WSJ article on new Camaro

[Morris Minor]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124518581645820381.html

There's a video in there too.
=====================

Muscle Car's Test Drive Turns Heads

By JOSEPH B. WHITE
Detroit's Big Three auto makers are struggling through their worst collective crisis in more than 70 years. What better time to bring out cars that evoke a happier past -- before Japanese competition, oil-price shocks and the federal government spoiled everything?

WSJ's Joe White says Detroit may be down in the dumps, but automakers bet nostalgic Baby Boomers will buy muscle cars, like the new Chevy Camaro. But will the same things that killed the cars in the 1970s do them in again?

For the first time in nearly 40 years, all three of Detroit's auto makers are offering serious muscle cars: big, high-powered, rear-wheel-drive coupes priced to sell in volume.

Ford Motor Co. has never stopped building cars under the Mustang name since the first one debuted in 1965. But the latest generation of Mustangs has revitalized the brand, with styling and performance that are an overt homage to the cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The new Mustangs' success inspired Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet unit to give chase, repeating the pattern from four decades ago. Chrysler's new Dodge Challenger, a reincarnation of a raffish 1970 model, hit dealerships last fall, just in time for the credit-market collapse and Chrysler's subsequent bankruptcy and sale to the United Auto Workers, Fiat SpA and the federal government.

Now GM's 2010 Chevy Camaro is arriving in showrooms, designed inside and out to remind you of classic late-1960s Camaros?and the days when GM was the Master of the Automotive Universe, not the bankrupt butt of late-night TV scorn.

The main mission for the Camaro, Mustang and Challenger is to part nostalgic baby boomers from their money. That looked like a good bet before the recent market turmoil and energy-price worries. An economic recovery and continued moderate gas prices could still vindicate the decisions to launch these cars.

The new Camaro comes with either a 304-horsepower V-6, starting at about $23,000, or a 426-horsepower V-8, starting at about $31,000. I got a weekend test drive in a "rally yellow" Camaro equipped with a 3.6-liter direct-injection V-6 and a new six-speed automatic transmission.

The new Camaro's ultra-narrow windows and exaggerated hood scoops and fenders give it an all-American bad-boy look. Inside, the dials and gauges look like they were pulled out of the warehouse where they'd been stored since Richard Nixon and Elvis were hanging out at the White House. There's hardly any room in the backseat or the trunk?but so what? The car's styling turned heads everywhere I went.

The V-6 delivered more than enough power for cruising at legal speeds, though the Camaro is better running in a straight line than maneuvering around curves. Among the car's other quirks: The narrow side windows and low-down seating gave me the feeling that I was seated inside an armored vehicle, viewing the world through slits.

In May, the Camaro outsold Honda Motor Co.'s new hybrid, the Insight, by roughly two to one, and Chevy dealers had just 28 days' worth on the lots at the end of the month, according to Autodata Corp. By Chevy standards, that's a sellout. Meanwhile, GM last week said it would kill the slow-selling hybrid version of its Chevy Malibu sedan. These are cautionary signals for the Obama administration's efforts to shift GM's product mix toward smaller, more-efficient vehicles.

The Camaro I drove is rated at 18 miles per gallon city, 29 highway, or about 22 mpg combined. That's great compared to the Camaros of my youth, but it's not in step with President Barack Obama's demand that U.S. car makers boost the average fuel efficiency of their passenger cars to 39 mpg by 2016, compared to 27.5 mpg today.

Indeed, tougher federal fuel-economy rules and jumpy gas prices could still ruin the muscle-car party, just as they did in the 1970s.

Based on the complicated new scheme for measuring fuel-economy compliance -- which bases targets on a car's size, or "footprint" -- a car the size of a Ford Mustang would have to hit a fuel-economy target of 30.4 miles per gallon in 2011 and 39.4 miles per gallon in 2016, says Sandy Stojkovski, director of vehicle systems for Ricardo Inc., an engineering consulting firm. The Camaro and Challenger are larger cars, and thus could have less ambitious targets in their class. But the direction is the same; the current V-6 Camaro's 22 mpg probably won't cut it.

Can muscle cars survive such regulatory pressure? Maybe.

In the future, says Jim Hall, an industry consultant, a top-end Camaro or Mustang might have a direct-injection, turbo-charged six-cylinder engine instead of a big V-8. The entry-level models might have turbo-charged, direct-injection four-cylinder motors.

