Best convertable for California tour?
 

Hi which convertable do you suggest for our California tour?
Were coming over from England in august and know nothing about U.S. cars.
there seems to be a choice of 3, the Mustang, Sebring and Camaro which one is the better car?
cheers, Allan.

Hi Allmoo

It depends on your driving style to some extent. If you're not into a powerful car, go with the Sebring, it's probably cheaper to rent. If you're into the power and speed thing, you could probably rent a V-8 Mustang or Camaro and have a blast.

My vote is for the Camaro.

Deffo want the most powerfull but the mustangs on offer all seem to be the V6 and not that powerfull.
Trying to track down a company that gives you the details about there specific cars engines is proving difficult!
Allan

I highly doubt you will get anything more powerful than a V6 from a standard rental company. I believe you would have to rent from a specialty company for that.

One thing to consider with the mustang and camaro is trunk space - or lack of it. Depending on how you travel, you may want the larger trunk that comes on the Sebring.

Other than that, just go with the car you like best.

Interesting that they're still renting Camaros, since they no longer make that model of car....

The new Mustangs are beautiful-- the convertible especially so-- but the trunks are miniscule and the back seat painfully cramped. But just fine for luggage. Most rental agencies wouldn't offer the V-8 except at the Exotics rate.

The Sebring is quite a bit roomier than the Mustang in just about all dimensions. The engine is powerful enough. It's not as aggressively cool-looking as the Mustang, but still a handsome car. (Disclosure: I own one.)

We did the CA coast in 2001 with a Camaro convertible. Though I loved the open-air driving, there were luggage issues. The trunk was really small. And if you put luggage in the back seat, you gotta put the top up every time you stop. That gets old after a while.

This past fall, we bought a Sebring ragtop. And there's plenty of room in the trunk....

I just got back from a trip to Cali and rented the 2005 Mustang Convertible! It was awesome... with a decent amount of trunk room!!! Whoo...hooo!

I'm with rjw and bookhall! I love my Sebring ragtop, much more roomy than the other two. We had a Mustang on Kauai and my legs felt very cramped.

Jennymary which company did you book your Mustang with?
Cheers, Al

Jennymary -- you were able to rent a 2005 Mustang convertible in South America-oh, you meant California!! I'm being facetious obviously-just a not so subtle reminder not to refer to California as Cali (I don't care if east coast rappers call it Cali-we don't!!)

I rented a Mustang convertible a few years ago and didn't like it because of the design of the car. (Maybe it's changed since then) But, the back of the car sloped upwards, which made it difficult to see when looking to change lanes. I found it uncomfortable, and wouldn't rent one again. I've rented Sebring's many times and have always been happy with them.

Good luck, and have fun!!

Allmoo--- I rented it through Hertz. I actually didn't request a convertible initally... but when my husband I got to the Hertz rental place, we saw the brand-new Mustang on the lot. They only had a few available... still have many of the older mustangs. We were lucky to get it.

SAB-- Didn't mean any offense. I was just exhausted last night when responding... and got a little lazy!!!

Ditto on Sebring v. Mustang.

We had to move from the Kapaa hotel to a condo in Poipu one year in our Mustang and we looked like Jed Clamplett and the Bev Hillbillies with our stuff piled high in the back seat and on Mrs Kal.

All that was missing was Granny and her rocker. ;)

And driving times in Calif are a bit longer than a 30 min drive to Poipu.

I had a rental Sebring convertible from Hertz in L.A. last fall. It was fun - and the trunk isn't too bad for a convertible. I managed to fit in a golfbag and a pretty big garment bag.
It's a very comfy cruising style drive- and it certainly didn't corner as well as my Audi, but one can get used to that.

I, as the others here, do admire the new Mustangs (and would have loved to get one on that occasion, but the first ones were just being delivered to the dealers), but they definitely are less roomy.

Should you be renting from Hertz, I'd suggest you also consider a T-Bird. I like its slightly retro looks even better than the Sebring (at least for a rental that you get rid off after some time) and it should be nice enough. It's just a two seater, though, I believe, whereas the Sebring always has those rear seats to drop that extra bag on that just doesn't fit in the trunk anymore.

We looked at the T-bird but it has limited milege which is no good as we'll be doing some big miles.
Just hope we can get a new Mustang, think we'll go with Hertz as they seem to be the only company that carry the ford.
New one would really make our honeymoon.
Cheers, Al