A panoramic roof is more than just a glass ceiling in a car. It gives the feeling of driving in a convertible and is used, as a rule, in executive cars. At the same time, the panorama reliably protects from adverse weather conditions - something that convertibles cannot boast of. Recently, it has become fashionable to install such roofs, but the price of such pleasure is quite high.
What is a panoramic roof?
The panel can cover both the entire top and a certain part of it. It is made of transparent materials - glass or liquid-impervious fabric, if this requirement is dictated by the overall design of the machine. This is an alternative to the hatch, which has not yet become more widespread only because of the rather high cost. In fact, the panel is a hatch formation that is much larger.
The year of creation of the first panoramic roof is 1930. Then it had to be opened manually.
The manufacturer has thought of the product to the smallest detail. It is made of durable laminated glass, which is either laminated or tempered. All layers of the "sandwich" have their own purpose. The puff will not miss the ultraviolet, there will be no fragments when it is destroyed. You don't have to worry about durability. Plus, the panel is covered with a special layer that provides reliable protection from ultraviolet rays. Thanks to this, in hot weather there is no “stove effect”.
What are panoramic roofs?
The panoramic roof on a car can be so transparent that there is a feeling of its complete absence. But glasses are also made with light or dark tinting. This gives the car originality, makes it more attractive.
The cabin area is visually expanded, passengers can enjoy the view of the sky. Panoramic roofs come in several types:
- fixed option. The top panel is fixed. It fills almost the entire upper part of the car, which makes the car look extremely unusual.
- A panoramic sunroof is a system consisting of several panels that can be folded (one panel runs into another) when fresh air needs to be brought into the passenger compartment.
- The panoramic windshield does not contain any partitions - there is a smooth transition from the "windshield" to the roof. The structure is connected to the body of the car using a rubber seal.
Panoramic roof on a car: pros and cons
An open panoramic sunroof allows you to stand up to your full height. Very convenient for cameramen filming from a moving vehicle. Panorama has other advantages and disadvantages. First on the positives:
- The car looks more impressive, the detail gives it originality. Particularly impressive is the view from inside the cabin.
- The driver's visibility is increased, and passengers can admire the surrounding views.
- It seems that the area of \u200b\u200bthe cabin is dimensionless.
- The salon is well lit.
- Glass contributes to sound insulation. When it rains, the sound of drops is not heard.
But when using the design, problems can arise. We will list them now:
- The roof still heats up during extreme heat, even though it is made of glass that absorbs ultraviolet radiation. Such protection does not save from the scorching sun.
- In winter, the car will have to warm up longer due to the fact that heat is retained worse. And this is a waste of time and gasoline.
- With "minus" and the stove turned on, condensation may appear on the inner surface - but only with the shutters closed. And if you keep the stove turned off for a long time, a thin ice crust will appear.
- The risk of deformation of the body during an accident increases. Considering how expensive the product is, any collision promises significant costs.
- The panoramic roof requires constant maintenance.
Can I install a panoramic roof myself?
Self-installation is not possible. The main difficulty here is not the need to have certain skills and not that special tools are needed - the law prohibits doing this. It is strictly forbidden to make changes to the design of the car yourself. In the factory, calculating the load, specialists perform a number of studies. Therefore, it is better to order the installation in professional services.
The popularity of panoramic roofs continues to grow, especially in Europe and Russia. The design has its drawbacks, but they are too insignificant to give up the pleasure of driving a “transparent” car because of them.
In recent years, among world manufacturers real fashion began equipping their cars with a panoramic roof. In fact, this device is quite functional. The panoramic roof provides good visibility and the right level of lighting in the cabin, in addition, there are now many versions and variations of this device. But do our car owners need it, and is it worth paying extra for it? Let's deal with this.
