5th Gen review
04-06-2009 | 04:25 PM
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5th Gen review
An interesting article with some tidbits about the development timeline:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
An asphalt-melting, tire-smoking blast of fun
Jeremy Cato. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 2, 2009. pg. G.5
2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Gene Stefanyshyn (the last name rhymes with definition) remembers all too well "the call."
It was June, 2005, and on the phone was Bob Lutz, then General Motors' vice-chairman for product development - the big product boss, in other words. Lutz had a simple question: "Can you do a Camaro?"
Stefanyshyn, who grew up in Oshawa the son of Ukrainian parents who immigrated to Canada looking for a better life, could barely contain himself.
"My eyes got this big," he says. After all, his very own first car was the 1975 Camaro he bought brand new at the insistence of his father. Stefanyshyn paid for it with money he earned working the assembly line full-time while finishing high school in Oshawa, Ont. "That car got me through engineering school," he says.
Stefanyshyn not only got his engineering degree, but also one in management and now he's in charge of developing GM's global rear-wheel cars. He looks after not just the Camaro and the Pontiac G8 and the Holden Commodore in Australia, but also the iconic Chevrolet Corvette.
But it was the Camaro assignment that has resonated most in a career spanning more than two decades.
"When Bob called, I said, 'Yeah, I think we can work on that,' " he says, wryly.
So do the math on this product development. The call came in June, 2005. By that fall, Stefanyshyn's team had whipped up design data and had begun working on the concept car that made its debut in January, 2006, at the Detroit auto show. Now the finished product is rolling off an assembly line in Oshawa and heading into dealer showrooms.
That's an all-new model in three years and nine months, from initial exploratory phone call to real car, one with perhaps the best-executed design in GM history, two engine choices, two transmissions, two suspension tunings and the full range of digital doodads that will allow you to play your iPod, sync your Bluetooth cellphone and even play digital audio files.
Let me tell you, the optional nine-speaker Boston Acoustic sound system can make your ears bleed and the USB port will let you plug in your flash drive with its million songs or so. Heck, there is even wireless streaming for all you early adopters.
The V-8? The hottest available setup is the SS manual. That gets you the Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual as your gearbox and the LS3 6.2-litre V-8 borrowed from the base Corvette. (The six-speed automatic has paddle shifters and the sport mode in the automatic gives you clean shifts, too.) This big-dawg version, however, has 426 horsepower and the sport-tuned suspension, too, while the auto box is tamer at 400 hp.
In the SS, if you decouple the standard anti-skid control by holding down the button for five seconds, this is the Camaro that is by far the most tire-smoking fun.
"A serious car," says Stefanyshyn, riding shotgun as we ride through the hills east of San Diego, carving winding roads yet not being punished in the process by a hard, unforgiving chassis. "It handles tremendously, but it rides very, very well. We think we've struck a balance here."
He's not lying. But this new 2010 Camaro is not just for baby boomers anxious to relive their lost youth and real or imagined triumphs and adventures. Yes, you can do that, but Chevrolet types are also hoping that the V-6 will hold some appeal for twenty- and thirtysomethings who are looking for more than a funky little Smart two-seater (70 horsepower) or a Mini Cooper (118 horsepower).
And that's where the V-6 version comes in. It's rated at a very healthy 304 horsepower, yet gets 11.4 litres/100 km in the city, 6.9 on the highway.
The most committed buyer will, of course, want the 426-horsepower SS. It's the one capable of really laying an asphalt-melting patch, smoke billowing all around. Yup, totally irresponsible, juvenile really. Oh, and the V-8 will do 0-100 km/h in less than five seconds. Almost as fast is the V-8 with the six-speed automatic. Yes, it comes in at 400 hp because Stefanyshyn and his gang went with a lower-revving, lower-compression 6.2-litre, the one with cylinder deactivation. Quite nice, but not an SS.
