One of the challenges of being the sole female in a houseful of males is being able to relate to my sons and husband collectively when it comes to favorite hobbies and pastimes. While I enjoy fishing, camping and now even golfing with my husband and kids, I have a hard time sitting still for some of the other things that the males in the household enjoy; take Bear Grylls devouring a rotting sheep on Man Vs. Wild, for example. There is one thing in our family that seems to bring all of us together, however; weekend drives in our Mustang.
My husband drives cars the way that old men drive them. Although I'm a woman and the usual stereotypes should apply, they don't. During one last solo trip to visit my mother in MN, after I had driven our 5 year-old Pontiac Grand Prix as though it were in a Grand Prix, it came home dripping steering fluid and had transmission issues. Like a horse that's been ridden hard and put up wet, the workhorse engine in it was almost dead. Simply put, I'm hard on a car.
My husband, unhappy that another car was being forced into early retirement because of my double life as a race car driver, decided to look into several options for our next vehicle. Ideally, he was looking for a larger American model with great reviews, good gas mileage, and a sturdy engine that could handle abuse yet had overall curb appeal. A great sound system option was a plus too, after all, we're not dead yet. The new, redesigned version of the Ford Taurus was one of the cars that we were impressed with because it met all of our criteria.
Then we got sidetracked.
Remembering how our whole family enjoyed drives in the 2011 Ford Mustang convertible rental that we had for a few months last fall, we decided to consider a sportier car in lieu of a sedan. Needless to say, our 6 and 9-year old sons were all in, delighted at the prospect of owning their very own 'Lightening McQueen'.
My husband, not unlike many family men ripe for the picking by automobile industry marketers, had long been enticed by the new breed of sports coupes available and more specifically, he liked the refreshed pony cars. The pony car models of today are geared toward the middle-aged family man who has other, more practical vehicles in his fleet, but longs for the days of his youth when muscle cars were king. Marketing companies are quite savvy when it comes to knowing who has a little expendable income lying around these days, and they realize that for the most part, it isn't anyone under the age of 30.
Enter my man at stage left.
Frothing at the possibility of trading our 4-door Grand Prix workhorse for a shiny new bauble soon became almost more than my husband could bear. Knowing that we already owned the obligatory kid-hauling minivan and that he was eventually going to invest in a sturdy 4x4 for winter, the idea of buying a sports coupe started to seem all the more reasonable. While there are many, probably more "true" sports cars out there, he lusted after the 5th generation Chevrolet Camaro and had loved driving the Mustang last fall.
Countering Lee's interest in the Camaros, and reminding him that it was my driving that had served as the original impetus for our search, I implored him to consider a Mustang. I loved the classic feel of the 2011 rental last fall and reveled in how much power there was under the hood. A battle ensued.
To humor me, my husband agreed to research both cars. Having already driven a Mustang, I humored him by agreeing to test drive one of the 2010 Camaros. While overall Lee liked it, especially the slick new body-styling and overall approach to the engine redesign, I was less excited about it. While the Camaro is undeniably a sharp looking vehicle to some, I just didn't care for the overall design of the vehicle, both inside and out. The interior felt too cheap and confining and the overworked and contrived body style outside had too much of a caricature muscle feel for my taste; it reminded me too much of Lightening McQueen.
There were other issues as well. The Camaro's windshield visibility was abysmal as far as I was concerned-it was like trying to look out of a mailbox slot or tank window-not what I envisioned for Sunday drives with the kids. After all, our intent was that all four of us would be riding in this vehicle-the whole point behind getting a sports coupe was to have something that would feel like a vacation for all of us, even when we weren't on one, and the Camaro simply didn't cut it.
Camaros have always been known for having blind spots and poor driver visibility, but the visibility in the 5th generation model was nothing short of ridiculous. The pillars all around were too thick and the rear-view mirror seemed huge in proportion to the windshield. The front seats felt low and claustrophobic and the windshield was so tiny that when looking out of it, the massive hood scoop took up most of the view. While it's an impressive view, it seems like it's the only view, and ended up being a detail that I just couldn't get past. In the back seats, the boys could barely see out of the side windows. It's true that a Camaro convertible would have had a different feel, but the practicality of driving one with the top down all of the time simply wasn't realistic.
While I appreciated that the Camaro was designed for true pony car enthusiasts, it wasn't the least bit practical for a family of four. I know that statement is hilarious-after all, what sports coupe is really designed with a family in mind? But for us, we needed to keep that at the forefront of why we were getting it-we intended it as a fun, sporty get-away-from-it-all vehicle that all of us could enjoy, kids included.
The 2011 Mustang, by comparison, had a cleaner looking outer-body design that was classic and strong in feel, but not overdone. It had a similar hood scoop that the Camaro maintained, but visibility in the Mustang was better because the seats are set up higher in the vehicle. The back-seat windows were larger and the boys were able to see out of them easily. The retro feel of the interior was well-done and tasteful.
Like my husband, I went online to research the two models and was impressed when I came across a video by Consumer Reports. I also looked up other reviews and repeatedly, the Mustang seemed to be the preferred choice. Many of the reviews cited the fact that Ford has had over 30 years to perfect the design, and it shows.
By comparison, Chevrolet stopped making the Camaro in 2002 and finally resumed production in 2010. Besides all of the refinement issues, the Mustang is 300 pounds lighter than the Camaro and has better handling, giving it an edge when it comes to speed and maneuverability. The powerful V-6 is excellent on gas mileage at 24/30 MPG considering that the engine boasts 305 HP (which is almost as powerful as previous models of the V8).
In short, I felt that the Mustang was the better choice and was relentless about passing that opinion on to my husband. This was, after all, a battle.
After having a difficult time finding a Mustang in a package that we both could agree on, Lee finally found one after a month of searching. On the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend we went to check it out, Lee warning me that if we didn't opt for this one he was resorting to a Camaro.
Thankfully, it had everything we wanted: V-6 engine, convertible, heavy-duty Shaker stereo system, and leather seats-in a shade of red that practically rips your eyeballs out of your head. In other words, what we looked at was a 2011, V-6 California Premium Package, Mustang Club of America car minus the black stripes (which we didn't care for anyway), a combination that's difficult to find in Wisconsin in the color that we wanted. Mmmmmm.
After I reminded my husband that it was Mother's Day weekend and that against the 2010 Camaro, the 2011 Mustang was the car to beat, my husband resigned himself to the Mustang, his heart still panging for the Camaro. With around 10K miles, the soon-to-be-ours Mustang had been the car of a Ford exec in Michigan. With our trade-in, the final price was a steal at 23K, tax, title and license included. Had we bought it brand new, the price would have been around 35K.
"You're lucky it's Mother's Day" he quipped, vowing that as the Camaro continues to be refined over the next few years, it will be his turn come one Father's Day.
We'll see.
After all, Ford will have had that much longer to perfect the Mustang too, and I have a pretty good feeling that they will; they sure did a good job on this one.
Where motherhood, tenacity and advocacy meet. Alphamomfia.com is a blog written by Julie Harris, who left a successful career in sales to advocate on behalf of one of her sons, who battles with anxiety. She muses about life, children and gardening and also provides a resource for parents wanting to advocate on behalf of their own children. Funny, insightful and irreverent, Alphamomfia is worth checking out! Alphamomfia represents a whole new breed of Alpha Mom.
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