Drives like a Ford Expedition!!!

I drove the T-bird convertible for four days as a rental. Its design is very cute, and its exterior finish was high quality. Driving it out of the rental car lot was an ordeal, as it wouldn't fit two modest sized suitcases in the shallow trunk. One had to be strapped in precariously behind the two seats. While the seats hugged my body well, getting comfortable in the car was challenging. I'm 5'8" and felt too tall for this vehicle.

The interior material was really cheap. The dash squeaked, rattled, and creaked a lot, even while going over the smallest of bumps. All of the controls, electronic components, and dash are exactly the same as you might find in a Ford Taurus or Ford Expedition.

In fact, I thought I was driving a Ford Expedition most of the time. When I put the car into gear and hit the accelerator, the truck-like V8 engine roared as if I were towing a yacht but the speedo moved about as fast as a Geo Metro. The 5-speed automatic transmission was awful. It was so rough on even gentle acceleration that I felt like I was getting whiplash everytime it shifted. I even put it in the 4-speed mode to lessen the number of shifts I had to endure on trips to the grocery store. The 4-speed trannies on the Ford trucks and Ford Focus are far smoother on upshifts.

The top opened and closed very quickly with the touch of a button, but was difficult to close properly unless the locking lever was positioned precisely before locking. At speeds above 50mph, there was noticeable wind noise leaking in around the side windows, but the noise did not get worse even up to speeds of 80mph.

Overall, I looked really cool driving this car. The design is very cute and eye catching. I even took picture of me in this car at the end of the vacation. However, a Ford Expedition could easily outperform the T-bird on the open road...and carry more than one small suitcase in its trunk!