I'm a fan of all of them. I think the challenger looks better than the Camaro and the mustang and it's the last one I would buy. The Camaro is a good car. Just butt ugly and the interior is horrible.

 

So good running gear, wrapped in an eye sore cartoon shell, with a hideous and poorly functional interior = "good car"?

You are either a very generous man, or you're extra fond of the mechanical bits that go into a car.

 

Very fond on the mechanicals. The GM LS motor is a fantastic piece of machinery for a pushrod gas motor. Their transmissions are not so bad compared to Ford either. I'll take a GM auto trans over Ford all day long. Ford rules when it comes to the modulars though. Chrysler just builds pretty garbage.

 

An interesting counterpoint, and half valid. The Corvette department (and it is a completely separate department, if not a separate brand) has had about near carte blanche for a large number of years now, and hasn't really had to answer to many people in the design and production of its vehicles. It seems to be working pretty well; the Corvette engineers are amazing.

The CTS-V, however, is a very good product of a very bad process. If the 1LE is as good as the CTS-V (and I mean "good" in a holistic sense) is, then I will be very impressed. I still will not care for the interior and ergonomics, but that makes it a worse car for me, not a worse car.

 

I will say this.

I've been a hardcore GM fan for the vast majority of my life. I have personally owned a 1976 Camaro, TWO 1985 Camaros (Both V8 Berlinattas), a 1972 Olds Cutlass S with a 350 Rocket, 1973 Olds 442, and 1976 Hurst Olds, a 1985 Chevy Stepside Pickup, 1972 Pontiac Lemans.

Not to mention 1967 and 1969 Camaro drag cars. Fully tubed frame in the 69, and a 496 cid under the hood.

Now one could ever accuse me of being a "hater".

I absolutely adore the older Camaros. I loved the fact that they had their own chassis, and were the best handling coupes of their time. I often drive in rural areas, and love a car that can handle a twisty country road. Camaros have ALWAYS delivered for me, and the Mustang has ALWAYS been a drag car with nothing else to offer.




Until Now.



As a hardcore GM fan and Camaro enthusiast, I am nothing but disappointed in the new Frankencar bearing the Camaro name.

Camaros have always had poor visibility, but the new ones take it to a whole new level. Camaros have always been sub-3,500 pound cars, the new ones actually weigh MORE than my old '73 442, which I always thought was a tank of a car. Gone is the excellent F-Body and instead GM has produced a coupe based off a Buick Park Avenue chassis.

Personally, I was crushed. Devistated. Long love lost, possibly forever.


I found solace in the new Mustang, which ironically is a better Camaro than the Camaro.

Ford has brilliantly improved the handling, and despite the archaic solid axel rear end, it handles remarkably well. The acceleration has always been there, but Ford has always fallen short on ride and handling.

NO MORE.

In fact I was so impressed with the new Mustang when I compared it to the new Camaro, a comparison I made after renting both for a week each, that I did what I always believed would be the unthinkable.


I bought a V6.

 

What a terrible name for a car... 1LE?

 

Sounds French, or froo-froo

 

I'm a fan of all of them as well, I just have my preference. These are great times for us. I think its great Camaro is trying to bring more to the table, better late than never. I agree 1LE isn't the name I would hope for though. There is one exception, for all its achievements, I can't get past the look. The CTS-V is just butt ugly to me, the current Cadillac look is just not for me.

 

I'd rather walk.

 

Or Iacocca might stop sending you Christmas cards.

 

Given GM's penchant for naming cars after their option packages (Z28, W30, 9C1, etc) the choice of 1LE wasn't the best. I think they were trying a retro tie-in with the 1LE IROC Camaros of 25 years ago, but most folks don't even remember them. Since they've named their high-horsepower car ZL1, maybe they should have named their track car ZL2.

 

That Video is BS that not a stock 1LE, roll bars, racing seats, and belts for the the driver is not the way the car comes stock . A GT3 RS yes a 1LE no and it GM so you have no way of knowing what else is on that car that made that lap that not going to be on the car at the dealer when you pick yours up . Then you add in a paid GM hot shoes to drive the car and dose not care if he crashes it when he making his laps yupper thouse are laps time you can count on .

Then try to say well looking Look at the Boss 302 lap at VIR .is more BS. The time at VIR. was done by Car & Drive in a stock Boss 302 with a guy making sure it came back in one piece.

Then there the LS motor if you put any time in on a corvette board you know that high Gs and a LS motor is a bad thing the motor go BOOM!!!!That why corvette have dry sump oiling set-up on the corvettes that can pull a high Gs. But GM being GM didn't get it right the first time around and the motor still when BOOM!!! and now they got a biger tank for the dry sump and looks like they got fix now .

The 1LE has no dry sump how long the motor is going to last in at high Gs is up in the air and in the pass GM didn't do to good of a job figuring it out .

GM also said ZL1 can run 1.60 ft. tap times at the drag strip on stock tire and run 11s all day long to, go over to camaro fourms see just how well that work out for the ZL1 owners . I help you out NO ONE been able to do it . BS and GM go hand in hand .

 

Just pray you don't go up against a Boss with just a CAI, X-pipe and tune, or you may just be in for a surprise in your $60K, 580-horse turd. How embarrassing.


So, if we don't gobble up every bit of GM's marketing BS -- especially in light of the ZL1 hero runs that have yet to be replicated on stock tires in the real world and "simulations" that were way off-base -- we're haters? Give me a break, man.

 

I can't wait to see one at the track. Slowmaro's are few and far between. My friend told me there was a ZL1 at Limerock last Tusday. But it was being driven by a journalist doing a car review. Good luck finding one at a HPDE

 

Why does any of this matter? True Mustang enthusiasts won't care WHAT a Camaro does - or doesn't - do on the track (or anywhere else for that matter).

 

Correct observations.

And this is why it's all refered to as the pony or musclecar wars. Great for us, as we benefit from it, as the Ford engineers and/or aftermarket come out with the mods to squeak better handling and more HP to beat the competition next year.
If each manufacturer did nothing with their new year releases, these cars would be boring.

 

As a Mustang fan, I care. When the Camaro comes out with a vehicle that perhaps outperforms the Mustang, we know the Ford engineers will not sit on their hands....the following year the Mustang will boast better performance.

We benefit from this. We should welcome these types of wars between Ford and GM. The purchasing public wins!

 

Until the dealers slap $20k+ mark ups. >_>

 

Well, I would never buy a Camaro (or Challenger), and I don't care what Ford does in response to Chevrolet's automotive meanderings because whatever that is, it will not have an effect on the car I'm driving right now. I will always pick the Mustang (or a Ford in general) over whatever Chevy or Dodge has available at the same time.

 

you do care because it had a very big effect on the car you are drive right now.. you would be driving the 4.0 boat motor. Chevy came out with the high hp v6 camaro and that made ford up the hp game in the V6.

And when you are ready to get a new car in a few years and shed that bucket you might seen a 400 hp sixxer..