One great feature that never got any press on the Camaro was it's (Saturn-like) body panels (except for the rear panels) that prevent door dings. My Camaro is almost 10 years old and it body still looks great because of those ding resistant panels.

Most cars look like crap even after 5 year becuase of wavy and dinged-up side panels.

 

I don't now and my car has 0 protection so i doubt i will in the future. It's an 8 year old car but it's got many thinking it's 2 years old.

 

The 3rd gen doesnt take too kindly to dings It got pretty beat up at school because we had limited park-where-you-can parking. My next nice car wont have a dent on it if I can help it.

 

They might dent, but I'd rather be incased in steel.

 

I think the dent resistant panels were probably one of the nicest and most overlooked features of the car, to be honest... It's a shame that the quarter panels were not dent resistant as well.

 

Absolutely, my quarter panels have been visited by the dent doctor on a few occasions.

I won't have to worry about my next car because I'm keeping my f-bodies forever.

 

Yeah...those panels still look great after 7 years. Wish I could say the same for the rear quarters and the hood. Small dings there (hardly noticeable) but still....grrrrr!

 

Doesn't matter to me - When I had a camaro the rear quarters were a dent magnet, giving their lives to protect the dent resistant doors and front fenders.

 

This is why you park away from every1 else when you go somewhere. Or don't use it for a daily driver.

 

Hopefully GM has more plastic panel sports cars in the works. This feature has never been properly marketed whether it be on fiero's, mini-vans,saturn's,corvette's or f-body's. I have heard they cost half as much as steel panels,reduce vehicle weight, are much easier/cheaper to make style changes on. So far are used on a small number of platforms. GM doesnt do a good job of promoting the safety aspect of them either. By the way fiero's have all plastic body panels.

 

Yes, I do.

After eight years I traded my formula in on a BMW last year. My Formula had one ding on the rear quarter and a couple of light scratches on the door. Whenever I would park the BMW I was over come by fear. My doors are no longer ding proof. I would look around at other cars, wow some are covered in door dings, the whole length of the door. More fear. I miss being ding proof.

And to the person who said they would rather be covered in steel. The body panels do nothing what matters is what's underneath. Go up to any steel bodied car and punch it with your fist. Nice dent. Replace your fist with an SUV and the body might as well be cardboard. You can't see the important stuff.

 

It still helps to have something strong on the outside initially.

 

Maybe not much, but it helps.

 

I've heard the same, but GM hasn't capitalized on that FOR SURE!

Camaro - 9 years (only a front fascia change)
Saturn - 8 years with no change
C4 - Minimal changes over 12 years
C5 - No changes over 7-8 years
Fiero - Minimal changes over its life
Lumina Van - Minimal if any changes over its life

 

GM could easily build two totally different looking cars with plastic panels using the same chassis if they wanted to. So much for leveraging a competative advantage. Style changes even every year wouldnt be out of the question with plastic panels.

I toured the saturn plant recently and people there were saying rumor is they may drop the plastic panels-this would make no sense. The panels are made on site. The workers there are misinformed-someone said plastic panels cost more than steel to produce.

If they wanted to GM could have 4 and 5 star crash ratings on everything they sell, while improving its cafe ratings substantally.