Had a 2004 Sebring convertible that I loved. Got to just over 200,000 miles with it (and I would have made it last even longer if someone hadn't run a red light and hit me), but it's toast now.

I was about to buy a 2010 Sebring today, because Sebrings have the most back-seat space of any convertible I've seen, when the salesperson demonstrated that when you retract the roof, it retracts into... the trunk space. So you can't store anything bigger than a folded blanket in the trunk AND retract the roof at the same time. This was a dealbreaker for me because I take a lot of road trips in the summer with two or three passengers and with our travel gear in the trunk.

There never seemed to be any problems with the roof on the 2004 model retracting into the space behind the back seat, so that trunk was fully available. What possible reason could there be for re-designing the car to retract the top into the trunk? Is there another recent Chrysler convertible model (or convertible made by someone else) that has good back-seat space and can store things in the trunk while retracting the roof?

 

Try looking at the soft-top model. I think you must have been looking at the hard top version. The soft top folds much more compactly.

 

It was a soft top (vinyl or whatever it's made of -- something that bent to the touch, i.e., not metal). That's why it seemed so weird that it woudn't just fold behind the back seat like the 2004 one did.

 

In order to make it more compact they either had to make the back seat area considerably shorter or fold the top into the trunk. Unfortunately 2006 was the last year for a full size convertible. I don't know of any recent convertible that has the same room you'll find in your old Sebring. If you like the old body style then look for a 2005 or 2006 with low miles. I see them every once in a while with less than 60K miles and they are still fairly reasonable in price.

John