For those of you have haven't closed the window, I'll tell you about it, and hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I am.
First impressions- Holy crap, this thing is small. Much, much smaller than the outgoing model year. Its smaller on the outside, smaller on the inside, and not as tall either. I can almost reach my arm over the roof and touch the opposite side of the car, which makes sense because its approximately as tall as a BRZ (4'5" to 4'1"). Its styled well, it has short over hangs in the front and rear, and tidied up the space between the door and wheel well- much more compact. The hood is tall, the rear deck is tall, but at least they're consistent across the entire car. The body lines flow well, but the amount of fender between the hood line and top of the wheel well is huge. Its always a gripe of mine, but unfortunately, if it were thinner on the Camaro, the car might look odd. Hoods that sit flush with the fenders and bumper are always a hit with me, too. The clam shell opening isn't my favorite, especially if you're working on the car. The front lights look kind of weird if you're looking at the car straight on, but once you get a 1/4 view, you can see the depth sculpted into the lenses, grill, bumper, and front fascia. It begins to make sense and (likely) is setting them up to start moving off the retro style in the next few years. The red white and blue bars are a nice homage to the original and previous generations. The door sill has it, too and is kind of nice in a nostalgic way. There was thoughtful time put into the aesthetic design of this car, and it shows.
The rear looks well put together. The steeply raked rear windshield and the black filler near the exhaust make it seem less tall than the previous model. The taillights are simple, but like the headlights, are detailed and styled with depth if you really take a moment to look at them. My car is spoiler-less, and I prefer that look.
Once you slide into the interior, you realize that the doors are much shorter than the Mustang or the outgoing model. Very small for such a large looking car (eye catching yellow is not really its best color to show the small proportions), it was here that I realized that the car is deceptively small and so much different. Slipping into the seat, I found a pleasant surprise- a small, flat bottomed steering wheel. On a rental car trim Camaro. Its awesome, and I want one. The steering wheel controls adorning the edges are obvious and purposeful, though I don't usually do much with them aside from radio volume and cruise. The girth of the wheel in your hands feels prefect- not too fat, not too thin, really juuuuuust right. The stitching on the wheel is nice. Some might find it simple or too broad between stitches, but I feel like they capture the purpose and soul of the car. Looking through the tilting, telescoping wheel, I could find the important gauges easy to read- something that drives me nuts in other cars. The gauge hood is a little exagerated, but not the end of the world. The dash isn't made of basketball rubber (like Jesda mentioned in the Malibu, and its clean and uncluttered.
For having so few buttons (just a neat, tidy row across the middle) and a few for the radio (a manual "seek" button, YES!) the infotainment is incredibly intuitive. Normally, I don't bother pairing my phone or using much more than the radio, but since I'll have this car for a few days, it made sense to try the system out. Phone pairing was delightfully simple- only one screen separated me from connecting to the car (take note and suck it, Chrysler). The screens are clear, concise, and tell you what you need to know while never being more than one touch away from the next menu. Excellent execution on whatever it is (Chevy link?). The only thing that took me a moment to figure out were the fan speed and temperature controls. It was hot, so I didn't at first, but with a clear head this morning, I understood what the small markings to the sides of the vents meant. The left is for temp, the right is for speed, controlled by rolling the textured, shiny bezel clockwise or counter clockwise and a quick twist of the "nipple" and you can expand or restrict air flow to that vent- smart. I found myself thinking, so thats how they got such a clean dash without a myriad of buttons! Classy. Simple. Effective. I'm a fan. Even high end manufacturers should take notice of Chevy's execution. My only complaint is that the display is angled down slightly and that it isn't driver centric, but angle can be forgiven as I quickly figured out that there was no glare at all on the screen on a bright, sunny day. I also wanted to note that the back up camera is mounted low on the bumper, but still gives a great view of what is to come from directly behind you and to the side without a fish eye distortion. This is especially notable because you will be using it to parallel park to note only hit the car behind your, but to also not hit the curb successfully. Often overlooked, this was another very well thought out piece of the design.
After fussing around with the little things, I adjusted the seat. Its solid, has enough seat pan for your quads, and will actually tilt UP at the front while the seat is lowered. The space is small, but not tight. My 6' self fit well once the seat was lowered and my forward view was not obstructed. Thanks, tall torso. My elbows easily found great surfaces to rest on while making great contact with the wheel thanks to the close door space and smartly designed center console. Its kinda the shape of Idaho instead of Colorado. It messes with the space inside a little, but I'll take the trade off every time for the comfort- its perfect.
