Since its reincarnation less than three years ago, there's been a lot to like about the Chevrolet Camaro and a few things to hate. Two years in, GM has improved on a few of the muscle car's pesky faults, but the major drawbacks remain.
The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro is as badass as ever, but the car's principal shortcomings will remain at least until the car's next full redesign.
The four-seat Camaro comes as a coupe or convertible with a V-6 or V-8 engine. Changes for 2012 include a revised suspension for V-8 coupes, more power for the V-6, and improved cabin materials across the board. A 45th-anniversary option package includes a few cosmetic upgrades. There's also a Camaro to rule them all: the 550-horsepower ZL1. We test-drove an automatic V-6 convertible and a stick-shift, 45th-anniversary V-8 coupe.
Quick But Heavy
Fortified with a few extra horses this year — for 323 hp total — the rear-drive Camaro's V-6 howls a high-pitched-but-rich exhaust note, and it pulls strong at higher revs. You'll feel the car's weight around town, though. It weighs some 300 pounds more than a V-6 Ford Mustang, and it's about 350 pounds more than a V-6 Hyundai Genesis coupe; this keeps the V-6 from really showing its stuff. The 305-hp V-6 Mustang feels a smidge quicker.
Our convertible's six-speed automatic upshifted smoothly and kicked down to lower gears with little delay — not always a strong suit of GM's six-speed automatics. On the other hand, the V-8 coupe's manual, with its heavy clutch and muddy shifts, takes a lot of effort to work. The V-8 Mustang shifts more easily, as does the manual V-6 Camaro, which we've driven in years past. Its lighter, cleaner shifts evoke the smooth-shifting stick in Nissan's 370Z, which is a favorite of ours.
With 400 hp and 410 pounds-feet of torque — 426 hp and 420 pounds-feet in stick-shift cars — the Camaro's 6.2-liter V-8 blows the doors off most cars from a stop, on the highway and everywhere in between. Endless low-end reserves allow you to romp around in 6th gear as low as 45 mph, letting the V-8 muscle things forward from near-idle engine speeds.
Alas, weight does hurt the Camaro in the muscle-car wars. The 5.0-liter Mustang V-8 lacks the Camaro's low-end torque but makes up for lost ground at higher revs, and the Ford's weight advantage (as much as 377 pounds between the V-8 coupes) lets it beat the Chevy on the drag strip. Our friends at "MotorWeek" tested both V-8 cars in stick-shift convertible form, and the Camaro hit the quarter mile in 13.4 seconds, while the 'Stang blazed through in 13 flat. (Chevrolet does have the 5.7-liter V-8 Dodge Challenger beat, but that car is even heavier — and larger.)
Ride & Handling
The V-8 Camaro coupe gets a new performance suspension this year; V-8 convertibles and all V-6 models retain last year's setup. Despite their separate suspensions, our V-8 coupe and V-6 convertible rode similarly, filtering out small bumps just fine but chopping over ruts and manhole covers. Both test cars had 20-inch wheels, which are optional on the V-6 and standard on the V-8. If you swap them out on the V-6 for 18s or 19s, ride comfort may improve.
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