The latest Camaro: too big or just right?

We recently spent time with it: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/new-cars/2012-chevrolet-camaro-ss-coupe/

too big. too big. too big.

Didn't spend much time with it but it was an adequate airbag carrier. Would have liked to have flogged it a little through the twisties.

Fat assed barge.

Wouldn't even consider such an overweight ungainly looking car. To each his own, of course - some people seem to love them.

Front view isn't bad - rear sucks.

Way, way, WAY too big!

Full sized car, not a pony car, but the same could be said for the Moustang and Challenger.

And yet as big as they are they feel awfully tiny inside.

Plus on the Camaro you can't see out hardly at all.

It's sized just right for a Chevelle, Regal/GN or GTO, but the dimensions just don't work for a Camaro for me. I miss badge engineering too.... woulda made a nice Cimmaron.

20% too big, 30% too heavy.

I always laugh when I pull up next to one in my wrx sedan and it's dwarfed by a two-door barge like the new camaro. Not as if the old Camaro was small either, but Chevy should have taken a note from Ford....the Mustang is still reasonable size and ever more agile.

Don't even get me started on the abomination that is the new Challenger...

oh, and also don't get me started on a "sports car" or anything even vaguely resembling a "sports car" that is rolling on monstrous 20" wheels. Doesn't help that the wheels are ugly to boot...

(some of the random supercars with 20s excepted, since their 20s probably weigh 15 lbs...)

The new Camaro ranks right up there in my least favorite vehicles category. Too big, too ugly, and you can't see out of it.

Saw one parked beside a 69 Caprice once. It was larger in every dimension except length.

I compare the current objections with weight to peoples problems with fuel injection 30 years ago. Modern cars are fat because of the required 400 airbags, pedestrian bumper height laws, and so on so fourth. Personally, if it's sales can help keep chevrolet in business, than I can't see enough of em.

Kwitcherbitchin.

Body roll is a function of inertia in motion, More the cushion the better the pushion. Delete at your leisure.

carguy123 wrote: Full sized car, not a pony car, but the same could be said for the Mustang and Challenger.

I have to dispute the Mustang as the smallest and lightest of the bunch at a still hefty 3572lbs it is 300lb less than the Camaro and a huge 600lb less than the Challenger.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_0903_2010_chevrolet_camaro_ss_vs_2009_dodge_challenger_rt_vs_2010_ford_mustang_gt/specs_and_road_test_data.html

BoostedBrandon wrote: I compare the current objections with weight to peoples problems with fuel injection 30 years ago. Modern cars are fat because of the required 400 airbags, pedestrian bumper height laws, and so on so fourth. Personally, if it's sales can help keep chevrolet in business, than I can't see enough of em. Kwitcherbitchin.

I hope you are being sarcastic. I can spot any number of fun to drive cars that are just as safe and half the size of the camaro. The Miata being one...

There is a challenger at work.. it is damn near as big as the SUVs that park nearby

aussiesmg wrote: the Mustang as the smallest and lightest of the bunch at a still hefty 3572lbs it is 300lb less than the Camaro and a huge 600lb less than the Challenger.

O... M... G....

That is eleven hundred (1100) pounds more then my Corolla

800 pounds more than my e18ti and saab

Who really cares about how much heavier the new iron is compared to a bunch of clapped out old econo cars and Miatas? Here is a news flash-new cars are heavy. Many of the cars that folks here get all gaga over(Audis, Benzs, BMWs,etc,etc,etc) are damn porky, as well. Most of today's buyers want all the extra crap and the government requires another load of weight adding safety equipment=heavy. Big surprise, a lot of the usual suspects here don't like domestic offerings. BOT, the new Camaro is a pretty good performance bargain, provides very good performance and distinctive looks. I think its attractive from the 3/4 viewpoint and has a pretty acceptable front view(not a fan of the cheap looking grill, though). The direct rear view is awkward, IMO, as the tail lights size and shape do not integrate particularly well. Is it too big and heavy? Yes, but not excessively so considering today's realities.

oldeskewltoy wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: the Mustang as the smallest and lightest of the bunch at a still hefty 3572lbs it is 300lb less than the Camaro and a huge 600lb less than the Challenger.

O... M... G.... That is eleven hundred (1100) pounds more then my Corolla

Wanna race?

Camaro is tops on my new car want list, however my salary and bank account disagree right now for any new car, the car slush fund is currently in used '05 Mustang GT range. Either case, I'd rather have some extra sheet metal around me these days.

Horsepower wars don't bother me either, on my budget any healthy 400+ hp V8 and six speed will get my jollies off well enough. To me it's about driving fun not.. ha,ha your car is 300 lbs heavier than mine or who got more ponies... ponies change damn near every year any way.

not all new cars are heavy- the Z06 Corvette is something like 3200 pounds and has 500hp and all the creature comforts you'd ever need, but lacks a rear seat.

the Camaro is so freakin H-U-G-E because they built it off a full size platform. they need those big wheels to offset the bigness of the rest of the car and clear the huge brakes that are needed to make it stop.

but it's not really much bigger than a Mustang if you see them side by side. for some sort of a comparison, here's a pic of me sandwiched between my 04 Cavalier and a new SS Camaro on a dealer lot..

i'm curious how much mass a guy could shave off a new Camaro just by removing all the useless big brother crap stuff like air bags and other useless things like sound deadener. if one wanted to get really crazy, i bet you could take 1000 pounds off one and still have a usable car with what looks like a complete interior.

aussiesmg wrote:

oldeskewltoy wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: the Mustang as the smallest and lightest of the bunch at a still hefty 3572lbs it is 300lb less than the Camaro and a huge 600lb less than the Challenger.

O... M... G.... That is eleven hundred (1100) pounds more then my Corolla

Wanna race?

Me? Or my Corolla???

Me - I'll have to decline, I'm at best a 7/10s "racer" I suffer from some inner ear issues that can make me motion sick

My Corolla - That is another story.... and I'f you'd like to find a competent driver(some one I approve of), and you do it at Portland Raceway...you are of course talking circuit racing, and not drag racing, and you are willing to pay for ALL costs involved... I see no reason to not accept that challenge.

Each car... 5 laps - same driver - professional hired by you, approved of by me.

The SS in particular should be an embarrassment to GM. Match one up with the Hot Boss Mustang . The Mustang will probably murder the chevy as was done at Bruntingthorpe by EVO Magazine. Its on the "tube". I'm not a fan of these cars but I felt sorry for GM.

m

something I was listening to yesterday on NPR. "Science friday" was talking about building cars from Carbon Fibre. The guy talking about it stated that once you get past the initial tooling costs to convert the factories over from steel to carbon, it would not be any more expensive to build.

The bodies would be simpler to build, be lighter, and stronger. This would enable them to be lighter and use smaller engines to give the same power to weight ratios.

Supposedly BMW is working on one.

Too big, too heavy, too cartoon-like.

I think they're great looking and would probably make a fun road car. It just woulda-shoulda-coulda been so much cooler if they built it at 7/8ths the scale it's at now (somebody wrote that fraction somewhere and it stuck with me). However, like many others here, the design trends in modern cars seem to rarely fit my personal tastes. How dare they ignore a market segment of people who don't (often) buy new cars! The nerve.

Despite my wishlist, I still want to hoon around in one.