The marketing departments will need to re-educate consumers steeped in the idea that "there's no replacement for displacement," but they could discover that their customers are already ahead of them on that. Ford is using a new sound tube to amplify engine sounds in the cockpit of some Mustangs?a gadget that could be used to create the illusion of a big motor if regulation forces the use of a small one.

Muscle cars must get lighter, too, using high-strength steel, plastic or aluminum to cut pounds, says Mr. Hall. The Camaro and the Challenger, in particular, are heavy cars, he says, because they were built on chassis originally designed for large sedans. To survive long-term, these cars will need to evolve into lighter beasts. That's technically doable -- at a price.

The Detroit car makers' bigger challenge is to convince younger buyers to fall for the allure of the muscle car formula. Fashion in the car business is fickle. But what better way for today's young rebels to declare their scorn for convention than to buy a garish, fossil-fuel-slurping slab of Detroit iron?

[omicron]

It's not directly related to this thread, but these imminent CAFE regulations are by far the most nonsensical legislative approaches to fuel consumption that I've come across. The insanity of mandating such a car as the Camaro to be as economically-focused as a diminuitive little commuter is at best juvenile and hilariously immature, and flies in the face of all logic and rationality.

[Morris Minor]

It's not directly related to this thread, but these imminent CAFE regulations are by far the most nonsensical legislative approaches to fuel consumption that I've come across. The insanity of mandating such a car as the Camaro to be as economically-focused as a diminuitive little commuter is at best juvenile and hilariously immature, and flies in the face of all logic and rationality.

You have to understand the the United States is governed by idiots, to whom logic and rationality are alien concepts.

[GoCougs]

I think the Camaro is GM's best new car in decades. Per the articles concern of size/weight, I think if the Camaro and Challenger prove successful they could the next generation go the way of the 350Z -> 370Z; at first based fairly closely on a larger sedan but greatly divorced from said platform in its second generation (and became smaller and lighter as a result).

And Omi, you ain't seen nothin' yet. The administration has been in power less than five months and congress is in the last stages of drafting global warming legislation that will make even Europe, Japan and the UN blush. These ridiculous CAFE standards are a small part of what's to come.

[sandertheshark]

It's not directly related to this thread, but these imminent CAFE regulations are by far the most nonsensical legislative approaches to fuel consumption that I've come across. The insanity of mandating such a car as the Camaro to be as economically-focused as a diminuitive little commuter is at best juvenile and hilariously immature, and flies in the face of all logic and rationality.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Stop right there, put down that giant barrel of common sense and back away slowly.  We don't want none of that to get in the US guverment, no sir!

[Morris Minor]

I saw a new Camaro last week for the first time; somebody had parked one by the tennis courts here. It is a great-looking car, a real head turner.

[sportyaccordy]

I hope the next round of pony cars goes a little more Euro... a Stang w/an IRS and a high tech V6 would be a nice 'murrican alternative to the G35 and Genesis Coupe.

[Raza]

I hope the next round of pony cars goes a little more Euro... a Stang w/an IRS and a high tech V6 would be a nice 'murrican alternative to the G35 and Genesis Coupe.

I'd like to see a hybrid or even full electric Mustang sedan or minivan.  Maybe a three cylinder paired with an electric motor. 

[r0tor]

... i have to admit, an eco-boost V6 mustang might sway me...

[Nethead]

If I were charitable, I would say that this article is a luke-warm endorsement of the Camaro--but the following statements in that article would make me out a liar:  

"Now GM's 2010 Chevy Camaro is arriving in showrooms, designed inside and out to remind you of classic late-1960s Camaros?and the days when GM was the Master of the Automotive Universe, not the bankrupt butt of late-night TV scorn."

"Inside, the dials and gauges look like they were pulled out of the warehouse where they'd been stored since Richard Nixon and Elvis were hanging out at the White House . There's hardly any room in the backseat or the trunk..."

"The V-6 delivered more than enough power for cruising at legal speeds, though the Camaro is better running in a straight line than maneuvering around curves. Among the car's other quirks: The narrow side windows and low-down seating gave me the feeling that I was seated inside an armored vehicle, viewing the world through slits."

"The Camaro I drove is rated at 18 miles per gallon city, 29 highway, or about 22 mpg combined. That's great compared to the Camaros of my youth, but it's not in step with President Barack Obama's demand that U.S. car makers boost the average fuel efficiency of their passenger cars to 39 mpg by 2016, compared to 27.5 mpg today."