Oh, and don't forget that the SS manual comes with a 3.45 rear end (compared to the 3.27 in all other Camaros). The SS tires are P245/45ZR20 (front)/P275/40ZR20 (rear) Pirelli P Zero summers. You get slightly smaller rubber in the lesser models, but even the smallest 18-inchers fill up the wheel wells, as they should.
The obvious comparison is the Dodge Challenger R/T, also made in Canada. Fast as it is, the R/T takes 5.5 seconds to reach 60 mph and 13.9 seconds to reach the quarter-mile at 103.2 mph. And the 2010 Mustang with a Track Pack is said to do 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds, with the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at 102.9 mph. We're also told the Camaro is quicker through the quarter-mile by half-a-second than the Nissan 370Z.
Let's face it: GM says it has a healthy 14,000 sold orders for the new Camaro, but as oil prices inevitably rise and government regulators put the squeeze on muscle cars, the days of juicy Camaros and Challengers and Mustangs and the like are surely numbered. As I worked the Camaro's muscles, I imagined I might be driving a future collector car - one of the last of the high-volume, affordable pony cars.
This Camaro is everything GM promised, everything Lutz and Stefanyshyn hoped for, and it delivers astounding performance and startling fuel economy.
The big V-8, when you mash the throttle, roars, and it's delightful. The Tremec manual is a smooth shifter, but it's not for the weak-wristed crowd. You want to shift, you gotta do a little work here.
And it is a substantial car, too. The SS manual comes in at 1,746 kilograms, after all. With that weight, fuel economy is all the more impressive. Nonetheless, it's a heavy car and that means you need to plan your line if you're doing some spirited driving.
Whatever your speed, whichever the engine, all Camaros essentially look alike. The long nose (no front overhang at all, really), the short rear deck, the short side glass, the sharply angled windscreen and the big haunches come together in a way that leaves a very bad impression - in a good way, if you know what I mean. The body is pretty slick, coming in at 0.37 for its drag coefficient.
So what's wrong? Not the spacing of the brake and throttle pedals. It's just fine for heel-toe downshifting. I wouldn't swap out the retro-style square gauges located down and forward in the centre console, either. That's where they should be in a Camaro.
But the sun visors are too small and the trunk opening is tiny. Chevy could tighten up the steering just a bit, too. It needs to deliver more resistance and more feedback. Also, the dash has a lot of plastic, though it's possible to order a dress-up kit that adds soft-touch materials to break up all the oceans of plastic. There is a back seat, but it's not big enough for real adults - at least not over any time and distance.
Not everyone out there will cheer the arrival of a new Camaro after a seven-year absence. I suspect some will just hate the car and all it stands for on principle. Others will argue that it's a dinosaur and that the world's auto makers should stick to making tiny, fuel-efficient runabouts.
Well, there is the V-6 version and it sips gas just fine, despite the sexy Camaro looks.
The V-8 car, the one with the manual gearbox especially, is a gem and if you don't get it, you never will. But if you're of that mind, don't overlook the fact that Chevrolet is the same brand that will start selling the Volt extended-range electric vehicle late next year.
***
2010 CHEVROLET CAMARO
Type: Rear-drive coupe
Price range: $26,995-$40,995
Engines: 3.6-litre V-6, DOHC/6.2-litre V-8, overhead valve
Horsepower/Torque:
304 hp/273 lb-ft for V-6
426 hp/420 lb-ft for V-8 SS with manual
400 hp/410 lb-ft for V-8 with automatic
Transmission: Six-speed manual and six-speed automatic
Drive: Rear-wheel drive
Fuel economy (litres/100 km):
11.4 city/6.9 highway (V-6 with automatic); regular gas
13.2 city/8.2 highway (V-8 with manual); premium gas
Alternatives: Nissan 370Z, Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang
Like
* Vroom, vroom V-8 power and pretty fuel-efficient but still-gutsy V-6
* Great tip-of-the-hat-to-the-past design, but it's even better executed
* You can live with it every day, too
* Great engine roar of that V-8
Don't like
* Miniature trunk opening and mini sun visors, too
* Back seat for kids
* Oceans of plastic inside
* Chevy could tighten up the steering a tad
>>>>>>>>>>>>
An asphalt-melting, tire-smoking blast of fun
Jeremy Cato. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 2, 2009. pg. G.5
2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Gene Stefanyshyn (the last name rhymes with definition) remembers all too well "the call."
