Originally Posted by Martinjlm
I’m only on page 1 of 13, so if someone has already corrected this, forgive me. Mach I can be had with a Tremec 6MT or the Ford/GM 10AT.
Now, to answer the original question... first full disclosure... My car was my retirement present to myself upon retiring from GM, so chances of it being a GM vehicle was about 92%. The other 8%? In my 30 plus years at GM, I’ve owned 4 Mustangs, so there’s that. Plus we are eligible for Ford discount because my wife worked at for for about 15 years.
STYLING:
Top up, Camaro convertible retains most of the Camaro coupe styling. Mustang convertible looks like a notchback with the top up. I love the Mustang fastback styling, but that styling doesn’t translate at all to the convertible.
Also love the tonneau cover on the Camaro convertible. Mustang has a snap on cover. Mustang does have a lot more usable trunk room, especially with the top down, since the Camaro top takes up 2/3 of the trunk space when it’s down.
PERFORMANCE:
Alpha platform is amazing. Stability and handling is top notch. Ford D2C not so much. Ford has done a lot to patch it so that it’s pretty good. But why settle for pretty good when you can have amazing. GT350 is the best handling Mustang I’ve ever driven. It does handle better than my SS Vert, but still falls short of a significantly less pricey SS1LE.
At the time that I was buying, the transmission choices were Tremec MT or 8AT for Camaro, Getrag MT or Ford 6AT for Mustang. No contest either way. I’ve driven a Bullitt with the Getrag and a GT350 with the Tremec within days of each other. I couldn’t wait to give the Bullitt back, that’s how much I hated the transmission. I felt that it really knee-capped the car. I fell in love with the GT350 Tremec.
EQUIPMENT:
HUD. Love it. Camaro has it, Mustang does not.
No stop drop top. You can put the top up or down at up to 30 mph. Camaro has it, Mustang does not.
I have a 2SS trim. People rag on the Camaro interior and materials. I can’t help but think they must be commenting on base trim. The 2SS interior has a lot of leather and alcantara (why don’t they call it suede anymore?). The pieces that are hard plastic are pieces you don’t touch anyway. And I must be the only one who really likes the low center vents that double as temperature control.
So, even if I wasn’t already predisposed to going Camaro, my basic requirements for my retirement car were convertible and V8 For that reason, I would still have picked Camaro over Mustang because I don’t like the Mustang Vert top up styling, the Alpha platform, HUD, and no-stop drop top. If I were open to coupe, I would have been comparing 1SS 1LE, ZL1, and GT350. I probably would have gone 1LE because that is an impossible value to beat. But GT350 styling combined with it’s capability would’ve made it close.
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