For some time now we’ve been doing brief, direct comparisons of test cars at the request of our readers. Naturally, anyone considering a car will have a short list of other cars that are considered competitive. We think the information requested has been helpful, so we’re formalizing the idea in a new series called Showdown. This is the first article in this series, so let us know what you think, in comments.
Someone shopping for a convertible around the $40k mark would probably have at least one of these cars in mind. Since these three cars are full of surprises, we thought it would be useful to cover them in Showdown format as a way of highlighting the choices buyers face. Note that to keep these three cars within shouting distance of each other, we tested the Mustang GT Premium with manual transmission against the base G37 and the base 328i convertible (which was only available for test with an automatic).
Overall Involvement:
Mustang: 90
This is one of those cars where the parts are good, but the whole really gels into a something better than good. This is a genuinely fun car for everyday driving on real roads. Not only that, the Mustang seems special, in part because it is iconic, but even more because the design and materials are so well done.
G37: 85
The G37 is a car where the driving experience is less than the sum of the parts. When you drive the G37, nothing seems really wrong because nothing is horrible and plenty of things are well done. But a multitude of little annoyances add up to an insipid drive.
328i: 89
With BMW spitting out more variants of its cars every year, some of them are bound to be less than good. The 328i convertible isn’t one of those. With the smoothest BMW six in years and a typical well-sorted BMW chassis, traditional BMW virtues are on offer. That said, this is a good BMW, and a very pretty one, but not one of the great driver’s cars because the weight overmatches the engine’s output.
CLICK HERE to continue reading Showdown.