It was June, 2005, and on the phone was Bob Lutz, then General Motors' vice-chairman for product development - the big product boss, in other words. Lutz had a simple question: "Can you do a Camaro?"
Stefanyshyn, who grew up in Oshawa the son of Ukrainian parents who immigrated to Canada looking for a better life, could barely contain himself.
"My eyes got this big," he says. After all, his very own first car was the 1975 Camaro he bought brand new at the insistence of his father. Stefanyshyn paid for it with money he earned working the assembly line full-time while finishing high school in Oshawa, Ont. "That car got me through engineering school," he says.
Stefanyshyn not only got his engineering degree, but also one in management and now he's in charge of developing GM's global rear-wheel cars. He looks after not just the Camaro and the Pontiac G8 and the Holden Commodore in Australia, but also the iconic Chevrolet Corvette.
But it was the Camaro assignment that has resonated most in a career spanning more than two decades.
"When Bob called, I said, 'Yeah, I think we can work on that,' " he says, wryly.
So do the math on this product development. The call came in June, 2005. By that fall, Stefanyshyn's team had whipped up design data and had begun working on the concept car that made its debut in January, 2006, at the Detroit auto show. Now the finished product is rolling off an assembly line in Oshawa and heading into dealer showrooms.
That's an all-new model in three years and nine months, from initial exploratory phone call to real car, one with perhaps the best-executed design in GM history, two engine choices, two transmissions, two suspension tunings and the full range of digital doodads that will allow you to play your iPod, sync your Bluetooth cellphone and even play digital audio files.
Let me tell you, the optional nine-speaker Boston Acoustic sound system can make your ears bleed and the USB port will let you plug in your flash drive with its million songs or so. Heck, there is even wireless streaming for all you early adopters.
The V-8? The hottest available setup is the SS manual. That gets you the Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual as your gearbox and the LS3 6.2-litre V-8 borrowed from the base Corvette. (The six-speed automatic has paddle shifters and the sport mode in the automatic gives you clean shifts, too.) This big-dawg version, however, has 426 horsepower and the sport-tuned suspension, too, while the auto box is tamer at 400 hp.
In the SS, if you decouple the standard anti-skid control by holding down the button for five seconds, this is the Camaro that is by far the most tire-smoking fun.
"A serious car," says Stefanyshyn, riding shotgun as we ride through the hills east of San Diego, carving winding roads yet not being punished in the process by a hard, unforgiving chassis. "It handles tremendously, but it rides very, very well. We think we've struck a balance here."
He's not lying. But this new 2010 Camaro is not just for baby boomers anxious to relive their lost youth and real or imagined triumphs and adventures. Yes, you can do that, but Chevrolet types are also hoping that the V-6 will hold some appeal for twenty- and thirtysomethings who are looking for more than a funky little Smart two-seater (70 horsepower) or a Mini Cooper (118 horsepower).
And that's where the V-6 version comes in. It's rated at a very healthy 304 horsepower, yet gets 11.4 litres/100 km in the city, 6.9 on the highway.
The most committed buyer will, of course, want the 426-horsepower SS. It's the one capable of really laying an asphalt-melting patch, smoke billowing all around. Yup, totally irresponsible, juvenile really. Oh, and the V-8 will do 0-100 km/h in less than five seconds. Almost as fast is the V-8 with the six-speed automatic. Yes, it comes in at 400 hp because Stefanyshyn and his gang went with a lower-revving, lower-compression 6.2-litre, the one with cylinder deactivation. Quite nice, but not an SS.
Oh, and don't forget that the SS manual comes with a 3.45 rear end (compared to the 3.27 in all other Camaros). The SS tires are P245/45ZR20 (front)/P275/40ZR20 (rear) Pirelli P Zero summers. You get slightly smaller rubber in the lesser models, but even the smallest 18-inchers fill up the wheel wells, as they should.
