Chevrolet Camaro still fabulous at 50

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Published on Monday, July 31, 2017

Ben Castle
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The Chevrolet Camaro was GM’s kneejerk reaction to the unmitigated success of Ford’s 1965 Mustang pony car and was first introduced for the 1967 model year.  The name Camaro was thought to be derived from the French word camarade, which means friend, pal or comrade.  The implication being that this was a car for having fun in and to enjoy with your friends. 

The Chevrolet Camaro and its corporate twin, the Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am continued through four generations until it was quietly dropped by GM in 2002 due to declining sales, a shrinking market for sports coupes and plant overcapacity.  However, after an eight year hiatus, Camaro made a triumphant return for the 2010 model year with a new, edgy design reminiscent of the original 1967 Camaro and an image-enhancing tie-up with “The Transformers” movie franchise with a new Camaro in the starring role.  Although merely an evolution in terms of styling, a new sixth generation Camaro was introduced in 2015 for the 2016 model year and comes with more power and the option of a new entry-level turbocharged four cylinder, a new eight-speed automatic transmission, a higher quality interior and slightly more compact dimensions that leads to an average of 200 pounds less weight spec-for-spec.  This year, 2017, Camaro celebrates its 50th birthday and the battle between Mustang and Camaro in the showrooms is just as hotly contested as ever!     

The $59410, tester supplied by Murray Chevrolet in Brandon was the 2SS Convertible with the eight-speed automatic transmission and 6.2 litre V8 engine putting out 455 horsepower and 455 pound feet of torque. 

In black with the optional 20 inch gloss black aluminum wheels, this car has massive presence and looks very menacing.  The red hash mark decals on the front fenders combined with the Adrenaline red interior accents also work well with the black paint but I’m not sure if the decals are worth the $460 asking price! Although similar to the previous generation in terms of looks, this new car looks leaner and more muscular with a more aggressive front and a more cohesive rear.  The convertible roof also nicely preserves the lines of the coupe.  Although it is larger, you can clearly see when it’s parked up with Ron Rabe of Alexander’s gorgeous 1969 Camaro Z/28 Coupe that the new car is definitely a Camaro.

The cabin is a big step up in terms of quality and design.  The cockpit is snug and you sit lower down in the car than in the Mustang.  Cool features include ambient lighting in 24 colours in this car, illuminated kickplates, virtual gauges, a head-up display and air vent surrounds which rotate to control the temperature of the climate control.  However, storage space in the centre console, glovebox and door pockets is very limited.  Unlike the Mustang, to lower the roof, you don’t need to release a catch manually, just press a button and the roof lowers out of sight under a metal tonneau cover in only 12 seconds.  You can also do this remotely from outside of the vehicle using the key fob, a very cool feature.  This makes the lines of the car look very clean with the roof down but the disadvantage is the roof folds into the trunk and uses up about half of the convertible’s already meagre 207 litres. If you plan to take your Camaro touring then wait until you have got to your destination and unloaded your luggage before putting the top down or buy the coupe, which with 258 litres of trunk space, has about 25 per cent more space!  Rear seat space is improved over the previous generation but it’s still pretty cramped back there and a little claustrophobic with the roof up.   Rear visibility is non-existent with the roof up but fortunately you do have an excellent backup camera with dynamic guidelines, rear parking sensors and side blind zone and rear cross-traffic alert as standard.

This car had the optional dual mode exhaust and fires up like a thunder clap before settling down to a quiet idle.  You also have switchable modes for normal/sport/track and snow/ice.   The 6.2 litre V8 actually features Active Fuel Management, which means when you are just pootling along around town or on the highway, the engine runs on four cylinders. If you are planning on using your Camaro as your daily driver, this means that fuel economy is very impressive for a big V8, with a highway rating of 8.7 litres per 100 kilometres.  I achieved a test average of 11.5 litres per 100 kilometres (versus a 14.3 litres per 100 kilometres average for the V8 Mustang last month). This all means that the V8 Camaro is very quiet at a cruise and other than the low-slung driving position, around town you could almost believe you were driving a Chevrolet Cruze, not a V8 muscle car! Driving through town following Ron Rabe’s very loud 1969 Camaro with its massive 502 cu in motor, I was rather upstaged by the blood and thunder soundtrack but rest assured if you flex your right foot, all eight cylinders crackle into life and you get that V8 bellow that you would expect from a Camaro.  I found out after my test drive that if you want the full-on V8 muscle car experience all the time, you need to put it in Track mode and this isn’t going to fully disable the stability/traction control either.  The Camaro’s V8 is both more powerful and more torquey than the Mustang’s and this combined with the Camaro being a good 400 pounds lighter means that it feels noticeably quicker and you don’t have to rev it as hard to access the performance.   The eight-speed automatic transmission is very impressive in automatic mode with very slick yet smooth shifts and excellent response but the response when using the paddleshifters is a little sluggish for my liking.  The speedometer calibration is in 30 kilometre per hour increments and I found it a little hard to read, not ideal when you have so much performance on tap!

