Re: New Camaro

What do yall think of the new Camaro?

I absolutely love the ones that I've seen at the auto show the last few years...I wouldn't kill for one, but I'd hurt someone REALLY, REALLY BAD!!! d;o)

Just wondering, what would the true "Die-Hard Camaro Fan" like to see in the next generation Camaro? It may not be too late to make your thoughts known before they finalize all the molds and dies and such, and start casting and cutting metal for the final production runs!

Keeping in mind that they're not making a Firebird, I thought that bringing back the Berlinetta model would be a great idea to serve the "semi-luxury" market that was served by the Firebird...but that's only a starting point...what SPECIFIC FEATURES would YOU--the next generation of Camaro BUYERS--want to see added/removed/fixed in the next generation Camaro?

Remember, there's always a chance that someone in the industry might be listening!

Personally, I want to see simple things, like an ashtray (where else are non-smokers going to put their change or MP3 players or cell phones within easy reach?!), a return to old-style Corvette Rally wheels--perhaps with new caps, rings or centers, but with the option to use the "classic style") and perhaps, even a nice USB port mounted inside the console so you can plug in your MP3 player or music-laden flashdrive in a no-muss, no fuss manner?

Anyway, there's a few rough ideas to get the ball rolling...

Gentlemen...start your arguments! }8^o

Reply to
ElectroPigT
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All in all, I'm very disappointed in the new Camaro. Just flat wrong in so many ways. Not that I could buy one anytime soon anyways. The fantasy Firebird pics are better, but still not great.

#1 on my list would be a totally different interior than what appears to be going in it. That dash is ugly as hell, and that steering wheel needs to go too.

Please please please, no more Rally Wheels. I never "got" them. They just looked "I'm too cheap to buy some decent wheels" to me.

If I didn't have the ashtray to keep my change and spare stamps, I don't know where I would put them.

BDK

Reply to
BDK

well i'm not a big fan of the rear tail lights... i'd change them if i had a new maro. another thing... i'd like to see is the gauges where i could easily read them. it looks too low. happy motoring (;

Reply to
jayy68

From: "BDK" Newsgroups: alt.autos.camaro,alt.autos.camaro.firebird Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 12:56 PM Subject: Re: New Camaro

Perhaps you're referring to the obvious lack of actual BUMPERS or any chrome on the vehicle?

Yeah, there needs to be a nice, clean interior design...something designed for DRIVERS and not MARKETING MORONS...a 36" cup holder is probably what the marketing types want to see in the new cars...personally, I'd like to see a usable and comfortable console.

Actually, I think that if people are given the option, they'll choose what they prefer. Given the look of the design, I think that a set of classic 15x8" Corvette Rally wheels fit the car quite nicely...and would be a FAR CHEAPER option for winter rims than spending another $2400 (est) just to mount your winter tires.

Of course, that only matters in about 60-70% of North America...if you live far enough down south, you've probably never even heard of "snow tires" before. d;o)

Another thing is that, at least in the upper part of North America, salt is used on the roads, and salt eats rims. Salt eats aluminum a lot worse than it eats steel, so your pretty little 10x the cost aliminum mags need to be repaired or replaced a lot more often than steel rims. With steel rims, you peel off the rubber, take some steel wool to them (or glass bead them), prime, paint, reinstall the rubber, and remount your tread.

Yet another thing in favor of steel wheels is the fact that they're more easily repaired. Most times, a minor ding in the bead can simply be pounded back into shape, and any iminor warping can usually be corrected with a few new wheel weights and a proper balancing...which takes about a minute or two. While Aluminum mags CAN be, and are being restored/repaired today, it is almost always at a cost which is higher than to completely replace equivalent steel wheels.

Price repairing a cracked aliminum wheel against replacing a steel wheel...you'll easily see what I mean.

Note: A steel spare is also a lot cheaper than an extra aluminum mag, too!

Yup! But an even more interesting fact...if smokers are 30-35% of the population of North America, what car company would deliberately ignore 30-35% of their market when we've known for a year or more that we're in a recession? Smart or "other than smart"? ;)

Another thing that I'd DEFINITELY like to see is the return of the FULL SIZED SPARE!!!

Barring that, I would like to see the public execution of the moron who invented that (*@#in "compact spare" idea...every car owner should be able to give him one whack per wheel, until there is nothing left but a pile of pulp, which we can then use for garden slug food...but then, I may feel more strongly about donut spares than you do. d;o)

Reply to
ElectroPigT

That's not a bad looking Mustang....

Reply to
Imaginary Friend

well i'm not a big fan of the rear tail lights... i'd change them if i had a new maro. another thing... i'd like to see is the gauges where i could easily read them. it looks too low. happy motoring (;

Reply to
ElectroPigT

Overall, I've got to agree. They took all of the best parts of the Classic design and brought them back.

I hate the cupholders in the place where the console should be. That alone is enough to kepe me from getting one because I don't feel that a car should be uncomfortable for the driver. Having my elbow hanging over a cupholder is not comfortable at all. The console could have been done much better, and far more intelligently.

