Picked up my car this afternoon. First things first. Anna at Sparta chevy is great as well as everyone else at the dealership. It was a great experience and I highly recommend them. No tricks and very honest.

Short review from my drive home.

I LOVE THE CAR TO DEATH. BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. I love the interior. I think it looks great with the cloth. Where the plastic pieces go on the 2SS interior, instead it has the same cloth material as the rest of the interior. I think this looks 1000x better IMO.Car doesnt feel stripped down at all. Its just great...I love it.

Anyone who thinks that a 4th gen will be neck and neck with this car stock for stock is just kidding themselves. I dont know what some people were saying about them feeling slow. THIS CAR HAS *****. I didnt hit it too hard being that it is new...but trust me I owned a 4th gen and I think this would put at least 5 cars on one in the 1/4 stock for stock. Damn near equal to my old car when it was cam only. But it has been a while since I have been in a powerful car so that could be part of it also.

Steering feel. Some say it is slow or unresponsive? LOL...I guess if you are comparing to a vette maybe...im not sure, havent ridden in a new one. But the car feels like its on rails. Ride is firm but still very comfortable and not too harsh. Clutch and transmission feel is great. I havent drove a stick in a few years and I didnt have any problems.

The bad. Well it is kind of hard to see out of. Also I would guess if you are about 6'4 or above you might start getting head room problems. I had the seat adjusted all the way down and I had about 3 inches to spare for my head.

One other thing is that I can hear a slight rattle or noise of some sort when pushing the clutch in quickly. I am going to put some miles on it and see if it goes away. If not I guess ill have to take it to a dealership. Hope its not the throw out bearing. Has anyone else heard this noise?

Thats about it for now. No pics yet. Im not going to take any until I get it cleaned up a bit. I told them not to wash the car so it is rather dirty.

 

Congrats, post up some pics when you have them.

 

Congrats on the car purchase. Good to hear people are pleasantly surprised with the performance of the car. The steering response, ride harshness, etc... What kind of deal did you get on the purchase price to drive from Hanover over to Sparta for the car? I drive through Hanover quite regularly. Will keep an eye out for a new 5th gen. Post up some pics...the weather seems to finally be turning for the better.

 

Car is still dirty because I asked them not to wash it...so no pics for now.

As far as deals go I cant discuss all the details but I can say that all discounts were honored and I didnt pay msrp.

 

Sounds like I may need to stop by and speak with Anna next time I am up in that area. Probably be up by Western in the coming week. Doubt I will get anything on a trade for my 98 Z. Of course I need to get it back in Michigan after digging it out of several feet of snow in Montana. How is the optional stereo? Up to par or should I stick with the base unit and yank it out for aftermarket.

 

Awesome. These cars are great!

 

Stereo sounds great. I got the BA upgrade. I have heard the standard is rather weak so you might want to go with it. I dont know what you are looking for out of the sound system but I have heard it is about impossible to change the head unit etc. So I figured I would just go with a decent stock system and keep it stock. I have bumps in my truck and I am kind of over that kind of thing. I got bored of it really quick.

 

i am jealous

 

im glad youre happy with your 5th gen but i dont think theyll put 5 lengths on a stock 4th gen with the same trans. theres no doubt theyre superior to them though and i want one badly.

 

Well I drove one for 3 years. 2 of those years it was stock. This car is noticeably faster.....just sayin.

I know its not exactly apples to apples. But the early mag times for the ls1 cars were 13.5-13.8. If you compare that to the 12.9-13.1 that almost every test has pulled off with the new camaro the difference would actually be around 7 car lengths. (see how far a car travels at roughly 100mph in 1/2 second) These cars usually have about a 4-5mph trap advantage also.

I wouldnt be surprised with a 5 car length difference at all.

