That actually looks quite a bit like the 80's Nissan 300zx's (which I believe were successors to Datsun's version).
I always wanted one of those.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
If so, one of my favourite cars was my 1987 Trans Am GTA 305 TPI with a 5 speed and T-Tops. The car was deep burgundy.
I really wish I never ditched that car, as GTA's with 5 speeds, and T-roofs, are ultra rare. Had the car in 1995-1996, and I think I blew the factory sub-woofer in that thing blaring Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. And yes I had a mullet, AND a totally boss leather fanny pack in the day.
Looked exactly like this one:
that's a 4th gen, but still very nice!
here's my older older cars im slowly getting fixed:
1978 Corvette
1979 Camaro
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Man I wish T-Tops made a come-back. Always found them a great solution for those who want some wind in the hair/open air motoring feeling during those warm sunny days, and didnt want to put with a convertible in the colder months. Sunroofs just don't have that same feeling for me.
Man I wish T-Tops made a come-back. Always found them a great solution for those who want some wind in the hair/open air motoring feeling during those warm sunny days, and didnt want to put with a convertible in the colder months. Sunroofs just don't have that same feeling for me.
Nah, T-tops are a giant PITA. With my convertible, it's just one button and <20 seconds top up or down. Nothing to store, no screwing around and I can do it at a red light.
I agree with you on sunroofs, though. I just find they're noisy with no benefit whatsoever. I don't understand the appeal. Plus as a tall guy, they take away much-needed headroom for me.
The Camero was fast but not nearly "one of the fastest". They should redo the test in dry conditions.
Also, how nimble are the base Cameros and not the Z-types?
I drove a '14 Camero convertible as a rental recently (free upgrade from Mustang convertible). I wasn't impressed, but not sure I would have been blown away by the mustang either. Now... that being said, there are a few issues with my take on the performance.
Keep the following in mind.
1. Rental car. Treated badly, probably poorly maintained which may affect performance.
2. Who would put premium fuel into a rental car? Not a renter and not the company. Performance likely affected.
When I drove this, the car was HEAVY. As in, vans handle better than this thing. Pep, this car didn't feel like it (See points 1 and 2 above). Fuel consumption, lots to desire (Blew through more than a tank in 5 days not even driving/accelerating aggressively or fast; almost always below 2.5k rpm) again, see above. Suspension stiffness felt good though, sluggish acceleration (didn't seem faster than my TL which I consider slightly on the slow side of acceleration at lower rpm), cloth seats (at least I didn't burn myself on hot leather though, so cloth seats actually a plus), backup camera a god send, doors seemed flimsy as in windows and hinges creaked an wobbled when I opened them (see point 1).
I couldn't see speedometer properly because I couldn't figure out how to adjust steering wheel. Had to lower seat as low as possible to see it reasonably ok. I'm 6'0, and based on the seat settings used, even taller guys should be ok driving this thing. Owners manual wasn't very helpful. I had to follow dash prompts to figure out how to open the soft top as the owners manual was English, but gibberish/felt like it was missing steps. When comparing the inside of the Mustang vs Camaro, it seemed cheap in comparison.
Final thoughts, if I had to rent another convertible, no thanks to the lower end Camaro. I would probably ask to stick to the Mustang (mainly to try it out) if given the option again. But then again, if I drove in the States again, I'd probably choose a subcompact/mid size instead.
This is a heavy and solid feeling car, more HP definitely could improve the experience, but bottom end felt lacking and disappointing for my first experience in a muscle car (Based on what I expected to feel).
I drove a '14 Camero convertible as a rental recently (free upgrade from Mustang convertible). I wasn't impressed, but not sure I would have been blown away by the mustang either. Now... that being said, there are a few issues with my take on the performance.
Keep the following in mind.
1. Rental car. Treated badly, probably poorly maintained which may affect performance.
2. Who would put premium fuel into a rental car? Not a renter and not the company. Performance likely affected.
When I drove this, the car was HEAVY. As in, vans handle better than this thing. Pep, this car didn't feel like it (See points 1 and 2 above). Fuel consumption, lots to desire (Blew through more than a tank in 5 days not even driving/accelerating aggressively or fast; almost always below 2.5k rpm) again, see above. Suspension stiffness felt good though, sluggish acceleration (didn't seem faster than my TL which I consider slightly on the slow side of acceleration at lower rpm), cloth seats (at least I didn't burn myself on hot leather though, so cloth seats actually a plus), backup camera a god send, doors seemed flimsy as in windows and hinges creaked an wobbled when I opened them (see point 1).
