Hmm…Guilty as Charged M’Lord ! Only takes 5 minutes to Tesco & I wouldn’t leave her in the car-park with roof down…So it would be up and down like a yoyo. Not worth it for short trips
Also used to own a Triumph Spitfire Mark IV back in the day. Lived in London. Being Blondish it wasn’t worth the sexual harassment comments I would get when stopped at Traffic Lights.
Love to drive my girl with the roof down of course - can’t beat it for restoring the spirits & blowing off the cobwebs !
Hope this helps you and the missus feel less road rage in future
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Rain and snow at above 35/40 mph can be exhilarating…if you have to stop…traffic lights etc, use your auto (smaller size) umbrella…should come as standard equipment 
Me Again [now you’ve triggered my memories of my Mark IV Spitfire !]
I Recall Back in the Day after I’d scrapped the rear plastic window and managing to put a hole in it
And the Horse Hair (?) in the seats used to freeze solid in winter so it was like sitting on a plank of wood
Used to have to drive with a continental quilt over my lap 'cos it wos artic conditions inside
Thank the Gods of Soft Top Sports Cars that MAZDA invented the MX5…Talk About Being Cotton Woolled …We’re Spoilt Rotten By Comparison
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Totally agree, sound advice as fungicide can accumulate in the pipes when AC not used…then splattered out onto you when you do next use it.
My NC Miyako has brilliant AC with just the one setting for roof up “auto” and a variety of settings when enjoying the MX5 in it’s natural habitat…roof down.
I do the same, seems the sensible thing to do! 
Bullit 2005 said" “Me Again [now you’ve triggered my memories of my Mark IV Spitfire !]
I Recall Back in the Day after I’d scrapped the rear plastic window and managing to put a hole in it
And the Horse Hair (?) in the seats used to freeze solid in winter so it was like sitting on a plank of wood
Used to have to drive with a continental quilt over my lap 'cos it wos artic conditions inside”
Back in the 80s in West London, my friend “Wiggy” drove everywhere in absolutely any weather whatsoever with the top down - cos the hood windows had gone that opaque dark brown! Meanwhile I drove 6 months through my first winter owning my Spitfire with negligible heating and no overdrive. Eventually I took the gearbox cover off to investigate the overdrive and found one of the previous 12 (in 12 years) owners had wired the overdrive to the fan switch and vice versa. Five minutes later I had a working heater fan and perfectly functioning overdrive…
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There seems to be quite a few ex Spitfire owners in the club, including myself, I had a 1500 , with overdrive on the gear knob, great little car, luckily few problems , and great memories.
The main problems I had was the back end would let go on damp roundabouts, and hitting a pothole would result in a teeth shattering bang and the back end would jump sideways, 
we’re quite spoilt in the MK3 and loving it 
and top down as much as poss.
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Is that the anniversary orange Mk4? nice car - sat in one in the showroom and was very tempted.
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I had a 1976 Spit like yours. Two memories stand out:
1)I Took it to the Med and remember having to look way in the distance for brake lights on the motorway to pull up in time;
2) I blew it up at Mallory Park.
Yes 30th RF - sitting in it in the showroom was fatal to my bank balance!
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Ref Spitfires, I remember a bloke flashing me like mad, and when I finally stopped he wanted to warm me that my rear wheel was about to fall of as it was at a “funny angle”…told him that was normal for a Spitfire (transverse leaf spring…).
To be honest I don’t miss it, or the GT6…
To keep “on thread” I always had the roof down weather permitting…apart from the GT6 of course which was a “coupe”…
If it’s dry, the top’s down.
Some people saying it’s judgemental and it’s everyone’s choice whether or not to drop the roof, but it’s a CONVERTIBLE right?
I love seeing Golf Rs and Audi TNBs on sunny days and thinking - Yes, you’re WAY faster than me, but you’re stuck with that roof…
I agree - I also have a Golf GTi, which is way quicker. I see some other cars when in my Mk1 (hood down) and think that in any meaningful way they have a better car, but mine is more fun and the top comes down - and that is the only measure that is important sometimes. the fact that it is slower just means I have a longer journey, which means the opportunity for more fun
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Going off Piste a bit here, but I think some people find sports cars intimidating, I’ve lost track of he times I’ve had some dickhead accelerate right up my arse , sit behind me and then going flying past at the first opportunity, or I overtake someone in the slow lane and slowly pull back in further up ,only to have them fly past and pull back in front of me , it happens more when i’m in the 5.
Although i’m all for a bit of spirited driving when the road is clear I’m 62 and not usually an agressive driver , so I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s complete nobs everywhere, the country is over run with em, and I’m getting to old for all that sht. 
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Out of the 10k miles I have driven since February, my mk3 PHRT has had his roof up for around 700 miles.
Torential downpours and hailstones could not get in the cabin when the roof was down at 70 and 50mph respectively, so my roof is only up when I am driving slowly in the rain, or when I get sick of wiping my side window in heavy rain.
I discovered top-less driving in my partner’s SLK, and my MX-5 has only gotten me more addicted to that.
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Hi Christophe. Are your mileage figures right? Because in your post you give the impression that you drive mainly with the top down, but then you say the top was down for 700 miles out of the 10,000 miles you’ve driven since February. 
Ah ah, thank you for pointing that out. I shall correct my error now.
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Great! Thanks! 
Anyone know what the min temp recommendation is for dropping the hood on a mk4? Looking forward to driving roofless in the icy chill of winter and my previous soft tops have had issues with folding down below 5 degrees or so. They were vinyl, mind.
I pretty sure there’s no min, it’s got a glass window in the hood anyway.
Vinyl hoods, the plastic windows tended to crack if not folded correctly. They tended to go down better when warmed in the winter. I used to lay a rolled up towel across the window when folding/lowering my Mk1’s hood.
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