Some of my biggest concerns are: 1) weight, 2) cost, 3) sales, 4) quality/durability, and 5) power! Solutions needed to be met, respectively: 1) weigh less than 3600lbs, 2) very competitvely priced w/ equivalent mustang, 3) sell greater than 90-100K per year, every year, 5) no rattling noises, more durable window motors, no opti spark, stronger tranny, bullet proof rear end, nice fit and finish interior/exterior, room under hood to work on the car, and 5) base model V6 > 255hp, hi po V6 > 275, base V8 > 380, hi po V8 > 420hp, if there is a top dog Camaro, V8 > 450 and must meet criteria 1), 2), and 4) above. Oh, and by the way - advertising must be done EVERWHERE!

 

We're looking at a 5th gen 'vert as a travel car so my primary concerns are limited to trunk/storage space/access and how they deal with the tonneau covers. I can live with 4th gen "space" but not the tonneau covers.

I'd love to see it F-Stock competitive in SCCA Solo but I'm not holding my breath for that.

 

Wrong approach ... how well did that work for them before?? IMO, the 4th-gen Camaro is a killer "bang-for-the-buck" in comparison to the Mustang (well, at least from performance stand point? ), and while I don't know what type of "quirks" or "issues" the Mustangs of the 90's - early 2000's had, I'm sure that quality wise they were no better than the Camaros? Yet the Camaros were priced higher. Was it worth it?

Heh, rely on the sales people?? No thanks. I want the people I know to be able to search the two cars on the internet, do a model-to-model comparison, and see in BLACK and WHITE what they're getting, and the fact that the Camaro can be had for THE EXACT SAME (if not, better? ) PRICE. Other than the fact that one is a Ford and the other is a Chevy, they are basically the EXACT SAME CAR, targetting the EXACT SAME MARKET. Unless it's a sale and/or blow-out season, the price should be the SAME.

Car for the young guy? Sure, if he can afford the damn thing! I got lucky and lived at home 'til I was 24, that's how I was able to afford a brand new Z28 when I was 20-years-old. Otherwise, it would have been a used LS1 at best. You want young people on a budget buying the car? Every dollar counts.

You're right, the CRAZY enthusiasts will pay top dollar for the TOP DOG car, but the AVERAGE buyer looking for a CAR (that happens to be sporty and powerful) wants REALISTIC prices. We're not talking about the Shelby GT500's or Z06's of the world. Just a base V6/V8 "pony car".

Sorry, I don't mean to rant, and I'm not trying to flame you ... I just feel very strongly/passionately about this issue . I want the car to SELL, and I don't want GM to make the same mistakes they made before that they are in a position to completely AVOID if they make the RIGHT decisions NOW .

 

I'm not too concerned about cost. Actually not at all.

You certainly won't be able to buy a 500 hp Camaro for the price of a stripped 2007 Mustang GT - nor is it reasonable to expect that.

You WILL be able to buy a 400(+) hp Camaro for the cost of a nicely equipped Mustang GT though, and really what's wrong with that?

 

My concerns:

Dealer markup.

Car will differ greatly from the concept.

Bad gas mileage and marginal performance.

Some stupid achille's heel like an opti, fragile rear diff, etc.

 

I'm not concerned with dealer mark-up as none of the Chevy dealers near me mark-up any of their vehicles. Granted, I may have to pay MSRP, but then I'll probably be buying a loaded top dog and financing it anyway.

Price does not concern me. I purposely am waiting to buy a new car today because I am waiting for Camaro. If it were not for Camaro being on the horizon, I'd probably be driving a new 2007 Silverado today. (Sucks for my dealer I guess.)

I am not worrying about the car differing from the concept greatly as all I've read leads me to believe that although it will be slightly taller, narrower and longer, it will cosmetically look like the concept while still being more practical for real world driving conditions. To me this is an improvement (refinement) over the concept. (Sorry Charlie. )

Performance doesn't concern me as I plan on buying the top dog Camaro when it becomes available. As long as it keeps up with the "Joneses" I'll be content.

Fuel efficiency doesn't mean much to me either. My daily driver is an '02 Tahoe. 15mpg average is all I get. Anything the Camaro has to offer will be an improvement. Furthermore, my Camaro will primarily be a weekend car and not driven on a daily basis.