The top of the door even has a softer material for your arm to rest on while you hang your appendage out the tiny windows. Its a nice, thoughtful touch and make the car that much more comfortable. There is one weird little tiny vent that I can't figure out what its for, but since its about even with the side of the seat, you won't see it anyway.
The seats fold down for more stunk space, which is awesome, but do not expect to have any hanky panky or put anything more than a child seat back there. Its a lot like a BRZ in that the seats are there for insurance purposes. Speaking of the trunk- its got a small opening, but once inside, is flat bottomed throughout and is deceptively deep. Even deeper with the seats folded down. You'll have no trouble fitting your wifes pile of s*** in there for a weekend away from the children. The design is impeccable.
With my junk in the trunk and car started up via push button, the car rumbled to life. I ended up with the 335 horse aluminum block DOHC V6 and 8 speed (I was surprised to read that!) automatic.
Sport mode was selected immediately, before I remembered that I'd be putt-putting around in the ghetto near Midway Airport. The roads aren't particularly good, so I switched back to Tour and the suspension was a little better at sucking up the bumps. However, it does not ride with a sedan like comfort, you'll still feel then, but nothing that you wouldn't expect from a pony/sports car. When I finally got to the highway on ramp for 55, Sport went back on, traction control went off, and manual mode was selected. While making the turn, the short first gear delivered instant torque, unexpectedly roasting the tires and putting the (limited slip?) IRS into a fun, controlled slide until I backed off the throttle and let the rear straighten out. I nailed the gas again, shifted, and found the speedo reading early into the 90's in no time and smiling like my 16 year old self who just got his first Camaro again.
I had a long drive with pockets of empty space between me, so I alternated between manual down shifting and letting the auto do its thing to see which was more effective. Surprisingly, you don't get the shift into second denied by the transmission when you're already going 70. Instead, it rev matches fairly quickly, the engine makes a great sound, and the chassis takes off when you mash the gas and down shift at the same time. However, I found the auto to be just as up to the task with very little lag between changing gears. The transmission programing is very good. The shifts are smooth, not jerky, and the car doesn't hunt for more than a moment when you decide to finally start cruising again. The brakes are authoritative and don't have a length of travel in the pedal to begin doing something. I didn't check to see what tires or type of calipers it has, but seems plenty alright to me. They're probably dual piston blah blah blahs. Oh, this thing also does magnificent brake stands, leaving twin stripes of rubber on tarmac. I'll have to make a note to clean off the rubber from the yellow quarter panels, it sticks out like a giant zit on a teenagers face. The line of sight out of the car is pretty awful, and you might not be able to see some traffic lights well if the stop line is too far away, but you can get over that by gazing at the angular hood until someone gently taps their horn to remind you that you need to move. Rear and side view are very obstructed due to the B pillar and sloped rear window, but what you can't see, the mirrors make up for tenfold. Honestly, they're the best placed mirrors I've had on a car ever. Period. They're so good, I am actually trusting them in downtown Chicago traffic. Yeah, scary, right?
Another note about the ride- it reminds me of a bigger Miata or slightly bigger BRZ, a similar Mustang should make Ford feel embarrassed. You feel the fore and aft pitch of expansion joints due to the short wheel base on the highway, and the communication of bumps and imperfections, but the car also doesn't have massive body lean on tight turns and donuts, eats up long on/off ramp sweepers with ease, and is genuinely impressive considering its one of the lower tier models of the Camaro. To be honest, if you like the styling, it might be worth looking at over a BRZ or Miata (if you need cargo space and a convertible).
This IS NOT the V6 Camaro that we grew up with. It is not a mullet mobile. It is a solid contender in the sports car market. It is a great taste of what the SS trim and next trim level suspension goodies might do to make the car even more outstanding.
The car is unabashedly fun to drive and an excellent cruiser.
I would still want the V8 (as a convertible and manual), but could find myself pretty damned content and not feel like I was settling with the V6 if funds were an issue at the time of purchase.
If you get the chance, take one for a spin at the dealer or your rental car lot.
Like our track guru Bubba has mentioned, the new Camaro is nothing to look down on- even in rental car trim.
