Don’t call it a Pony Car anymore!
By Nauman Farooq
Perfection – it’s quite a powerful word, and not something you’d ever think would be used to describe a Chevrolet Camaro. After all, the Camaro is often seen as a junior sports car (or more of a muscle car) compared to the Corvette; and does have a more blue collar image than wall street!
But, the Bowtie boys and gals at General Motors have been hard at work, turning what some might look upon as a purchase you make because you cannot afford a Corvette; into something that is genuinely a world class sports car. But – can it really be perfection? Let’s investigate.
Styling: Beauty lays in the eyes of the beholder, but to us, the sixth-gen Camaro is a striking looking vehicle – certainly better than the current Ford Mustang or the Dodge Challenger (feel free to agree to disagree). We loved its chiseled edges, and when combined with the goodies from the 1LE performance package (blacked out hood, 20 inch wheels, rear spoiler), this Camaro got attention everywhere it went – the Rapid Blue paint also probably had something to do with it.
Interior: OK… so the interior fit and finish isn’t going to appeal to Rolls-Royce customers, but we found everything to be in the right place, the infotainment screen has all the basic features you would reasonably expect, and there is not only decent amounts of space for the front seat passengers (it’ll help if you’re small to fit in the rear seats), but the seats were extremely comfortable – much more than we ever expected. In short – we loved spending time in this 2022 Camaro.
Safety: There is a full assortment of front and side impact airbags, plus collision avoidance and blind spot monitoring – so yeah, we’d say it is safe, too!
Powertrain: Under the hood of the Camaro SS is the familiar old LT1 6.2L naturally aspirated V8 that produces 455 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to only the rear-wheels via either a 10 speed automatic, or a six-speed manual gearbox (as in our tester).
Performance: According to Car & Driver magazine, an automatic equipped Camaro SS with the 1LE package (which gets to wear very sticky Goodyear Eagle F1 tires) did the 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96 km/h) sprint in 3.9 seconds. Motor Trend tested a SS 1LE with the manual gearbox, and did the run in 4.1 seconds! We weren’t on a prepped surface, nor did we abuse the car all day long to record a quick time, but still recorded a very respectable 0 to 100 km/h time of 5.2 seconds. In short – the ol’ zero to sixty miles per hour run can realistically be accomplished in under five seconds!
Driving Dynamics: Numbers are one thing, how a car feels is quite another – and this is where the 2022 Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE really shined! We loved how torquey it felt all the time, regardless of the speed you were going, or the gear you were in – this car pulls clean and hard, anytime you ask of it! Add to that, the soundtrack. This is easily one of the nicest sounding cars on sale at the moment – and while the future is full of electric vehicles, trust us, we’ll miss cars like this when they’re gone. Right now folks, we are living in the golden age of petrol powered brutes – enjoy them, while you can! But that’s not all – perhaps the biggest surprise is the handling. Muscle cars were known to not handle anything but a straight road, but this 1LE can point and squirt like any top spec European sports car. The turn in is sharp, the steering feels wonderful and communicative throughout, and the speeds you can carry through the bends is just incredible – this pony car can truly out handle a few pure bred Italian stallions!
Price: In Canada, the 2022 Chevrolet Camaro SS starts from $50,198. With the 1LE package – as in our tester + the rapid blue paint; the price of our tester came to $61,038 (plus dealer fees and taxes). If a dealership doesn’t scam you with “market adjustment” markups, than the Camaro SS is one incredible value!
Verdict: Perfection is hard to achieve, but when faced with a product that looks good, sounds great, has a wonderful interior, and delivers all the performance you can reasonably ask for – than the word “perfection” actually fits – we loved every second with this vehicle.
Automotive Affairs by Nauman Farooq 