Good morning! We have a short week due to the holiday yesterday, so we’re going to keep things simple. We’ll do three pairs of cars, and then on Friday we’ll play “track, daily, burn” with the winners. Haven’t done that in a while. And since both of today’s cars are green, I’ll make the other two pairs match, too.
On Friday, beauty was in the eye of the beholder when we looked at two ugly, rusty old trucks that I thought looked perfect the way they are. It’s not often that I’m surprised by the outcome of a vote, but this is one of those times. I thought for sure the old Dodge pickup was going to win it. But the 4×4 International beat it, and by a pretty good margin.
I’d be happy with either, but I don’t need two Forest Service Green pickups, so I guess the Travelall would make more sense. I really like that old Dodge, though. Argh – I should have given you a “both” option. It’s only pretend money, right?
I feel like I’ve been neglecting the middle of the country a little bit, so this week I’m going to stay off the coasts and pick cars from “flyover states,” even though I hate that term. I’m an Illinois native myself, and I still love the Midwest. Today’s choices hail from Missouri and Nebraska. They’re the same price, and the same color, but that’s about all they have in common. Let’s check them out.
2010 Chevrolet Camaro LT – $2,600
Engine/drivetrain: 3.6-liter dual overhead cam V6, six-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Raytown, MO
Odometer reading: 156,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The fourth-generation Camaro went out of production in 2002, not with a bang, nor a whimper, but sort of an overweight wheezy groan, like an aging rock star hobbling through yet another “farewell tour.” I know the fourth gen has its fans, but I’ve never been one of them, personally. It looked like someone overinflated a third-generation Camaro, and then went out of their way to make it hard to access the engine. In 2009, however, photos of an all-new Camaro began circulating: a retro-inspired design that could not be mistaken for anything else. The “small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs” was back.
Like most cars of this type, the fast V8 versions got all the press, but the tamer models made up the bulk of production. This Camaro is powered by the base engine, GM’s 3.6-liter “High Feature” V6, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic. Even though it’s the slowest 2010 Camaro, with 312 horsepower on tap it could still blow the doors off that ’79 Rally Sport with the 305 that your buddy in high school was so proud of. Some of these engines did have some timing chain issues, but this one has reached 156,000 miles, which means it has already been repaired, or it’s one of the good ones.
The fifth-generation and later Camaros look cool, but they all suffer from the same problem: the interior is a cave. Take almost any other sporty coupe, and black out the top and bottom thirds of the windows; that’s a pretty good approximation of the outward visibility. And they all seem to be black inside like this one. The photos in this ad are terrible, but it looks like the interior is in decent shape at least.
It sure does have some curb appeal, though, with its acid-green paint and black stripes. I could do without the tinted windows, which of course, make it even darker inside. As good as it looks, though, you’d be wise to look underneath and make sure it isn’t rusty. Camaros are kind of useless in the snow, but a car like this one was probably somebody’s only car, so I’m sure it has seen some road salt.
2011 Mazda Mazda2 – $2,600
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Lincoln, NE
Odometer reading: 148,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
I swear, there are about a hundred people in the US who really like small hatchbacks – and none of us ever buy new cars. We long for cars like the Honda City and Ford Ka, but then when an automaker actually gives us a little hatchback, nobody buys it, and after a few years the auto execs go “See? Nobody in America wants a small car.” Mazda offered its Demio hatchback here for a few years as the Mazda2, and the sedan version was available for a while from Scion and Toyota dealers, but nobody seemed to care. This little green Mazda2 is a rarity anywhere, but I imagine especially so in Nebraska.
The Mazda2 is powered by a 1.5-liter version of Mazda’s MZR four-cylinder, making only about a hundred horsepower, which would be plenty for a little hatchback like this with a manual, but nobody in the US buys those anymore either. This one has a four-speed automatic, which probably means its color is a whole lot more exciting than its driving experience. It does run and drive well, according to the seller, and gets good fuel economy, which is really the point of a car like this anyway.
