I promise you that I'll drive it. But I'll also say that I'm no longer planning my finances or altering my car purchases in order to accommodate buying one. In fact, for the first time in 10 years, I have no plans to buy a 5th gen.

But I will drive one. Who knows.

I'm not very hopeful it'll "feel" much better than the G8 GT which I recently drove though. Nice for a 2 ton family sedan, pathetic for a Camaro.

 

But CHARLIE, the "Z/28" is going to have ~550 HP!!!!!! Is that not enough to satisfy you???????

............ and its power-to-weight ratio still "looks good" (on paper) compared to an LS1 Camaro. Do the math .

(just for fun, I did some quick math ... a 550 HP / 4000 lb car is equivilant to a 480 HP / 3500 lb car ... hmmm ).

 

Well, for one thing Pete, I think the Z/28's weight will come in abit north of your number. For another, that 480 hp/3500 lbs version sounds sweet!! I'd but that one over the 550 hp version any day of the week. And I'd be willing to pay more for it to boot.

 

But don't you know that saying your car has 550HP is cooler than saying it has 480HP?

 

You know Matt, that's only if the 'cool' guys with the 480 hp cars aren't calling your 550 hp car morbidly obese and laughing behind your back.

 

As long as they don't laugh AT him.
That's still 550hp ready to roll somebody over. And the 'extra' weight will only make it hurt more.

 

I really don't get as excited over HP numbers as I used to.
I look more at performance numbers, like acceleration, skidpad G's, stopping distances etc...and the G8 was a little surprising.
I haven't drove one yet or tossed one thru a slalam, but I wouldn't expect Porche performance from it, or Camaro...not at under $32K.

 

Ok, what power:weight ratio would you like to try? 550/4100?? (0.134)

... take 0.134 x 3500 lbs = 469 HP

How's that for an equivilancy?? (~470 HP/3500 lbs = 550 HP/4100 lbs )

FWIW, let's "assume" the SS comes in at ~3900 lbs, with ~425 HP (sounds pretty reasonable, eh? ) ...

425 / 3900 = 0.109

Then take 0.109 x 3500 lbs = 381 HP

So, the new SS will at least have a (slightly) better power:weight ratio than the 4th-gen Z28/SS (350/3500=0.100), and should theoretically perform (in a straight line) like a ~380 HP LS1 .

I guess until we find out *officially*, I'm going to hope, hope, hope that the car DOESN'T weigh this much, and REALLY HOPE that they spent enough time at Nurburgring to dial in the suspension of the car?????

 

Pete, it may depend on which trans you'll choose on the SS.


I'm not concerned about power to weight. GM Powertrain will do their part for this car. It'll be at least as fast as an LS1 4th gen. In a straight line anyway.

But it'll probably take the V6 version to match the old 4th gen's LS1 EPA mpg numbers.

 

^ I hear ya ... you know which side of this argument I'm on .

Going on the presumption that the car is going to be heavy (but lightest, and most fuel efficient in V6 form) then we REALLY will be depending on the V6 Camaro selling a lot to keep the platform viable!!!

..... and it will really make the V8's (esp. Z28) the "rich man's" car, since it'll A) carry quite the price tag (likely) and B) NOT be cheap on gas at all, lugging around so much weight.

Go V6 Camaro, Go! (at least it's getting ~300 HP )

 

Rich Man's car? I didn't know ~30k qualified that description.....

And the fuel economy numbers will probably be the same as the 4thgens (taking into accound the EPA's new rating system)...so....

 

The 5th will have the advantage of the 6speed automatic which I bet will make the fuel economy of the SS better than the 4 speed LS1 4th gens. I am not so sure about the auto V6s though, partly because I do not know what the 3.8L 4ths were re-rated to. My 2000's window sticker has 19/29mpg, which was with the 3.42 optional axle ratio (standard was 3.08). I don't remember what the stick cars were rated either. In any case, that car did routinely get 27-28mpg at speeds of 70 and higher. It wasn't really driven regularly at 60mph so perhaps the economy would have been better down there. In any case, it had substantially greater range on the highway than the Formula does, which was rated at 25mpg hwy originally (now 23 with the new ratings), right?

Ok just went to fueleconomy.gov

2000 3.8L M5 is 17/28 (21) under the new ratings. 19/30 (23) originally.
2000 3.8L A4 is 17/26 (20) under the new ratings. 19/29 (22) originally.
2000 5.7L M6 is 16/25 (19) under the new ratings. 18/27 (21) originally.
2000 5.7L A4 is 15/23 (18) under the new ratings. 17/25 (20) originally.

As far as the numbers go, I never averaged below 21mpg in the 2000 3.8L even after the switch to crappy 10% ethanol gasoline. Likewise, although my Formula is more of a gas hog than the V6, it does see 25mpg at 70mph. City isn't very good, but I usually average something like 21 or 22 combined. Certainly not under 20 unless I am beating on it. It does list the 01's slightly higher in the new ratings, the 5.7L A4 at 16/23 (19) and it was rated at 18/26 (21) back on the sticker.

Anyway, I had thought the numbers for the V6 were already rumored to only be something like 25mpg hwy which would certainly fall short of the 4th Gen, although I don't see why it couldn't be better on the road with the extra gears unless the aero is not as good, or those giant wheels are hard to keep spinning.

 

How do you figure that?

I'd guess the Z/28's city/hwy will be around 13/19.

 

I should have clarified. That's my fault. Sorry.

He said "esp. Z28", but it sounded like he was still talking about all the V8 models. And my guess is that the SS will have a 16/25 rating. So by adding the arbitrary 2mpg to make up for the EPAs new system, it would have been rated 27mpg hwy: what the 4thgens were rated at.

 

Sorry, my fault , maybe I shouldn't have made such a generic statement in the first place?! I was truly referring more to the Z28, although given the power/weight of the new car, I'm sure it'll be "close" between an LS1 4th-gen and the LS3 5th-gen . However, the ~550 HP Z28 (esp. if it weighs ~4000 lbs or more) is clearly NOT going to be "great" on gas, AND, it's not going to be the ~$30,000 car either .

The current Mustang GT500 has an MSRP of $42,685, and I think that's the target for the Z28 . So, that being said, it's certainly going to be the "rich man's car" compared to a lighter, more fuel efficient, and lower MSRP Camaro V6 or SS .