"The Camaro and Challenger are larger cars, and thus could have less ambitious targets in their class. But the direction is the same; the current V-6 Camaro's 22 mpg probably won't cut it (and that's the mileage of the V6!)."

"The Camaro and the Challenger, in particular, are heavy cars, he says, because they were built on chassis originally designed for large sedans. To survive long-term, these cars will need to evolve into lighter beasts."

"...a garish, fossil-fuel-slurping slab of Detroit iron"

The praise in the article was faint, weakened further by direct and indirect praise of the Mustang in the fourth and fifth paragraphs.  Clearly, the author isn't going out and buy a Camaro, and equally clearly he hopes that Chevy can redeem itself in the next model of Camaro.  What he fails to realize is that if everyone else feels like he does about the current model of Camaro, there ain't gonna be no next model...

[GoCougs]

LOL - keep trying Nethead, keep trying....

[ifcar]

What he fails to realize is that if everyone else feels like he does about the current model of Camaro, there ain't gonna be no next model...

And everyone doesn't, which is why it's selling strongly.

[Nethead]

LOL - keep trying Nethead, keep trying....

I  am  laughing outloud, GoCougs, I am!  I actually thought the WSJ would have a "Yay USA!" feel-good review of the current Camaro.  Instead, it sounded like a review of some generic loaner sedan the guy was given by the shop where his real car was being worked on.  Of course, imitations seem to take on "genericness" (What, someone's come out with another long hood/short rear deck, front-engined, RWD, four-passenger, two-door coupe Mustang imitation?) by default, especially since there are two of 'em--three if you count the rather pitiful Genesis (at least an improvement over when Mustangs were imitated by Camaros, Challengers, Firebirds, Barracudas, Cougars, and Javelins--did I get 'em all?).  Even on the "great" mileage, there were the caveats that this is "great" only when compared to yesteryear Camaros and hardly sufficient to satisfy upcoming mileage requirements.

Have you fanboiz ever come up with why Camaros have lead weights attached to their Brembos?  Or are we still avoiding answering that question?  Is it so no mods will be necessary when you install your spinner hubcaps?

 

[ChrisV]

Actually, nethead, the article sounds like it's written by a guy that wants to act like a carguy in the way he thinks he's seen real car guys act. But all he has is experience with generic import sedans, and practical stuff.

I mean, for example, you act like that last sentence is aimed at the Camaro, but it's aimed at ALL the manufacturers, and is the typical non-car-guy slam of any muscle car/hot rod/custom car. Oh, they'll drive one once (and in this case, a V6 automatic) and act like they are the bad boy, car guy rebel, but haven't got the balls to actually live with a real car on a day to day basis, instead quickly retreating to the world of practicality and boring "mature" transportation so they don't get mistaken for hoodlums.

[sportyaccordy]

Actually, nethead, the article sounds like it's written by a guy that wants to act like a carguy in the way he thinks he's seen real car guys act. But all he has is experience with generic import sedans, and practical stuff.

I mean, for example, you act like that last sentence is aimed at the Camaro, but it's aimed at ALL the manufacturers, and is the typical non-car-guy slam of any muscle car/hot rod/custom car. Oh, they'll drive one once (and in this case, a V6 automatic) and act like they are the bad boy, car guy rebel, but haven't got the balls to actually live with a real car on a day to day basis, instead quickly retreating to the world of practicality and boring "mature" transportation so they don't get mistaken for hoodlums.

Ugh and that liberal environmentalism we've grown to love. Article author would be better served by a Prius. Cars like the Camaros should be kept out of the hands of people who don't enjoy or understand the thrill of driving.

[Vinsanity]

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Stop right there, put down that giant barrel of common sense and back away slowly.  We don't want none of that to get in the US guverment, no sir!

LOL, I'm sigging that

[Nethead]

So no one's STILL gonna explain the lead weights added to Camaro Brembo calipers?  What else about the new Camaro are you ashamed of--besides gross (figuratively & literally) vehicle weight, fraying battery cables, cracking fascias, phallic shiftlevers, instruments mounted behind the shiftlever, square brassiere cups housing the instruments, yada yada yada...?  Four years in the making, and the best they could do was this?