The advantage of a car with a panoramic roof
It is clear that such a window gives the driver greater visibility. And this also applies to passengers. The advantages of this device are especially noticeable in summer, when you can see all the beauty of the sky and stars. But even in winter, visibility has not been canceled. By the way, in the city, the panoramic roof also plays a significant role: raising your head, you can see all the beauties in full. Such a device is very fond of both children and adults. The panoramic roof, installed by the manufacturer on the conveyor itself, is made from a special one, and this gives a 100% guarantee that during rain the sound of drops and other extraneous noises will not be heard in the cabin. Metal counterparts definitely cannot boast of this.
What are the disadvantages of a panoramic roof?
First of all, big troubles for a motorist arise in 30-degree heat. On the street, a car with such a roof instantly warms up to the limit, so it’s simply impossible to enter the salon in ten minutes. According to car owners, even curtains are not able to save from the penetration of sunlight. Winter also has its problems. During this season, an ice crust often forms on car bodies. And the panoramic roof is no exception. Getting it out of there is quite difficult, and driving with a constant crash from the melting of ice over your head is also not very interesting. By the way, even the included stove will not save the glass from such an “invasion”.
According to drivers, the roof surface always remains cold in winter. As for themselves, there are also some nuances here. The fact is that such cars are equipped with standard air conditioners and climate control systems that produce enough power to heat the air temperature in the cabin with a metal “top”, inside of which there is a thick layer of insulation. There is still no automaker in the world that would separately develop a stove for cars with a panoramic roof. So it turns out that the system needs to spend much more time and power on heating or cooling the air.
Conclusion
In general, despite such shortcomings, the panoramic roof still remains very popular in Europe and Russia. Given the visibility they provide to the driver, sometimes you forget about all its shortcomings associated with the climate control system and many other factors. Therefore, if you want to buy a car with such a top, do not put this option on the black list, but feel free to buy it.
In recent years, cars with a panoramic roof have turned on our roads from a rare exotic to a fairly common occurrence. Every year, the number of car owners who order an expensive option when buying is only increasing, and the panoramic roof has begun to actively crowd out the once popular sunroofs in the car market.
As a matter of fact, the panoramic roof on the car is the logical development of the sunroof. The latter, in truth, was originally created as an additional ventilation element of the car. During the heyday of car sunroofs, such a decision was extremely relevant due to the fact that at that time most ordinary car owners could not even dream of air conditioners and climate control systems.
However, an additional, so to speak, "optional" value of the sunroof, made of impact-resistant glass, was the fact that it significantly improved the illumination of the car's interior.
Video - panoramic roof and electric sunroof on the KIA Optima:
Modern cars with a panoramic roof, in fact, brought the idea of increasing illumination to the absolute, giving the opportunity to get an almost "convertible" driving experience. After all, the dream of a beautiful convertible lies in the hearts of a huge number of our fellow citizens, but not everyone decides to buy a car of this class.
And the point here is not so much in the financial factor (although, of course, it also matters), but in the low practicality of “topless” cars. Yes, and the difference in the cost of the base and open car models can differ significantly.
A panoramic roof, when ordering, will cost about 30-40 thousand rubles, depending on the model, and it can give no less emotions. At the same time, unlike the soft or hard "top" of the convertible, it does not reduce space luggage compartment and in general, in fact, does not affect the design of the car. Cars with a panoramic roof are no different from their conventional counterparts.
To date, most well-known car manufacturers offer a panoramic roof as an option. One of the pioneers in the class available cars became Peugeot company with a panoramic roof, which was offered as additional equipment for a range of new lineups.
For example, Peugeot model 308 with a panoramic roof has rightfully become one of the the most popular models, in which, undoubtedly, the establishment of car production at the company's car plant near Kaluga played a role.
Equally popular is the Opel Astra with a panoramic roof, which has taken its rightful place in the golf class. At the same time, due to the fact that cars are assembled near St. Petersburg, the company managed to provide attractive price tags for its products.
By the way, it was the Opel company in the same Astra of the previous generation that applied another innovation - a panoramic windshield, which is, in fact, some analogue of the panoramic roof and includes glass that goes far back, up to the backs of the front seats. Now, both Opel itself and the French company Citroen are actively using such an innovation in a number of their models. As you can see, the popularity of cars with a panoramic roof is entirely due to market conditions and compliance with consumer expectations.
