As many of you know, My sister-in-law just took delivery on a new Chevy Camaro. I had the pleasure of driving it last week end while visiting Dallas/Fortworth for a GTG with that chapter of our fine club.

Many DFW members got to view the car that day and were impressed. The styling is aggresive, bold and I have to say Beastly. The model she has is black, on Black, on Black with red two tone seats and lacing in the interior.
It is a 6 speed manual with the big muscular 400 plus HP V/8. A very intimidating brute.

I had the pleasure of driving the beast later that evening when the weather was a cooler 95 degrees F. My impressions are good and not so good.

Fit and finish inside and out were excellent. Not one of GM's finer points, but done well here. The roomy interior was soft and flawless. The fine stiching, done in matching red, was a very nice touch of elegance, especially in a brute vehicle.

The car is huge from the cockpit. The hood seems massive and indicates the power under the hood. The V/8 was torquey, very torquey, and would pull very well from 1,000 RPM in any gear. The torque curve was very flat with no taper as we approached 6,000RPM. With only 500 miles on the clock, I did not pursue farther up the scale. (My sister-in-law is demure and cute but quite capable of exacting porportionate response).

The shifter was Notchy. More so than our clunky Diamler models. The power assisted clutch was a bit testy. Standard engagement was OK but feathering was out of the question. In the two times I let 'er rip, the car launched well hitting triple digits at just past the quarter mile. Considering the tight new engine and the novice at the wheel, not too bad.

The vehicle looks like a sporty car, it specs out like a muscle car, but, it handles like a truck. Even my brother commented that it felt like his suv or a GMC pickup. It just is not nimble. Not a threat to us on the Dragon, but what is needed to handle the muscle under the hood.

I did like the very deep dish, small diameter steering wheel. Recirculating ball but control was easy despite the short racing style steering ratios.

All in all a great muscle car that will pull looks almost as well as a Crossfire roadster with an SRT logo on the trunk. But would it beat the SRT?
My brother drove Cathy's immediately after the Camaro (and a fun drive in his '76 Pontiac 455 Trans Am) He was very impressed, surprised actually, in both the quickness and the road handling of the SRT. He wouldn't admit the SRT was faster, hands down, but he wouldn't put up either of his cars, the Vette, the Trans Am, or his wife's Camaro to prove it.

Despite taking all three that evening to triple digits, on US-75 in Plano TX, he was suddenly religious. " I don't street race" he insisted.

"That's OK Jeff. I'll give you a chance at the TMS in September."



roadster with a stick

Trust me, The SRT is much faster. Particularly at the launch. He just didn't want to admit to getting his @ss kicked by a six.