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2010 Camaro rocks
Cox Newspapers
Monday, June 29, 2009
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.