Its just like when the lt1 came out......just like it. The best lt1 times were compareable to the mag times for the ls1 cars....give it time. 3 people now have hit 12.6 on camaro5 with stock ls3 cars. With the 110-112 trap speed I have seen from them a 12.5 or dare I say 12.4 may be accomplished eventually.

Compare that to the best 4th gen times which I believe are 12.80's....you got your 5 car lengths back.

 

5TH gens are much heavier. its not going to be 5 tenths faster. ive driven both too and i dont see a low 12s out of these cars stock. sorry. ill be happy to admit im wrong if it happens.

 

Well... 3 12.60's have been pulled off so far and most of these cars had next to no miles on them. One is not on the fast list because it was a red light. His name is blufin. His slip is scanned but not allowed on the fast list. SO if you check you will only see 2 right now. But if you search for him you will see now 3 people have done it. I htink this is pretty impressive for a car that has been out for less than a year.

how can you think a 12.4 wont happen when people have trapped 112 stock.

Does your car run a 12.2 at 113?

400lb difference. 80hp advantage. 40hp left. .4 tenths. (that will get you 5 cars btw )

Just throwing some random numbers out to make my point. I respect yours as well.

Im just saying I was pleasantly surprised by the cars performance.

 

My car makes the same noise and has over 5000 miles on it. Did it since the day I brought it home. It only happens at slow speeds when pushing the clutch in right?

 

weight, tires and suspension on these cars will make it tough to get anymore out of them.

since youre throwing numbers around 03-04 cobras run low 12s stock with similar power and weigh about 200 lbs less.


i hope it happens i predicted a 12.3 stock time out of an m6 before this car was out.

 

400 pds is ALOT of weight along w/ those 20 in. wheels. My uncle has a 10 SS 6spd. Car does feel powerful but your average driver is only going to see a sub 13 second pass w/ it. We messed around a little bit and I crushed him from both a stop and a low rpm roll. Granted I have a few mods w/ a 3600 and hes far from an Evan Smith but it is what it is. Im sure he'd fair better in the higher rpms. Not doubt it'll trap more then a stock LS1 though...Im not arguing that this car is overall alot better but theres no way its a 1/2 second quicker. I like this camaro but id grab a new 5.0 GT over it in a heartbeat. BTW congrats on the new ride, looking forward to seeing some pics.

 

congrats on the new car! Now let the modding begin!

 

My car went 12.7 with a 2.0 60' with a tune and intake. Our 99 Z28 went 13.2 with a lid, cat-back, ported TB and free mods with the same 2.0 60' the same day at the same track. Looks like half a second to me.

 

Yep exactly. Sounds like it is nothing to worry about from what I have gathered so far. Some guys at camaro5 have heard this as well. One guy reported that it was springs in the pressure plate rattling that are not used when the plate is under light load. I also heard this is the ls7 style clutch...is that correct?

Ultimateorange.... Yeah I think the 03 cobras best time is a 12.4. Hopefully the camaro can get to that but im not sure. The cars are putting down very similar numbers to the wheels now that I think about it.

We will see

 

You would take the 5.0 that will likely only be a tenth or two faster at most looking at the numbers? Are you forgetting about power potential? NA the LS3 is very hard to beat. I will bend over and kiss your *** if that 5.0 motor can make 500 to the wheels cam only like the ls3 can. The small stock advantage that car MAY have will be gone very quickly when the mods start on the 6.2 IMO

 

Fourty horsepower will only net you a couple of tenths, not 4-5 tenths. Some of the earlier SS cars ran very low 13s @ 107 mph. I've seen a couple here already, one of which had been tuned. It was a L-99 and ran several passes from 12.49-12.56 @ 110. Most of the new Camaros are about 4000-4050 lbs. with driver so they give up about 3-500 lbs. to the older Camaros and Firebirds. The older cars with "heads & cams" run a lot better than the gen IV stockers do. P.S...... The owner of the local dragstrip has a nearly new Cadillac CTS-V with the six speed automatic and it is more than a match for the new SS Camaros.