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.

 

Thanks for the write up Frank.
It's nice to "know your enemy". From what I've heard on the forum we can take them!

 

Well, I can tell you from US 41's open test day, if its factory, the SRT6 will take it, if it's slightly modified factory, it may be a race, if it's heavily modified, it's fun to run with them for a short ways, if it's an all out race car, you have a nice view from behind...LOL

 

My Brother says he will be tunning for a push to 500HP. That gives him a power to weight ratio similar to the SRT. So yes, Doc, I believe you on the straight drag ET's. But no way on the twisties. It's no better than a 70's muscle car in the corners. Way to much understeer and no road feel in the steering wheel.

It's a truck on steriods.

roadster with a stick

 

Great write-up Franc! Jeff was telling me how weird the clutch felt. He said you can't really feel when it engages (to me, that takes a lot of the fun out of driving a stick ). The location of some of the gauges at the end of the center console requires you to take your eyes totally off the road to see them. Jeff also pointed out that there are no aftermarket CAI's because of some (about 1/4" diameter) air tube(?) feeding off the OEM air intake that the instructions state must not be removed. He didn't know what the purpose of the tube is.

It is a beautiful car though. Here are a couple pics I took as she was leaving the GTG:







It was great meeting you guys at our GTG! We look forward to seeing everyone again at TMS in September.

 

Dan,
You reminded me, An interesting note about the gauges.

Everytime, right after I went fast or drove aggressively, the center gauge cluster panel went dark and then a message came up, "You have exceeded the suggested speed limits of the vehicle"

This on a 400 HP performance Camaro. What did they think the drivers would be doing with that machinery?

Hilarious.

roadster with a stick

 

ROFLOL, that's a bunch of Pelosi.