New Car Review: 2010 Chevy Camaro

In 2002, when GM announced the death of the Camaro, and Firebird, fans around the country (and world) behaved in such a way no car company has seen before. Thousands of letters, and ceremonies were held in its behalf; the Camaro had developed from a pony car to a motoring icon. Since its death in 2002, numerous promises of the Camaro were heard. But the promise was most delivered in 2006 at the Detroit Auto Show with the announcement of a Camaro "concept". Due to mass amounts of public praise, the Camaro concept was deemed a production vehicle. Since the decision to being the car to production, a ton of pre-production mules have been seen testing in cold weather, and in the hot; on the street, and on the track; in the States and in Germany. There were even "spy videos" and pictures put out by GM themselves to get enthusiasts ready. But, did all the hoopla and hyping ruin the car's debut? To date I have seen FOUR on the street, and a bunch at Chevy dealers.

The 2010 Camaro presents itself extremely well; some would argue that it's too retro; it's no more retro than say, the 2010 Mustang, which appears smaller. It does carry a theme throughout the exterior and interior, which cannot be said for Dodge's Challenger. Whie the Camaro does have retro touches, it thoroughly modern, to boot. The exterior is pallet of crisp lines and enough retro cues to remind you that it carried heritage going back 40 years. The rear fender "vents" mimic those found on '69 Camaros, and the front grille fascia combines aspects of the range of first gen Camaros from '67 through '69. The rear fascia, with its inset double taillamps is a smart throwback to the '70-'73 cars with a hint of '69 thrown in for good measure, and the side profile very clearly recalls that of the '69.
Inside is where things really stand out. The interior is nice, if not a tad cheap in some areas. The dash is hard plastic, but the details and switchgear are nicely arranged, though they appear a bit to Tonka for a production car. The backlit gauges are a neat touch, and the aqua hue GM chose for the interior lighting suits the car perfectly.
Now onto performance. With the 3.6 V6 pumping out 304 horses, and running to 60 in 6 seconds, the SS version seems obsolete (and so does the Mustang for that matter). Yes, there are those who crave more power, but if the V6 has more power than the outgoing 2002 cars, and gets better gas mileage (29 hwy) , who needs the V8? The SRT Challeger has 425 horses, but at $45,900, it seems to be a waste of money for the performance you get. So, if I were you, my $30,000 would be spent on the 2010 Camaro.