Options don't concern me much either. As I have said, I'm buying the top dog racier version. That said, I am assuming it will only come in a coupe, and the options will be limited to 1 or 2 package choices, making my only tough decision choosing the color.

About the only concern I have is that both the convertible and coupe will appeal to me so much so that I'll have the urge to buy one of each. If that's my biggest concern, I ain't too worried about much then.

 

I don't think you need to be concerned about that.

Since I was the first here to mention price, I'm assuming that's directed somewhat at me.

All I want is for the V6/V8 Camaro's base prices to be the same as or lower than the V6/V8 Mustang's base prices (respectively). Package prices and upgrades -- there's more room to play there, and I feel that's less important overall.

 

I really only have two concerns. And only one of them can be attributed to GM.

1. Interior: I had major issues with the Solstice interior. Not really the design, but more the quality of materials. The leather was pretty nice but all of the plastics in interior were crap IMO. I know they really needed to cut costs to get this at the price they wanted and I'm a little worried that Chevy may do something similar. Hopefully not.

2. Wife: I seem to be having a bit of an issue convincing the wife of the need for this car. Luckily I have a bit of time to come up with something good.

 

I think markups are only going to be a problem if you absolutely must be the first guy in town to own a Camaro. Six months down the road, they will have churned out 50K cars and they should be all over the place.

I think this is a great point, and it really means that GM needs to really nail the interior (ie, closer to the Honda than the Mustang).

 

Oh God...please no more hard plastic dashes!! My 2002 Altima SE has one and it creaks and groans over every bump. Especially in the cold.

I was so disgusted with the 1993-1996 4th gen interiors that I fibreglassed mine and resealed it with sound deadening material to quiet it down.

 

I have extremely high, and I mean EXTREMELY high expectations for this new Camaro. If so much as one thing is similar to my 1996 Z28 A4 Camaro as far as the cheap interior, "opti crap," weak rear end, crappy 4L60E, small space under the hood to work, or any number of other flaws the 4th generation Camaro/Firebirds have had - well I will. . . . . who knows! Give me a 425 hp/tq Camaro M6 with the following problems above corrected for up 28K.

 

I do not expect Camaro to win any sales race with Mustang. Out of its 35 years, it has only bested the Mustang once or twice. There are a lot more choices in the Chevy family then there are at Ford.
Camaro always had other coupes to compete with in its own dealer network. Not to mention, the Firebird.
If you wanted to, combine the total sales of the Fbodies together, and see how close Fbody came to beating Mustang. Its like the Silvy/Sierra vs F150. While the Silvy has never really beat the F150, total they jump ahead.

As far as price, if they price it lower then Mustang, you will sacrafice quality. Mustang is so cheap because it IS a cheap heap of plastics and parts bin equipment. Accord or Camry V6 are thousands higher then the Malibu V6, yet sales are still higher. Camaro will have a lot more equipment, and no way will it be priced BELOW the Cheap Heap Mustang. Just sit in that car, feel the plastics, the cheapness of everything you touch, and tell me that you want Camaro to come UNDER this price?
You will not see Camaro for under 20k.

I dont count the 4th gen vs SN95 comparision. 4th gen had too many faults to make it a daily driver, therefor causing more people to default to other coupes from inside GM or go tot eh Mustang. The 4th gen sat you too low, the blind spots scared your average person, you couldnt tell where the front began or the rear ended, it was just not a car designed for ergonomics. As for its V8 Ethusiasts draw, we loved it and there was tons of success with the V8 cars, but the V6 cars, the core, were being lost to more civil and upright coupes.

 

I'm with Big Al, build the quality in from the base model on up. Even if you buy the "top dog" version, it still has the same basic interior/dash/materials as the "value leader." Sure, you can option in leather seats and a few more standard features, but it's too expensive for Chevy to build both a cheap version and a nice version; just build the nice one for all of us (base V6 to loaded Z-28).

 

my biggest concern isnt with the car itself, it's with my finances and whether or not i'll be able to afford the car... as it stands, it doesnt look like i'll be getting one anytime soon..

 

Here is one I thought about...
Will Camaro cary the Holden bolt pattern, or will there be a new hub made to fit the 5x4.75 bolt pattern? Thats a good question, I wonder if Scott could answer that. Its not like its giving any major info away. If not, that would make Corvette the ONLY car to continue on with the classic GM 5x4.75 bolt pattern.