The inside looks nice; Mazda has always done a good job with interior design. It’s in good condition, too. That seat fabric looks interesting, which is another thing I always liked about small cars. From Toyota’s plaid Tercel seats to the Hyundai Accent’s “Funfetti” upholstery, small cars have often made good interior choices. This one looks more like a wetsuit, or maybe Batman’s armor, but it’s still cool.
Outside, it’s pretty banged up – it has a salvage title from hail damage, but hail isn’t the only thing that has hit this car. The left rear door has a sizeable wrinkle in it, and there’s a crack in the front bumper. I imagine the hood is a replacement that just never got painted. Stick some big driving lights on the front and pretend it’s a rally car, I guess.
Neither of these is the best of their respective breeds – the Camaro has the wrong engine and the Mazda the wrong transmission – but I’d be hard-pressed to think of a better color for either of them. It’s not just the lack of colors that make most cars so dull-looking; it’s the lack of bold colors, really vibrant hues that smack you in the face. This bright green does mean you’ll never be able to blend into traffic, but you’ll never lose your car in a parking lot, either. So what do you think? Which one wears it better?
Yes, yes, I see now that I didn’t scroll down far enough into the ad’s bullshit fine print. I deeply regret the error.
CL is so bad when it comes to this, between this and the tags to ensure some random 2005 Tahoe pops up when you’re searching for a “pre 1975 Toyota Celica”.. They should employ community notes, that get your scam ads shoved to the end of the results.
I am assuming there is something severely wrong with the Camaro for that price but that Mazda doesn’t absolutely nothing for me. So I voted the Camaro even if it is about to blow up it looks clean enough that is could be used to swap in a LSx and a stick shift.
It’s a sleazy BHPH dealership and $2,600 is just the down payment. They’ll sign you to a loan with 25% interest, and you’ll have paid several times the Camaro’s actual value by the end of it.
I can’t imagine what a POS the Mazda2 is when the 3 I had was boring as hell even with a 2.3 manual and the chassis felt like it was ready to die with a little more than 165k/5 years on it and wasn’t as beat up as this 2 looks. The Camaro actually looks like something someone wanted. In car circles, maybe it says poser tool with a V6 and that color, but even if one cared what a bunch of car dorks hanging around parking lots thought, at least that still counts as a personality of some sort and, for that former-meth-lab-Altima-riding-on-3-training-wheels price, who cares?
Mazda, just because I don’t like the “new” Camaro’s interior.
Mazda if it were the 5MT.
Otherwise, I’ll walk, uphill both ways, in the snow, wearing my father’s pajamas.
I got your Bitchin’ Camaro right here: https://youtu.be/1v3CzvQ9e_w?si=xhEGV6_WC2uJBUjn
Mazda if only for useful windows.
Remember Cartoons magazine? I swear someone at GM just pinned one of those with an illustration of the first Camaro to a bulletin board and said “make that”
Fine if you want to drive a cartoon, and I guess nobody will see you driving it.
The 3.6 in the Camaro gives me pause. Those timing chain issues are real. My dad’s best friend just dropped $4k to redo the ones in the ’08 SRX that was originally my mom’s.
BUT, it has plenty of power, I love the green, and it’s in WAY better condition than that poor Mazda.
I think the timing chain issues were fixed by 12 or later, or maybe reduced to lower levels…
That said, I think I would go with the Mazda personally, because the Camaro being big and heavy will plunder me of petrol while the Mazda would be very fuel efficient….
The Camaro in question is a 2010 model.
Yes so the 3.6 is still in the early stages.
I don’t how many miles, but I probably wouldn’t risk it. The down payment means the seller is also probably a liar.
How do I know whether the car is actually in good condition or not?
