Is it just the power of the internet or does this new Camaro seem to have just as many or more problems than GM cars of the past have had?
I have been a GM cheerleader my entire life and purchased 6 brand new GM vehicles along with several used ones. To be totally honest I have had problems with all of them, some small and some large enough that I had to employ a lawyer just to get one of them out of my garage. My most recent purchase was a 2008 Suburban and with less than 10,000 miles on it, the engine is leaking oil and it has already begun to rattle and clunk.
So what’s my point? My point is with all of the problems I have heard about, which are already many with this new Camaro. Is it just the power of the internet or is this just another typical GM car.

These are just a few things I have seen pictures of or read about.
1. Battery cable
2. Fender to door alignment
3. A blown rear end
4. Broken half shaft
5. Peeling paint on bumpers
6. Trunk lids not opening when release is pressed
7. Windows not working properly.

I live and breath this car and spend an hour a day reading about it and just dreaming of having one in my garage, but after reading reviews of this car verse a 6 year old Mustang with 100hp less and the car rag still choosing the Mustang, did GM really do the job they should have. http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/..._test/(page)/1

Sorry for the rant, I am just fed up with spending my hard earned money of GM cars and Trucks and not having a quality vehicle that I can be proud of. The Camaro is starting to look like a let down as well. I am glad I didn’t pre-order and I think I will hold on to my money for another year and see what the quality reviews have to say. At least there are choices and I am not going to be blind and only look at the Camaro this time. A 400HP Mustang would be a very nice car as well.

 

Probably haters and whiners, for the most part.

 

a lot of those I haven't yet heard about

 

This car has had an incredible amount of hype built up over many years. Of course it will have a magnifying glass all over it. All brand new cars have problems like this - you just don't hear about them as much.

 

When any product, is quickly pushed to production to get the product on show rooms, the first buyers ussally end up with a problem. In most cases the company finds these problems from the first buyers, and fixes the problem on there upcoming buyers so it doesnt happen again.

All I can say is wait, I never buy when any product first comes out.

 

Don't buy one then. Keep my order short!

I understand what you mean. You try and cheer on GM, but you can only cheer so much until it's their turn to come out with a great product. I don't think the Camaro is a clunker. There's too much riding on this car for it to be a letdown.
I'm glad though that when I get mine the factory will already know about the problems and have the manufacturing process figured out enough to not have problems.

 

That's first year growing pains.
I bought a first year vehicle. Once.
Will never do that again.

Id rather wait a few years for them to iron out the problems and really dial everything in.

On top of that, once the hysteria dies down, you could probably get one below MSRP with a rebate or special financing.

 

I really think that it is just because of the power of the internet.

When I was an advisor at a dealership there were people coming in with a problems that we hardly ever saw if at all, and the customer would say; "Well I'm on this forum and everyone that has this vehicle is having this problem." When you look at a message board on the internet, really only a handful of people are posting there, but it is read by thousands if not millions of people. And those handful of people could be from every corner of the country or planet for all we know. It's also kind of that whole mind thing where as one person says they feel sick and that makes everyone else start to feel sick, even though it is only in their mind.

I look at it this way, sure you mentioned seven things above, but how many Camaros are out there. I don't care how long you develope a vehicle, there will always be issues, ALWAYS (hints, thats why they have warranties)! And, I'm sure if you were to follow the mustang or the challenger, or any vehicle for that matter a little closer, then you will see that there are just as many issues if not more.

 

Absolutely I think its the power of the internet. When 4th gens came out was the internet even really around? Internet can make or break a product these days in the blink of an eye.. can be great for publicity or terrible. 5th gen camaro is a perfect example. Transformers was such a boom to the car's image and marketing, but on the other hand its teething problems are exposed for all to see.

 

ALL cars have problems. they are machines. things will go wrong. you cant expect perfection out of EVERYONES car. gm is not the only company that has problems with vehicles. you just dont notice the other cars companies problems because , you dont have one of the other companies cars. and remember, it is a bran new vehicle. it may have some problems. thats the good thing about a warranty and recals. they fix these problems.

 

1. Power of the internet. For instance, you read about one rear end breaking, on this forum. 20 years ago would you ever know about it?

2. I am in agreement with the "never buy the first year" crowd. I don't care how sophisticated the design and manufacturing processes are these days, and the emphasis on quality, it is going to take some time to get things worked out. It happens to everyone, not just GM.

 

The comparison is with the 2010 Mustang, which is the revised one. If they had put the Camaro against the '05-'09 one I'm sure it would have come out on top, not that it matters. I think the lesson from that comparison is that Mustang accelerates, stops and handles as quick/quicker than Camaro because of weight, something we were all concerned about. Unfortunately the Camaro team was benchmarking the old '05-'09 Mustang during development.

 

I say it is the power of the internet

As far as a blown rear end and a broken half shaft, you never know what the owner attempted to do for these to break. They can say what ever they want on the internet, unless you are present when it happened then I would take it with a grain of salt. As the several posters said above, if someone had any of these problems 15 years ago, you would have never known about them and every first year model has problems no matter who the manufacturer is.

 

there will always be issues. it will NEVER be perfect. you think anything is going to change in this car from the beginning of production until next years model starts? doubt it. other than maybe some more options, which could equal to more problems. if the bugs are there now, they will be there next year. some of the cases are just rare happenings. if the car were perfect what would be the sense in having a 5 yr 100k warranty?

 

C&D article is the only review that the Camaro losing to Mustang.
Every other one, the Camaro wins.

As for these problems, it will happen.
When they all start breaking, start falling apart, etc etc, then you can worry.