[GoCougs]

Yo, Nethead, yer not trying hard enough - with no incentives and surely at least a bit of markup the Camaro sold out in May...

[Raza]

Yo, Nethead, yer not trying hard enough - with no incentives and surely at least a bit of markup the Camaro sold out in May...

Well, with four years of marketing and a 250 million dollar advertising budget, you would hope so.

[GoCougs]

Well, with four years of marketing and a 250 million dollar advertising budget, you would hope so.

Very debatable expectation with the economy standing on the precipice of depression (and of course Nethead's anti-Camaro jihadism).

[Raza]

Very debatable expectation with the economy standing on the precipice of depression (and of course Nethead's anti-Camaro jihadism).

I'm kind of certain that Nethead only exists here; some sort of CarSPIN ghost in the machine. 

What kind of production numbers are they selling out?  It's not as if they were shooting for Camry level production.  I don't think it's too unreasonable an expectation.

[GoCougs]

I'm kind of certain that Nethead only exists here; some sort of CarSPIN ghost in the machine. 

What kind of production numbers are they selling out?  It's not as if they were shooting for Camry level production.  I don't think it's too unreasonable an expectation.

5,500 is what I heard/read...

[ifcar]

I'm kind of certain that Nethead only exists here; some sort of CarSPIN ghost in the machine. 

What kind of production numbers are they selling out?  It's not as if they were shooting for Camry level production.  I don't think it's too unreasonable an expectation.

They sold 5,500 cars last month. Not Camry levels, but certainly well above niche. (Ford sold 8,800 Mustangs, though.)

[Raza]

5,500 is what I heard/read...

To be honest, that's more than I expected.  But the V6 is reasonably priced and actually an attractive option, specs-wise. 

[hotrodalex]

instruments mounted behind the shiftlever, square brassiere cups housing the instruments

Why would you be ashamed of those? They are a nice touch, I've never heard anyone complain about them. And they do a good job of making the interior unique and not another boring wanna-be sporty interior.

[sandertheshark]

Why would you be ashamed of those? They are a nice touch, I've never heard anyone complain about them. And they do a good job of making the interior unique and not another boring wanna-be sporty interior.

[beatnetheadtothepunch] It's inconvenient placement!  I mean, who ever looks down at their shift lever? [/beatnetheadtothepunch]

[Sigma Projects]

They sold 5,500 cars last month. Not Camry levels, but certainly well above niche. (Ford sold 8,800 Mustangs, though.)

Selling  a bit more than half as many mustangs I think is great news. Mustang has been a strong seller, camaro sales will probably only go up, especially with the small bug fixes. However, isn't the mustang getting a new 3.7L V6 to finally kick out the stupid 4.0L that only belongs in a ranger? That should be great for mustangs. It's not going to be as strong as the Camaro's V6 or I don't think as high tech, but i think it's suppose to be a 270hp V6? Should be really nice.

I'm glad I'm seeing more Camaros on the road. The Chop top look is just awesome. Very aggressive and modern, even if it's a retro throw back, still looks modern as hell, especially to people who don't really know much about the Camaro's history.

[SVT666]

Selling  a bit more than half as many mustangs I think is great news. Mustang has been a strong seller, camaro sales will probably only go up, especially with the small bug fixes. However, isn't the mustang getting a new 3.7L V6 to finally kick out the stupid 4.0L that only belongs in a ranger? That should be great for mustangs. It's not going to be as strong as the Camaro's V6 or I don't think as high tech, but i think it's suppose to be a 270hp V6? Should be really nice.

It's rated at 274 hp as a Lincoln engine, so I expect it will be at least that in the Mustang.  Don't forget, even though the V6 Mustang will be down by about 25 hp or less, the Camaro weighs about 300 lbs more.  As well, the 2011 Mustang GT will be 400 hp (all but confirmed by Bill Ford's slip of the tongue on CNN the other night) and it will still weigh 300 lbs less then the 422 hp Camaro. 

[ifcar]

It's rated at 274 hp as a Lincoln engine, so I expect it will be at least that in the Mustang.   

Unless it loses some horsepower to run on regular instead of premium.

[SVT32V]

They sold 5,500 cars last month. Not Camry levels, but certainly well above niche. (Ford sold 8,800 Mustangs, though.)

5500 sold with people waiting years for the camaro to finally come out, there was certainly a sizable population waiting for a GM ponycar.
Hopefully, it continues to sell well.