Lucky Rental Car - Camaro convertible

I needed a rental car for work for today and tomorrow, so I reserve a car online and roll over to the local enterprise.

By some sort of grand screw-up, they only have 3 cars on the lot for me to pick from:

1. My reserved car, some sort of kia
2. the camaro vert (+6 bucks a day)
3. some big honkin SUV (+11 bucks a day)

Easy question.

First thing I did? What any other sane person would do, I drove home, grabbed my gloves and hat, put the top down, and went on my merry way. In Chicago. In January. It was awesome. Hooning may or may not have ensued.

Yep, I'm THAT d-bag.

Anyway, I'm loving this convertible thing, and the camaro is much sharper (both looking and handling/driving) than I expected. I might have to look into another LBC that isn't a 'GT'.

Biggest issue I have with the car so far? There are two on-star buttons on the rear-view mirror. One is blue, the other is red. They are bright and shiny LEDs. Every time you look in the mirror you think 'berries and cherries', and often you see it out of the corner of your eye even not looking at the mirror. WTH??? I have literally the most awful nervous twitch from driving for 3 hours.

Push the blue one.

rcutclif wrote: There are two on-star buttons on the rear-view mirror. One is blue, the other is red.

One brings you out of the matrix, the other keeps you in

"Push the blue one."

Did you push the blue one? My phone rang at around eleven thirty or so; when I picked it up there was nobody on the line . . .

A quick swipe of back tape fixes the buttons.

TeamEvil wrote: "Push the blue one." Did you push the blue one? My phone rang at around eleven thirty or so; when I picked it up there was nobody on the line . . .

I didn't. Sorry.

(but I also wasn't in the car... its parked outside the building).

I would hate to see what the On-Star matrix looks like.

rcutclif wrote: Biggest issue I have with the car so far? There are two on-star buttons on the rear-view mirror. One is blue, the other is red. They are bright and shiny LEDs. Every time you look in the mirror you think 'berries and cherries', and often you see it out of the corner of your eye even not looking at the mirror.

Guilty conscious?

Maybe that's GM's bargain with the insurance industry to keep the rates reasonable on that model?

Did something similar a few years back. Work trip to San Diego, mid winter. Co-worker and I upgraded to a v6 mustang convertible. It was like 50-degrees out, and I remember laughing at the people wearing scarfs in the gas lamp district. Was awesome until mid-week when we picked up the third co-worker (aka gigantor), we of course made him sit in the back seat.

btw, I hate that little blue button on the mirror. Ive had a cobalt as a rental every trip for the last few months. I swear every time I adjust that stupid mirror I accidentally press the buttons. Had no idea how to hang up the first time

I live in Chicago as well. Over the years I have had a 78 GMC with a soft top, an 86 X1/9, an 86 Mustang convertible and a 65 Skylark convertible. If the sun was out and it was around 50 degrees the top was down. I always thought what was the point of owning one without putting the top down. I think that people that drive when it is 80 and sunny with the top up are ridiculous. I picked up an Eclipse Spyder basically for free that I am trying to get ready for spring.

whelp, another strike against the camaro this morning.

I went outside to drive from where I was staying into work, and naturally was all bundled up preparing for a brisk morning drive with the top down.

The Camaro would not oblige: error message - top disabled, ambient temperature too low.

WHAT!! Is there like a real mechanical reason for this or does GM just think I will be cold? I guess if there was snow or ice build up on the mechanism it might be bad to try and run it, but there was not.

The camaro Nanny is protecting you from yourself!

What kind of top is it? Vinyl can crack in the cold. Also, it is entirely possible that the mechanisms just don't want to work in conditions that cold. A lot of moving parts that probably expand and contract in the cold, and may very well have been designed to work only in temps over (insert temp here).

mtn wrote: What kind of top is it? Vinyl can crack in the cold. Also, it is entirely possible that the mechanisms just don't want to work in conditions that cold. A lot of moving parts that probably expand and contract in the cold, and may very well have been designed to work only in temps over (insert temp here).

hmm, good call. The top is fabric (I don't know what - almost feels like a synthetic canvas type) and it appears to be a glass rear window (it has the wire heating element in it as well).

It was maybe 20-25 degrees outside this morning? Just doesn't seem that cold to me, but I did not engineer the car.

bgkast wrote: The camaro Nanny is protecting you from yourself!

This camaro Nanny is really a buz-kill. I bet it had no friends in high school.

rcutclif wrote:

bgkast wrote: The camaro Nanny is protecting you from yourself!

This camaro Nanny is really a buz-kill. I bet it had no friends in high school.

Nah, all its friends from high school ended up on a plate in a seafood restaurant. Shrimp and catfish....

I know that it is difficult to put the top down in the Miata when it is below 40--thing doesn't want to move (vinyl). A friend has a canvas topped manual top NC, and he said something similar--the top doesn't like to come up below a certain temperature.

Sad though. I love driving in the cold with the top down. I don't do it anymore due to my having a hardtop on the Miata, but it really was an excellent experience.