When the 6th Gen Camaro was introduced last year, one big change to the lineup was the addition of a turbocharged 2-liter to the list of available powerplants. Unlike the Mustang, the turbo four would be the least expensive of the engine options for the 2016 Camaro, and we were eager to find out if it really was a replacement for displacement.

Unfortunately, we would have to wait until this week to experience one for ourselves – Per Camaro Chief Engineer Al Oppenheiser, 2.0T customer cars are finally shipping, making it an opportune time for us to get behind the wheel.

Convertibles with V8, V6, and T4 engines were provided for a lengthy road trip to the edge of Death Valley.

At Chevy’s invitation, we came to the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada to drive both the 2.0T for the first time, as well as the convertible 2016 Camaro.

The program allowed us to directly compare the car to its competition; on the West Course we first drove a 5th Gen V6 Camaro with an automatic, then stepped into a freshly-bought S550 Mustang V6 before finally getting to throw a pair of turbo Camaros (one with the 8-speed automatic, the other equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission) around the track.

Why the V6 instead of an EcoBoost? Well, Ford has positioned that powerplant as an upgrade from the base car, while Chevy has done exactly the opposite by putting the V6 model in the middle of the range. Engine apples-to-oranges aside, it was a perfect opportunity to grade both the previous Camaro and the current Mustang chassis against the lightest version of the 2016 Camaro.

We’ll have our feature article with full impressions of both the 2.0T engine and the convertible for you early next week, but we can give you the gist of it now: Buyers of the turbo won’t be disappointed (and we’d even say we prefer it over the more-powerful V6), and the new drop top version is the Camaro to have if you live anywhere that can string two days of sunny weather together in a row.