I couldn't see speedometer properly because I couldn't figure out how to adjust steering wheel. Had to lower seat as low as possible to see it reasonably ok. I'm 6'0, and based on the seat settings used, even taller guys should be ok driving this thing. Owners manual wasn't very helpful. I had to follow dash prompts to figure out how to open the soft top as the owners manual was English, but gibberish/felt like it was missing steps. When comparing the inside of the Mustang vs Camaro, it seemed cheap in comparison.
Final thoughts, if I had to rent another convertible, no thanks to the lower end Camaro. I would probably ask to stick to the Mustang (mainly to try it out) if given the option again. But then again, if I drove in the States again, I'd probably choose a subcompact/mid size instead.
This is a heavy and solid feeling car, more HP definitely could improve the experience, but bottom end felt lacking and disappointing for my first experience in a muscle car (Based on what I expected to feel).
Dude, you didn't drive a muscle car. You drove a base model V6. The V8s are an entirely different experience; more horsepower, more torque, different transmission, different suspension, etc. Plus, convertibles are never going to handle that impressively. It's just the nature of the beast when you chop the roof off. Had you driven the actual "muscle car" version, you would have noticed quite a difference between the acceleration in a 2012 TL at 5.4 seconds 0-60 (which isn't too shabby, BTW) and the Camaro Z28 at 4.1. (www.zeroto60times.com)
As for fuel economy, it probably wasn't great, but saying you went through a tank in five days is meaningless. How far did you go? Stop and start or highway? I've gone through a tank and a half in one day in my wife's car and it gets 49 mpg, which is outstanding for a larger four-door sedan. A 2012 Acura TL AWD gets 18 MPG in the city and 26 MPG on the highway. A 2015 Camaro V6 gets 18 MPG in the city and 27 MPG on the highway (the one you drove was probably a hair worse because convertibles tend to be heavier). That's virtually identical fuel economy to your daily driver. If you have the 2WD TL you get 20 MPG city and 29 MPG highway, but still not much of a difference. (www.fueleconomy.gov)
And you couldn't adjust the steering wheel and you had it for five days? You're boggling my mind here. There's a lever under the steering wheel, man. Like half the cars out there. I found that by looking at a PDF of the owner's manual. Copied and pasted from the section entitled Steering Wheel Adjustment:
To adjust the steering wheel:
1. Pull the lever down.
2. Move the steering wheel up
or down.
3. Pull or push the steering wheel
closer or away from you.
4. Pull the lever up to lock the wheel
Like seriously dude, it's not that hard.
I love critiquing cars, so sorry to come down on you, but I just thought you were really off the mark with virtually everything you said. And I don't even like Camaros hah.
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My bad on the American Muscle part. The sales lady at Alamo was trying to explain the Camaro was their premium convertible and worth upgrading from the Mustang. I misunderstood it.
With the basic V6, I was hoping it would be comparable to my TL in terms of feeling and acceleration, it wasn't. My TL is much smoother. But again, I believe the issue was perhaps the fuel in the Camaro and apparently because it's a convertible.
Fuel economy I was driving on average something like 60 miles a day on mostly freeways with the occasional 1-2 mile stop and go in between (ie: PCC back to Honolulu for the day or North Shore to Honolulu being the longest trips). I dunno, maybe I am way off or reading everything in Miles and Gallons is throwing me off even if the numbers are good. I got around 350 miles on the full tank (About 560 km on the tank). Hmm.. I guess you're correct, that's pretty close to what I get in my daily driver. Must be the miles/gallons throwing me off.
The steering wheel thing was me being dumb. I didn't see the lever after leaning in and looking for it and repeated checking below the steering wheel and feeling around blindly with my hands. I found that lowering the seat reasonably "fixed" my issue and after 3 days just gave up looking for it. I know how to do it on my car and other cars, but for whatever weird reason, I couldn't locate the one in this Camaro. I know it's not hard, I just couldn't find the lever even though the booklet said it was on the side. I couldn't look it up on my phone either as I had no data in the States. Now that I looked it up (took several sites), it looks like the lever is in the gap between the steering wheel and the boxy thing the steering wheel sits on. No bloody wonder, I couldn't find it. I wasn't even looking in the correct place as I was checking all facets of the boxy part /facepalm.
I absolutely would believe that driving a Z28 would be completely different than the convertible version. I never tried to assert all Camaros were the same. I was trying to respond to Polak about the lower end unmodded versions. ON a side note, I know not much about cars and not much of a car guy... so I probably shouldn't be giving my 2 cents either. Sorry.
