 2010 Chevrolet Camaro LT RS . Click image to enlarge |
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2010 Chevrolet Camaro
Toronto, Ontario – With the 2010 Camaro now arriving at dealerships across Canada, we had an opportunity to spend a day behind the wheel of a V6-powered Camaro LT. My co-driver and I drove the car north from Toronto to Thornbury on the south shore of Georgian Bay and back to Toronto, a five-hour drive in total. It gave us a chance to enjoy the car that GM expects will account for about two thirds of Camaro sales.
In March, our colleague Paul Williams attended the press launch of the Camaro in Detroit and drove both V6 and V8 models. You can read his report here.
One might expect that the prime target for the new Camaro would be performance enthusiasts. But GM’s marketing people have done the research and have identified a larger group of people – call them “life enthusiasts” – for whom style, affordability and efficiency are more important than high horsepower or torque numbers. Half of them will be women. What sets them apart from other ordinary car buyers is a desire to “express themselves” and to “stand out in a crowd.”
 2010 Chevrolet Camaro LT RS . Click image to enlarge |
Well, drive a Victory (arrest me) Red Camaro down highway 410 in Brampton on a sunny Thursday afternoon at the beginning of rush hour and you will stand out in a crowd. I’m surprised we weren’t arrested for causing a disturbance.
Boomers like me can easily see the similarity to the original 1967-69 Camaro. Younger people might not have the same sense of nostalgia, but they will notice the car. I’ve heard that interest in tuner cars has dropped in recent years and that V8-powered muscle cars are making a comeback with enthusiasts. Whether that is reality or wishful thinking from General Motors and Chrysler, I’m not sure.
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at 6:28 am
What do you mean by this statement:
“making it the most fuel efficient manual-equipped highway runner sold in Canada”
There are plenty of manual-equiped cars that get better than 41.5 MPG in Transport Canada’s highway cycle.
By the way, you must have driven the car quite aggressively, or the car wasn’t “broken in” to only get 28 or so MPG on your run. My experience with 3 different GM V6’s is that they come quite close to (and in one case consistently matched) Transport Canada’s highway figures when driven at 100km/h during highway trips.
at 8:48 am
Hey Richard,
Driving at 100 km/h is really boring and could be dangerous if boredom “drives” you to snoring. Did you have the chance to drive in one of the 32 states with speed limits of 114 km/h, 121, or 130 km/h(interstates 10 and 20 Texas)lately ?
From a V-6 engine, 41.5 mpg is quite impressive.
at 9:11 am
Hi Richard, that should have read “manual equipped V6-powered highway runner”.
Sorry about that, we’ll fix.
at 1:55 pm
“…304 horsepower and 273 lb.-ft. of torque from its direct injected, dual overhead cam V6…”
With over 300 HP from a 6-cylinder engine, who the heck needs a V-8?
at 2:37 pm
It really stands out, but looks kind of cartoon-ish to me…I think the look will not age well. Even with its compromises, and an older platform, I think I would take a V8 Mustang with the Track Pack. New engines are due for the Ford next year, and that will bring the Camaro’s hype down to a dull roar…
Either way, its a good time to be a car guy…lots of great cars for reasonable coin!
at 5:30 pm
It’s too big, and kind of ugly on the inside.
at 9:35 pm
The Camaro is a looker, that’s for sure. However, my only gripe with this new model is the same as with the old – lack of head room, even without a sunroof. I stand 6′2″ and am appropriately apportioned (legs & torso) and I can’t stand it when my nearly shaved (read: bald) head brushes against the headliner. The example I sat in at the auto show may have been different, until I read a few well known car magazines who’s editors had a similar opinion and they weren’t nearly as tall as I was.
at 9:50 am
Where’s the periscope on this thing? And that interior…can it look any cheesier?
at 9:03 pm
Regarding the cheesey interior styling, ridiculously-placed gauges at shin-height on the console, and low roof, I remember “enthusiasts” loudly insisting that GM “not change a thing” from the concept. Sad that GM obliged.
at 3:35 pm
Do you still need a mullet to drive one of these things?
Seriously, Camaro’s were cool in the 60’s & 70’s when muscle cars ruled. Fuel shortages in the 80’s killed the muscle car and since then there has been a bit of a resurgence but to more of a niche market than anything. But what happens when the boomers have already purchased their share of Challengers, Mustangs, Chargers and Camaros? Does GM really think this thing will sell well and help save them? I wish it would but I’m a realist and it won’t.
I also think it’s a bit too chunky for many women to consider it (besides, they have preferred the Mustang for the last few decades anyway). As for me, I’m a 40 yr old male and I would feel stupid driving around in one of these or pulling in to the parking lot at my office. 20 yrs ago sure, but now, I’ll take a sleek Euro sports sedan or Japanese model instead.
at 9:41 pm
36,000 for this in this trim level without a V8?! Are they crazy? This isn’t going to go anywhere fast. If this was GM’s hope for salvation they had better start praying that someone in engineering invents a microfusion cell.
at 7:20 am
Why is it so damn huge?
at 4:15 pm
“The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is on sale now at dealerships across Canada.”
Should read: “The 2010 Camaro is now available for order at dealerships across Canada… test drives are not an option, nor is seeing one in person. If you decide to buy anyway please have your down payment ready. You can expect delivery in approximately 6 months time.”
at 12:16 pm
You can’t beat American muscle!
Bravo chev!