This reminds me of an incident here in Qatar where we tried to get a Land Cruiser V8 for rent (or alternatively a Nissan Patrol V8 if possible), the seller showed us a Land Cruiser with a V6 and he kept saying it was a V8. As for the Patrol, the price was a lie and before plenty of other things…
I have a feeling the seller of the Camaro might be behind similar shady tactics… so why not go for the Mazda. It might be hail damaged, but eventually would be a nice beater.
Yeah, I agree. I posted my initial comment before anybody posted that it was probably a scam/down payment. I rarely look at the actual ad, I just go by what pictures and detail Mark posts.
I like Mazdas, and a beat up car sold by somebody honest is better than a nice looking one sold by a shady dealer.
I wonder how many dealers had small cars on the lot for the small car lovers to buy before they said nobody buys small cars. It seems that is also what happened to manual transmissions. I once special ordered a small car with a manual because there were none in the entire region at a dealership.
In politics, members of Congress (before organized letter-writing campaigns became a standard tool of lobbying groups) used to apply a 1:10 rule to letters on an issue – for every letter they got, the assumption was that ten other people felt the same way but couldn’t find time to write.
Automakers should do the same with special orders, every special order of a certain model and configuration should be counted as ten “sales” for product-mix determination because the pressure to buy a default-spec whatever that’s on the lot is so intense.
Excellent idea.
That’s what I had to do for my ’12 Focus. Any they had were no-spec sedans. Waited about 11 weeks while trying to ease the Mazda3 it replaced through what felt like EoL so I could trade it in. The manual turned out to be an especially good choice as those cars were nearly bulletproof without the DCT.
I don’t love either one of these. I’m probably in the minority around here but I’ve tried to like Mazdas and they always disappoint me. So Camaro it is.
My “driver’s car” Mazda3, lauded as nearly a revelation by the press was just a little bit less boring than a Corolla and I had the 2.3 manual. My early ’80s Subarus were old Alfa Giulias in comparison as driver’s cars. Tested a Mazdaspeed3 and wasn’t all that impressed with that, either, it just seemed like they thought a shitty ride=character. (I didn’t think the “terrible” torque steer was that bad, though. I wonder if some of those reviewers could curl a Tylenol bottle.) Also, WTF was with the rather severe factory negative camber in the rear of a FWD hatch with most of its weight over the front in a “Zoom Zoom” marketed reputed driver’s car? I didn’t drive a Miata because they’re apparently built for either 20-minute drives or the Lollipop Guild. The platform mate mk3 Focuses were much better than the 3 in every measure, including build quality and definitely rust protection (the Mazda was 1980s level and I’m surprised it didn’t come with a Rusty Jones sticker), and the ST actually had added character over the SE all for cheaper than the comparable Mazdas.
Friend has the V6 Camaro with a 6 speed. Fun to row thru the gears but I feel so cramped in that chopped cockpit. Taking the Mazda because of unknown Camaro price.
I did my part and bought a Mazda2 new (although in 2014, too late to move the needle), but it’s a perfectly cromulent little car so long as you don’t do much highway driving (cruises fine, it’s in the powerband so it’s not that sluggish, but it’s loud). That said, I’m not willing to do a small four and an auto again (my 2 was stick), so that kind of rules that out. Although, not knowing what the real price on the Camaro is, it’s hard to say what the right choice is (although, sacrilegious as it might be, I kind of liked the V6 more than the 8 when I drove both at launch, because the V6 was just a fun car, where the 8 felt cooped in by sensible speeds).
Did you start paying attention to “east of the Mississippi” when I wasn’t looking? 🙂
If it’s gotta be auto, I want the power out back. I’ll start growing my mullet.
The Camaro at $2600 is, as the young’uns say, SUS AF. But what the hell, sign me up for a BITCHIN’ CAMARO.
EDIT: That’s because it’s listed as the down payment.
Yeah, this seems like a critical point. The real price of the Camaro is much higher.
Nonetheless, that Mazda is bad on many levels, so the Camaro would need to be absurdly overpriced in order to get me to vote Mazda.
