I am all for a v8 addition with 325-350hp to the base model for a few thousand more, but how do you "know" what people want? Give the people a 4th gen z28 trim level equivalent with 400hp for $28k and watch it sell. Those who don't need the power, but want the coolness of a higher trim level will never tap into the power. My sister has a friend with a 2001 Mustang GT. Does she need the power of a v8? Nope. She never get anywhere near putting her foot down in that car.

 

Ok, why did the 4th gen not sell then?

 

The base camaro has always been all show and no go. From the very begining. The same for the mustang. Not used much diffrently then an Accord ao that people could get "from a to b" as you said earlier. Thats the people that you need to have so the car can survive.

 

Maybe they are used like an Accord, but the Accord does the point A to point B thing a billion times better.

Because of a dated design on a old platform that got refreshed far too little and was never advertised in the end. It is apparent that GM had little desire to to push for the Camaro/Firebird in the later years, and were content with just letting them die. I have never heard a good reason about the 4th gen dying because it made too much power, just heresay, and pretty much limited only to internet message boards.

 

Hmm, the design was a lot more fresh then the mustang and it kept selling. GM turned the camaro into a 4 seat (the rear 2 without functionality)corvette. The majority of people did not want to live with the low slung entry and the sit on the floor seating. In effect, it was LESS practical then the mustang. It looks like they have fixed these issues in the new concept.

It also had the power of a Corvette which scare the non enthusiast. In effect, you have to cater to the masses, cater to the people that want the performance, and cater to the people that want the look and sound of the performance but are scared of 400hp. It's not hard to do.

 

Um, no. The Camaro got a mild facelift in 98. Most nonethusiasts don't know the difference between the two. A 98 and a 99 Mustang look substantially different, enough for the casual observer to notice.

You keep stating this, but there is no proof that has been offered at all that 400hp would scare people away. I would bet many people who just want the v8 don't even know what the hell 400hp means. I am sooooooooooooo tired of hearing that the 4th gen did not sell because "it made too much power". That is the biggest crock of sh*t I think I have ever read on here, and some people preach it as gospel. The 4th gen didn't sell for plenty of reasons. It was kind of a sh*t car, without a substantial redesign, and virtually no advertising towards the end of its life (the Firebird had the Muscle Car lives commercial, but the Camaro didn't really have anything).

If you think I think the 5th gen should be an engine in a box, you are sorely mistaken. HOwever, I feel that it is ridiculous to believe that if you stick a weaker engine in the 5th gen, you can watch the sales roll in. Jason's idea is a good one, if GM can pull it off. Offer the customer a cheap v8 upgrade on the base car. That would probably pull in some people. There is no way I want to see a midtrim car with only 325-350hp in this day and age though.[/QUOTE]

I ask again, how much experience do you actually have with Mustangs? My 01 GT had a pretty horrible back seat, maybe even worse that the 4th gen. There was certainly crap for headroom back there, and legroom was nothing to write home about. In the back of a 4th gen I at least had ample head room, although the legroom sucks in there as well. At least the 4th gen has individual bucket seats for each person that sat back there (even though they are kind of sh*tty). The Mustang has a long bench like expanse, with small indentations in it to signify where your *** is suppose to go.

 

This day and age? What does that matter? When you ar giving people 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds thats a major concern. They can do a lot of damage accidentlaly before they can even react. Its not the power numbers that matter here, its the performace it achives with them. 400hp is good midlevel for a heavier car. Your average person does not need or should even be trusted with super car type performance.

 

I don't have time to read everything, but I'd say V8 for sure.

 

The car will only go 4.5 sec from a full throttle stop. How often do you see people going full throttle from a dead stop on a morning commute, besides maybe slow econoboxes? A Mustang GT has more than enough power to get someone killed if driven carelessly, and yet it looks to me that the majority of drivers are still somehow alive. Who are you to say who should be trusted with what kind of power levels? I see far more 130hp Civics flying around everywhere at extra legal speeds than f-bodies.

What I mean by this day and age is that it is becoming increasingly common to see 300hp or near 300hp cars being attainable to the average joe. The Camaro is a muscle car, why give it only enough muscle to compete in its segment, especially when it sounds like GM could give it a healthy dose above it's competiton, and still keep it attainable? I have never seen any solid proof that high HP cars kill, because if it was true I would expect to see many more dead in their GTOs and Chargers than there actually are.

 

I disagree. While horsepower (and torque) are important, the modifiability of the engine matters a lot to the enthusiasts. While GM is, of course, targeting more than just the enthusiasts, they would be wise to keep them in mind most of the time when building a Camaro.

If the Camaro engine is tuned from within inches of its life, so to speak, most enthusiasts are going to be unhappy. Whatever engine it is, it must have significant potential to upgrade beyond its factory output levels.

 

hey man, if they slapped a detuned ls2 in there with 330hp it would work fine. Even offer perfomance stage packages from GM the way that mopar does for the srt4. Just give the people a choice.

 

Now that would be fine. There's lots of modification potential there.

What would NOT be fine, for instance (and I'm not implying that they would actually do this), would be something like a 4.0L V8 tuned to 330 hp. There's not enough easy modification potential.

The point is that more than just the horsepower is important.

 

By HP, I meant that a low level v8 with less then huge horsepower be available.

 

I've got a "base" Camaro that disproves that statement.