had many scalp basal cells from stupid beach years many, many decades ago, and now avoid the sun on our bodies.
(2) Worried that opening it might, in the long run, damage the seals and promote rain leakage.

 

[Botnik]

Because it does.
Heat rises.. Especially south of Canada.

Once driving, an open sunroof will pull hot air out allowing the incoming AC to come in more easily due to the pressure differential, while it doesn't allow hot air in like an open window does.

Do you guys get sun, south of Canada? Because having the sunroof open allows the sun to beat down on you, and on your vehicle's interior. Here in the frozen tundra, the sunroof shade must remain closed, otherwise we will burn to a crisp.

Once driving, once you have exchanged the interior air with air from the outside, you can close all your windows and set your environmental to recirc, so you are cooling the air in the passenger compartment repeatedly, resulting in a lower temperature. If you set it to draw in hot air from outside (is that what you mean by "incoming AC"?), cooling the passenger compartment will take much longer, and your a/c may have problems keeping up. At least, that's how it works here in the frozen tundra.

Getting into a hot car, my first order of business is to exchange the hot air, opening all the windows and getting the car moving. Way faster than convection. And then closing it up and letting the a/c cool the interior air on recirc.

I think people who like sunroofs are the ones that like the sun beating down on them. Not the ones trying to cool their cars.

 

[DragonSubie7]

The concept you cannot seem to grasp is that when you open the windows when it's hot outside, the hot air doesn't go out, it comes in... I had thought this was not a particularly esoteric concept...

By opening the sunroof, in very short order the air is efficiently evacuated from the car interior.
This works especially well as the car moves, with lower pressure on top of the car.
Once that's done there is always that option you apparently have not considered of closing the sunroof.

As far as the sun beating down, that is irrelevant to the topic of this thread, which is related to the ability (or not) of a sunroof to open. The sun can still beat down through the glass whether the sunroof/moonroof opens or not.

The sun has to be more or less directly overhead to cause the discomfort you describe, and at least in the lower 48, it isn't always 12 noon..

 

[Rorgaard]

I open mine a lot, particularly in the spring and fall, or early morning in the summer. I don't care for the mesh wings guard though, it's more noisy than the wind scoop. I'm also pissed that my 2020 doesn't have tilt. If you've ever driven in freezing rain, sunroof tilt means you can keep the windshield warm enough to prevent icing up without sweating your ass off because the heat goes right out the top. In my 2020 I can't do that because rain would get in.

I'm thinking about trying to get a new WRX sunroof wind deflector to see if it can replace the mesh. I'm hoping LSU engineers didn't change the dimensions when designing the new one vs what we use...

 

[MacRaven]

I had to wait in a parking lot for 45 min to an hour, didn't want to run the engine that long so to keep cool I opened all the windows (cross breeze), including the Sun Roof (cause heat rises of course). I think that's the only time I've opened it in a year.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I will occasionally open mine in the winter on a sunny day. On one memorable occasion I forgot about the layer of ice and snow on the roof. I was driving down the road, reached up and hit the button. All of a sudden...well, you can guess the rest.