If its one of those dealers that hides the fact that the shown price is just the down payment, I think it’s virtually assured that when you show up the price they actually want will be absurdly high. Or more likely, they will try to pressure you into a 96 month, 24.5% loan with a service plan and an extended warrantee.
Yeah, just saw that. Just the Down Payment buried in the fine print. Just screams SCUZZY DEALER all day long.
Yep, typical BHPH tactic, where $2500 is probably what the dealer paid from a sketchy auction, so they know they’re breaking even for any buyer, even if no payments are made…
Assuming Camaro is a $10k car, I’d still have it over the salvage titled Mazda.
I knew $2600 was too good. Sure enough, “*** PRICE LISTED MAY BE DOWN PAYMENT AND NOT FULL PRICE CALL DEALER FOR DETAILS***”
Dammit! Usually I catch those and rule them out. Sorry.
They buried the language about $2,600 being the down payment on the fifth paragraph of the ad. Don’t feel bad about missing it.
I almost voted for the Camaro until I saw that. Fuck that BHPH dealership sideways.
I’ve never liked the 5th gen Camaro but I do like racing and you’d be hard pressed to find a better car to take racing for $2600.
I’m a Mazda fanboi so it pains me greatly to say it, but Camaro for me this time. The 2 just has too many marks against it with the salvage title, wrinkled body and, most of all, the wrong transmission.
However, that being said, that Camaro seems really cheap for what it is and I’d go into that purchase with a hefty dose of caution. There might be something shady going on there.
On principle I have to take the Mazda. This is one of the numbers I haven’t gotten yet, and I need to collect them all.
To quote Clarkson from the episode of TG with the Ford Fiesta in the mall with ninjas:
“Is it green? Yes. Very.”
As is all too often the case here, I would rather have a Mazda2, but not THAT 2. Too rough for me to pick it over the Camaro that looks like a very solid car and honestly I’m shocked to see those selling this cheap now. Auto in both is a bummer, but not the end of the world, the 2 is the better car, but not in this condition hich is disappointing. I still should have voted for it, I would never buy that Camaro.
Camaro for me. I’ve driven that generation with the V6 and a stick. It was pretty fun! I imagine the auto would suck some of that out, but I’d still rather have it than that beat-to-crap Mazda.
I drove one of those Mazda2s with the auto. It was okay, but I felt like I was in a car made of aluminum foil.
If only the Mazda didn’t have a salvage title…
Real shame about the Mazda’s slushbox. A manual Mazda2 is more fun than it has any right to be. So good.
Never been a fan of those Camaros, but at that price in what looks like decent shape, it’s hard to pass up.
Ultimately I think I’m going with the Mazda. It’s a great candidate for a manual swap and a few upgrades to make it a fabulously tossable trackday/daily beater. Does the 2L MZR drop in? Or the 2.5? Might have to look into that…
I had a V6 Camaro as a rental car once, the Mazda is more fun to drive.
Bitchin Camaro! I think this was the best color the 5th gens came in. This car really captured teenage me’s imagination…and the V6 is no slouch. In fact I’ve long maintained that it’s the sweet spot for the 6th gens but I understand that that’s a thermonuclear take. Regardless, this engine sounds surprisingly good, takes regular, and can eke out 30 MPG on the highway if you baby it…although if you really get on it it’s not any better than the V8. Ask my how I know…
The automatic is a real bummer though, and as the article states these things are ridiculously hard to live with. Both the 5th and 6th gens are like trying to see out of a WWI tank. The later 6th gens got the 10 speed auto, which is way better than the old 6 as well…but unless you live in an area with heavy traffic and are (god help you) going to try to daily your Camaro it’s definitely a car to have in stick.
But for $2600? Shit, who cares? I’ve spent more money on a guitar before….
I can get the dents in the door pulled out with judicious use of a suction cup or two – and give the Mazda to my Husband who would just go out and dent the other side of the car.
It’s the Mazda for me.