went to Vegas for few days, rented a convertible, which happened to be a camaro.
i've never driven nor owned a convertible before. i've rode in a few and i've entertained the idea of owning one for few years now and thought what would be better than renting a brand new one in perfect weather to try it.
overall impression was good.
looks/amenities/visibility : obviously, looks are subjective, but i think this newer generation looks better than before. looks a little too chunky for my taste, but objectively, i know it's not as big as it looks.
amenities, basic. it was the base version. cloth seats, basically no options. i liked the seats. had odd pressure spot in the back, but it wasn't bad and it was very comfortable for an hour drive.
interior was about what i expected, but better than before. instrument clusters and centre stack at first looked odd, but by hour 2, everything made sense.
rear window control was odd, i have to say. this being a convertible, the rear window behind the door does roll up and down. but there's only 2 window switches. so there's this toggle button to select either front or back windows for the same 2 window switches.
visibility, this being a convertible, visibility is even worse than the coupe. let's get that out of the way first. with the top up, rear 3/4 view out of b pillar is literally blackhole. can't see anything there. but i actually got used to it by hour 3. proper mirror adjustment helps. it was kind of odd they didn't use mirror in mirror for wide angle view like ford used to(still does? not sure).
Top down, none of this matters. you have 360 degree visibility. loved it.
top down drive was less serene than i wanted, but this is one of the cheaper convertibles still around so what can i say.
up to about 80 km/h speed, it was very tolerable. beyond that though, and the wind buffeting is severe. i would not want to drive this top down on highway for more than 10 minutes. still, i liked driving top down.
at this point, i thought it would be interesting to compare this american pony with my bimmer, seeing as this particular new camaro is the new hotness sporting very similar metrics to my old busted m3.
powaaaaar: quiet. when you start it up, there's no drama. V6 doesn't sound all that good. it will zing to redline happily, but doesn't sing. i thought maybe if i drop the top, it would help, but it doesn't.
this engine makes basically the same power as my bimmer (333hp vs 335?), but i think has more torque down lower. (looked up the figure, 269 vs 284 ft/lbs)
but this is plenty to propel this car to highway speed as needed. much like my bimmer.
it weighs about the same as my bimmer as well. 3460lbs vs 3600ish? i can't find exact figure but i know the base v6 coupe is literally within 100 lbs of my car, so this being a convertible, maybe another 100 lbs?
I was disappointed with the transmission, however. GM 8 speed automatic, maybe they calibrate it differently for different trim levels? granted, this is the least sporting Camaro out there, but man.. the shifts were slow. not Smart car single clutch automatic slow, but still.
it shifted smooth and imperceptively otherwise.
fuel economy, i was getting about 25~26 us mpg going 75 mph (read off instant meter). my bimmer gets 23 mpg at highway speed. (120km/h ish) Camaro 8 speed was turning just about 2k rpm at that speed, and my bimmer manual 6 speed will turn about 2700 rpm at that speed. if i just had 1 more taller gear, i think my bimmer could beat Camaro's figure.
handling and steering : very light steering at lower speed. very heavy steering at high speed. i thnk the boost level could be better calibrated, but man, the feels. steering feel is fantastic. this is electric steering vs my hydraulic, and high profile touring tire vs my low(ish) profile tire, but there was constant stream of information coming from the steering wheel. it does kinda feel little more detached compared to organic feel on my bimmer, but it wasn't due to lack of information.
car felt confident and buttoned down in corners.
ride : so so so much better than my bimmer in town. it rode like luxury sedan compared to my car. surface imperfections are noted but not disturbing.
but on highway, suspension is very busy, and ride doesn't settle down. it's not bad by any means, but maybe it's because this is the least sophisticated suspension in camaro line up?
brakes were intuitive. no slack in pedal, very progressive, much like my bimmer.
chassis stiffness : it's not normal category, but one thing that really really really impressed upon me that my car is old and busted, and camaro is new hotness in technology is this. the body stiffness. even on this least structurally sound convertible, you can tell this body is stiff and strong, that somebody spent money and technology making it. on old convertibles, like mk2 miatas, or sebrings or e30 bimmer cabrios, you can easily feel the body flexing over every bumps. but on this camaro, if i rode this blindfolded, i wouldn't be able to tell this was convertible at all compared to my bimmer. if anything, i might think my bimmer was a convertible vs actual convertible camaro.
in conclusion, loved my time in convertible camaro. would i trade away my bimmer for something like this?.. hmmm... probably not. if it was a V8 one, maybe yes.
