The wait for the new Camaro was long-painfully long. Chevy first showed the concept in 2006, and until recently the reenergized Ford Mustang was the only game in town-until now. The Camaro is here, and damn, it looks great. And wherever I went in this new Camaro, people would come up to me and ask “What’s under the hood?” And I told them “The V-6.” The usual response was “Oh”, with a look of slight disappointment.
I understand. I was 9 years old when the F-Body Camaro came out, with its Iron Duke four cylinder, and wheezy 2.8L V-6 from the Chevy Celebrity. Dark times. But times have changed. This V-6 Camaro pumps out 304hp, will vault you to 60mph from a standstill in 6.1 seconds, all while delivering 29mpg highway on regular gas. According to Road & Track, this V-6 Camaro will outrun a mid-1990’s Z-28. Now that’s progress.
I’m sure it’s because the Camaro is new to the market, but this car attracts attention. From a styling point of view, the car is a complete success. It transcends age, race, gender and social class. School kids point at the car, elderly men smile and wave at it. It didn’t matter if I was at a working-class deli or at an apple farm in uber-wealthy Fairfield County, Connecticut, people approached me wanting to know more about the car. The subdued Imperial Blue color did nothing to dull the magnetism.
The Camaro is a strong styling statement, but a very handsome one. Sure, it’s retro, which is a four letter word to some, but this is a modern interpretation of an iconic design. The car looks perfect at any angle, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Proportionally, the car looks good too, but for a 2+2, this is one big car, and you sense this as soon as your settle into the driver’s seat. To put the size of the Camaro into perspective, the current VW Passat four-door sedan is 2″ shorter and nearly 4″ narrower. From the driver’s seat, looking down the long, tall hood it’s nearly impossible to tell where the front of the car is, and you could hide a Hummer H2 in the rear blind spots. But that’s the price you pay for style.
That style continues inside the Camaro. The driver is greeted with large dials sporting retro fonts, and the four-pack auxiliary gauges were a nice touch that the baby boomers who sat in the car loved. The comments were glowing, with most people saying it was the highest quality interior they had ever seen on a Chevy. The Camaro, my friends, is in the modern age. The two-tone heated leather seats were comfortable, but for taller folks like me, you need the power seat to get low enough so your hair isn’t grazing the headliner. While all the modern conveniences of OnStar, XM satellite radio, and Bluetooth were present, the simplicity of the car’s interior pleased me. You turn a key to start the car. You pull the e-brake. You tune the radio, volume, and adjust hot/cold and fan speed with knobs.
So how does she go? Very well. The V-6 had all the power I needed in all day to day situations, and was a joy to blast up highway onramps, and on my favorite country roads. Most of the time the engine goes about its duty quietly, but if you stomp on it, it emits a nice growl. This is a car you can cruise all day long at 80mph and be no worse for the wear. Our tester had the six-speed automatic (unfortunately), but it was a smooth shifting tranny that was always ready to drop gear when needed, and would spin up to redline. There is a manual mode that allows you to upshift/downshift via buttons on the back of the large steering wheel.
With the 20″ wheels on our tester, I expected the car to crash over potholes, and offer an unforgiving ride, but the Camaro was was quite compliant, and a very forgiving car to drive. The steering was well-weighted, and offered decent, but not great feel. Brakes felt good too; my overall impression was this was a fun car to drive, and doesn’t mind being pushed despite its size and weight. While the last generation Camaro was a crude but quick implement, this Camaro is the complete package.
There is a strong case for the Camaro V-6 RS. Why? Because in reality, it’s all the car you’ll need in the real world. It’s genuinely quick, and with the RS package, nearly no one will know it’s not packing the V-8. But….you expect a V-8 rumble, and violence in a Camaro, and they offer that in the SS. My advice to any buyer is to pick the Camaro V-6 if this will be your daily driver. If this is a second car, or a treat to yourself? Get the V8. Either way, you’ll have no regrets, as this is the greatest Camaro we’ve seen yet.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
A lot of Ford’s success with the Mustang was the manner in which they marketed each new body design. For the most part each new model started out with a six-cylinder and every year after got bigger until a new body design was created once again with a six cylinder. This created a good supply of cars for students and baby boomers while those feeling a need for more performance got their dreams answered when every new model came out. Looks like Chevy is going to use that same principal.
As far as looks go, the front and tail end looks sharp but that side few is more akin to a turd with four wheels. In my opinion anyone who likes this body style would have to be a Camaro fan. It’s like owning a pug.. only the master thinks it’s cute.
Tis true that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and I behold beauty. Gary Faules, what the hell are you talking about with the terd comment from the side view? Are you a disgrunttled Mustang fan or did you accidentally get misdirected to a Toyota website when you clicked on the side view thumbnail? One of the “tricks” in the previous F-car was just how much power you could get from the 3800 (once that became the base engine), especially with some forced breathing…and still escape the insurance police…I wonder what could be done here with a base of 304 ponies???
