Chevrolet Camaro SS
The head-turning classic American muscle car has arrived in Australia, bringing its brand of loud and proud V8 power, writes Toby Hagon.
Few cars can turn heads like the Chevrolet Camaro, the legendary American muscle car. Its starring role in the Transformers movie franchise ensures it attracts plenty of attention (and even better if it happens to be yellow, the colour of the car in the films). Although things have moved on since the first of the blockbusters in 2007, the Chevrolet Camaro 2SS doesn’t mess with a proven formula, its loud V8 engine shoehorned into an aggressively swoopy two-door.
Each Camaro leaves the American factory with its steering wheel on the left before undergoing an intensive conversion to right-hand drive at the Holden Special Vehicles facility in Melbourne. As well as the dashboard and steering wheel, engineers switch headlights, seats and windscreen wipers. And that’s just the stuff you can see; wiring and the radio tuner are among other things altered behind the scenes as part of the remanufacturing of what could be regarded as a spiritual successor to Holden’s V8 Commodore.
Under the bonnet is a 6.2-litre engine providing 339kW of power – more than enough for proper sports-car acceleration. On firing it up, there’s a tantalising bark but it’s the raw, metallic edge emitted by the bi-modal exhaust when you unleash the engine’s full fury that defines the sound. The 617Nm of torque helps, too, making for a fiery thrust and ever willing to trigger the traction control while the 20-inch wheels with Goodyear tyres fight to contain the grunt. It’s a frenetic machine; one that lives up to its muscle-car promise to make noise and go fast.
The Camaro is more tourer than corner carver, its relatively heavy body making itself known on quick direction changes. Fortunately, the variable-ratio steering is accurate and predictable, ensuring ample excitement.
The only model available here, at selected Holden dealerships, is the 2SS with an auto transmission. It includes a sunroof, partially digital instrument cluster, heated and ventilated front seats and leather trim and sets you back $85,990. That’s not cheap, especially considering it lacks active safety gear such as auto braking. But how many cars for the money can elicit smiles – inside and outside the cabin – like the Camaro?