Convertible sales have shrunk across the industry, but automakers still build genuine drop-tops for buyers who want open-air driving without compromise. The lineup ranges from an affordable Japanese roadster to hand-built British grand touring machines, spanning soft tops, folding hardtops and four-seat cabriolets. Here are twelve convertibles and roadsters that remain in showrooms brand new.
1. Mazda MX-5 Miata: America’s Favorite Roadster
The Mazda MX-5 Miata remains the best-selling affordable soft-top roadster in America, built around a lightweight two-seat chassis and a manual-first driving experience that dates back to 1989.
Its current generation keeps curb weight under 2,400 pounds, a rarity in a market obsessed with size, and starts well under $30,000. For shoppers priced out of exotic drop-tops, it remains the accessible entry point into open-top motoring, and it holds resale value better than most rivals in its class.
2. Ford Mustang Convertible: The Last V8 Drop-Top
Ford still builds a folding-roof Mustang Convertible, one of the last mainstream muscle cars sold with a fabric top, available with either a turbocharged four-cylinder or a 5.0-liter V8 that keeps the nameplate’s V8 tradition alive.
The convertible top lowers in about seven seconds and can operate at speeds up to 10 mph, letting drivers close it at a stoplight rather than pulling over. As rivals like the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger convertible have vanished from showrooms, the Mustang stands as the last affordable American drop-top with a V8 option.
3. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible: A Hardtop That Hides Itself
The mid-engine Corvette Stingray Convertible uses a power retractable hardtop that stows beneath the rear deck in about 16 seconds, a first for the model after generations of fabric-only soft tops.
Because the roof is a rigid hardtop rather than cloth, the cabin stays quieter at highway speed with the top raised than in most traditional convertibles. Chevrolet prices the drop-top only a few thousand dollars above the coupe, making it one of the least expensive ways to buy a mid-engine convertible sports car.
4. Porsche 911 Cabriolet: The Cabriolet Standard-Bearer
The 992-generation 911 Cabriolet still ships with a multi-layer soft top across most trims, from the base Carrera up through the turbocharged all-wheel-drive variants.
The top can be raised or lowered in about twelve seconds at speeds up to 31 mph, and a magnesium frame keeps the roof rigid enough to preserve much of the coupe’s structural stiffness. Porsche has sold a cabriolet version of the 911 continuously since the 1980s, longer than almost any rival convertible nameplate.
5. Porsche 718 Boxster: Pure Roadster, Purely Combustion
Porsche’s mid-engine 718 Boxster remains a pure two-seat soft-top roadster during what the company has signaled are its final years with a purely gasoline engine.
Its fabric roof lowers in nine seconds and tucks away without eating into the car’s two separate trunks, front and rear. Enthusiasts prize the Boxster for near-perfect weight balance, a trait that a future electric replacement would need an entirely different chassis to match, and that keeps resale demand strong among purists.
6. BMW Z4: Ten-Second Top-Down
BMW’s rear-drive Z4 roadster drops its soft top in about ten seconds and can do so at speeds up to 31 mph, letting drivers duck a sudden shower without stopping.
The current generation shares its platform and inline-six engine with the Toyota Supra, though BMW builds the Z4 exclusively as a two-seat convertible with no coupe or hardtop option. Its cloth roof and low beltline give it a classic roadster silhouette that the boxier 911 and Boxster no longer share.
7. Mercedes-Benz CLE Cabriolet: Two Convertibles Become One
The Mercedes-Benz CLE Cabriolet replaced both the old C-Class and E-Class convertibles with a single fabric-roof four-seater, consolidating two model lines into one.
Its cloth top folds in around 20 seconds and can be operated at speeds up to 37 mph, and the cabin includes rear seats large enough for adults on short trips, unlike the strictly two-seat roadsters nearby on this list. Mercedes positions the CLE as the last traditional four-seat convertible left in its lineup.
8. Mercedes-AMG SL Roadster: Back To Fabric
The reborn Mercedes-AMG SL returns to a folding fabric roof after the previous generation switched to a folding hardtop, a deliberate reversal meant to cut weight.
Engineers say the soft top saves roughly 21 kilograms over a comparable retractable hardtop while still folding away in about 15 seconds. Built now on a dedicated AMG platform rather than shared Mercedes underpinnings, the SL markets itself as a proper sports car first and a luxury cruiser second.
9. Lexus LC 500 Convertible: V8 Sound, Open Sky
Lexus tops its LC 500 grand tourer with a naturally aspirated V8 and a four-layer fabric roof, one of the few remaining new cars to pair a big non-turbo engine with a drop top.
The soft top was tuned specifically to cut wind buffeting at highway speed, an area where earlier fabric-roofed grand tourers often struggled. With most rivals downsizing to turbocharged sixes, the LC’s naturally aspirated V8 gives buyers a sound and throttle response that is disappearing from the segment.
10. Mini Cooper Convertible: Small Car, Full Sky
Mini still sells the segment’s smallest and least expensive drop-top in the Mini Cooper Convertible, a front-drive hatchback with a fully retractable fabric roof.
The roof can slide back partway into a sunroof-style opening before fully lowering, giving drivers a middle option between closed and fully open. Compact dimensions make it easy to park in dense cities, a practical advantage that larger convertibles on this list cannot match, and the small footprint keeps fuel economy competitive for the segment.
11. Bentley Continental GTC: Handcrafted And Open-Top
Bentley’s Continental GTC pairs a hand-built cabin with a folding fabric roof that Bentley says is quieter at speed than some hardtop competitors.
The roof includes an acoustic lining and can be raised in about 19 seconds even while the car is moving at low speed. Offered with either a twin-turbo V8 or a W12 engine in its final years, the GTC remains one of the last ultra-luxury convertibles still built with a fabric, rather than metal, top.
12. Aston Martin Vantage Roadster: Speed Without A Roof
Aston Martin’s Vantage Roadster claims one of the fastest power-folding fabric roofs on sale, dropping in under seven seconds.
The roof can be operated at speeds up to 31 mph, letting the driver open the car mid-drive rather than pulling to the shoulder. Built on a twin-turbo V8 shared with the coupe, the Roadster loses little performance to its open roof, a rarity among convertible grand tourers, and one that Aston Martin markets as proof the body was engineered for it from the start.
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