Lease a Camaro LT1 for $399 down, $399 per month

Camaro LT1 lease program makes this the cheapest V8-powered car on the market.

If you have been hoping to get into a V8-powered Camaro for the lowest price possible, a new national lease program from Chevrolet might be perfect. Right now, you can lease a 2021 Camaro LT1 coupe with the 455-horsepower LT1 V8 and the 6-speed manual transmission for just $399 down and $399 per month. That is substantially cheaper than the next-least-expensive V8-powered muscle car on the market, which is the 375-horsepower Dodge Challenger R/T at more than $500 per month.

Granted, the 2021 Camaro LT1 lacks some of the performance features of the SS, but if your key concern is V8 power for the lowest amount of cash, this current lease deal is fantastic.

$399 Camaro LT1 Lease

If you go to the Chevrolet consumer website and build a 2021 Camaro LT1 coupe with the manual transmission and no other options, you get a price of $34,995 with destination in the summary section. If you scroll to the lower portion of the summary page, you will see the lease section and in there, you will find a price of $333 per month with $333 due at signing. That price is dependent on an interest rate of 0.84%, which requires good credit, but qualified lessees can score this 455-horsepower muscle car for just $333 a month.

For that price, you get the 2021 Camaro LT1 coupe with the 6-speed manual for 48 months, with up to 40,000 miles of use. However, you can adjust the lease program a bit. If you need more mileage over the course of the four-year lease, going to 48,000 miles only raises the price to $340 per month and a cap of 60,000 miles brings the monthly lease price to $362. You can also switch to fewer months, so at 36 months and 10,000 miles per year, the lease price is $376, so you can make some lease program payments and stay under $400 per month.

There are lots of options that can be added to the Camaro LT1, but the one that many people are likely wondering about is the automatic transmission. Simply switching from the manual to the automatic, with the 48-month, 10,000-mile per year lease only increases the price by $15 to $348. It is still an awesome bargain.

Nearest Competition

Ford does not list lease prices for the Mustang GT on their consumer website, but you can get an EcoBoost fastback for $299 a month and $299 down. Frankly, if you aren’t worried about power, you can get into a V6 Camaro coupe for $274 a month. As for the Mustang GT, Ford’s consumer website tells you to check with your local dealership for lease deals, but when we did that, our local dealership in Michigan did not have any Mustang GT lease deals available right now.

The Dodge Challenger R/T is available for lease through the brand’s consumer page. The 375-horsepower model with the 6-speed manual transmission and no options has an MSRP with destination of $36,490. With $333 down, the Challenger has a 48-month, 40,000-mile lease price of $513. If you lease the Dodge for 36 months at 10,000 miles each year, the price drops to $491 per month, but that appears to be as low as it gets right now.

In any case, with equal terms, the Camaro LT1 can be leased for nearly $200 per month less than the Dodge Challenger R/T, which packs 80 less horsepower.

In short, if you want to get into a V8 Camaro and you don’t mind leasing, now is the perfect time to drop by your local Chevrolet dealership.

Photos: Chevrolet

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com