With the exception of these 1969 Camaro inspired Chevrolet Camaro's, which have blighted roads world wide since 2010, I've always been a fan of whatever a "Camaro" was supposed to be. Their poor overall usability as daily drivers, however, always left me disappointed. Flinty rides, creaking structures, numb handling, uncomfortable seating, horrible assembly and form always taking a back seat to function, owning one was not unlike being in a relationship with someone you're very attracted to but they frustrate you to the point you can't stand them; dare I say you might hate them. Ironic then that when Chevrolet rebooted Camaro for 2016 into a truly world-class sports car that's screwed together really well, I could care less about it. That's a bit of stretch but this is a car that does everything exceptionally without, sadly, being viscerally appealing like Camaro's of yore.
Admittedly, us coupe lovers are a particularly fickle bunch; way more so than luxury sedan or cross over buyers are. And while we do appreciate the fringes of exotic car high performance a car like this can provide us, if the car doesn't look good, we're looking the other way. That Shallow? Vain? Yup. No doubt but the proof is in the pudding. While Ford and Chrysler's pony cars sell quite well, yes, it's a stretch to call the Dodge Challenger a pony car, Chevrolet struggles with Camaro sales. Why? Simple. This is an ugly car.
That said, having read nothing but glowing reviews of the Camaro since its 2016 relaunch, if I could spend extended time with one I'd be all about it. Still, when my wife and I decided to rent something "sporty" a couple of weekends ago for a road trip to visit our sons at their respective colleges in southern Ohio, I had to force myself away from what I found to be a better looking Challenger, with a lowly V-6 for crying out loud, and into this 2019 Camaro SS. My thinking was I can always rent a Challenger V-6, which auto pundits have given faint praise, but opportunities to date a gymnast, even a homely one, don't happen every day. Let's go.
Our "date" didn't start off well. At five foot nine and around one hundred eighty-five pounds or so, I ain't no giant and for me, getting into this car was a chore. It's so low to the ground it's like descending into a hole - a hole you have to jackknife your body to get into. Once I shoehorned myself over gigantic, race car inspired seat bolsters, I was surprised to find I could slosh my shoulders around inside the seat backs. I was expecting the seats to fit me like a glove or at least there be an adjustment on the bolsters to inflate them so they would "hug" me. No such thing. All weekend I never felt velcroed into this thing like I've felt in other high-performance cars I've driven. What's more, after four, five hours of driving, my lower back ached. I've driven very long distances in our Tahoe and Monte Carlo and never had any back pain so, what's up with that?
Next up on a list of ambivalence inducing annoyances is how difficult it is to see out of this car. The rear side quarter windows are so small they might as well be Sherman tank gun slits and to make matters worse, the front seat headrests are so tall they all but block what little you might see through those "windows". The trunk lid is also so high that it might as well be open - seriously, you can't see much out the rear window. Good thing this thing had blind side monitoring and a backup camera otherwise changing lanes and backing out of a parking spot would be akin to doing so in a box truck. In fairness, you can't see much out of the Challenger either. I've yet to drive the current version of the Ford Mustang but from what I understand visibility sucks in that car too.
Ok, so, it's hard to get in and out of, you can't see diddly out of it, the seats could be more comfortable and I'm not smitten with the styling; enough griping. Let's put all that aside and put pen to paper about driving this car.
Let's start with my favorite part of any car and especially performance cars, the engine. Our rental had the latest iteration of GM's overhead valve V-8 engine they've called "LT1" since it was first introduced in the 2014 Corvette. Making 455 horsepower and 455 pounds of torque, this direct injected monster of an engine along with, get this, a new for '19 ten-speed automatic transmission and stump pulling 3.73 gears, launches this porker of a little car (3,600 pounds) like few cars I've ever driven. Published reviews of this car claim it can go from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds - that's absurd. This car is so fast it could be dangerous in the wrong hands. When my twenty one year old drove it he said he was almost afraid of it. He's a cautious soul by nature but I got where he was coming from. Someone who's a bit more of a daredevil could find themselves in a ditch in hurry. In the end, I thought the car unnecessarily if not comically over powered. C'mon, guys. What's the point? What's more, you can get all the race track goodies this car came with on the model below this with a more than adequate V-6 engine.
That in mind, you know that old saying about power being meaningless without control? That's so true and while I got used to how powerful this car was, what I could not get enough of was how wonderfully this car performed otherwise. Handling, braking and ride are all, in my opinion, "super car" great. And if I was to buy one of these I'd find a race track to take it to regularly to ring out everything it can offer - there's just no way to legally experience everything this car can do on the street.
So, does this car have what it takes to make me get one? Sadly, probably not because I can't see past the awkward styling. It's on my short list, though along with Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger because I enjoyed this car like few other cars I've ever driven; I didn't want to give it back. Despite a shockingly small trunk, literally a shelf for a back seat, visibility issues that I never really got used to and, again, styling that I wish I found more appealing.
This Camaro SS was not unlike that BMW M240i I drove several months ago. A suck your eyes out performer that does everything incredibly well but just doesn't do it for me in the all important looks department. While it's amazing to even put "Camaro" and "BMW" in the same sentence and anyone who knows better would most likely agree with me, when it comes down to the almighty "got to have factor", Camaro just doesn't have what it takes. And that's a damn shame because this is one fine performing automobile.
Let's start with my favorite part of any car and especially performance cars, the engine. Our rental had the latest iteration of GM's overhead valve V-8 engine they've called "LT1" since it was first introduced in the 2014 Corvette. Making 455 horsepower and 455 pounds of torque, this direct injected monster of an engine along with, get this, a new for '19 ten-speed automatic transmission and stump pulling 3.73 gears, launches this porker of a little car (3,600 pounds) like few cars I've ever driven. Published reviews of this car claim it can go from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds - that's absurd. This car is so fast it could be dangerous in the wrong hands. When my twenty one year old drove it he said he was almost afraid of it. He's a cautious soul by nature but I got where he was coming from. Someone who's a bit more of a daredevil could find themselves in a ditch in hurry. In the end, I thought the car unnecessarily if not comically over powered. C'mon, guys. What's the point? What's more, you can get all the race track goodies this car came with on the model below this with a more than adequate V-6 engine.
That in mind, you know that old saying about power being meaningless without control? That's so true and while I got used to how powerful this car was, what I could not get enough of was how wonderfully this car performed otherwise. Handling, braking and ride are all, in my opinion, "super car" great. And if I was to buy one of these I'd find a race track to take it to regularly to ring out everything it can offer - there's just no way to legally experience everything this car can do on the street.
This Camaro SS was not unlike that BMW M240i I drove several months ago. A suck your eyes out performer that does everything incredibly well but just doesn't do it for me in the all important looks department. While it's amazing to even put "Camaro" and "BMW" in the same sentence and anyone who knows better would most likely agree with me, when it comes down to the almighty "got to have factor", Camaro just doesn't have what it takes. And that's a damn shame because this is one fine performing automobile.
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