HSV CAMARO 2SS
Now with a 10-speed auto and the option of a manual. Clayton for the win
IF YOU’RE just joining us, here’s a very quick Camaro recap. (Everyone else, skip ahead one paragraph.) The Chevrolet Camaro was never engineered in right-hand-drive form. Holden sat on its hands for an eternity before HSV decided to pitch for the car. GM said yes, and Clayton took delivery of a limited run of Argentinian-spec 2018 cars to show Detroit that it knows what it’s doing in the conversion from left- to right-hand drive. The big office was clearly impressed, because as a reward, Australia’s now getting an extended run of right-hook Camaros.
This updated 2019 car has made some significant strides forward, to whit there’s now a choice between a 10-speed auto and a six-speed manual, available from June. The LT1 engine hasn’t really changed, still developing a chunky 339kw/617nm, but should
you hanker after more, a $159,900 supercharged ZL1 (our cover star) is also on offer and that serves up 477kw and 881Nm of good ol’ LT4 aggro.
We’re driving the 10-speed automatic 2SS today, equipped with launch-control and line-locker functions, as well as the delightfully self-explanatory Lift-foot Gear Hold technology. The sixspeed manual also gets launch control as well as active rev matching, so if you can’t manage the perfect heel-and-toe downshift, you can always fake it.
The bad news first. The two most significant dynamic shortcomings of the old car, namely ride quality and steering feel, haven’t been addressed. The ride is still fairly busy on its passive dampers and the steering never quite weights up as you’d like. There’s a curious stiction to the nicely thinrimmed wheel about the straight ahead which lulls you into thinking that it’ll require some biceps to haul through
a tight corner, but as soon as you get a few degrees off-centre, it feels as if you could be steering a Corolla. The steering is accurate and you get used to its quirkiness, but it’s not the most communicative front end. It is endowed with huge lateral grip, though, and you soon learn to build your faith, although the mechanical limited-slip differential can nevertheless allow torque to bleed away through an unweighted rear wheel. Odd.
One plus point to riding on steel springs is that you can routinely use the racier Sports and Track modes on Aussie B-roads without the suspension firming up to such a degree that your vertebrae turn to splintered shards. The head-up display that HSV found impossible to convert in the old car makes an appearance in this 2019 iteration, and some of the stress is taken out of parking manoeuvres with a better camera system. Forward Collision Alert and an updated infotainment system are welcome additions too.
The styling updates work a lot better in the metal than they first appeared. We wondered whether the front end was now too fussy, but the dual-element LED headlights and the functional extractor-style hood just give the car more visual menace. The new ‘squircle’ rear lamps and five-spoke 20-inch alloys are also an improvement. Brembo brakes, a Bose stereo and Recaro seats point to the fact that Chevrolet hasn’t skimped on quality fitments for the 2SS.
There are some Camaro idiosyncrasies that you need to get used to, like the LHD centre console, with its poorly placed cupholders and illuminated gear selector panel on the wrong side of the selector. Likewise the lack of interior stowage and no standard-fit sat-nav take a little shine off an otherwise well-finished product. Prices start at $86,990 for a manual model, with the auto version weighing in at $89,190. That’s still $23K more than a Mustang V8, but if you feel the Mustang buzz has palled somewhat, the updated Camaro offers formidable bang for your buck against the best of the rest.