Pruettfan

I had a 94 Z28 from 94-97. I loved the car. It was a great performance value and a very cool car. Because GM had made the decision to not evolve the car much and because they were not commited in the long haul there was not much improvements over the life of the 4th gen. Of course if you measure any car from the late 90's against the stuff today there is no car that holds up. That would be like comparing a 10 year old computer to one made today or a 10 year old TV compared to a new flat screen HD. At the time these cars were fine. GM made a mistake by not staying commited to the Camaro. In the spring of next year we will all begin to heal.

polo3433

In all honesty I hated the 4th gen. Me being 6'4 it was difficult for me to get in and out of the car because it was so low. The back seats were pretty much useless, and had the ride confront of a Horse carriage. The only plus was the power that it had. I am glad that the 5th gen didn't take after the 4th gen.

JakeRobb

Look, I'm not saying that the 4th gen was the perfect car or anything, but the above just isn't true.

For example, show me a car with even remotely close to the same performance, that gets anywhere near the same fuel economy. Corvette is the only one, even today.

flowmotion

Honestly, I think the market just changed. GM/Ford could get away with 10+ year model cycles back in the 70s/80s, but by the 1990s people were noticing there was a new Accord every 6 years and stopped buying old designs.

I also think GM never modernized it's marketing of Camaro/Firebird in the way Ford did, but that's a different discussion.

super83Z

Who cares let them bash the 4th gen all they want. Its probably what Chevy wants them to do. Think about it the 4th gen supposedly was viewed as this POS by public so if all the mags say how different teh 5th gen is then hopefully that old stigma will be washed away.

Ron78Z&01SS

Personally, don't care what the mags think about the 4th Gen.......what IS important is that they seem to like the 5th Gen.

I've had 3 4th Gens, and despite any shortcomings (real or imagined), for me they served their purpose and were "fun". So the mags want to rag on a Camaro that was killed in 2002? Like I said..."Don't Care".


....and the Geo Storm (remember those?).

I didn't care much for the looks of the Camaro when it came out....reminded me of a Geo Storm on Steroids. In fact, first time I saw the "new" Camaro on the road I was driving up behind it and thought it WAS a Storm until I got closer.....true story. Needless to say I was never overly impressed with the Camaro's exterior (except for the LS1 SS), but I'm one of those guys who can be won over by an abundance of power and handling (ESPECIALLY power ).

97QuasarBlue3.8

Having owned four (4) 4th gens, I can praise the fact that they were a lot of fun. They had LOTS of power--especially the 2 LS1 Z28's I had. I loved my Camaros, but the one thing I hated was that they were all built like crap.

Materials -- Hard plastics are the achilles' heel of GM interiors, and the Camaro was a plastic queen inside. Not only were hard plastics used, but thin fabric with cruddy glue was attached to the door panels, or vinyl (yes, it was vinyl, not leather). And there were hard plastics laid over hard plastics with brittle little tabs and held in by weatherstripping (hatch). And hard plastic held in by cruddy velcro (sail panels). And hard plastic screwed in till it deformed (rocker panels). The entire console was hard plastic with a padded plastic console door--which was also glued on with crappy glue. And crappy leather--plastic coated to holy hell. It got shiny with wear, and cracked easily, or wore through (driver's bolster). And cruddy foam seat cushions with the covering literally stapled to the underside.

Build quality -- How about the funny/huge panel gaps? The windows coming away from the door/popping out of the track? The ripples in the quarters, the delaminating door skins. Rubber stuffed between the headlamps and the bumper to fill the gap (1998+). The sun visors that came apart with little use (or fell off--cruddy cast steel), the rippling body moldings that discolor and come unglued.

The 4th gens always looked cool and went fast, but they were cheaper than hell. I won't comment on reliability because all my 4th gens were used. They were fun while I had them, but eventually I had enough. I'm SUPER excited for the 5th gen...it looks like someone has paid excellent attention to the rest of the vehicle, after stuffing an awesome V6 and V8 power train combo under the hood.