As already noted, structurally, cars with a panoramic roof practically do not differ from their conventional counterparts. However, this does not mean at all that the automaker simply “screws” a large sunroof onto the car and releases it on the market.
In fact, the design of a panoramic roof is carried out at the stage of creating the car itself and is a very complex and time-consuming work.
Safety is an important aspect in this case. Glass is, by definition, a very brittle material, so it is important for an engineer to create a structure that is strong enough to be as safe as a conventional metal roof. To do this, a number of tests are carried out, the main of which is the behavior of the glass panel when the car rolls over.
For this reason, a modern panoramic roof on a car is a complex structure of several glass panels of different strengths and with different physical properties. By the way, photocells or, in common parlance, solar panels, which act as an additional source of energy, are often integrated into the “sandwich” design of the panoramic roof glass.
Another important point is the absorption of ultraviolet radiation by glass, which acts as the main “heater” of the cabin. If there were no such protection, a car with a panoramic roof would turn into a real “stove”, which could not be cooled by any, even a very powerful, air conditioning system. And from the "sunstroke" air conditioning is unlikely to be able to save.
A feature of a car with a panoramic roof is the change in the physical properties of the body during deformation. The fact is that the roof is the most important element of the power structure of the body, which dampens the impact energy in a collision.
In this case, the properties of metal and glass differ strikingly. The metal is more ductile and allows you to effectively dampen the deformation. Glass, even the strongest, is a rigid crystalline structure that, upon impact, does not dampen energy, but transfers it to softer steel elements.
Video - facts and myths about panoramic roofs:
Therefore, the load on the body in a collision with a car with a panoramic roof will be higher than that of a car with a conventional steel element. To minimize this effect, even at the design stage, designers are trying to make the panoramic roof a minimally “responsible” element, reinforcing the body’s power cell so that it takes the main load in the event of a traffic accident.
It should be noted that the panoramic roof on a car consists not only of a glass panel. Its design is very complex and often combines two elements of glass at once, which can move relative to each other, opening up space above the head by analogy with sliding hatches. There are a lot of variations, and automakers often compete with each other in creating their own systems that can somehow surpass the achievements of competitors. However, in any design general scheme panoramic roof is extremely similar.
As a rule, it includes a glass panel or several similar elements, a rigid frame with internal mechanisms and a sliding shutter, which is fixed to the frame with inside car interior and designed to close the roof if necessary.
The design of the curtain may also vary. On the inexpensive cars with a panoramic roof, as a rule, the blind moves along the guides manually. Such a scheme makes it possible to simplify and reduce the cost of the design, making it more accessible to the general public.
So, for example, the Peugeot 308 with a panoramic roof has just such a curtain operation scheme, but this does not in the least affect the popularity of the solution among motorists. Opel Astra with a panoramic roof also boasts a manual curtain control. In fact, the disadvantage in this scheme is only that the motorist has to reach for the handle and take additional manipulations to move the curtain.
More expensive models with a panoramic roof, as a rule, have an electric shutter control drive. This option is much more convenient in view of the fact that to open the “sky view”, the owner only needs to press the appropriate key on dashboard. Everything else will be done automatically by him. The disadvantage of such a panoramic roof is only a more complex design with an electric drive system and a large bulky frame.
Here it is important to note the fact that the panoramic roof has one drawback, the significance of which for each motorist is purely individual. The interior of a car with a panoramic roof significantly loses space due to the design of an optional element that “eats up” a considerable amount of space above the heads of the passengers of the car.
Video - how to service (lubricate) the W211 panoramic roof:
Of course, for drivers and passengers of short stature, such a disadvantage is not significant. Moreover, a car with a panoramic roof is visually perceived more spacious inside due to the large amount of penetrating light. However, for a tall crew, the reduction in headroom can be a major inconvenience.
