REVIEW 2015 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 is Almost Perfect
Over the past year, I was somehow indoctrinated into the cult of Chevy. I went from mistrusting the company strictly based on my experience with the Malibu Maxx to being wholeheartedly in love with them. The culmination of which occurred late last month when GM let me take out the new Z/28 Camaro for a couple laps around my local track.
One of the best things about the Z/28 is that when you first approach the car, you don’t register that it’s anything special. Rather, it’s just like every other Camaro you see on a daily basis. Whether it’s a V6 being driven by a young kid, or an SS driven by an older couple, it just looks like a Camaro. Albeit one with a set of special rims, but it doesn’t shout at you.
That all changes as you get closer.
You begin to notice all the small changes that the Chevy engineers made to car, details like the gutted Bowtie to help funnel airflow to the monstrous LS7. There’s a small wing to improve down force at speed, or how the car sits considerably lower than any of the other versions. Then you notice those special wheels and tires.
P305/30/ZR19 Trofeo tires all the way around wrap the specially made rims. The tire setup, in conjunction with the carbon ceramic brakes is so sticky that the engineers actually had to use a small layer of grit on where the tire meets the rim due to the fact the tires would come off the bead under intense braking.
Stepping inside just furthers the point that this is a serious car. There’s no AC, no real radio, just one that’s federally required to alert you that the door is ajar. The seats are a set of racing buckets to keep you planted through a turn, and the wheel and gear knob are covered in Alcantara to aid in gluing you to them.
Firing up the engine still requires the twist of a key. There’s no fancy push button start, furthering the analog experience this car so adeptly delivers. There’s a sense of fear when turning it, as if you are turning the key to launch a nuclear missile.
It’s not a deafening roar that signals the cars start-up, but rather a sinister growl that emits from the tailpipes. I sat there for a second, just listening to the cam rumble and letting the car warm up. It lopes and idles a bit rough giving you the sense you are definitely in something special.
Pushing the gas pedal, the car barks at me angrily and I head to the pit lane. We get the green flag and the car lights the tires up through second.
I jump hard on the brakes because the car has somehow already transported me to the first turn without me even realizing it. This was my first foray into the world of carbon ceramic brakes and let me tell you, they are an epiphany. The only way to stop harder in a car is if you hit a wall.
This car doesn’t lumber through turns. When I drove the current generation SS, I noted that the steering and suspension were a bit too rubbery for my tastes. You tended to trudge through a turn, never finding the apex.
The Z/28 however smashes through apexes and stays absolutely flat through each and every corner you find. The way this car steers and sticks to the pavement inspired more confidence than I actually had.
That said, I tried to push it to the limits as best as I could. But even those limits were probably still only 45% of what this car can actually do in the hands of a professional.
When Chevy set out to build a Camaro racecar, I will admit I didn’t think it was possible. The current Camaro while a great cruiser, just didn’t seem like a good enough platform to start with. Somehow though, whether through voodoo or making a deal with the devil, they did it and boy did they set the bar high.
There’s no electronic wizardry, no nannies to get in the way of actual driving. Everything about this car is analog, from the steering, to the brakes and tires, the shifter, and that glorious naturally aspirated LS7.
And that’s what makes this car so great. It doesn’t hide your imperfections, it bites you when you get it wrong. But in those moments where you get it right, this car illustrates what a true driver’s car is. And this one is almost perfect.