Where this car really shines is on a twisty road. The steering is  smoother and more positive than the Mustang and offers a bit more weight. The brakes are strong and the structure feels tighter and stiffer with less body roll, pitch and squat under braking.  This car feels like it would perform better on track and on  a twisty European roads than the Mustang but the downside is that the ride is a little stiffer, although not uncomfortable. 

The optional magnetic ride control ($1,895) may well be worth specifying to give you better ride comfort when you want it and tighter body control for the twisties/track.

The Camaro starts at $29,595 for a 1LS Coupe with the two litre turbo and six-speed manual transmission .  Add $1,550 for the automatic transmission (1LT) and $1,645 if you want the more powerful but less torquey V6.  The 2LT model is available with both engines and transmissions and for a $6,905 premium adds leather seating, dual-zone climate control, eight inch touchscreen, Bose audio and heated and ventilated front buckets seats.  A reasonably priced RS package adds 20 inch aluminum wheels, an RS-specific grille and HID headlamps to LS/LT models (the standard wheels are 18 inch aluminum). 1SS and 2SS models get the 6.2 litre V8 which comes with uprated cooling, suspension and brakes, a limited-slip differential, HID headlamps and 20 inch aluminum wheels.  2SS models add more luxuries including leather seating to that spec.  Finally, the top-spec ZL1 gets a supercharged version of the 6.2 litre V8 with 650 horsepower and also standard magnetic ride control, electronic limited-slip differential, launch control, dual-mode performance exhaust, RECARO performance front bucket seats and an available ten-speed automatic transmission but all this comes at a large premium.  All models are available as a convertible for which you will pay between $6,455 and $7,905 more depending on spec. An expensive but appealing option on V6 and V8 manual coupes is the 1LE performance package. If you are planning to track your Camaro, this gives you uprated cooling, brakes and suspension, the dual-mode exhaust, HID headlamps 20 inch forged aluminum wheels and a satin black front splitter, engine hood wrap and rear blade spoiler.  The V8 1LE adds most of the performance-enhancing features of the ZL1 to this spec.

The price of Camaro spec-for-spec is on average just over $3,000 more than Mustang but with the exception of the four-cylinder turbo, you do get more power, a generous amount of kit and current rebates narrow this price difference significantly.  I would choose the V6 over the four-cylinder turbo, as although it has less torque and is marginally less economical, it has more power, a more appropriate “muscle car” soundtrack and crucially for this type of car is quicker to 100 kilometres per hour and over the quarter mile!  This is a great sports car, so my preference would also be with the six-speed manual transmission to get the most enjoyment out of it but the eight-speed automatic is a great transmission too.  The 1LE package would also tempt me and although the convertible looks great and is very refined, the premium is quite high and it makes an already impractical car, even less practical!  If you can afford it though, you’ll want one of the V8 SS models.  This engine is one of the all-time greats and gives you all the performance and the soundtrack that you would expect from a Camaro.  Also, thanks to Active Fuel Management, if you’re going to daily drive your Camaro, then it can be surprisingly economical for a V8 muscle car!

So, if you want a sports car with American styling, character and power but with the driving dynamics of Europe’s finest sports cars for significantly less money, then I can heartily recommend the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro!  Happy 50th birthday Camaro!

Chevrolet Camaro at a glance

Powertrain: 2.0 four cylinder turbo with 275 horsepower, 295 pound feet of torque; 3.6 litre V6 with 335 horsepower, 284 pound feet of torque; 6.2 litre V8 with 455 horsepower, 455 pound feet of torque (6-speed manual/8-speed automatic); 6.2 litre V8 supercharged with 650 horsepower, 650 pound feet of torque (6 speed manual/10-speed automatic).

Trim levels: 1LS, 1LT, 2LT, 1SS, 2SS, ZL1

Starting price: $29,595 (2.0 turbo coupe manual), $37.500 (2.0 turbo convertible manual)

Price as tested: $59,410 (2SS Convertible w/automatic transmission)

Highway fuel economy: 7.7 litres per 100 kilometres (2 litre turbo); 8.4 litres per 100 kilometres (V6); 8.7 litres per 100 kilometres (V8)

Test fuel economy: 11.5 litres per 100 kilometres combined (2SS Convertible auto)

Warranty: 3 years/60,000 kilometres bumper-to-bumper; 5 years/160,000 kilometres powertrain

Service interval: Variable as per oil life monitor, 2 years/48,000 km free oil changes