Door locks
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I think it has to do with the door mechanicals. If you go straight down from the locks, you hit the locking mechanism. The door handles are too far away and would be more difficult to have a mechanism that would work.
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You guys must be young, or from a country where all cars come with power locks! 
That's how it normally looks if you have manual locks.
That's how it normally looks if you have manual locks.
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Actually I'm rather old (51) and I believe that Randy is a 40-something guy.
My Miata has a button within the inside door handle area that you slide forward to lock (no automatic locking). My wife's 560 SL has a small lever in the door handle area that you push inward to lock (if done manually). I thought that push down locks on the upper part of the door vanished quite a long time ago (to thwart thieves). Perhaps I'm just out of touch, since we haven't purchased a car in the past 10 years.
My Miata has a button within the inside door handle area that you slide forward to lock (no automatic locking). My wife's 560 SL has a small lever in the door handle area that you push inward to lock (if done manually). I thought that push down locks on the upper part of the door vanished quite a long time ago (to thwart thieves). Perhaps I'm just out of touch, since we haven't purchased a car in the past 10 years.
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Ah, ok, I thought you had never even seen locks like this. I'm younger than you guys , but it has also been a while since I had a car with these types of locks. I remember that they used to be round, similar to the ones in the picture, while other (more recent?) cars used the same mechanism, but the knob was a flat plastic widget.
Naive question from somebody who always owned closed cars: Aren't door locks kind of pointless on an open car? What would stop somebody from simply reaching inside and unlocking it, no matter what the mechanism is? I guess an alarm might, but that could just as well be triggered by somebody opening the door.
, but it has also been a while since I had a car with these types of locks. I remember that they used to be round, similar to the ones in the picture, while other (more recent?) cars used the same mechanism, but the knob was a flat plastic widget.Naive question from somebody who always owned closed cars: Aren't door locks kind of pointless on an open car? What would stop somebody from simply reaching inside and unlocking it, no matter what the mechanism is? I guess an alarm might, but that could just as well be triggered by somebody opening the door.
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With my Miata, when the top is up, the door locks serve to provide some security. However, once someone sliced through the soft top to unlock the doors, but set off the alarm and took off since they apparently were unable to neutralize it.ConeFusion said:
With the Elise, the soft top might not pose much of a theft deterrent; I haven't seen a car in person with the soft top in place, so I'm not sure if you can rip it off fairly easily or not.
One reason I plan to buy the hard top is that it would provide security when the car is locked, so I could use it for vacations and such. [Of course, the main reason is that my wife told me I should get one, because she likes the way it looks!]
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I hope she doesnt call the dealer when you are not there and tell them that she wants a custom pink paint color because she likes the way it looks!
I am more concerned about having the top cut if someone is trying to steal the stereo, so I hope it has a removable faceplate. But I plan on keeping the car away from shopping centers and being left out in the open unattended.
I would love to see someone trying to steal an Elise, it would take them 10 minutes just to figure out how to get into the car.
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Some thieves may not realize there is a starter button!
There seems to be a lot of concern about vandalism. I will try to treat the car similarly to my daily driver, as it is "only a car", and paranoia sometimes takes away from the enjoyment. That being said, leaving the top on seems to be a good idea.
There seems to be a lot of concern about vandalism. I will try to treat the car similarly to my daily driver, as it is "only a car", and paranoia sometimes takes away from the enjoyment. That being said, leaving the top on seems to be a good idea.
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If we get the same Blaupunkt that the current Elise has, it has a removable faceplate.xxxotic said:
My main concern with parking it with the top off would be someone dropping thier mostly empty Super Big Gulp cup right on the drivers seat.
I've gotten people's empty cans and the like in the back of my truck before, and there are plenty of jerks out there who would drop their trash in just because they can.
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