Test drove them both! Sort of... I went to both dealerships to see which I liked best. The Ford dealership luckily had 3 in stock while the Chevy dealership had 4. The bad news is.. all the Camaros were automatics!
WTF! If I'm going to get a new age muscle car it better be a stick! Anyways, enough of my rant about the automatics (they are nice in SUVs and daily drivers). Either way I decided I'd still drive it to get a feel of how the car drives.
Heres my impressions of both:
Camaro- Very bold, unlike my vision of what a true pony car should be like. Felt very smooth and handled the road nicely. Interior felt a bit cheap but I knew that going into it. I was surprised how well the turns felt, it had a lot of go when exiting a turn, I'm assuming the IRS helped it out in this segment. Acceleration felt quick, but I didn't get any type of throwback in my seat kind of thrust. I used to have a 2003 Cobra and it did a much better job of that! One thing which was nice is that it always hooked up, I barely got a chirp out of the tires and it was moving. For being fast thats good, but when trying to have some fun it could spoil things. Exhuast note was not my favorite... kind of sounds like a motorcycle. Overall I enjoyed the drive but the automatic killed my joy ride.
Mustang- Still feels a bit large and it would be nice if it was a tad smaller. Luckily they had a manual trans GT with 3.73 gears! First thought was how soft the clutch felt. It honestly felt like it wasn't even there! I was impressed since all the other cars I've ever had had really stiff clutches. This made for a very easy shifting experience. Once getting it out on the road I noticed that it hooked up really well too! I was very surprised since the stock tires were only 245s or 255s... cant remember for sure. It sounded a bit louder once driving compared to the camaro. I personally liked this, since both cars are very quiet anyways. The ride was noticeably stiffer, and I'm sure the SRA did not help the road feel. While noticing the road more, it also felt more responsive and tighter. Interior was alright, there was still a whole of plastic moldings which just felt cheap. The layout I think was much better though. I too noticed the cave like feel which many of the magazines reported. It wasn't claustrophobic feeling, but it was definitely harder to see out of.
And the winner is... drum roll . .. . .. . . . . . . .. .
The Mustang! I bet you guys are thrilled. lol
If you must know I just got done ordering my Stang online. In several weeks I will be the proud owner of a 2011 Kona Blue 5.0 base model, 3.73 gears, HID headlights, and of course the Brembo Brake option.
I do appreciate the responses though. The Camaro was a very nice car but I just felt the Mustang was more fun to drive. While the Camaro is heavier then the Mustang you can feel it when driving it. Not to mention the suspension felt a bit sloppy to the 5.0s stiffer ride.
Anyways, thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.