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Road trip report--2014 2SS Convertible

Backstory: Grandma and I recently celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. We are celebrating all year long and that included buying our new-to-us 2014 convertible. We decided to take it on a 9 day/8 night road trip.

The car: We bought the car just a few weeks ago. It's our first ever convertible, although we've owned several cars with sunroofs and even a couple with T-tops back in the day. We haven't owned a sports car in a few years and this one is a third vehicle for us, so it won't be a daily driver. At least not every day, :laugh:. We looked around for several weeks and finally found a 2014 2SS in Ashen Gray. It's an automatic trans, the previous owner was an adult (don't think the car was thrashed), and it had 28,000 miles. The car looks virtually new.

The trip: The plan was to see and experience a part of Florida that we had never visited before. We left home in northwest Louisiana, made our way south to the Gulf of Mexico, then around the bend and southward down the west coast of Florida all the way to the Ft. Myers area. We spent three nights in Ft. Myers and three in the St. Petersburg area.

We drove 2696 miles, round-trip. We figure about 1000 of those miles were with the top down. (We stopped about 4 times to raise the convertible top--twice because of rain showers, and twice because of the heat.) We drove a variety of interstate highways, 4 lane or 2 lane US highways, and we did quite a bit of urban sightseeing and cruising around.

I filled up with gas 11 times, buying a total of 121 gallons. The overall fuel economy was just over 22.2 mpg. I bought the least expensive gas I could find using the Gas Buddy app. The average cost was 2.11 per gallon for a total cost of about 9 1/2 cents per mile driven. The least expensive fuel was in Mississippi at 1.979 per gallon, the most expensive was in Ft. Myers at 2.199.

The best fuel economy I observed was while cruising at about 60 mph on the US highways. Three times I calculated economies of 23.8, 23.9, and 24.05 mpg, respectively.

The worst fuel economy on the trip was obviously in urban stop-and-go driving. Twice I calculated about 19.7 mpg.

Performance: The car drove and handled marvelously. Our other vehicles are a Suburban and a Tacoma, so the 400HP Camaro seemed quite "peppy". We listened carefully to the engine for the first few tanks and never heard any sound resembling knocking or pinging on the 87 octane gas. It was a pleasure to give it the gas and pass the slower traffic on the 2 lane highways. Man alive, from 60 to 85 mph, this thing is a rocket!

The posted speed limit on Florida interstates was 70, but the traffic was moving nearer to 80. I typically set the cruise control on 74-76 mph and just about every car on the road would pass me.

Convertible: Remarkably, the wife and I were able to carry on a conversation with the top down and cruising at highway speeds. It was a bit noisy on the interstates when a car was in the adjacent lane. But on the US highways, where it was just us and the road, the experience was excellent. We found that we could tolerate the heat and the sun up to about 94 degrees. After that, one of us would say, "It's time to put the top up!"

One thing that I worried about before buying the convertible was how comfortable it would be with the top up and the AC on. No worries. This Camaro has an AC that would chill a meat locker, I think. The top is extremely well-insulated and the AC blows cold and strong. Just a few minutes after closing up the top and rolling up the windows, we would be adjusting the AC down to keep from freezing us out.

Negatives: We both like the throaty exhaust note of the SS. It just sounds great. However, after 2700 miles of listening to the drone of the engine on the highway, I grew tired of it. I think my ears are still ringing a bit.

And, of course, being a convertible, the road noise is significant. Several times I caught myself looking to see if a window was open. Nope, it was just the sound of a big truck going by.

Before the long trip, we took a couple of short hops around our local area to check out the car and get a feel for the controls, etc. As we departed we felt confident in the car. About 4 hours into the trip my wife took over driving and I was chilling in the passenger seat, literally. I reached up to turn down the AC because I was cold. And the AC controls were non-responsive. No lights, no nothing. It was stuck on COLD!

I did a Google search on my phone and found that this is not an unknown issue. We eventually pulled over and I removed and reinserted the F5 fuse from the fuse panel on the left side of the dash. The AC controls worked properly again, and they have been working ever since.

All-in-all, we are very happy with our car. We enjoyed a week in the "Sunshine State" with a convertible and are looking forward to the next road trip, although it will be much shorter, I expect.

Sounds like a great trip! :)

Your car has a 92 octane minimum rating. It will run on the cheap gas as the car will automatically switch to the low octane table and retard the timing, however it will not automatically go back to the high octane table once you start putting the proper gas in it.

