I hate to break it to you, but if anyone thinks GM is designing a mid-level Camaro for the 17-21 crowd and outfitting it so that age group can not only buy the car, but afford insurance on it... keep dreaming.

Market logic places that group in a base level V6 and letting them dream about a high performance level V8 model for when they grow up.

Sure that may sound elitist and **** a few of you off, but quite frankly I don't want GM basing MY next Camaro off what some teenager wants... mostly because they can't make up their mind to begin with...

 

I agree.

Chevy will have a whole lot of other products aimed at this segment. In addition to V6 Camaro, Cobalt and Cobalt SS...and maybe even a version of the Aveo...SS or Xtreme....and others.

I believe the lower-po V8 Camaro will be aimed at grown ups, however.

 

I dont see the need for a "Mid level V8". GM has awsome V^ motors. Some that can go head to head with the 300hp Mustang GT.

-Base Camaro Should have a 300hp (or a little less) V6 or I6
-z28/SS Should have a 380-400hp LS2
-Super Camaro (Cobra killer) A detuned Version of the rumored Blue Devil Vette. or 427cid zo6 motor .. you get the Idea....

 

Perhaps what we're getting at here is not so much the fact that we need a base V8 but that we'd like to see more differentiation between the "base" V8 and the "top" performer. I guess the Z28 of the later 4th Gen fit the bill as the affordable V8 but it took $3,000-$4,000 more to get virtually the same performance with more flash. I think the guys that would buy the top Camaro would love to see a true mid-range V8 in part because it would better justify their purchase. So maybe the trick isn't to bring a base car down but rather move the top car up?

 

Oh, I think that will certainly be the case. I can't imagine this "mid-level" V8 we're talking about, not running with 4th gen LT1's and maybe even approaching LS1's.

The top performance offerings should easily exceed that.

Also, about naming such a package.....

When I think back to the 3rd gen (the last one that really had engine choices), I think I liked it better early on...before RS.

You could get a V8 in a base Camaro coupe. If you wanted to spend afew (and I mean just afew) extra bucks, you could combine it with an F41 suspension package. It was a clean, low key V8 car.

The later RS's seemed so forced and contrived to me.

I'm leaning toward the V8 being just an option on the base car.

 

A 300HP-320HP turbo or S/C V6 would also fill this gap between the base V6 and 6.0L V8 nicely. This might also help to sell the Camaro to those who want good performance but don't want a V8. A lot of "import people" prefer forced induction. A Turbo/supercharged V6 would help steal import sales more than a weaker V8 would.

 

Probably true.

But, see Jason E's post again....he said it better that I could.

Besides, GM will have a whole slew of forced induction products that would appeal more directly to that crowd.

 

in regards to what we should call it...
why are we always leaning towards it being called rs?
if you look back, rs was never a model designed to be only a v8
it was a TRIM package
1st gen- hidden headlights
2nd gen- revised parking lights and different paint jobs
3rd gen- colored wheels and on 91-92 it was the only model because it had the "scooped vents"
4th gen- nothing more than gfx and a different spoiler

nowhere in any of the generations was it a v8 only car
so i say we just do it the 3rd gen way and let the base model have an 8 if you want it that way

ff rant:

 

Case for the mid-level V8, using a common theme of someone wanting a V8, but not able to afford the top model car:



Scenario 1:

"Hey! Cool Camaro! you got a V8 in there?"

"Uh... no... just a six."

"Oh... too bad."



Scenario 2:

"Hey! Cool Camaro! you got a V8 in there?"

"Heck ya!"

"Sweet ride, man!!!"

 

Thank you and goodnight

I like the idea of a mid model being an RS. Can be a high performance V6 model or detuned V8, rougly with LT1 numbers, and a trim package. That will appeal to young buyers who cant afford the top performance models, and mostly want to look cool anyway, but dont want to be totally crap on performance.

Id like it to be a forced induction 6 myself but due to $ I dont see it happeneing and being in the price range for the audience I targeted. Therefor Id rather it be a de-tuned V8 because its more likely to have aftermarket parts avaliable for it then a V6, and mods will make a bigger difference.

 

I'll take it even a step further...

I think that the vast majority of people who buy a Camaro want a V8 .

Just like the vast majority of "tuners" want a 4-banger...

By this line of logic, I don't know that the S/C'd V6 would have the same effect as a mid-range V8... just my view on the matter though.

 

Tell that to a Supra, 3000GT, or Grand National owner

There is a big difference between V6 and Turbo V6

 

VERY TRUE about the V6 vs V6 Turbo...

however , when you think CAMARO you think V8 .

That is not the case with any other those other cars.

 

Sorry guys, but I still like the idea of a forced-induction six of some sort. I'm thinking back to the days of the SVO Mustang - yea, it was weird, and wasn't overwhelmingly popular, but it provided a nice choice to the more progressive enthusiast.

And frankly, it's the 21st century, folks. While I love the V8 rumble as much as anyone, I think that vehicles like the turbo Regal and the 4th-gen Supra should have taught us all a lesson about the lack of correlation between cylinder count and performance. And besides, I'm quite intereted in see what the Series III SC3800 can do when put in front of a decent tranny and dropped into a proper RWD platform. It's a strong engine that's easily modified, and there's already a bit of an aftermarket built around a rather small group of current enthusiasts. Put this thing in a proper performance car and I think it'd be a huge winner.

With regards to the folks complaining about "excessive" HP in what we think will be the top-of-the-line V8, I think it makes a lot more sense to just somehow electronically regulate the output (super-easy with a ETC/throttle-by-wire system) than it would be to proliferate an entirely new engine throughout the platform. I mean, if emissions and economy aren't good reasons to demand a detuned engine (it's not the 80s anymore), I just don't see the argument being strong enough to offset the extra cost just so that a few buyers (or parents of buyers) don't get scared away.

 

Ok see, most of us are going be be biast towards a forced induction 6 cylinder. Price discussion aside, lets say that GM can either give us a Forced V6, or detuned V8 with roughly the same numbers for the same price as the mid model.


ALmost all of us on this website, are of abover average intelligance reguarding vehicles and automotive performance. And we know that your going to be able to get more power cheaper from a forced induction 6, than a detuned V8. Therefore we wouldrather have that cause most of us care more about performance than anything else.

HOWEVER, we dont make up the entire buying market. There are lots of people, probbaly the majority who just want there car to be fun to drive in stock form, and are probbaly idiots compared to us who barely know the difference between a V8 and a V6 to look at them if they were badged V8 or V6 for them already. And as Darth(the other Darth ) already said. Most of the people who would be attracted to the Camaro name want a V8. THey could care less that a turbo V6 could easily be made faster easier cause they arent gonna touch it anyway. Or you have the idiots from the muscle car era who refuse to believe that when you tell them, even though they tell you they are going to mod it to make it go fast. Either way you lose buyers.