2016 Chevrolet Camaro Makes Strong First Driving Impressions

It’s only a few days since the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro was first unveiled to the public and it looks like the new platform has already made all the right impressions for journalists who hit the track.

The big news unfortunately for that day was the that the first public crash of this brand new generation of Chevrolet Camaro happened to take place the same weekend that it was unveiled. If you haven’t already heard, one unfortunate yet smug Jalopnik driver happened to handedly snuff the Camaro into a wall of tires thanks to a bit of distracted driving.

But onto the Camaro and it’s first impressions from someone who was actually there. We have Paul Huizenga of LSXtv who was invited amongst other journalists that day who recently posted his opinions on what he thought about this pony car resurrection.

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First there was the combination of engine and transmission choices. Thanks to three engine options and between two transmissions, there’s a combination of six possible choices.

2.0 T 275HP/295 lbs-ft
V6 335HP/284 lbs-ft
V8 440HP/ 450 lbs-ft

Combine those with these transmission choices

Tremec TR-3160 6 speed Manual or
GM’s 8L45 8 Speed automatic

..and you pretty much have all the combinations available.

So how did it drive? First Paul was strapped into a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro. According to Huizenga, ” The cars don’t seem to enjoy being hot-lapped, even at a 6/10 pace. Following the lead car, the 2015 never lets you forget how heavy it is or how close the concrete barriers are.”

Then Huizenga stepped into the new 2016 Camaro,

"This is immediately more fun – driven back-to-back like this, the 2016 makes the 5th gen feel like a Bluebird school bus by comparison. The small-diameter wheel gives good feedback without telegraphing every frost heave, and the V6 is happy to rev. Now this is a car I actually enjoy driving at a decent clip around this course."

Towards the end of his article, he brings up the elephant in the room for GM, the ever looming CAFE standards. According to GM’s Cheif Engineer Al Oppenheiser, “We have a corporate CAFE requirement for 2016, and a more stringent one for 2025.If we don’t start getting the world to understand what that really means, we won’t be able to sell cars. We’re doing our part with this fuel-efficient 2-liter turbo.”

So what can we glean from these first driving impressions? This all pretty much bodes well for GM at this time. Customers should more or less at least give turbocharged four cylinders a try. After all, the more smaller engines GM can sell, the more enthusiasts can hoon around in V8’s.

H/T – LSXTV.com

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