This is an interesting thread for me. Primarily due to the fact that I ended up in a Camaro because of the Mustang. Let me back track a bit. I've always liked the 13/14 face lifted Mustangs, but the interior was just too dull and retro played out for me. When the 6th Gen Mustang came out in '15, I loved the styling, so this was going to be my first foray into American Muscle. I was never interested in the Camaro, Transformers and the Bumble Bee did absolutely nothing for me. However, I do have experience racing beaters on the track (Lemons, ChampCar/ChumpCar), so I definitely wanted something that was worthy of the occasional track day. So when it came time to actually look for a car, much like any committed enthusiast, I started doing a bit of research, which mainly focused on the Mustang. And that led me to this:
This one appears to be an actual video recording of someone's TV, but the original used to be on the MotorTrend YouTube channel.
With that came an epiphany, how is it that a 5th gen Camaro outperforms a 6th gen Mustang? Started looking at the 6th gen 1LE at that point, and considered the GT350 to a small degree, while not ruling out the Mustang GT, especially when PP2 was announced. Ultimately ended up test driving a 2018 Mustang GT PP1 and a 2018 Camaro 2SS on the same day, back to back, both with a manual. I did that to see if the refreshed Mustang with more power, or the Camaro's 'lack' of visibility and 'awkward' ergonomics would sway me to the Ford. They didn't, I was sold on the Camaro. But it wasn't just the excitement of the 1LE that ultimately put me in one, it was several factors:
- MT82, shift fork issues
- VooDoo oil burning issues
- Mustang's lack of cooling hardware for track duty
- Mustang's lack of warranty on the track
- Overall value and feature availability in the Camaro
So there you have it. I still like the Mustang, and if I were buying an auto convertible, the Mustang would likely win. But I didn't, it's been three years and I don't regret my decision one bit.