[Rice makes muscle]

Hey guys, whats up. I am new here and didnt see an intro section so here is my intro type thread.
So I am 18 (turned 18 on sept 23). Senior in High School. And for my 17th birthday I got a choice of basically any car under 30k. With that I had my own lawn business since 10 and has now grown to 20+ lawns and no drinking, smoking or drugs. Which I can honestly say I never have done any. My dad and I looked from 87 grand nationals and a beater jeep to camaros, ralliarts, wrx's and mustangs. After much researching we purchased a 2012 black mustang v6 with 6MT. No options. My heart was set on a camaro (my dad got a 1983 v6 for his first car and it was new). But sat in it and I could not see anything. My dad said no way. And after much researching the mustang sorta just beat the v6 camaro. But, I never read about trans issues. Just about 2 months ago my trans would grind into 3rd at 3500+ shifts. So it has been in the shop for almost 3 weeks. My dad said well if it happens again we will look for a new car. And this is what landed me here. I said if we are getting a new car we are doing it the right way and going V8. I don't want to go with a GT just because of the same trans and so on. So onto camaros, I have not sat in one since last august but everyone I talked to said, you get used to it. So I am between geting a SS with the exhaust and boston acoustics and SS with a 1le and exhaust and boston acoustics. My real question is. Is the 1LE worth the 3500? And also the HWY MPGs with the 3.91s? Over my many money pits I learned buy right and buy once. So that is why I am considering a 1le. Any opinions?