For example, the above-mentioned Peugeot 308 with a panoramic roof “loses” four centimeters of internal space in comparison with a conventional hatchback. However, given the high cabin height and somewhat similar interior layout to a minivan, this reduction does not cause significant harm.
But the same Opel Astra with a panoramic roof for a driver with a high growth of under 190 centimeters may already seem quite cramped in the head area. The presence of a power roof hides interior space even more, and this should not be forgotten when buying.
The best option would be to sit in the selected car in advance or take a ride on it during a test drive. Moreover, it is necessary to find the opportunity to conduct a “tactile” test not just in a car of the corresponding model, but in a car with a panoramic roof.
Well, if the owner’s height is high, you should pay attention in advance to models that have sufficient height. This is not difficult to do, having studied the specifications of the selected model in advance. By the way, it is for this reason that a large number low cars sports orientation do not offer a panoramic roof, even in the list of options.
However, this reason for abandoning the panoramic roof on a car of this kind is not the only one. Sport car has high requirements for torsional rigidity of the body, and the installed panoramic roof can reduce this parameter.
For example, the “civilian” A-class hatchback from Mercedes and the “four-door” CLA coupe made on its basis are equipped with a panoramic roof for an extra charge in a number of trim levels, with the exception of only the basic one. However, this option cannot be ordered for a more powerful and “status” other German “four-door coupe”, the owner of which can only be content with a standard sunroof.
Again, this is due to the fact that last car equipped with much more powerful power units and is positioned by the manufacturer as a sports one. However, this does not mean that the owners expensive cars"ordered" the joys of travel in a car with a panoramic roof. In particular, this option is equipped with a number of executive class cars, and the founder of the spread of panoramic roofs in many respects was precisely luxury cars. The comfort and convenience of passengers in such models is much higher than sportiness.
Thus, the panoramic roof on a car today has become quite commonplace. However, when buying such a car, one should not forget about purely Russian problems that can be added to common features operation.
According to him, in the event of an accident, the body of a car with a panoramic roof is not as strong as a traditional metal structure. In addition, there is little pleasant in the glass fragments that fall on the head.
Reality:this is true only for hatches and panoramic roofs installed in an artisanal way. The roots of such a delusion go back to the first attempts of garage craftsmen to put hatches on ordinary Zhiguli, cutting a hole under them with a simple grinder saw. Don't try this again! It is better to buy a car with a panoramic roof in a car dealership: the manufacturer, even at the design stage, calculates the consequences of installing such a design, which allows you to keep the power frame of the body unchanged. The installation of the roof itself takes place directly on the conveyor, in compliance with all technological requirements, and its design uses special glass, which, when destroyed, does not injure passengers.
Myth two: in bad weather, water can enter the cabin through the hatch
Reality:again, this is possible only with a handicraft installation of a hatch of dubious origin, which almost no one does now. Panoramic roofs installed at the factory are completely sealed, which is guaranteed by mandatory tests in rain chambers at the design stage. In fact, in terms of their tightness, hatches and panoramic roofs installed directly on the conveyor are in no way inferior to ordinary metal roofs and retain these properties over time.
Myth three: thieves can break such a roof and enter the salon through it
Reality: everything is just the opposite! Due to safety concerns, the glass used in panoramic roofs is strong enough to break easily. On the contrary, an ordinary metal roof can be damaged by a large and sharp knife, similar to how we open canned food. But this method is too complicated for intruders - they prefer to get into the car through the door.
Myth four: if an icicle or something else falls on a car, then the cost of repairing a damaged panoramic roof will be very high
Reality: This is partly true, but only partly. Firstly, the panoramic roof is strong enough: a small piece of snow crust will not cause damage to it, while the metal panel can be wrinkled in such a situation. Secondly, when a large ice block falls, not only the roof suffers, but also the power frame of the body, and in this case the repair will be very expensive, regardless of whether the ceiling in your car is transparent or not. And thirdly, it is really possible to imagine a situation in which the replacement panoramic glass will require more expenses than a similar repair of a conventional roof. But these are only special cases, an unfortunate combination of circumstances, which does not always happen. All panoramic roofs manufactured by Webasto are subjected to numerous environmental chamber, acoustic and vibration tests and strength tests. Comprehensive tests have confirmed full compliance with the requirements of the automaker, the absolute safety, reliability and durability of the panoramic roof.
