2019 Camaro SS
6.2L V8 455HP/455TQ
10-Speed Auto
RWD
3700 Pounds
I just came back from a trip to the Smoky Mountains/Tail of the Dragon area. I flew into ATL and wanted to rent a "fun car". Ended up renting a 2019 Camaro SS from Budget at the airport. At 9AM on a Thursday going into a holiday weekend my pickings were slim. A few Ecoboost Mustangs, A Camaro Vert, a manual 5.0 Mustang and this Camaro SS. It was loaded up and only had 1000 miles on it. Brembo's, Nav, heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel. I mean loaded to the max 2SS model. Read about the good and bad below.
The Good: I loved the performance of this car. The 10 speed auto shifted fast and firm. In sport mode the revs were kept up during spirited driving on the tail and it felt great despite me not manually shifting gears. In manual mode the shifts were instant with no lag. Really impressed with how this 10 speed shifted. I didn't get to complete a full pull from a stop because of the roads in the area but the few pulls I did where it shifted through a few gears felt great with a quick bark of the tires on the shifts. The handling was great for such a big car. I would say better than the 2018 5.0 Mustang I rented from ATL in April. (But that one had tiny 255 tires on it) Gas mileage was good also. I averaged 25mpg throughout the trip even with mostly "mountain" and spirited driving.
The Bad: Now I am not a tall or a big guy but I couldn't see SHIT out of this car. In front of me, above me, behind me. The visibility out of this car SUCKS. Really lucky it had those blind spot warning things on the mirrors. Not to mention I couldn't even see stoplights when I was stopped 1st in line. I had to bend down my head and look up to see when it changes color. The side windows are so small you couldn't see anything past your direct line of vision either. I don't even think a normal sized person could climb out the car window if they had to. Kind of a death trap if you ask me. Backup camera didn't have night vision and was practically useless at night or when it got dusty. The headlights sucked. They were HID but they didn't really light up much of anything. I felt like I was driving with fog lights on the entire time. The brights were not much better either. It had only one cig lighter and only one useable cup holder. Couldn't hang your arm comfortably out the window and the passenger side didn't have a "oh shit" handle.
I loved the performance of this car but the visibility really killed it for me even after 5 days and 1000 miles. It felt vastly different than the 2017 SS I rented two years ago. Performance wise for the better but I don't remember as many visibility issues with the older model.