My bad on the American Muscle part. The sales lady at Alamo was trying to explain the Camaro was their premium convertible and worth upgrading from the Mustang. I misunderstood it.
With the basic V6, I was hoping it would be comparable to my TL in terms of feeling and acceleration, it wasn't. My TL is much smoother. But again, I believe the issue was perhaps the fuel in the Camaro and apparently because it's a convertible.
Fuel economy I was driving on average something like 60 miles a day on mostly freeways with the occasional 1-2 mile stop and go in between (ie: PCC back to Honolulu for the day or North Shore to Honolulu being the longest trips). I dunno, maybe I am way off or reading everything in Miles and Gallons is throwing me off even if the numbers are good. I got around 350 miles on the full tank (About 560 km on the tank). Hmm.. I guess you're correct, that's pretty close to what I get in my daily driver. Must be the miles/gallons throwing me off.
The steering wheel thing was me being dumb. I didn't see the lever after leaning in and looking for it and repeated checking below the steering wheel and feeling around blindly with my hands. I found that lowering the seat reasonably "fixed" my issue and after 3 days just gave up looking for it. I know how to do it on my car and other cars, but for whatever weird reason, I couldn't locate the one in this Camaro. I know it's not hard, I just couldn't find the lever even though the booklet said it was on the side. I couldn't look it up on my phone either as I had no data in the States. Now that I looked it up (took several sites), it looks like the lever is in the gap between the steering wheel and the boxy thing the steering wheel sits on. No bloody wonder, I couldn't find it. I wasn't even looking in the correct place as I was checking all facets of the boxy part /facepalm.
I absolutely would believe that driving a Z28 would be completely different than the convertible version. I never tried to assert all Camaros were the same. I was trying to respond to Polak about the lower end unmodded versions. ON a side note, I know not much about cars and not much of a car guy... so I probably shouldn't be giving my 2 cents either. Sorry.
Hey not at all. It's cool you contributed to the thread (there typically aren't very many of us regulars that chime in here). I just read your post and was all 'what? what?! WHAT?!' when really who cares.
I rented a Hyundai Sante Fe in San Diego for a week in March and it had a bunch of bells and whistles I didn't even bother learning either because basically I was busy enjoying my vacation.
And as my final gesture of sucking up, I will tell you I really like the last three generations of TLs (even the edgy latest one that has been somewhat polarizing). I wanted one for a while but at 6'3" I just couldn't get my legs comfortable and have enough room for my kids behind me. Very nice cars, though.
Last edited by Sliver; 05-25-2015 at 02:47 PM.
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Selling it already? Wish I could take it off your hands
I took it off the market as I have grown quite fond of it already, it was my dream bike after all, it just passed the OOP with flying colors last Friday and is a blast to ride. Though I am contemplating what to do in my near future due to my impending University graduation here in a few weeks. It may go back on the market soon here if I decide to do what I have wanted to do for quite some time which is to go travel for a while, but I am going to have to make some serious choices with my work as well so it may get posted again soon if I decide on leaving for a while and selling off my assets because I'd rather have the extra cash flow and have somebody actually enjoy it and not let it collect dust. I'll put a CP discount on it if I do, so if anyone is interested let me know.
And as my final gesture of sucking up, I will tell you I really like the last three generations of TLs (even the edgy latest one that has been somewhat polarizing). I wanted one for a while but at 6'3" I just couldn't get my legs comfortable and have enough room for my kids behind me. Very nice cars, though.
I love the TL.
One of the few remaining AWD 6-speed manual options for comfortable sedans.
Deal alert. My crappy old, bare bones, OBDII code reader kicked the bucket, and Ukranian Tire has this one on sale for half price right now. It's in the current flyer for $60 but shows on the website for $120. I went and got mine, and it rang through for $59.99. Cheaper price than Amazon too, they sell it for $75. Canadian Tire, always keeps code readers behind the parts counter, and never shows them on sale online, as they want you to pay $120 for a scan in their service dept.
Big thing with this one, is it will clear Airbag, and ABS codes. Most readers under $150 only clear your MIL. You use this thing once to diagnose and clear a 'freak' code, and it's paid for itself doubly. Also has software that will give you suggested repair procedures. Every DIYer should have one, and also it's good to have so you can scan your car before a service visit, to keep techs honest if you don't plan to do the work yourself. My old one saved me thousands on repairs.
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