Myth five: in a car with a panoramic roof, the driver feels “like in an aquarium” and experiences psychological discomfort
Reality: this statement is completely untrue. Indeed, window tinting and other ways to remain invisible to others inside your car are very popular in Russia. But the panoramic roof (unlike the removable top of convertibles) does not interfere with you here. According to the current legislation, its tinting is not limited, which in many cases is already done at the factory. And if you yourself are tired of the view of the bad weather, then you can tighten the ceiling with a special curtain - in this form, the car interior will practically not differ from the interior of a car with a metal top.
Myth six: in a car, even with a closed sunroof, the wind makes noise, and when it is opened, drafts occur in the cabin
Reality: this is not true. Look, panoramic roofs and sunroofs on different cars differ significantly from each other in shape and size. This is done, among other things, because the design is always developed individually for each model at the design stage. In particular, the body of a car with a panoramic roof is tested in a wind tunnel, where experts ensure that during the movement there are no excessive turbulences that cause noise. The aerodynamics of the open hatch is also being worked out: most modern models have a special visor-air fairing that optimizes air flow, preventing unnecessary noise and drafts.
The panoramic roof (glass and transparent) on the car looks very nice, but only from the inside, because. from the outside, the roof is covered with factory tinting, if the car is light in color, then the dark roof will stand out, if the car is dark, then at first glance you won’t even notice from the outside that the car has a glass roof.
What are the advantages of a panoramic roof:
Sitting in the car, the panoramic roof adds visual volume to the car, but this is only for those who sit in the back, driver and passenger seat next to the driver does not allow you to see the beauty of the sky, because. you have to raise your head, and it’s not convenient to steer. In any season of the year, rear passengers have visibility in all directions and upwards, at first glance it is quite unusual to see the sky in the roof of a car. At night, riding around the city, you can see the city, not limited to the view of the first floors. The panoramic roof is very popular with children.
The panoramic roof consists of thick glass and is designed to roll over the car, this is a fairly safe option if it is installed directly at the car manufacturer's factory. Even in the rain, there is no noise in the cabin from the panoramic roof.
What are the disadvantages of a panoramic roof:
In extreme heat, the dark interior heats up very much, tinting and curtains do not save from the penetration of sunlight, it is also not pleasant to drive with open curtains on a sunny day, even with air conditioning, the sun fries very much.
In winter, during severe frosts, snow melts on the panoramic roof from the outside, then freezes again and ice floes form that are not pleasantly cracking overhead due to uneven roads.
One winter, I drove with closed blinds on a panoramic roof and it turned out that warm air in the car reaches the curtains, and the glass is always cold and an ice cover forms on the roof from the inside. Another winter I drove with the blinds open and the panorama roof glass was always clean on the inside and no ice formed.
All cars test stoves and air conditioners without taking into account panoramic roofs, because this additional option and the power of the air conditioner and stove is designed for a car with a metal roof and insulation. Therefore, cars with a panoramic roof need more time to cool or warm up the interior of the car.
There are also such moments that the mechanical curtains are made very jewelry and different latches and amplifiers are quite miniature, you can accidentally pull the wrong way or the child will pull in the closed position, the curtains instantly break. But it all depends on how the car is used.
Electronic blinds on panoramic roofs work well, but very coldy the hatch may fail, if it exists, it is not recommended to open it in winter.
In general, there are little things and shortcomings, but after driving for four years with a panoramic roof, you no longer want the usual one, you quickly get used to the good, not paying attention to the little things that are associated with weather phenomena and temperature changes.