Until you really drive a lot of other cars of the time period, you'll see how far behind the 4th Gen Camaros really were. Yes, they were "on par" for 1993, but by the interior/exterior refresh in 1998, they were out of the game in the quality/build/materials department.

falchulk

I am 6'4" and had no problem getting in and out of my 2001, but I can see where it could be a pain.

I also had a custom leather interior put in so I did not have the issue many had with the hard materials.

When I sold the car it only had 26k on it. At the time I sold it because my son's legs had nowhere to go because of his car seat. I bought a Charger for my fun car and loved it as much as I did the 4th gen. I ended up selling that and buying a 08 mustang.......even though my son is slighly cramped in the seat again

Looking back I liked the 4th gen very much at the time but I would never own one again. It was cramped and impractical. I cant say I really even like the styling anymore. I dare say I find it unattractive these days. The only thing I miss is the power and 6 speed.

The mustangs packaging is soooo much more livable. From what I have seen the 5th gen looks to have similar packaging. I think the 5th gen would work VERY well for me. I guess I understand why the mags are ragging on the 4th gen.

HuJass

When I took delivery of my C/E back in 11/01, I was really impressed with the car. The interior plastics left something to be desired, but overall, I thought the car was screwed together quite well. All the body gaps look great, the paint looks fantastic for a factory paint job, nothing is wavy or misaligned on the car. No noises. It's never been back to the dealer. It's never been worked on other than oil changes.
It's a little difficult to get in & out of, but once in, I (and my friends) found the car to be quite comfortable and the ride was very nice, for a sports car. My brother's '80 Turbo T/A will knock your fillings out of your teeth when going over any bump. He has to just about stop to go over RR tracks. Not so in my C/E.
I was, and still am, impressed with my fourth gen.

Big Als Z

Performance. Again, 4th gens never lacked performance.
It lacked ergonomics, it lacked quality, refinement, as well as perhaps being too much car. A big car with a short wheel base, and some what poor visibilty made it a car tough to live with.
5th gen needs to evolve from the performance realm into an all around performance coupe.

JakeRobb

Thanks for missing my point. I was talking about fuel economy.

For a long time, even V6 Mustangs didn't match the fuel economy of an LS1 Camaro. Even today, a 2008 Mustang V6 M5 gets exactly the same EPA ratings as a 2002 Camaro V8 M6 (17/26).

Find me any V8 car, regardless of performance, that meets or beats an LS1 M6 on fuel economy. As I said before, the only one you'll find is Corvette.

I don't have any issues with my '02 that I would consider "ergonomic". All of the controls fall readily to hand. What are you referring to?

94arcticwhiteM6

my 94 is comfortable. it doesnt rattle my teeth but doesnt exactly have cadillac ride quality either. i wouldnt expect it from a camaro. all the radio and climate controls are easily at hand, if im driving the camaro chances are there is no need for a back seat. if i need to move a group of people i jump in my maxima. all in all i think the 4th gen was a great car.

super83Z

I remember back in the late 90's- early 00's that all the magazine reviews would say that the Mustang shifter was in a different timezone.

Z28CamaroPower!

I still get people that ask if my 95 Z28 Conv. is a Corvette...

You've also got to remember that 99% of the car buying public doesn't know anything about cars, therefore, a "20-year-old platform" means nothing to them.

Need4Camaro

4th and 5th gens are not comparable at all IMO...

They're not even on the same platform, the 5th gen is basically an entire new car that shares an evolved GenIII engine and a name... The simularities end there. 5th Gen is not even an F-Body. Also with all the craploads of new technology (GPS, AFS, IRS on STANDARD cars) thats come out during a DECADE since the LS1 first premiered in the 4th Gen, what the heck do you expect to happen? Comparing New to Old in all terms other than the essential improvements is just apples and oranges...

And honestly, in all out performance, the 4th Gen will still be faster than the 5th Gen given the same Power (which still isn't expensive or hard to biuld an 4th gen to te power levels of an 5th Gen SS).
The 4th Gen weighs alot less, has a lower sense of gravity, and although it's aerodynamics were nothing to praise, they still exceed the 5th gen so the 5th gen does indeed have some hindering features.