Tips on Buying Cars: convertible, ford mustang convertible, camaro firebird

Question
Thanks for your response. Been on vacation. I'm not really concerned about power. You mention about retractable tops there more expensive right?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi Robert,

I'm interested in the Ford Mustang Convertible but I'm hearing they are not good cars. Can u give me a little bit of info on them. My budget is around 17k-19k. Also like the Pontiac Firebird convertible.
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Can you be more specific.... v6/v8... year... miles?  Most domestic convertibles will be a little.. shakey?? convertibles are heavy and the parts go wrong easily... thus the imports have a upperhand with their higher quality materials.. between the firebird and mustang.. well you are looking at a better build quality for the mustang... GM's interiors in the camaro/firebird/corvettes have always been really poor... brittle plastic parts break easy... as far as being good cars... that depends on what engine... and miles... the 99-04 v8 and v6 mustangs were pretty good engines... the LS1 98-02 firebirds have amazing engines but once again the interior will be poorly built...  the V6's in the Birds are also pretty good... so really you are looking at two vehicles that are probably both 6/10.. or 5/10... for build quality... maybe 7/10 or 8/10 for reliability... which is very high for a domestic... but that is engine only.. the electronics and small components on the interior will be more likely to mess up on the GM vehicle... Give me more info and i'll be more specific... I can offer other options as well.. I'm not a big fan of convertible's especially sport cars but i'm sure we can find some decent alternatives that still have a retractable tops... and i'll tell you more on the ones you are looking at now.. let me know - thanks!

Answer
A retractable top is any type of convertible... anything that's top can retract away leaving the cabin open.. if you are thinking about a hard top (meaning it looks like a normal car but then the roof can fold away like a convertible) yes they are expensive.. you may want to check out the pontiac G6, I think its one of the cheaper hard top convertibles out there, but those cars are fairly new and no one really knows how reliable they are.  If power is of no concern and you are purely looking for the sports car look without a top, almost any domestic built car is going to be very similar in terms of price and reliabily... so go with which one looks the best to you, and which one you can get a deal on... hope this helps!