cbrookre
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 8, 2014
- Threads
- 36
- Messages
- 2,223
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- 826
- Location
- Ridgefield, WA
- First Name
- Chris
- Vehicle(s)
- 2015 Mustang GT Convertible 50th app
- Thread starter
- #1
So I had a chance to stop in at the local Chevy dealer just to take a gander at the 2016 convertible to compare to my 2015 GT convertible. The salesman that (finally) came out was very nice and polite, though neither of us could figure out how to use the key fob to lower the top, and there is a strange toggle switch thing to operate the back windows.
First of all, the look of the car is growing on me a bit, still not anywhere near my GT, but it is reasonably nice from certain angles. The top is WAY lower than the GT. Tried shoe-horning myself in the back seat just to compare to the GT convertible and Camaro hardtop. In my convertible I can sit in the back seat reasonably well with the top up. Sitting tall I can feel the top against my hair but that is it, and I am 5'11". In the Camaro the roof line was about in the middle of my ears I would guess.
To the good, it is comfortable in the driving position but for me the seat was a little close to the floorboards, felt very Corvette like. Sight lines were OK, but there is no way that I would be able to see a car in the passenger side blind spot with the top up. I have no problem with that in the Mustang. The solid tonneu cover looks nice with the top down, very clean lines.
Now to the almost unforgivably bad. The trunk is cartoonishly small. I mean, really really small! It operates like a hard top convertible, where the top takes up about 2/3 of the trunk when open. So you get the drawback of the hard top convertible (no trunk) with none of the benefit of safety and quiet (aside from the clean look when down). Secondly, when the top engages, the back flips up (there is a membrane like fabric barrier that extends forward to the hinge line) when engaging. When the Tonneu cover lifts, the contents of the trunk are literally open to the elements. Which means if you open the top while driving (<30MPH as advertised) and had any papers or anything in the trunk, they would blow away. In this instance it had rained before I got there and water had settled on the back, which poured into the trunk when the top started to engage. I can also envision debris getting trapped under the folding flap which would cause leaking into the trunk or rear seats. Looks nice when up, but with drawbacks.
Overall, I was not expecting to love it or hate it, but after looking there would be no way that I would consider it. trunk is horribly small, and the mechanisms have way too many drawbacks.
Although the salesman was very nice, he was a bit disingenuous. I asked him if they were getting a lot of interest in them, to which he replied "Oh yeah! We cannot keep them on the lots!!! We must have sold 20 last weekend alone!" Yeah, right.:lol::lol: The entertaining part is that as I was getting ready to leave he asked me "what are you driving now" and I pointed to my Mustang parked down the row. He came and looked (I showed him the advantages, "Hey I can actually put stuff in the trunk! I can sit in the back seat without leg and head amputations"). He was very complimentary on it, and said that he actually loved the new Mustangs. Then he asked me how much I paid, if I did not mind sharing. Told him I paid just over $41k a year ago (retail at just over $44k) to which he flipped out!!! His words were "Really! That Camaro is $53k! This is $10,000 less!?!?" After polite thank yous, he was shaking his head and walked away.
I think I definitively know why Ford is selling so many more Mustangs than Chevy is Camaros. It is the rental fleets....
First of all, the look of the car is growing on me a bit, still not anywhere near my GT, but it is reasonably nice from certain angles. The top is WAY lower than the GT. Tried shoe-horning myself in the back seat just to compare to the GT convertible and Camaro hardtop. In my convertible I can sit in the back seat reasonably well with the top up. Sitting tall I can feel the top against my hair but that is it, and I am 5'11". In the Camaro the roof line was about in the middle of my ears I would guess.
To the good, it is comfortable in the driving position but for me the seat was a little close to the floorboards, felt very Corvette like. Sight lines were OK, but there is no way that I would be able to see a car in the passenger side blind spot with the top up. I have no problem with that in the Mustang. The solid tonneu cover looks nice with the top down, very clean lines.
Now to the almost unforgivably bad. The trunk is cartoonishly small. I mean, really really small! It operates like a hard top convertible, where the top takes up about 2/3 of the trunk when open. So you get the drawback of the hard top convertible (no trunk) with none of the benefit of safety and quiet (aside from the clean look when down). Secondly, when the top engages, the back flips up (there is a membrane like fabric barrier that extends forward to the hinge line) when engaging. When the Tonneu cover lifts, the contents of the trunk are literally open to the elements. Which means if you open the top while driving (<30MPH as advertised) and had any papers or anything in the trunk, they would blow away. In this instance it had rained before I got there and water had settled on the back, which poured into the trunk when the top started to engage. I can also envision debris getting trapped under the folding flap which would cause leaking into the trunk or rear seats. Looks nice when up, but with drawbacks.
Overall, I was not expecting to love it or hate it, but after looking there would be no way that I would consider it. trunk is horribly small, and the mechanisms have way too many drawbacks.
Although the salesman was very nice, he was a bit disingenuous. I asked him if they were getting a lot of interest in them, to which he replied "Oh yeah! We cannot keep them on the lots!!! We must have sold 20 last weekend alone!" Yeah, right.:lol::lol: The entertaining part is that as I was getting ready to leave he asked me "what are you driving now" and I pointed to my Mustang parked down the row. He came and looked (I showed him the advantages, "Hey I can actually put stuff in the trunk! I can sit in the back seat without leg and head amputations"). He was very complimentary on it, and said that he actually loved the new Mustangs. Then he asked me how much I paid, if I did not mind sharing. Told him I paid just over $41k a year ago (retail at just over $44k) to which he flipped out!!! His words were "Really! That Camaro is $53k! This is $10,000 less!?!?" After polite thank yous, he was shaking his head and walked away.
I think I definitively know why Ford is selling so many more Mustangs than Chevy is Camaros. It is the rental fleets....
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