I used to have a vert and yes the road noise is more and not always wanting the top down is a for sure deal....as I work outside a lot; mostly so sun burn not so fun but its a case of for drone adding some Monza tips if you want but the exhaust stock is anemic compared to a built engine and good exhaust ...and the sound not so muscle car more murr....... The fit and finish of both Camaros I have is great and the cars no problems ever , I also belong to a reliability site called true delta reporting any potential problems by just updating on various car models and you chose wisely being that the Camaro is the most reliable of the big three by far. Sure with so few members of the site with such cars it can skew the results if one gets a lemon or is a hypocritical Arse but its a good place to check on cars. I used a product called Sunbrella usually every three months or so on the top to make it waterproof and it worked great and I had to wash the top also......I have a cat named Robbie though who loved to sleep on the top and the car was triple black and such a pain to clean and having wanted a red manual I finally got one........ You would find versus the coupe or a manual it feels slower being convertible as its heavier and softer suspension and the automatic can be much better with a tune to aid the trans not feeling slow unlike a shift kitted stalled trans form a hot rod, versus a manual which is able to dump a clutch and go with speed the auto does muster but much more anemic in sound and feel. Yes and being on that low octane table it will take a tank or two to get it right or you could search on here under the Fuse pull threads to reset form the lower table for more performance should you desire premium and the cars full potential even though its a luxury performance barge.

Nice story! The Camaro is a great road trip car.
Out of the 26,000 miles on my Camaro over 19,000 are road trips.

Thanks for the info on the octane tables. Did not know that!

Quote:

Originally Posted by christianchevell (Post 9873703)

When I bought my Camaro the salesman and I drove it to the back of the lot where there was a fuel pump. The dealer promised a full tank of gas. The salesman told the kid to turn it off at under a 1/2 tank, told me to go to BP or Shell and finish filling it with 93. "This is crap gas" he told me.

As for the exhaust, I will have to disagree. Those big old suitcases remind me of police cars, where quiet is more important than performance. And a 3-5 HP gain doesn't mean squat.

Do you want to read a good story?
A friend and I are driving up to Great Lakes Dragaway. We chipped i to buy an old Monaco cruiser. The only parts we wanted from it were the Dana rear end and the mufflers.
The Dana differential turned out to be something a taxi cab would have and, while bullet-proof, you coudn't get any other gear in there than the 3.27 it came with. But it had the ass kicking leaf springs that we transplanted to the Road Runner. Seven leaves and three helpers.

So, anyway, my brother was on his big build to a '71 GTX 440 Magnum.

Our buddy, officer Obercowski (Yes, a bit ironic), used to wait around the corner for him to pull out.
So we fastened those big mufflers to the ends of his headers and attempted a run to Great Lakes Dragway. He got pulled as soon as we crossed the border into Wisconsin. Yeah, that was real friendly, they sure appreciated us spending our money there.

So the LEO tells him his car is too loud. He replies, "No it isn't" The cop says "Start it up". My brother responds, "It is running" Well, "Rev it up" All you could hear were the solid lifters slapping off the cam. The sherriffs face turned beet red. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. But he survived and warned my brother, "Never bring that thing around here again." I rolled down into the drainage ditch. I thought the tears from my eyes were going to blind me.

But that was years ago and these days the LEOs know the value of having attractions and the money it generates for the local economy.
Not that you can get away with going wild, but a loud car...

Great story and these cars are great for road trips; our first was a couple months after buying it ... just a short 2,600 mile round trip as well (to San Antonio, TX) :happy0180:

Great story but where are the pics?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLSuperfly (Post 9873950)

Great story but where are the pics?

Great post. Back in June, the wife and I drove her 15 2SS convertible from central Missouri to Central PA and south western NY to visit family. It was a 2,000 mile trip and we had zero issues. At the end of this month we are travelling to Columbia Falls, MT to meet up with some modern muscle friends to spend a week exploring Glacier National Park. That will be a 3,200 mile trip.

Sounds like fun!

A couple of other things of note with our 2014.

First, we had to relearn how to pack for a long trip. The convertible top takes up half the trunk space when folded down and we wanted to be able to raise and lower the top at any time along the way. Since it was Florida, we were able to get a few pairs of shorts, some T-shirts, and flip-flops in small bags that fit under the folded top. A small cooler and a couple of backpacks and we were set. What we couldn't carry was our usual beach gear....chairs, umbrellas, etc. For someone who is used to packing a Suburban for a road trip, it was quite a challenge. :)

Second, while I certainly appreciated the reasonably good fuel economy, I am not a huge fan of the AFM system. It wasn't so bad on the highway. But I found that cruising on city streets at 35-40 mph, it was constantly going from 8 to 4 to 8 cylinders. The car was driveable, but it was somewhat annoying.

I know I won't go the route of getting a "tune" to disable the feature, but I might consider one of those devices that plugs into the OBDII port to temporarily disable it for city driving.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 69 SS 350 5 Speed (Post 9874763)

If you enjoy the national parks the rate for a pass is supposed to skyrocket next year.

It takes some hunting around from here: https://www.usgs.gov/

Wow! what a great article! sounded like you had a great time!

Also, best use of punctuation, spelling and overall excellent writing skills! That was a pleasure to read! (hear that you lazy texting kiddos??)