Peyton

I'm picking my Camaro 2SS/RS up today at 9:00. Black. Black interior with Inferno Orange accents. Stick. No sunroof.

It'll go in the driveway next to my wife's '06 Mustang GT convertible. Black. Stick. Warp-core driven after-market stereo.

Now, we will see! It's hard to translate skid pad numbers and quarter-mile times into driving satisfaction. We'll start exploring all those "intangibles" today!

By the way, if you set your mirrors to point out into the adjacent lanes, directly where some nut in a Suburu will be sitting in your blind spot, visibility out of this car is just fine.

JasonD

This should be interesting!

CLEAN

Where else would you be pointing them

Congrats on the car! I just ordered mine yesterday, have no idea how long it's going to take.

Peyton

Wow! What an incredible car!

OK, I'm following a very conservative break-in plan for the engine and brakes, so first impressions will be from below 3000 rpm.

I drove the Camaro for about 2 hours, today, and the Mustang GT for over an hour. The Mustang is much more nimble, maybe even twitchy. It was raining, so I haven't explored the Camaro's handling at all. So far, with highway driving mostly, the Camaro reminds me very strongly of the '95 Intrepid ES that I wore out. I loved that car! It also reminds me of an '82 Porsche 928 that I drove for a few minutes. Where the Mustang is tossable, I think that the Camaro is more of a gran tourer. The Mustang is much harder to shift well; the Camaro is very forgiving, even though its clutch is a little numb. The Mustang is much faster off of the line, not racing, just pulling away from lights. The Camaro seems more capable, somehow, though; more sure-footed? And, remember, I haven't explored its torque curve, yet.

Reading the book about the Driver Information Center made it seem very complicated. It's not. Push the menu button to display either of two information groups, and twist the selector to browse information in those groups. Easily done with a glance. You can twist the selector to browse around within whatever information group you left it in from the menu button. Average fuel economy is three twists away from the digital speedometer. If your left hand is anywhere near 10 o'clock, it covers a big portion of the upper part of the speedometer. Not using cruise control during engine break-in, I saw 80 several times with no feeling of going fast. The digital speedometer is worth keeping up, front and center.

The stereo is much easier to use than the Getting to Know booklet or the owner's manual makes it seem. Someone put some serious effort into useability, here, and the books don't explain it well at all. The Boston Accoustics system is mind-altering. Some of the songs in the playlists on my IPod are ones that I've heard over and over, and it's like hearing them for the first time. We've got high-end Boston Accoustics all around the living room, and music doesn't sound this good. The system doesn't find my IPod about every other time the car is started (booted?) and sometimes unplugging it and plugging it back in doesn't help. My new car needs a firmware upgrade, it looks like. (That's a long, long way from changing the points in a distributor, and manually tweaking the timing by ear, isn't it?)

The Camaro came needing a new ABS electronics module. The dealer ordered the part, and can change it in a few minutes when it arrives. Until then, no ABS or traction control. Staying away from "situations" goes well with a conservative engine and brake break-in, anyway.

The car turns heads, pretty much all of them. People stop what they're doing and watch it go by. I don't remember that happening, when I drove a 928 around for a little while. Pretty cool.

beegroovie

Congratulations! I LOVE my Camaro but it would be really cool to have a new Mustang and Challenger in my garage too (just to drive on the "off" days) <joke>
I've had my Camaro since July and people still honk on the highway and stop me at the gas station and any parking lot and ask if I like the car. They won't leave you alone! I'm SICK of it....NOT :-)
Enjoy BOTH your cars!

SSbaby

That's the fun that a lot of people don't seem to understand. It's not the car's weight that people are hung up about. It's the Camaro's innate character that is winning even the casual observers over.

Congrats, btw!

PS I saw a candy apple red one yesterday driving along the highway in the opposite direction... it definitely stood out from the traffic.

bombebomb

While the engine should be "pre broke-in" more or less, driving it around like a Granny is not a good idea, but what do I know.

Bob Cosby

The majority (vast majority?) of people aren't hung up on the car's weight....just some of us neanderthal gear heads. Guess I'm a proud member.

I hope you enjoy your car...and seriously...there's no reason not to put more rpm on the new motor.

SSbaby

I know you've got racing in your blood, Bob. I understand your position wrt weight. Then there are others who don't race them that just like to complain... but I shouldn't really go there.

Anyway, I don't really know what I'm doing on these forums if this comment is anything to go by...

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/1864710-post23.html

You don't realize just how lucky you guys are to have such great coupes that we miss out on. Thinking that one day I will also own a Camaro is just a pipe dream, it seems. The reality is that I'm just wasting my time on this great forum. Time to look to another favorite pastime... but it's quite likely that from time to time I'll probably just tune in to read Guy's exclusives.

Ciao.

CLEAN

How much hassle would it be to import one?

At least you get the entire Holden line up at your disposal. Thats close to a wash. I'd still like a Ute someday.

blue 79 Z/28

no kidding, we get 1 coupe and a canceled G8. and SSbaby gets the whole holden lineup and HSV vehicles.

SSbaby

There's a company here that does the RHD conversions and all other engineering certifications and asks... a measly $AU150,000. That's roughly $130,000 in your currency.

Not worth it.

PS A Z06 costs $AU220,000!

JasonD

ow.

blue 79 Z/28

yea thats pretty bad. here in canada SS camaros are going for 41k msrp for a 2ss but ALL the dealers are marking them up to 50k that are sitting on the lots......

bossco

I've always wondered why Austraila is so admant/draconian about the RHD thing?