Would You Dare to Ever Choose a V6 Camaro Instead of a V8?
In the old days, the V6 Camaro was slow and boring. Today, it’s a cheap yet formidable V8 alternative.
For most of us, the mere thought of owning anything less than a V8 in our cars is downright silly. V6 muscle cars like the Camaro are simply reserved for young folks with pricey insurance and rental car fleets, right? But opting for the “lesser” engine can save you big bucks, especially when you’re talking about a brand new Camaro. Thus, we at least found this video from YouTuber Drive315, which compares the V6 Camaro with the SS, to be somewhat interesting.
Back in the day, V6 muscle cars were, well, quite sad and slow. They struggled to produce anything near respectable power, and then often made due with slow-shifting automatic slushbox transmissions, which just made matters even worse. Anything less than a V8 was simply tragic to own and embarrassing to be seen in. But these days, things have certainly changed. Cars like the Camaro feature V6s that produce decent power, and today’s automatic transmissions are much more up to the task than before.
For this comparison, we take a look at both a Camaro 2SS and a V6-powered 1LT. In terms of power, the 2SS packs a 6.2-liter V8 producing 455 hp. The six-banger measures in at 3.6-liters and features a respectable output of 335 hp. Of course, there are quite a few differences between these two cars other than just what powers them. The Camaro SS is much more aggressive in appearance, for starters. Thought the V6 admittedly doesn’t look bad, either.
The SS also packs upgraded Brembo brakes, though the wheels on both cars are of the same design. Other differences are subtle as well. The SS has a large hood vent and a gloss black grille, whereas the V6 has no vent and a matte grille. The big kicker, of course, is price. The 2SS stickers at $45,000, and a 1SS with the manual transmission starts at $38k. Meanwhile, you can get a manual base V6 car starting at around $28k. In this case, the V6 Camaro stickers at just over $30k. For 2020, both cars can be had with the quick-shifting 10-speed auto.
The V6 Camaro hits 60 mph in 5.1-seconds, while the V8 does the deed in 4.1. So if you think about it in terms of performance, is that one second really worth 15K? To us, the answer is a resounding yes. Sure, you can mod the V6. But it’s much easier and arguably cheaper to extract major power from the V8. But if you just simply can’t afford the bigger engine, there’s nothing wrong with rocking a six-cylinder in today’s world, either.
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