2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS: More Like a Corvette Than a New Pony Car

Here's our full test numbers.



We just had the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS manual in for instrumented testing. The new car, based on GM's brilliant Alpha platform, is lighter and more lithe than ever before. Add in the Corvette's 455 horsepower LT1 V8, and you have a Camaro that is less an evolution of its predecessor and feels more like a Corvette with back seats.
Just check out our official numbers:
Road Test Editor Robin Warner sums it all up below:

The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS felt more like a Corvette than an evolution of the previous pony car. Credit the new, lighter platform and the brilliant LT1 V-8. The SS is sporty and lithe, strong and flexible. While commuting to the test track the Camaro easily absorbed all humps and bumps in the road with a rock solid chassis and supple suspension, yet handled like a proper sports car. Brilliant chassis balance, nearly a g of grip, and precise steering made it proper fun, no hassle hooning. Furthermore, hard accelerating is all-day repeatable and impressive! Look at the numbers. The new SS is only a few tenths off the big brother C7. Check out the comparison below. It's okay to be amazed. I am.

 

1 OF 18The new Camaro comes out this fall with three engine choices, two transmissions and less weight.PHOTO BY CHEVROLET

POWER IS UP, WEIGHT IS DOWN, INTERIOR IS BETTER


The 2016 Chevy Camaro SS will dispatch the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at 116 mph when it hits dealership lots this fall. The manual version comes in with a time of 12.5 seconds at 115 mph. Chevy let us drive the V8 and V6 versions of the coupe in Michigan last week, but we can’t tell you about the drive experience just yet. Check back on October 16. But there’s still a lot to talk about, starting with the rest of the performance numbers.
So the 455-hp, 426-lb-ft V8 does the sprint in 12.3, very quick for a factory car. We’ve seen the 2015 Mustang GT knock it down in the 12.9-second range, by the way, at about 113 mph, in case you’re keeping track. The V6 Camaro (335 hp, 323 lb-ft) gets down the 1,320-foot strip in 13.5 seconds at 103 mph with an automatic transmission and the turbo four (275 hp, 295 lb-ft) does it in 14 seconds flat at 99 mph.
Part of that quick-footedness is because of the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tires on the SS, which endow the car with .97g of lateral grip. That was supercar territory a decade ago. The V6 gets F1 Asymmetric all-seasons and sticks with .89g while the four wears Eagle Sport all-seasons and comes in at .85g.

The SS sounds great with the two-mode exhaust. Wait, was that a driving impression?






As for braking, the SS stops from 60 mph in 117 feet, the V6 in 124 feet, the turbo four in 129 feet. That's without the optional upgrades. Here the Mustang GT bests the SS, with a distance of just 108 feet, albeit with the optional Brembo package.
This biggest news though, in our opinion, is the weight loss. All of those performance numbers, most of which are now better than the Mustang--including power to weight—are due to the hundreds pounds of savings in the chassis and body. The V6 is 294 pounds lighter than the last model, the V8 is 223 pounds lighter and the turbo four, which we haven’t driven yet, is a whopping 390 pounds less than last year’s V6.
Chevy did this with aluminum parts, where necessary, lightening holes where possible and it even shortened bolts in the chassis so there were no extra threads. The 1SS trim in particular improved its power-to-weight ratio by 14 percent. It now resides at 8.1 pounds per horse, a few ticks better than the Mustang, which for 2015 is at 8.5.

The interior of the Camaro is miles ahead of the old.






Another place where the new Camaro shined is in the cabin. The central dash went from a mishmash of colors and materials to a clean-looking and smooth fascia with Buick-like buttons under the screen and a new climate control system that looks like it was built in this decade. Two giant vents take care of the midsection, each with bezel ring dials that control the output. The shifter too--red accents in the SS, chrome in the rest—feels like it was built for this car. As is now the norm, the Camaro gets a drive control system with sport, normal, track and wet. Each setting can also be adjusted individually.
Like we said, the new Camaro goes on sale this fall. The 1LT trim comes in at $26,695 while the SS starts at $37,295. More pricing info will be available closer to launch.

 

 

Yep Mike, mine's on order rolls down the line 2/29- I called GM's "track my Order". (It's made @ the Lansing Grand River Plant 20 minutes from where I live)
SS2 Convertible (no longer have the Deuce)

Dealer says should be in my garage by the end of March (there is a 4 week quality control hold)
Trying to arrange to see it go down the assembly line (My employer makes OEM parts for Chevy)

Specs:
6.2L 455 HSP 455 Lbs of Torque
Magnetic ride control
Dual tone exhaust
6 speed manual sick with rev matching
20" wheels 8.5" in front 9.5 in back
Metallic Ice silver
Adrenaline red interior
8" command screen with Apple link
0 to 60 3.9 seconds



Tthis is my retirement dream car "Wild Thing"

our build:

 

I love this Camaro back in 09-10 I drove one the local dealer had and the local parade that we were in.
So the parade is over and the Dealer tells me they are having a Car show in a couple of hours and he wants it there as well.
I asked him if he wanted me to take it back to the dealership till that time and he said.
No, enjoy it.
So I was just a mile form the Interstate and thought well lets check this thing out, so coming down the Ramp there was an 18 wheeler about to gobble me up and I stood on it and this thing was at $1.25 in no time absolutely bad fast, nice thing about them is they also have the big disc brakes to slow it down as fast.
whew!!!!!