I didn't much care for the wings/rear spoilers that I've seen on ALL recent-vintage Mustangs, but it seems that almost every one is equipped with that pesky wing. I've heard that if you see a Mustang without a wing in place, it's been removed and the trunk lid and/or rear quarters "repaired". Personally, I'd prefer it without the wings...so if I had one, I'd have a body shop bill before I put a single mile on the car...another nail in the Mustang purchase order's coffin.

I also hate the fact that they're calling the new Fastback a "Coupe." It isn't. It's a fastback! Look at the goddamned thing and YOU tell ME...is it a coupe or a fastback?! It's a goddamned fastback!!! Without a PROPER COUPE, I won't be buying a Mustang, simply because of the fact that I prefer the Coupe to either the convertible or the fastback. Call me a hardhead if you will, but I've had a '73 Mustang Grande (350/400 Modified) and a '67 Coupe (HiPo 289, Deluxe Pony interior), so I KNOW what a COUPE is supposed to look like...and they do not currently manufacture a proper coupe. No way I'll spend money on a car that I don't want...

I also didn't much care for the rear seat releases being made of material, as I can easily see those tearing, wearing out, or being caught on things which are placed in the back seat, etc. A proper lever or even a hidden button would have been more costly an item to produce, however, so I figure their designers just went "on the cheap" rather than doing the design properly. They partially made up for it with split fold-downs with trunk access, however...with such a flimsy release mechanism, you have to wonder how much time they spent on making sure that the seats are strong enough to withstand the impact of the trunk's contents in the event of an accident. If they skimp on one thing, you know they didn't fully consider the implications in other areas. General leeriness of this would keep me away from a new Mustang.

All told, I'd prefer to get a simple '67 Mustang Coupe...classis styling, seals that still keep out the wind and rain, you can get parts for them, etc, etc, etc...

Reply to
ElectroPigT

Nope, I don't like chrome much at all. If I could have found my last truck and present car (08 Charger), I would have got them without any.

Yeah, I don't like the gauges down so low, and I want to be able to actually put something in the console bigger than a pack of cigs.

I like the console in my car, but the cupholders are in a bad spot, and just a tiny bit too small for a mug with a handle to fit.

You can buy a whole world of nice wheels for a lot less than $2400 a set. If you go steel, about $2000 cheaper.

Except for a few years, I've always been in the NorthWest Ohio area.

I've never had any significant damage or wear to any aluminum wheels I've had. Or steel ones, except for the time I hit the giant hunk of steel and cut my tire down to the wheel and it dug a huge chunk of the inner flange out. I got lucky at the junkyard and got a new wheel, in better shape than my 3 remaining ones were, off a recently wrecked Sierra.

Oh yeah, fixing alum wheels is big time bucks, if you have it done right.

I was a "victim" of the tiny spare. My 79 T/A had one, and the one time I had to use it, it went flat in less than 10 miles. Just came apart. It was like 4 years old. Damn, I was pissed. I had to walk the original flat tire and wheel to a tire place, buy a tire, and them pay the tire store guy to drive me back.

No, I would have to agree with you, but a better punishment would be making him spend his life changing the ones that strand people. In the coldest weather possible.

BDK

Reply to
BDK

First and foremost, the car needs to start with a base price stripper model around 18K, a Z28 around 28K, and the SS can be anywhere up to 40k. That would undercut the Challenger and make it competitive with the Mustang. All the rest is just superficial trimming.

Reply to
tar~bal

-------88-------

Well, rumor has it that they're thinking about a base 4-banger, and you're right, they've prety juch gotta bring out the Z28, but the SS, RS and SS/RS are up in the air, as is the Berlinetta.

Of course, when you consider that the 4-banger they're talking about puts out roughly the same amount of power as a mid-eighties 305, that's not too terribly bad for both power AND fuel economy. Personally, I'm still quite happy with my lil' ol' '85 305's power output...although an '09 ZR1 "RatMotor" in a new Camaro would be pretty sweet too! d;o)

As far as models go, I agree that there needs to be more than a single model and more than a single price point in order for the Camaro to make up lost ground, AND even more importantly, to fill the market where it is needed. Each individual model should also be available in Coupe or Convertible, as well.

My personal choice for new release models would be, as noted, a Base model, the Z28, and the Berlinetta, with the SS, RS and SS/RS models to follow based on sales figures (a la corporate methodologies, donchaknow.) With only those three models available at the outset, it'd be a pretty wide lineup to start with, really, with 6 different body/engine package combinations to choose from.

You know, of course, that no matter which model you pick up, SOMEONE is going to do the radaical customization thing with it...

One other thing that I'd like to see is that all models have the option of cloth or leather. Personally, I don't much care for leather, so I'd always get cloth, but other people don't drive in both hot and cold weather, so they might prefer leather...people should have this option regardless of model selection...after all, that's why they call it "an option" right?

Reply to
ElectroPigT

In 2000, it didn't seem like there were too many options to choose from. Of course, that made them all pretty expensive compared to Ford.

Reply to
tar~bal

True, but they were also planning idling the plant that made the Camaros to get out of a few contractual obligations as well. If they didn't completely kill off the Camaro, they'd have been legally obligated to continue the next generation Camaro at an old and antiquated plant which needed major retooling, while building a new plant from scratch would have been more cost effective.

Well...that's the scuttlebutt, anyway...

Reply to
ElectroPigT

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