The obvious comparison is the Dodge Challenger R/T, also made in Canada. Fast as it is, the R/T takes 5.5 seconds to reach 60 mph and 13.9 seconds to reach the quarter-mile at 103.2 mph. And the 2010 Mustang with a Track Pack is said to do 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds, with the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at 102.9 mph. We're also told the Camaro is quicker through the quarter-mile by half-a-second than the Nissan 370Z.
Let's face it: GM says it has a healthy 14,000 sold orders for the new Camaro, but as oil prices inevitably rise and government regulators put the squeeze on muscle cars, the days of juicy Camaros and Challengers and Mustangs and the like are surely numbered. As I worked the Camaro's muscles, I imagined I might be driving a future collector car - one of the last of the high-volume, affordable pony cars.
This Camaro is everything GM promised, everything Lutz and Stefanyshyn hoped for, and it delivers astounding performance and startling fuel economy.
The big V-8, when you mash the throttle, roars, and it's delightful. The Tremec manual is a smooth shifter, but it's not for the weak-wristed crowd. You want to shift, you gotta do a little work here.
And it is a substantial car, too. The SS manual comes in at 1,746 kilograms, after all. With that weight, fuel economy is all the more impressive. Nonetheless, it's a heavy car and that means you need to plan your line if you're doing some spirited driving.
Whatever your speed, whichever the engine, all Camaros essentially look alike. The long nose (no front overhang at all, really), the short rear deck, the short side glass, the sharply angled windscreen and the big haunches come together in a way that leaves a very bad impression - in a good way, if you know what I mean. The body is pretty slick, coming in at 0.37 for its drag coefficient.
So what's wrong? Not the spacing of the brake and throttle pedals. It's just fine for heel-toe downshifting. I wouldn't swap out the retro-style square gauges located down and forward in the centre console, either. That's where they should be in a Camaro.
But the sun visors are too small and the trunk opening is tiny. Chevy could tighten up the steering just a bit, too. It needs to deliver more resistance and more feedback. Also, the dash has a lot of plastic, though it's possible to order a dress-up kit that adds soft-touch materials to break up all the oceans of plastic. There is a back seat, but it's not big enough for real adults - at least not over any time and distance.
Not everyone out there will cheer the arrival of a new Camaro after a seven-year absence. I suspect some will just hate the car and all it stands for on principle. Others will argue that it's a dinosaur and that the world's auto makers should stick to making tiny, fuel-efficient runabouts.
Well, there is the V-6 version and it sips gas just fine, despite the sexy Camaro looks.
The V-8 car, the one with the manual gearbox especially, is a gem and if you don't get it, you never will. But if you're of that mind, don't overlook the fact that Chevrolet is the same brand that will start selling the Volt extended-range electric vehicle late next year.
***
2010 CHEVROLET CAMARO
Type: Rear-drive coupe
Price range: $26,995-$40,995
Engines: 3.6-litre V-6, DOHC/6.2-litre V-8, overhead valve
Horsepower/Torque:
304 hp/273 lb-ft for V-6
426 hp/420 lb-ft for V-8 SS with manual
400 hp/410 lb-ft for V-8 with automatic
Transmission: Six-speed manual and six-speed automatic
Drive: Rear-wheel drive
Fuel economy (litres/100 km):
11.4 city/6.9 highway (V-6 with automatic); regular gas
13.2 city/8.2 highway (V-8 with manual); premium gas
Alternatives: Nissan 370Z, Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang
Like
* Vroom, vroom V-8 power and pretty fuel-efficient but still-gutsy V-6
* Great tip-of-the-hat-to-the-past design, but it's even better executed
* You can live with it every day, too
* Great engine roar of that V-8
Don't like
* Miniature trunk opening and mini sun visors, too
* Back seat for kids
* Oceans of plastic inside
* Chevy could tighten up the steering a tad
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