I never thought I would say these words – Chevrolet rocks.
After many years of waiting and countless debut postponements, the new Camaro
has arrived for 2010.
Scott Wiemels / General Motors |
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And, as many people, mainly complete strangers, were prone to tell me: It’s
hot.
Inside and out, the 2010 Camaro is what people want in a muscle car.
Most muscle cars have two trims – the one everyone can afford without much
muscle (usually a tepid V6) or the souped up V8 edition with lots of power,
but no driving finesse at all.
Not so with the Camaro.
The three “lesser” trims, the LS, LT and 2LT, have the 3.6-liter
direct-injected V6 and the more expensive 1SS and 2SS have the 6.2-liter V8
engine.
I got to drive a 2LT with an RS appearance package for my test drive. Though
it had the smaller choice of engine, it was nothing but muscle.
The V6 is rated at an even 300 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque.
That’s quite impressive compared to the Ford Mustang’s V6’s 210 hp or the
Dodge Challenger’s 250 hp V6.
If you opt for the 'real deal,” one of the SS models, you’ll get a whopping
426 hp. According to Chevrolet, that will net you 0 to 60 in about 5 seconds.
That’s fast.
EPA fuel economy estimates are an impressive 17 mpg city and 29 highway for
the V6 (18 mpg city with the automatic), and 16 mpg city and 24 highway with
the V8 (25 mpg highway with the automatic). These are pretty good fuel
consumption figures, if you take into account how powerful these engines are.
For the exterior, Chevrolet did a great job of staying true to the
unmistakable vintage Camaro outline, but adding some new design elements to
bring it into 2010.
The 1969-esque silhouette is transformed into a modern day classic by the
sleekness and unfettered look of the exterior. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a
lot of sheet metal, but it’s not junked up.
The wide mouth grill and slitted windows give the Camaro a troubled-youth look
that made it look more than a little out of place in the elementary school
car pool line.
But, for those who have been waiting for the Camaro, I don’t think they’ll
mind.
Inside the Camaro, Chevy designers kept up the good balance of retro touches
and modern conveniences.
The square gauge hoods definitely looked vintage, but everything was very
ergonomically placed. Textile were average and the backseat was as
comfortable as you’d expect.
Seat room for driver and front seat passenger worked for me and my tall
husband, though cargo space in the trunk was on the small side. There is a
pass through in the rear seat for things in the trunk.
Standard safety features include antilock disc brakes, stability control,
front-seat side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags. Basic OnStar
is standard on the LS and 1SS, while the 1LT, 2LT and 2SS receive OnStar
with turn-by-turn navigation featuring a graphical display in the gauge
cluster.
If you want a muscle car, it seems like a no-brainer – you should test drive
the Camaro.
There is no other car like the Camaro that offers the same amount of power and
turn-your-head design.
And the price tag isn’t bad either.
For a base Camaro LS, you can expect to pay about $22,000.
My test model 2LT, the most option laden V6 you can get, had a base price of
$26,500. It came with extras, over the LS, like 19-inch alloy wheels, heated
side mirrors, auto-dimming functionality for the driver-side and interior
mirrors, additional auxiliary gauges, remote engine start (automatic
transmission only), leather upholstery, heated power front seats and a
Boston Acoustics sound system with steering-wheel-mounted controls, a USB
audio interface and Bluetooth. With the RS appearance package and automatic
transmission, the price went to $30,115.
