i friggin LOVE my gortex. best of all, it was all free, thanks to civil air patrol.
In that case, you're welcome.
Buy the 12. One of the nice things about being me is choosing my rental cars on the road for work so when shopping for one of the new pony cars came about I had a unique opportunity. I've rented a 2011 Mustang, 2010 Camaro SS and a 2010 Challenger keeping each for a week.
If I was shopping for the Moen faucet of cars (Buy it for looks, buy it for life) I would have bought the Challenger. It's the slowest of the 3, the biggest and to my eye the best looking if you're considering the modern retro theme. It just looks like a 1960's car which is why it's a big but also why it's sexy. It's a good driver for cruising around, it has pretty good visibility and every time I see one I have to watch it go by. However I'd like to throw it around a bit, drive it around a corner now and again and get somewhat sensible fuel economy none of which are the RT or SRT8's forte.
Next comes the Camaro. I got an Avis Bumble Bee for a week earlier this year. 2SS Coupe with a little bling and blind spot visibility of a Panzer tank from the gunners seat. I liked the way it drove I just didn't like driving it. It's a head turner, it looks sharp but I see a blocky transformer-mobile rather than a modern retro style. If I was alone on a track I'd probably enjoy it much more than I did tooling about on the Savannah freeways. The HUD was cool, the interior was okay if not perhaps a little too retro and did I mention it did garner much attention? I think the valets liked the fact I had it more than I did, in fact I'm sure of it. Did I mention the HUD was cool?
And finally the Mustang. Fall in Atlanta last year resulted in my inadvertent upgrade into a 2011 Mustang when the friendly Hertz folks left a Chevy HHR for me in the gold lot. I went to the desk, politely declined that POS and was asked if a Mustang was more suitable. At the time I wasn't actually car shopping but I knew there was a 2010 redesign with talk about a new motor though I hadn't paid it much attention since "it's not a GT." I took the keys and this 1200 mile vehicle was ready to go, the controls fell easily to hand, the car seemed to fit and best of all you can see out of it. I guided my little secretary-mobile out of the lot, around the roads and onto the freeway heading north to my hotel. As I found myself on the on ramp I did like any reasonable rental car driver would do and saw how far into the floor I could push the gas pedal and was I in for a surprise. The car leaped forward, roared and pushed me back in my seat. Now I had driven 2005-2008 GT's and this was the same kind of oomph. So much so I was convinced that despite the black side stripe that tell the average idiot that it's a "Mustang" it had a V8. I was wrong. Popping the hood when I got to the hotel and a brief bit of research showed it had MORE horsepower than the 2008 GT cranking out of the little V6.
Enter my test drives this spring when I came to make my decision. I took the 2011 GT and 2012 V6 manuals out for a ride as well as a 2012 V6 Auto (convertible) at a couple local dealerships. I also took a manual Camaro 2RS for a spin at different Chevy dealers. While the 2011 GT is a beast I was focusing my decision on getting good fuel economy over my Silverado (20mpg highway) when I was driving to/from Ohio to visit family. An extra 10-11 mpg highway (8-9 when I put in the 3.73 gears) accomplish this while making for a much more efficient daily driver (I can expect 22-23 around town vs 14-15 mpg in the truck) that's a lot more fun to drive (hence the gears) and I can wring out on a track day at Pocono or Millville and play around with Autocross. To give the Camaro a fair shake since I was shopping for a convertible from the get go I took out one of the 2RS convertibles in hopes the lack of the B pillar and blacked out window would help visibility. In short, it didn't. I realize it's in the eye of the beholder but whatever Chevrolet is marketing as beauty just doesn't strike the right chord in my eye. I wanted to like the Camaro especially now that there's a convertible version. It's just one opinion but I'm not a fan of the looks though the performance is certainly every bit good (when not compared to the Mustang) and will still make you smile when you put your foot down. The Mustang though gives you butterflies.
Making my decision between the Coyote (5.0L) and the V6 (3.7L) wasn't as difficult as I thought. Retaining a little logic I realized I was perfectly willing to purchase a 295-315hp GT Convertible for 24-28,000. I'd get 22 mpg on the highway, 15 around town which is only a 2mpg improvement over my V8 315hp full size pickup truck. That doesn't exactly fit the bill for fuel economy. Realizing the 5.0 is a beast, I could nurse 26 (and sometimes slightly better) mpg on the highway out of it and do nearly just as well around town I needed to decide if for the dollar the Premium GT convertible was worth the $7000 premium over the Premium V6. That didn't take long considering the styling of the Pony Package V6 with it's honest to goodness classic looking grill with a crossbar pony emblem really strikes my eye well. The MCA (Mustang Club of America) edition comes with a billet grill and the same wheels for the same price. While very stylish didn't win out when I made my decision which was for the V6 Pony Package which will look similar to this:
I think I did alright
Now if the damn thing would just get here!
From a rail yard in Boston to being driven off the lot on the 16th is what we're figuring now. (biting nails)