National - 2012 Chevrolet Camaro 1LT Convertible Ride Report/Review

http://carrentingreviews.com/2012/05/25/2012-chevrolet-camaro-1lt-convertible/



PROS:

- Eye catching rally yellow exterior turns heads
- Standard ultrasonic parking sensors and rearview camera
- 2012 model year adds faux stitched leather dash

CONS:

- Several hundred lbs heavier than Mustang
- Softer brakes, lifeless steering, worse visibility than Mustang
- Poor choice of plastic interior materials
- Complicated power folding soft top process, trunk access restricted

CONCLUSION: The 2012 Chevy Camaro Convertible looks great and turns heads, but is less practical and fun to drive than the 2013 Ford Mustang V6 Premium Convertible.

Nice report as always! Is that you making a cameo driving with your face blurred? :-)

Nice report as always! Is that you making a cameo driving with your face blurred? :-)

Thanks Coastercameron.

Oh that yahoo? His face was too hideous so it was pixellated. :)

Nice report, as usual, drzoidberg!

Not sure I agree with you on a couple of points, including the steering (unless it's significantly different from the 2010 Camaro V6 hardtop I drove for 5,000 miles in 2010).

A couple of questions:

Your report notes Camaro V6 convertibles are available from Avis, Hertz & National - which category are they in for each? And do you know approx. % in category? I'm looking at renting one from LAX from 1 August, or possibly in Miami or New York late August. What are my chances of getting one? I'm Avis Preferred (no status, as status doesn't exist in Australia!), Hertz 5* and nothing with National.

Nice report, as usual, drzoidberg!

Not sure I agree with you on a couple of points, including the steering (unless it's significantly different from the 2010 Camaro V6 hardtop I drove for 5,000 miles in 2010).

A couple of questions:

Your report notes Camaro V6 convertibles are available from Avis, Hertz & National - which category are they in for each? And do you know approx. % in category? I'm looking at renting one from LAX from 1 August, or possibly in Miami or New York late August. What are my chances of getting one? I'm Avis Preferred (no status, as status doesn't exist in Australia!), Hertz 5* and nothing with National.

hey Admel!

At Avis, the Camaro ragtop is classified as an "XH"; the prefix X suggesting a "Cool Car". At Hertz, it's a "U/STAR".

Not sure what percentage in each category; at DCA, the Camaro convertible is quite rare. They might be more available on West Coast, but YMMV as always. These specialty cars are very location dependent- might be worth calling the station in advance?

Got a base 2012 Camaro convertible at MIA
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6280/carbt.jpg
I really like the transmission. Compared with the mustang it has closer ratios specially first and second and the manual mode with paddle shifters auto blips the throttle while downshifting . The engine sounds good but only has power at higher rpms. You were spot on about the brakes they are mushy and feels like you wont stop. The interior is way better and have a lot more options then the 2012 base mustang convertible that I drove.
Because of the tranny and the options I found the Camaro more fun to drive, it doesn't drive better then the mustang but I really enjoy shifting the gears myself.
Btw this car has 8200 miles on, it is classified as a STAR (standard convertible) but I found it at the specialty isle at National/Alamo at MIA.

Got a base 2012 Camaro convertible at MIA
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6280/carbt.jpg
I really like the transmission. Compared with the mustang it has closer ratios specially first and second and the manual mode with paddle shifters auto blips the throttle while downshifting . The engine sounds good but only has power at higher rpms. You were spot on about the brakes they are mushy and feels like you wont stop. The interior is way better and have a lot more options then the 2012 base mustang convertible that I drove.
Because of the tranny and the options I found the Camaro more fun to drive, it doesn't drive better then the mustang but I really enjoy shifting the gears myself.
Btw this car has 8200 miles on, it is classified as a STAR (standard convertible) but I found it at the specialty isle at National/Alamo at MIA.

Nice rental!

I agree; base Camaro ragtop vs. base Mustang ragtop, Camaro has a better interior.

But base Camaro ragtop is closer in price to the Mustang V6 Premium ragtop, so I gave the edge to the Mustang V6 Premium's interior. :)

The Camaro would be a great car if it went on a diet!

I wonder if they rent the same car as a "specialty car" for those uninformed clients...

