BonzoESC

I had a meeting across town and a plane flight in a short period, so I rented a "Mitsubishi Eclipse or similar" one-way from the Coral Gables, Miami HLE to the Miami airport. I was picked up in a little Nissan Versa, which had me worried, but on arrival, there was a huge red Camaro Convertible waiting for me out front of the office.

The Camaro is an enormous car. It's almost two tons, as long as my neighbor's hulking Lexus SUV, and one of the widest cars I've ever driven; quite a change from my old Mitsubishi Mirage, which was just over one ton.

Most of my complaints with the car come down to the size and mass of the thing; the steering is softer than I'm used to, it's not in the same league as the Corvette in terms of power, but it also doesn't feel like it would compete with the 2011 Mustang Coupe V6. It is much nicer than the 2011 Chrysler 200.

The interior is pretty nice; lots of lit accents, completely superfluous gauges in the bottom of the center console (that I basically didn't notice unless parked), and a great Head-Up Display that shows speed, a tachometer, the current gear, and, when it needs to, navigation and radio information.



I have no idea what it's like to drive with the top up, since Miami's had great weather this week. The top is way uglier when stowed than the Corvette's, with lots of exposed gaps and no hard cover over it.

While I have no idea about the back seat, the trunk was big enough for carry-on bags when the top was down. Both examples I drove had the partition to allow the top to come down in place already; you can move it for more space at the expense of preventing the top from coming down. I don't know how much more space.

The first Camaro I had had an airbag warning that kept coming up, so I exchanged it for a different one at Hertz MIA; this one was fine.

If you want a convertible that ostensibly seats four, this is probably better than the Eclipse, I'd guess it's equivalent to the Mustang, more fun to drive than the 200, but not as fun as the Corvette.

drzoidberg

That HUD is nifty, great picture!

JLewisinSyr

Of all the rental convertibles that are standard issue, I think the Camaro is my favorite, it just turns heads between the gigantic wheels to the hard lines. Don't get me wrong, the Mustang is nice, but it just doesn't turn heads the same way.

starlanet

May I ask? Do you think it is much bigger than a Mustang? I'm more used to Mustangs and your comment here regarding the enormous Camaro called my attention

drzoidberg

It feels much heavier and wider than the Mustang, IMO.

Arthur Randolph

I was given one of these at MIA.
Nice car. I liked the tapshift thing on the steering wheel, serious acceleration, the back-up camera. Things that suck: very poor visibility, especially with the top up and windows that are very low and short at the back means that your passengers in the back will curse at you whenever you drive over 40 mph (not that you will hear it over the wind noise though).

drzoidberg

^

How did you manage to fit any passengers in the back?

Arthur Randolph

Sideways. It's like overhead luggage you know, only a question of orientation.

aces_high

I drove it in Hawaii.. Brilliant car. Interior was very nice, but for some reason I couldn't stream mp3's from my phone over bluetooth.

v8 engine was very responsive and sounded nice, but i will try to get an SS next time. Apparently they have a bunch of them in hawaii..

JLewisinSyr

I don't think any GM vehicles can stream bluetooth as they lack AD2P connection, of all the Escalades I have driven, none could stream bluetooth music.

GW McLintock

On another note, has anyone seen these recently? Haven't heard about anyone seeing them in the last few months. Hope Hertz still has non-SS Camaros in stock that are more affordable

-J.

ELOW

the V8 engine is the SS version of the camaro right? because the standard is V6.

I was also wondering if they still have the non-SS in stock preferably the convertible version.

Red Scorpion

Last time I was in the US, a couple of months ago, there seemed to decent quantities of V6 Camaro, both Coupe and Convertible at both LAX and PHX. Indeed, they had more of these than they did Mustang.