Battle of the Ponycar Convertibles: Mustang GT vs. Camaro SS

MotorTrend

Another day

Transcript

00:00 (engine revving)

00:02 All right, it's test day for Mustang and Camaro,

00:05 and we've been doing this comparison test since the 1960s.

00:09 In recent years, it's been all Camaro.

00:12 Every test, it seems like Camaro's been coming out on top,

00:15 but convertibles this time,

00:16 which could shake up the whole thing.

00:18 This is a new test, we've got new cars.

00:20 We'll see what happens this time.

00:21 After Kim went out and got the official times,

00:27 decided to go out and give it a shot myself,

00:28 and it kind of confirmed everything we already knew

00:31 about how Mustangs behave.

00:33 They're great on the road, but when you get them to the limit

00:36 they're kind of a handful.

00:37 You're coming into the corner,

00:38 and it's just all understeer, understeer, understeer,

00:40 and then you finally get it turned, and you're coming out,

00:43 and then all of a sudden it's oversteered.

00:45 It's not drifting, it's a snap oversteer,

00:47 and then you turn it and it snaps back.

00:48 So it's not the best sports car here,

00:51 but maybe that's not what really matters in a convertible.

00:56 (engine revving)

00:59 All righty.

01:08 - How was he?

01:09 - As usual, the launch control or drag mode

01:13 is very consistent, but I can beat it.

01:15 - What about the other way?

01:17 How was the braking?

01:18 - Braking was good, I like this firm pedal.

01:20 - You know, this is why Chris is the pro,

01:24 'cause he's absolutely right.

01:25 They make it easy.

01:26 You got a nice little RPM range to play with,

01:29 real easy to slip the clutch, good shifter,

01:31 bang, bang, bang, and you're down.

01:34 - We've done the Mustang, we've got its numbers,

01:36 now it's time to do the Camaro SS.

01:39 One thing that's different about this muscle car

01:41 is that you can, it's called no-lift shift.

01:45 Typically, you have to take your foot

01:47 a little bit off the gas while you clutch and back in again.

01:50 This one, you can literally leave your foot flat

01:52 on the floor while you do the clutch and make the shift.

01:55 The brake pedal on the Camaro's sort of a two-stage,

01:59 like firm and then squish.

02:01 Well, as we predicted, it's very different

02:04 from the Mustang, and yet the results

02:05 are shockingly similar.

02:07 - But if you're gonna drag one of these cars,

02:10 you're going--

02:11 - Yeah, I would pick the Mustang

02:13 because it's so much easier to nail that launch every time,

02:16 where you get one out of five in this guy.

02:18 - Yeah.

02:18 Our winner, the Mustang.

02:22 Now, we can see from the performance testing

02:24 that the Camaro's a better sports car,

02:26 but for a convertible, this is what you want.

02:29 You can have the roof down and still have room

02:30 for all your stuff on vacation, on a road trip, whatever.

02:33 And if you got kids, they can sit comfortably

02:35 in the back seat, and it rides better

02:38 and is a little more comfortable.

02:39 So yeah, the Camaro might be more fun on a racetrack,

02:43 but this is the car you want

02:44 when you're buying a convertible.

02:45 (engine revving)

02:48 (engine revving)

02:51 (dramatic music)

02:54 (thunder)

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