Rented a hard top Camaro at PHL a few weeks ago. Fun car to drive, but wow the visibility is awful. Guess the convertible helps a bit around the sides and back if you've got the top down.

Wasn't a fan of the controls. Seemed rather unintuitive... everything from the stereo to the controls on the steering wheel like wipers and cruise control.

Nice report, as usual, drzoidberg!

Not sure I agree with you on a couple of points, including the steering (unless it's significantly different from the 2010 Camaro V6 hardtop I drove for 5,000 miles in 2010).

A couple of questions:

Your report notes Camaro V6 convertibles are available from Avis, Hertz & National - which category are they in for each? And do you know approx. % in category? I'm looking at renting one from LAX from 1 August, or possibly in Miami or New York late August. What are my chances of getting one? I'm Avis Preferred (no status, as status doesn't exist in Australia!), Hertz 5* and nothing with National.

My non-convertible Camaro from National showed as SSAR ("Standard Sports Auto A/C").

I rented an SS recently, and it is significantly better than the 1LT Camaro. No comparison.

I don't think National carries SS Camaros though...

http://carrentingreviews.com/2012/06/28/2012-chevy-camaro-2ss-coupe/

I'm surprised you didn't like the way the V6 sounds. I loved it, it had a dirty exhaust note.
Here is a short video that I made of the V6 shifting at high rpms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj0ZPGHw_ro

I'm surprised you didn't like the way the V6 sounds. I loved it, it had a dirty exhaust note.
Here is a short video that I made of the V6 shifting at high rpms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj0ZPGHw_ro

Yeah, I unfortunately didn't much like the base Camaro.

Loved the SS's exhaust note though. :)

Yeah, I unfortunately didn't much like the base Camaro.

Loved the SS's exhaust note though. :)

I'm sure I would as well. Nothing sounds like a V8.

I'm surprised you didn't like the way the V6 sounds. I loved it, it had a dirty exhaust note.
Here is a short video that I made of the V6 shifting at high rpms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj0ZPGHw_ro

Inside can sound very different than outside though... from inside the Ford Taurus and Ford Edge both have throaty growls when pushed hard...

Got a 2013 Camaro 1LT convertible at CVG on Friday night (2 were in the ES, probably because of the lovely weather). Up to now I've resisted taking "sports cars", mostly because of my dislike of the image projected by American "muscle cars". I tried to keep an open mind... that lasted about 30 seconds after leaving the National lot. Maybe I am too old (30+), or too practical (blindspots are not good; I like to know what cars are near me on the road), but this car is a bigger letdown than expected.

The worst problem is that the display brightness (dash + radio screen) cannot be changed without turning off the radio/everything else screen. The car has the normal brightness adjustment dial, but I cannot figure out what it adjusts (I've gone so far as to read the manual). Perhaps this "feature" has broken after enduring 450 miles of travel, just as the engine struggles to start when cranked :rolleyes:.

I do not appreciate being prompted to lower and raise all four windows every time I start the car (otherwise the auto-up is disabled). Perhaps OnStar wants more calls, but the fact that the button is positioned so that every night/day swap for the rearview mirror activates it is quite annoying.

The car may have better acceleration than most, but it certainly doesn't feel that way. The actual performance figures are not bad, but this car feels about as "sporty" as the Chrysler 300. It certainly feels worse than the B5 Passat wagon (150hp + 5sp manual) that I regularly drove a decade ago.

Perhaps it was designed to show that the driver wants to transform into something that he/she is not. :D

Pros:

The engine starts (reluctantly)
Convertible (in theory; I don't want to spend the time to figure out how to do this)
XM sat radio
Turns heads


Cons:

Turns heads
Blinding displays at night: illumination adjustment knob is decorative
Feels way too sluggish
Blind spots (more accurately: dearth of visibility spots)
OnStar is needy at night
Essential features (e.g. interior illumination adjustment, auto up on windows w/o raising lowering after each startup) are missing or broken after < 500 miles.
I find it somewhat embarrassing to drive this car (perhaps that's a con for me, not the car).


Conclusion: GM has some serious problems with design, reliability, or both.

Conclusion: GM has some serious problems with design, reliability, or both.

Update: I just returned the car, as the battery was nearly dead and not charging. Each time I started it struggled more, regardless of the distance I drove.

I swapped it out for something more fun, the Toyota Town Car.