2010 Chevrolet Camaro

[jmsbntz]

It's been a long time coming but the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is nearing a February 2009 launch of production. To commemorate the occasion GM invited a small number of West Coast journalists to their West Coast Advanced Design Studio in North Hollywood as they took the wraps off of the long-awaited response to Ford's Mustang and Dodge's Challenger.
Link: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I really love the look of the Camaro and I can't wait to start seeing them on the road. Too bad I can't justify buying one for myself. Sounds like the V6 model will be 300+ HP and will be a pretty hot ride unlike V6 Camaro's and Mustang's of the past.

 

[dailydriver]

YES, the direct injection V-6 would be a killer ride if it weren't for the excessive weight of the 5th gens.

Although they are still lighter than the Challenger.

 

[Barkleymut]

Wow, only 5 model years after Ford came out with the Mustang which has been an overwhelming success. Too bad neither the Challenger or Stang have been near enough to save Ford or Chrysler from financial doom.

What I think would be hot would be an electric/gas muscle car that could do 0-60 in 5 seconds while getting 35 MPG, maybe then the Big 3 could have something that would sell.....

 

[jmsbntz]

Here is the GM link: Camaro

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: Barkleymut
Wow, only 5 model years after Ford came out with the Mustang which has been an overwhelming success. Too bad neither the Challenger or Stang have been near enough to save Ford or Chrysler from financial doom.

What I think would be hot would be an electric/gas muscle car that could do 0-60 in 5 seconds while getting 35 MPG, maybe then the Big 3 could have something that would sell.....

It could be done.

 

[-Clayton-]

I don't like it and I've always been a gm guy.

 

[Barkleymut]

I've always been a Ford guy (check my sig) and I really like the design. They are just way too late; bringing a gas guzzler to market when gas is $3.80/gallon????? Oh wait they still have a while until the official release. Its funny, I was talking to the owner of a local Chevy dealership about 8 months ago and he was beeching about how GM has been talking about the Camaro for forever. They are still quite a long time away.

 

[Jeffdc5]

while honda toyota scramble to make cooler looking fun small hybrid type vehicles Gm scrambles to drop another overweight high powered non sense vehicle on the American public yeah this is how to beat Toyota does anybody at Gm know how to do market research

 

[caprice_2nv]

^ Do you know what kind of MPG a 4th gen Camaro with the LS1 and a 6 speed can get on the highway? Until you do, I suggest you be hold back the comments about overweight and overpowered. Look at what type of car it is, who are you to say it's overpowered? I really don't think the Camaro or Mustang is being produced in an attempt to beat Honda or Toyota. Neither of them make anything that competes with them. Honda and Toyota obviously aren't capable of building a car like that or don't care because it's not profitable.

 

[Kernel Potter]

Originally Posted By: Jeffdc5
while honda toyota scramble to make cooler looking fun small hybrid type vehicles Gm scrambles to drop another overweight high powered non sense vehicle on the American public yeah this is how to beat Toyota does anybody at Gm know how to do market research


In the last several years Toyota scrambled to the cost of billions of dollars to make an assembly plant where they produce huge, 5000lb+ gas guzzling pick-ups and SUVs. Now they're about to shut that multi-billion $dollar investment down for 3 months

Moving forward.

At the same time GM has shown they can and do make extremly efficient high horsepower cars and offering a '69 Camaro look-alike just in time for when the baby boomers start retiring.

An affordable, brand new, retro Camaro with a lot of horsepower and decent gas mileage is a nice break on the pocket book compared to a Porsche, Corvette, BMW, Mercedes etc., in these tough economic times.

 

[Ed_T]

With the cost of living inexorably skyrocketing, this type of product launch is utter foolishness.

Due to lack of high volume orders from the buying pubic, this will be a very limited production vehicle, and after several years GM will kill it. Like Ford did the T-bird.

More precious resources frittered away. No wonder the stock is in the toilet. They just can't seem to find their way out of a paper bag.

 

[mpvue]

just another case of a domestic harvesting their legacy. funny, why are people talking about the 'long awaited' return of the camaro? the 4th gen only left 6 years ago! and, hello, it was dropped due to high cost/low sales!
the mustang is/always has been sucessful because it never went away. the 'new' mustang just followed right after the previous one, sure, it's 'retro', but also is an evolutionalry step foward from the previous one. the new camaro is just a cartoon version of a '69.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: caprice_2nv
^ Do you know what kind of MPG a 4th gen Camaro with the LS1 and a 6 speed can get on the highway?


Don't bother.

The import nameplate ONLY shlemmings will NOT believe you and just call you a "liar".

See, they take the media's/Japan, Inc.'s brainwashed viewpoints that a great performing, decent sized V8 engined car MUST get abysmal fuel economy (especially a domestic nameplated one), simply because it is a V-8, let alone a "low tech" OHV/pushrod V-8.

