GM should just bag the Z28 for this gen and try again next gen when maybe they can get a grip on a proper Camaro platform. If you MUST have a 500hp sports car, there are used 06 Z06s on the market for low $50s.

 

I don't want a 500hp sports car... I want a 500hp Camaro.

 

It depends on what Z/28 means. By your definition, which is based on the original Z/28 product, definitely not. I mean, the LSA is the equivalent of the big block in 1969. More power, a couple extra hundred pounds of front end weight. Massive understeer, controllable by right pedal.

If you're trying to sell to those under 35 who aren't into old pony/musclecars, then the Z/28 name probably isn't all that sacred and they won't care. But then you could call it ZR2 and achieve the same effect.

So what about Camaro ZR2? It wouldn't anger those who think Z/28 means maximum handling, and it would show a relationship to the Corvette ZR1.

 

That one is already taken.

 

Maybe ZR28 then?

 

Whats the aim for a 505hp Camaro Z28? Just so GM can say "Hey, we built a car that is more powerful (and heavier) than the GT500". If you want a 500hp Camaro, you could mod a 422hp Camaro to get an extra 80 horses.

 

To haul that same weight... Its the same thing... pricewise a gt500 approaches a c6 ... which one would you take? still.. the vette with 436HP is faster.

 

Part of me really agrees here. OTOH, I believe it's good for the Camaro brand to market Z/28 as the maximum performance Camaro. That momentum could be carried forward into the next gen.

That's exactly it.

I'd rather that GM focused on creating the best Camaro possible, rather than being so completely target fixated on Mustang.

 

I don't.

........I want a 550hp Camaro .

I know some people seem pretty passionate about the weight, but those are the cards we were dealt due to crash standards, available platform, cost of lighter weight materials...you name it. The Camaro is heavier than what some people would like.....Fine, we get it, now get over it already. Seems like half the posts lately eventually degrade into a b!tch session about weight....it's getting really old.

I honestly think that if the V8 came at 3,700lbs, people would be still be b!tching about it not being 3,500. If by some miracle it came in at 3,500, people would probably be b!tching about why it can't be 3,300lbs.

But as long as we're now talking weight, here's my view on the (hopefully) LSA Z28:

GM might not be able to offset all of the weight added by a supercharger, but they could take SOME of the weight off for basically free the same way they did with the C5 Z06: No CD changer, power antenna, fog lights, sound deadener in rear, telescoping steering column, "sport" (pwrd lumbar) seats, passenger seat motor, No jack or spare (like all C5's), "run-flat" tires (instead use "regular" tires and included a bottle of stop leak & compressor), tire pressure sensors, and anything else I may have left off. On top of that ditch the seat warmers and whatever else they determine is "unimportant" without going overboard by getting rid of what the MAJORITY of the public expect in cars nowadays (A/C, Pwr Window & Locks, etc).
They could take it even further the same they did on the C5 Z06 "relatively" cheaply by using: titanium exhaust, thinner windshield, and on the '04 Comm. Ed. Z06 a carbon fiber hood (do the same to Camaro's trunk).

I'd take that with the 500+hp (or 556hp...please) LSA in a Z28 over a few hundred pounds lighter Z28 with more than 75hp less in a minute.

....but that's just me.

 

That would be EXACTLY the point. And again, I'd want closer to 550 than 500hp.

And lose the warranty? No thanks. And to top it off, if later on I wanted MORE POWER out of the LSA, it would be a relatively cheap & easy pulley swap away.

 

Save the LS7 and LSA for the vettes. A $15,000 motor would put the Z28 Camaro in the mid $40s.

 

At this point, the best thing to do may be to just get an LS3 car and do the hp work yourself. There's a well known shop around here that got 550bhp (477rwhp) out of an LS3 w/ LT's, a cam, a tune, and a CAI. Granted it would void your powertrain warranty, but it would be a way to get LSA power, without the weight gain. This is assuming the rest of the drivetrain is up to that power, which I don't know.

 

Should a Z28 have the best acceleration or the best cornering?

The DI 3.6 is closest in spirit to the old 300hp 350 V8, and the 302 was a short stroke hi rev version of that. So if you want the best cornering, maybe a Z28 should have a V6, for less weight on the nose.

But on the other hand, you really want a V8 in the Z/28. But the S/C V8 would give great straight line, but maybe not corner as well as the NA V8.

On the third hand, the heavy S/C V8 doesn't seem to hurt the Corvette ZR1 or CTS-V, what with their 'Ring times.

Whatever they do, there will be some who gripe.

Of course, that doesn't really matter, as long as it sells

 

We may need to look at this another way. There are two different schools of thought for the Z28. One is a light, nimble; N/A SBC with road racing roots and the other is the top model, big HP brand that in this day in age means all the best toys and highest price.

We could agree that the original Z/28 formula used by GM to compete in Trans Am has changed when it lost the slash!

The Z/28 the option code turned into Z28 the brand/model and since then it's never been the same.

There are many asking GM to go back to that original formula when actually they haven't built a Z/28 in many respects since 1969. For many years the Z28 was just the V8 Camaro. For some years they decided to mold one brand Z28 into another IROC. But none of the Z28's since 1969 have been true to the formula of a Trans Am spec road racer for the street. GM isn't in the business of selling road racing cars on the street. They are in the business of selling many Camaros.

Obviously many of us here has chosen to accept the Z28 whether it be a 2nd, 3rd or 4th Gen variant and yet we've all managed to love them in some degree or another. Yet now many are mad at GM because the Z28 isn't like the 1st Gen. Mad because it's too heavy or won't perform on the road course. Mad that it won't get an N/A engine. Where were these complaints the last 3 Gens? Because unless you've had and still love the 1st Gen Z/28's you have not loved the original formula but accepted what GM has given us since 1970.

So have the last 3 Gen Z's earned their honor to carry the name? Because if they have then no matter what direction GM takes the Z with the 5th Gen it too will be worthy of the name. It's a brand now and this formula has been working for much longer than the original.

 

They came out before the internet became widespread.

Remember the outcry from the Chrysler faithful in 2005 when the 4-door Charger came out? What if there had been an internet in 1984 (or whenever it was) when the Omni-based Charger came out?

Ultimately, I think you're right. The Z28 changed to the current formula in the mid 70s, and that's what most people will remember.