I was just kidding around when I said the SS should have a live rear axle. Come on this is the 21st century and if the Camaro even offers one it would be a shame. Just like the next Mustnag having one in the lesser models. I totally understand your point and agree with you.

 

I do have a question for you here - my biatch w/ the interior packaging is more related to the trunk area. This odd shape is due to the fuel tank placement - "semi over axle" I think is the term used.

Now, maybe that was due to a safety issue - I don't hear of "exploding fuel tanks" like you do on the 'Stang , but no matter where you sling a fuel tank, a big enough impact will do it in.

Plus, I remember the 20/20 GM truck tank issue - some of the Mustang hulabaloo reminds me of that, so I tend to dismiss it.

Women seem to flock to Mustang sixes, so I don't know that interior packaging relative to the rear seat is all that critical.

Is the push for IRS due a preceived need , or perhaps due to a sharing of components and or platforms ?


Thanks !!


Britt

 

Everything in automotive engineering is due to percieved need, and the answer to your question is probably a wholly unsatisfying "both".

Interior packaging has to get better.

The live axle screwed your gas tank while it was porking the back seats.

The car needs IRS to be viewed as a viable performance platform by the general public and the morons who write for car magazines (GuionM, as per usual, excepted... he, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, is our only hope...).

Camaro WILL NOT be created in a vacuum. It will HAVE TO share a lot of "black" components with another platform.

But then again... it always HAS.

1st Camaros were warmed-over Novas. 3rd generation cars had basically 100% detuned Corvette or other car powertrains and shared many suspension details (at least design-wise) with the Monza family. Even the 4th generation used the S-10's rear axle, Corvette's engine and everybody and his brother's transmission.

 

Thanks for your replies guys.

I absolutely believe that the F5 HAS to be able to compete both in the twistys and in the 1/4, but I purposely didn't put that answer in the poll.

I just wanted to see what the general feeling was, see which type of driving the people on the board tend towards.


So just to clear things up a bit, I believe the F5 MUST ABSOLUTELY compete on both levels with the offerings from other manufacturers, but I more or less just wanted to see if you could only have one or the other, what you guys would chose.

 

I pretty much agree with everything PacerX is saying other than the first gen Camaro and Firebird being warmed over Novas....not so and a big misconception.....the thing that set the Camaro apart from the Mustang was while both used uni-body construction, the big diffference was the Fcar's use of subframes...which gave the car a quieter and better ride. The '68 X car benefitted from this technology....the misconception occurs perhaps because Nova convertible bodies were used in the development processs.

 

I stand corrected.

After hearing quite a few apocryphal stories and taking a hard look underneath both, the subframes up front looked VERY similar.

Thanks for setting me straight!

 

Never can and never will happen. For christs sake, the insurance industry is one of the reasons the original muscle cars went away. Insurance companies are free markets. They can charge whatever they want to whomever they want. They can raise your rates just because you are male, they can raise your rates just because of where you live, they don't even have to give you insurance at all. If you think GM is some lobbying god, let me tell you, the insurance industry bands together and GM doesn't want a piece of them. OBTW. My 03 Vette's insurance was $25 a month less than my 02 WS6 for the same coverage.