Hard Top vs Soft Top thoughts from owners

Welcome to the Bronco Nation.

If you plan to have both,
I would Get the hardtop now.
It’s way more cost effective to get it with your build from the factory.

I have a hard top, but never wanted it, so now its in the warehouse as I ride around with my soft top (bestop)

Ill trade a slightly noisier highway experience for the ease and convenience of a soft top anyday

1200 miles with soft top and have had top down all week, greatly enjoyed. Me personally I go soft top. Noise has not been in any way discomforting. No water leaks to speak of.
If you enjoy the sun and wind in your face the only choice is the soft top. But you will loose the security of what's in your ride.

We have a 2D, and have zero interest in removing the rear of the hard top ever. The front two panels take 20s to remove which is fine. Our weather here is either hot or cold with not much in-between so our "perfect top off weather" days rare at best.

ride high

1200 miles with soft top and have had top down all week, greatly enjoyed. Me personally I go soft top. Noise has not been in any way discomforting. No water leaks to speak of.
If you enjoy the sun and wind in your face the only choice is the soft top. But you will loose the security of what's in your ride.

just lock the consoles up

My Irish heritage prevents me from taking my top off. Burnt in 60 seconds, lol

Speed Devil

just lock the consoles up

understandable, but you do have to consider what your willing to loose from broken into console. Yea I know they make a safe.

@ride high I've owned soft topes and hard tops and the idea that thieves are running around cutting soft tops and stealing the contents just isn't as rampant as most would make you believe. It takes the same amount of time to break a window as cut a window, or pull one (frameless) open enough to gain access. I've read on the Interwebs that owning a soft top is like having an open air vehicle with all your valuables exposed, but I've never known a person that had their top cut so a thief could access the vehicle. I have on the other hand known several people that have had their vehicle "burglarized" who owned a hard top. A thief has no more motivation to cut a soft top than break a window if your valuables are out of sight.

I know the OP asked about people that own Broncos with both tops, and I don't think there are (m)any. So, from the perspective I've owned both styles of top, I think the soft top is much more versatile, but that is not a given. Where you live and how you use your vehicle makes a big difference in how you can use it. I'm jealous of folks with a roof rack for instance, because having a roof rack with a soft top is a different thing. There are many more days that I flip the top back (the current style of soft top with a "sunrider" position is really cool). I'd like to run a roof top tent from time to time, but with a soft top, trying to figure that out, then being caught topless, is a thing. A hard top might be different. Other than that though, the soft top is louder (on Jeeps anyway), but it holds in the heat in the winter and cold in the summer just fine. It's easy to pull the windows, like really easy, and throw the top back part of the way, or all of the way. You do need to make sure you always have a hat or you'll end up with a sunburn (yeah, I'm burnt from my Sunday drive in the woods).

If you have weather that allows you to run with the top down even a handful of times, I think you'll really like having a soft top. If you're building an "overland" rig with all the stuff hanging off the outside of the vehicle, I think you'll be better served by a hard top.

My Bronco is a hard top, and I love it. For what it's worth, I've had three wranglers with soft tops (one with both soft and hard top). I realize the Bronco soft top is somewhat different from the soft tops on wranglers, however after about a year, on every wrangler soft top, the side windows and rear window were so full of micro scratches so that they were essentially opaque. And they were noisy at speed when up, slapping loudly on the supports. Those issues , in my view were too much for the few times I had the top down. That experience, plus the water absorbing cloth on the Bronco soft top, pushed me to the hard top.

I have the soft top and love it. I've had the top down for months now and no complaints. I just removed the soft top (very easy) and put the GearShade Mesh Top on and love that as well. I'm in Colorado and this is the perfect set up for my lifestyle.

I have the hard top. It’s fantastic. Absolutely no leaks detected, even after trying to force them at the car wash. It’s durable and strong, much more so than the Jeep’s, while having lighter front panels than the Jeep. The release levers have a positive feel, unlike the Jeep’s clunkiness.

Best of all, there’s no running trough of water that dumps straight into your vehicle (onto your hand if you use the grab handle) when it’s raining outside and you open the door—BY FAR the biggest oversight on the Jeep JL.

Speed Devil

I have a hard top, but never wanted it, so now its in the warehouse as I ride around with my soft top (bestop)

Ill trade a slightly noisier highway experience for the ease and convenience of a soft top anyday

If you don't want your hard top I'm sure there is someone out there willing to pay good money for it, maybe even a couple grand. Lots of folks went soft, to get there order but would rather have the hard.

tstarks

If you don't want your hard top I'm sure there is someone out there willing to pay good money for it, maybe even a couple grand. Lots of folks went soft, to get there order but would rather have the hard.

Would a 2dr hardtop work with a 4dr?

People still deciding if Hard is better than Soft........I'm always going Hard...

Very happy with the soft top. Plus its lighter and better for heavy offroading (based on my previous experience with jeep soft tops vs other hard shells like FJ etc.

Sometimes wish the rear cargo hatch zipped up and down but the lift feature is good enough AND you can remove the rear windows if you want too on soft top.

I have sadly not put my top all the way back nor taken out my windows or doors, for now. Still a fresh mint ride. Noise, leaks and security are all not an issue.

I have the soft top I love how easy it is to push back, no leaks. As for the wind noise my 2019 Rav4 was just as noisy driving down the highway. my biggest complaint is how the back opens up it hinders my overlanding plans. So I will be putting in a new order with a hardtop when the books open again.

I also have had the soft top for the last 8 months and absolutely love it! As far as security goes I installed ford's cargo security enclosure as a solution which works great. Top feature is the ease of use. I use it all the time but I live in so cal:)

Just wondering how many times someone has broken into your vehicle and been stopped by the cargo security enclosure?

AcesandEights

Just wondering how many times someone has broken into your vehicle and been stopped by the cargo security enclosure?

Zero