Meanwhile my ride gets better highway MPG than their beloved/sacred/precious Camrys, and is d*** close to them in city MPG!!

 

[addyguy]

Its not bad, but to be thruthful, I like the look of the new Challenger much better as a 'retro' car - it looks like a slightly freshened up 1970 model. I could see myself getting a 6-cylinder version of one of those, and I'm not even a 'Chrysler guy'....

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Its not bad, but to be thruthful, I like the look of the new Challenger much better as a 'retro' car - it looks like a slightly freshened up 1970 model. I could see myself getting a 6-cylinder version of one of those, and I'm not even a 'Chrysler guy'....


If Chryco is still around...... They aren't doing too hot, and neither is GM.

The Camaro was discontinued because, unlike the Mustang, it didn't sell. It has historically, never had the same audience as the Mustang has.

The entire F-Body platform, has, for whatever reason, always been a love it or hate it design. Some people are absolutely gaga over it, others absolutely despise it. There are VERY few that are just neutral on it.

Even with more power (LSx engines) the Camaro/Firebird/TA didn't sell. Even with better gas mileage..... they didn't sell.

They were faster (with the exception of the Termi and the Cobra-R) than the 94-2004 Mustang, and got better fuel economy. But the Mustang sold, and still sells like hotcakes.... a feat the F-body has never been able to master for whatever reason.

I honestly don't see the logic behind GM bringing it back. It failed miserably for Ford with the T-Bird and it will likely do the same for GM with the Camaro.

They have the Corvette. A car thats sells EXTREMELY well for what it is. I really don't see the point.........

 

[dailydriver]

I agree with you that there are few 'centrists' when it comes to opinions of f bodies (especially latter 3rd & 4th gens), and that they obviously did not sell like the original 'pony car' (Stangs).
Part (at least) of the blame for this has to be attributed to GM, and their ad agencies.
With the exception of that one 'voracious' 4th gen Trans Am commercial (and SCCA Trans Am series racing the early 1st gens), they have NEVER properly promoted this brand!!!

IF they would have bombarded/subliminally brainwashed the U.S. public with incessant TV (and ALL media) ads like TOY does with their appliances, the story might have a different ending.

I think it was too late to cancel the 5th gen when the proverbial s*** hit the fan for GM very recently.
They had too much invested in R&D/tooling, etc. already and probably just thought, "We'll just take the chance and release it, and hope that it catches on."
They seem to at least be trying to promote the 5th gen better with TV ads, movie appearences, and that new TV series with Chris Slater ("My Own Worst Enemy").

Besides, just like the last LS1 engined 4th gens, this one gets pretty decent fuel economy for the performance delivered.
Of course, BOTH (mpg & performance) would be soooo much better IF they could pare 5-600 lbs. off of the thing (without doubling the price!!)!

 

[Firehawk409]

the fbody overall is a hard car to drive. The front end is long and slopes down, the doors are heavy, the seating posistion is not the most comfortable. For the enthusiast that likes to drive a car.....it's GREAT. For the average joe or JOanna that wants a cool car that is easy to get in and out of, easy to park, comes with many different packages and has a lil power to it...then the mustang is it. You can get a mustang V6 with many different options, then the GT comes with MANY different packages....roush, steeda, saleen, SVT. Anything outside of a Z28, forumula, T/A and you are paying big bucks AND you have to WAIT for it.....firehawk, WS6, and SS.

You walk on a ford lot and they have hundreds of stangs, go on a GM lot and they will have maybe 4 or 5 fbodys. 2 of them being base model v6, 2 being a v6 with GFX, and ONE v8. The whole setup for marketing the fbody in its last 8 years or so was just awful.

With all that said. I love my Firehawk and loved driving it as a daily driver for almost 10years. None of the short falls ever bothered me. Thing is how many people like me were out there to "tough" it out. Barely any.

I have my fbody, so I never really cared if the camaro came out or not. My next step is vette or bust.

 

[Kernel Potter]

Originally Posted By: Ed_T
Due to lack of high volume orders from the buying pubic, this will be a very limited production vehicle, and after several years GM will kill it. Like Ford did the T-bird.



Like Mazda killed the twin turbo RX-7, like Honda did with the $88,000, 290hp NSX and the Prelude, like Toyota did with the twin turbocharged Supra last made in 1998? A collection of high-end performace cars with very limited production that nobody wants - Failures that shouldn't be produced again because the past has shown nobody wants these limited production orphans? I guess the Camaro has some decent company. At least the Ford Mustang isn't a failure

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: Barkleymut
. . . I was talking to the owner of a local Chevy dealership about 8 months ago and he was beeching about how GM has been talking about the Camaro for forever. They are still quite a long time away.


When someone in the executive suite of corporate headquarters flushes the toilet, it sometimes takes a while before the turd reaches the street.

Not that the Camaro is a turd. But such are the intrinsic twists, turns and delays of the product pipeline for many automakers.