Start me UP
From the moment you fire it up, you know this is a proper driver’s car
Our rock ‘n’ roll band (“The Compleat Works on their Mid-Life Crisis Tour”) does a gig every year for the National Corvette Restorers Society bun fight in Bolton, Ont.
Yes, of course we do “Little Red Corvette,” and slur over the bad language. We also wrote a new R&B song:
“I bought you a brand new Sting Ray, Split-window ’63, Now you come around, signifyin’ woman, I ain’t gonna ride for free, Sting Ray Sally now baby ...” Etc. GM couldn’t come up with a Corvette for me this year, so I got the next best thing — a Camaro SS coupe.
Actually, for carting the equipment up there, a Camaro was probably better than a ’Vette.
Speaking of equipment, you know you’re getting old as a musician when you’d rather have a roadie than a groupie ...
Camaro prices start at $29,695 for the coupe, $37,595 for the convertible.
My tester was a coupe in SS trim with the 6.2-litre V8 engine and a six-speed manual transmission. Checking that one box on the order form shoves the sticker all the way up to $48,595.
With a snootful of options, including the “Redline” appearance package, Brembo brakes and Magnetic Ride Control, my car would go out the door for $60,220, less whatever promotional pricing is in effect when you make the deal.
At time of writing, the car had nearly a four grand discount (“on the hood,” as they say in the car biz).
This generation of Camaro was formally launched in the fall of 2015 as a 2016 model.
We had a sneak preview a few months earlier at the Belle Isle race track in the Detroit River, where I might have been the first person outside of General Motors to actually drive the car (because I got in line first ...). One of my colleagues who shall remain nameless was the first person at least outside of General Motors to crash one during that same track session.
This was a bittersweet launch for the Canadian journos, because for decades Chevy’s pony car had been built in Canada, first Brosbriand, Que. (a hockey rink stands there now), then Oshawa.
The sixth-generation car is assembled in the Lansing, Mich., plant where Cadillac’s CTS and the already-or-soon-to-be-discontinued ATS are/were built.
Styling is always subjective, but I find the Camaro a greatlooking car. Low, sleek, slightly menacing.
The stylish lines and very slim “greenhouse” — the glass part of the car — do extract a huge penalty in rear three-quarters visibility. Better learn how to adjust your side-view mirrors correctly, i.e., WAY out. Or, you can rely on the totally irrelevant “blind spot warning system” if you’re too lazy to learn how to do this correctly.
The interior also shows how far GM has come in this area in recent years — no mouse fur to be found.
The flat-bottomed steering wheel is a particularly handsome piece, and feels great to the hand. When you figure that’s one part of the car that you are always (or should always be) touching, it seems like that should be a priority. It isn’t always.
A sizable instrument nacelle in front of the driver presents a raft of data in a generally clear and concise fashion. As with most modern cars, you will need to spend some time with the owners manual figuring out how it all works.
Massive round eyeball vents, two at either end of the dash and two more in the middle, direct conditioned air wherever you need it. On the two inner ones, rotating the collars adjusts the temperature for either side of the car. Completely intuitive; no need to figure these out. Fan speed and direction of air travel (defrost, vent, floor) are controlled by push buttons; ya can’t win ‘em all.
There’s a head-up display if you like that sort of thing; you can shut it off if, like me, you don’t.
On this model, it can also display various performance numbers for acceleration, lateral G, and the like. Closed-course driving only, please.
Behind the shift lever is the traction control “off” button if you’re feeling reckless (I hope you stay “wreck-less” ...), a button for the parking brake (no handbrake turns any more), a 12-volt outlet, a pair of nice deep cup holders and a covered cubby bin in which you will find a pair of USB ports.
Like most GM cars, Camaro offers its own Wi-Fi capability, which can be very handy if you’re not near a Starbucks.
My test car had GM’s MyLink system, which offers a boatload of digital wizardry including SatNav. Plan an extra evening with that owners manual.
The seats are comfortable and supportive, but various passengers missed the “merde alors!” handle — there’s nothing obvious to grab onto when the driver is exploring the limits of that lateral G.
The rear seat is of the “very occasional” variety, although everything looked nicely finished back there. The seat back folds down to augment trunk space, sufficient for my guitar, amp and various bits of the PA system for the gig, and that’s the bottom line.
You know this is a proper driver’s car the minute you fire it up. But it gets even better when you toggle the drive mode from Snow/Ice (which appears to be the default setting) through Tour, Sport and Track, each one making the car’s behaviour increasingly aggressive.
It changes throttle mapping so it’s more responsive. You can also switch the exhaust system to full growl. Magnificent, and you can shut it back off if you are sneaking home too late.
Despite the proliferation of turbos on performance cars these days, I still prefer the linear power urge of a naturally aspirated engine.
And this one seriously aspirates, and seriously urges. There’s really nothing like a big honkin’ V8.
You don’t need much throttle nor frankly a whole lot of revs to get this car motoring right along.
But of course most of the time you will use lots of both, and it really comes alive. Zero to 100 km/h will come up shortly after the four-second mark. Interestingly, published figures show the eight-speed automatic does this sprint about threetenths quicker than the manual. Just not as much fun. That manual, a TREMEC TR-3160 six-speed, requires a bit of heft to operate, but it does have a lot of torque to manage. Shifts are positive and smooth, and clutch take-up first-rate.
The transmission has rev matching, which automatically adjusts engine speed so it is at the right r.p.m. when you select your next gear. It makes you look like a way better driver than you probably are, and isn’t a car supposed to flatter your driving?
You activate this by pulling on either of the steering wheel shift paddles, which are used for manual-override shifting in automatic-equipped cars. And you have to remember to switch it on each time you start the car — it doesn’t remember your setting.
The MacStrut front suspension may seem a downgrade from the previous generation’s double-wishbones. Still, combined with the multi-link rear end, ride and handling are excellent.
Both attributes are significantly influenced in a most positive way by the Magnetic Ride Control system, which can adjust the shock damping settings in thousandths of a second depending on road condition and what you’re doing behind the wheel. This is an option on this trim level; don’t leave your dealership without it.
On the road, the Camaro is firm, but it swallowed some fairly nasty bumps.
Watch out for the intersection of Hwy. 50 at Albion Vaughan Rd., just south of Bolton. I actually stopped to make sure I hadn’t bent a wheel rim. I hadn’t.
If you select “Track” mode, you gain a bit of freedom to hang the tail out a little. It isn’t overly nanny-ish, but will catch you if you get too far out of line.
Unless you shut off the directional stability control; then you’re on your own. And with all this power, you better know what you’re doing.
All this go-faster stuff is kept under control by big Brembo brakes.
The Camaro/Mustang argument will linger as long as both cars are built.
After several years of trailing Camaro in the sales race, Mustang is currently well out in front. Various rationales have been proffered; one I subscribe to is that the bulk of pony car sales are not to performanceoriented buyers, but to customers who are looking for a bit of style and image at a reasonable price.
Traditionally, Mustang has appealed to all consumer groups, being particularly strong with women; Camaro not so much, for whatever reason.
Dodge’s Challenger is still hanging in there, with more peak power and the only fourwheel drive variant in this race. It has been in its existing configuration since 2008, relying mainly on engine upgrades to stay competitive.
I wonder if there is much cross-shopping amongst these three? I suspect fans of one car wouldn’t even consider another.
But isn’t it always great to have choices? If you’re into American muscle cars, those choices have never been better.