Low price per horsepower, this fine-looking American vehicle is a great choice

This car is a GT-Premium, which has 260 horsepower as advertised. It is above the standard model, but it's about $3,800 more than the base model. My #1 recommendation: pay the extra money for the GT if you can: it's worth every penny and then some.

Power/acceleration: The acceleration in this car is quite phenomenal! I'm more than happy with it; I've added an American Thunder cat-back exhaust system to give it a really cool growling sound under open throttle. It has more horsepower because of the modification.

Handling: I am very happy with this rear-wheel powered vehicle. Keep in mind this version of the vehicle has 17" performance tires. That surely improves handling significantly above the standard trim level. I've hugged some tight curves with excellent grip on the road. On dry pavement, the handling is excellent. On wet pavement, care must be taken. Spinning the tires is fairly easy during heavy rain, when accelerating onto a highway. Beware of your usual high speeds when turning in wet rain, and leave plenty of space ahead for braking. Breaking on dry pavement is very good; the 4-wheel anti-lock disk brakes had been used in an emergency situation once, with maximum sustained pressure, and they lived up to their expectations. Deceleration from 50-0 on a tight curve was better than expected.

Maintenance and Upkeep: After 8,000, I am very happy. There's no major or minor problems to date. Only time will tell. Keeping the zinc yellow clean is more challenging, but it is well worth it; it's an outstanding color and gets noticed. I wonder how long my clutch is going to last. I surely make it suffer when I have fun with the car. It's doing good so far!

Gas mileage: The gas mileage can average as low as 14.5 MPG during a week with above average traffic problems; I drive about 3/4 city, 1/4 highway, and the average MPG per tank goes up to about 17.5-18 when there haven't been significant traffic problems on the commute. Surprisingly, the cruising MPG, averaging about 65 for 1,000 miles, I received 26-27 MPG. That was a pleasant surprise. If you want to take advantage of the full power of with this car, your gas mileage will suffer-> it's unavoidable, but it's never gone below 14.5 MPG for me.

Comfort and interior: I'm definitely used to the black leather seats and power everything. My dog loves the back seat. If I expected to have 2 or more adult passengers regularly, I would not purchase this vehicle. The rear-view mirror is slightly obscured by the spoiler, and the side mirrors are slightly obscured by the body form in the back; it took some getting used to backing up into a parking spot. Climate control is fine, and the 400 watt stereo is very clear at the maximum volume level, which is awesome! The ride is not overly uncomfortable for a sports car. I love the feel of control obtained from a sports car, as opposed to the floaty feel of comfort and luxury vehicles. The road needs to be felt when drying hard and fast.

Price: The price I paid includes all taxes and fees: $24,000 for the GT Premium; that deal was through carsdirect.com, which, by the way, provided fine service and stuck to their price.