Saratogga – don’t know how old you are, but the old Ford/Chevy rivalries run deep. With most folks it is good natured ribbing. You should hear what Faules has to say about Vettes!
Gary, it looks like my “opinion” served my purpose well. LOL On the other hand if Saratogo thinks my opinion with respect (or lavk of) to the new Camaro was bad he would just love my thought on dweebs who dont respect others honest oppinions. But for the record… If people dont make their honest feelings known what good is putting a car on display. Then again we could all just wait and see who sells the most… Mustangs or Camaros.
PS; It still looks like a turd. LOL
I can’t imagine Chevy thought for a minute they were going to win over any Mustang fans. Interesting who Chevy considers the Camaro’s competitors-yeah, the ‘Stang and Challenger, but also the 370Z, Genesis Coupe, and-hang on-the BMW 3-series.
It’s hard for me to believe Chevy isn’t still fighting a losing battle for dominance of the big three muscle cars even though it was lost a long time ago. However, based on Tom’s comment regarding Chevy going after other competitors, especially foreign models, I applaud them. What has happened to the big three is simple… While the big three continued building vehicles that were expensive and bulky, the imports brought in vehicles that were not only inexpensive but economical as well and if that wasn’t bad enough they were very reliable. What Chevy needs is to build something in that line of thinking and forget about building a car that will never do for them what the Mustang did for Ford.
Gary, I mentioned that to see how people would respond. No, the Camaro is not ready to take on a BMW 335i or the 370Z, and I find it hard to believe many buyers are cross-shopping those cars. In my opinion, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe is the compelling story, and I’m pleased to announce that I will have one to review next month, and I am eager to share my comparisons of the two cars.
Gary, as I know you are 100% behind the Mustang, and a track guy, I am compelled to offer what little track experience I have. I regret GM didn’t show up at IMPA’s Test Days, but Ford and Chrysler did. On a rain-soaked course, I drove the Challenger SRT8, and a Mustang GT. The Mopar kicked its tail out anytime I downshifted, but it was sweet, and easily controllable with some throttle. The thing is huge and heavy, but was a hoot on the road course.
After my track time with the SRT8, I saw the Shelby GT500 pulling into the paddock, and made sure I was next to hop in. I approach the car, and one of the Ford guys cut in “Sorry, the brakes are cooked. This car is not going out again.” And they drove the car to a trailer.
Determined to get at the wheel of a Mustang to do back to back comparo of the Challenger, a Mustang GT pulled in a minute later. I hop in, and wait in pit row for my cue to stomp on it, and prepare for a tight right onto the road course. The GT was sloppy, everywhere. On the banking reaching about 120mph, for a moment I thought the brakes couldn’t slow me down enough to return to the road course (they nearly didn’t)-using the same braking point I’d used in half a dozen cars before.
I confided to Gary Grant the only car that scared me was the Mustang GT. Even the BMW X5M was better around the track-an SUV. In cool, wet conditions, I found it troubling that Ford took the Shelby off the track during the event-the only car I was aware of to get yanked for safety reasons, and the Mustang I drove had virtually no brakes left either. The Challengers were getting pounded just as hard, but had no such issues.
Sounds to me as if the Mustangs and Shelby were so popular the stock brakes got burnt up, an all too common occurrence when taking performance cars onto race tracks with stock pads especially when being driven by inexperienced drivers. This was so common at most Dodge test days that Vipers had to have racing pads installed prior to these events. Look it’s very simple… some people like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and others like ham and nothing will change their minds. The rest is all boloney.
While I will plead guilty to being somewhat of a Mustang fan I would like to point out as someone who has been involved in the automotive service and repair industry for a lot of years and on a large scale I might add, that one of the most difficult cars to work on is any fourth-generation Camaro that came out beginning in 1993 on an updated F-body platform. For that very reason the Camaro died and left a really bad taste in a lot of Camaro fans mouths. Checy doesn’t have to impress me but they sure have their work cut out for them if they are going to impress anyone else.
Yeah, we know the V6 is the more sensible choice, but who buys a muscle car for sensible reasons? I’m sure Detroit will sell a bunch of V6 Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers, but it’s pretty hard to get exited over the lesser versions.
Ptack, Muscle cars with 6 cylinders are what are akin to drug dealers and the first fix is free.
FYI our review of the 2010 Camaro SS http://bit.ly/49umlA
Chevy’s clearly on crack! They’re clearly trying to vy for any and all attention they can get because they are in bad shape. As for the look of this vehicle. I don’t think they’ll win this one over ford’s mustang.
I”m not digging the side view at all. The front and back are workable.