Chevrolet Camaro 2010 Review

Name: Chevrolet Camaro 2010 Review
Brand: Chevrolet

You can now buy a Camaro Down Under... And with some qualifiers, it's an authentic muscle car experience

Local Launch
Lakeside Raceway, Qld

What we liked
>> Camaro style revisited
>> Grunty performance
>> User-friendly handling

Not so much
>> Brakes less arresting than some
>> Old-school instruments
>> Gun-slit visibility

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.5/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

About our ratings

Having dispatched the downhill right-hander at a fair clip and burst onto the short main straight in a hurry, we note the speedo needle's just short of 195km/h as we flinch left through The Kink at speed unabated.

Just an eye-blink later it's time to lay into the brake pedal and steer right with wheel and throttle, to bully our way up and round The Karrousel. From there the blacktop arcs slightly left, then bears right before swooping into an up-turning left-hander called Hungry Corner; because it eats cars.

Moments later we're soaring up and round the Eastern Loop, nerve-ends desperately feeling for grip and balance as the curving road falls away while tilting off-camber. From there it's a rush to the last sweeper and thence the main straight to do the whole thing yet again. And again.

Welcome to the re-born Lakeside Raceway, just north of Brisbane. Originally opened in 1961, Lakeside is an historic, iconic part of Australian motor racing. So it's a particularly fitting place to meet another born-again motoring icon, the Chevrolet Camaro coupe.

No, not Chev Camaro via Holden, as might be expected... Despite some promising noises, GMH and its parent in Detroit are still uncommitted to making and marketing a rhd Camaro.

Knowing that actions speak loudest, Performax International has taken the initiative to import the Camaro under low-volume rules for conversion to RHD spec.

At Lakeside, we first get to ride shotgun with V8 Supercar front-runner Lee Holdsworth and also with former champ Kevin Bartlett. KB is something of an icon too, not least because his Channel 9-sponsored Camaro flipped onto its roof after a rear tyre blew during 1982's Bathurst 1000 race.

It's while hard on the brakes and down-shifting for Lakeside's Karrousel that KB muses that the booming Camaro is probably faster on the straight and very possibly quicker round the 2.4km lap than some of the racecars he won with in the 1970s and 1980s.

We rode with each ace for several laps at brisk speeds, allegedly approximating everyday brisk driving conditions (wink!). Funnily enough, when it came our turn to take the wheel for similar simulations of normalcy, Messrs Bartlett and Holdsworth found excuses to bail.

Later, the exercise was repeated, rather faster, with the morning's inhibiting temporary chicanes removed, and helmets worn.

Although the Camaro acquitted itself pretty impressively during the earlier comparatively tepid circulations, it rose to the second outing's tangibly tougher demands without getting spooked.

On the basis of about 20 laps of the racetrack, it's fair to say that consistency of its sure-footed driving dynamics may well be the Camaro's greatest strength, and its most endearing quality. If not its most unexpected.

You just know the Camaro's performance can rock your socks. Really, it couldn't do any less when the manual LS3 version makes 318kW at 5000rpm, generates 553Nm torque at 4500rpm and weighs in at 1755kg. Although the Chev is a fairly solid lump, it's about 55kg less than the mechanically close HSV Clubsport R8 sedan.

With such formidable power/weight factor on tap, it's entirely predictable the Camaro can (according to reputable US road tests) storm from zero to 100km/h in less than five seconds, while dispatching the standing 400m in a tick under 13 seconds.

The Camaro's V8 automatic alternative, coded 1SS, claims 'only' 299kW and 535Nm. The little it loses in outright acceleration is repaid with bonus fuel economy thanks to the Active Fuel Management system isolating two or four cylinders in light-load driving.

The Camaro's running gear is immediately familiar to anyone who knows what's under current Commodores and HSVs. There's double-jointed dual-link strut front suspension and multi-link independence at the rear. Both ends have progressive-rate coil springs and an anti-roll bar.

Needless to say, the steering is by power-assisted rack and pinion. The street cred of the arrestingly large brakes (355mm diameter front, 365 rear) is amplified by their four-piston Brembo calipers.

Among cars of Camaro's kind, serious size wheels and tyres are par for the course, of course. Five-spoke 20-inch alloys and Pirelli P Zero tyres are standard issue for the SS. They come with eight-inch rims and P245/45ZR20 rubber up front, and nine-inch rims with P275/40ZR20s at the stern.

It's in the main dimensions that the Camaro differs most from the local sedans. For example, the coupe's 2852mm wheelbase is 63mm less than its four-door Commodore cousin's. With 4836mm overall length, the coupe is 152mm shorter than the local sedan. But its 1918mm width shows a gain of 19mm, while the 1377mm height denotes an 89mm lower roofline.

While the Camaro's proficient driving dynamics belie the car's size and mass they're hardly a revelation. After all, the Camaro's underpinnings come from good stock, same as the VE Commodore's.

Moreover, while the Camaro was conceived in Detroit, and is built in Ontario, Canada, its handling was bred at Lang Lang. Holden's expertise went into the chassis engineering and development. As a consequence, far from being just another dumbed-down Americar, the Camaro chassis has a highly credible pedigree.

While racetrack adventures aren't necessarily a gospel guide to how a car will feel and drive on real roads, the Camaro seemingly has that aspect nailed. Come the corners and there's no ignoring the fact that it's a fairly large, fairly tubby and very punchy thing. But also very well mannered, amenably responsive and highly satisfying.

The almighty performance is a given, at every pedal press, in every gear. But, with respect (and traction control), it's wholly usable; because the chassis works. The steering mightn't be the most communicative but feels well connected, is medium-weighted and reasonably direct. It teams well with a chassis that feels securely planted, that follows its nose where pointed, and is co-operatively adjustable in attitude and/or direction.

Even when the Camaro's pushed hard enough to squirm under pressure, it retains its senses of balance, predictability and responsive controllability. Thanks to which, the handling comes across as being as user-friendly as it is supremely athletic.

Although the Chev's steering and handling are convincing, a question mark hangs over the yet untested ride quality. Certainly, on the racetrack the ride combines pliability with discipline, which hopefully follows through to the road.

We're left wondering about the Brembo binders too. Although the braking of the two Camaros at the launch wasn't deficient, their feel and ultimate intensity didn't quite grab us.

Away from unanswered matters mechanical, the Camaro's body shape and style speak for themselves. This is an all-American ponycar personified, a lip-licking package of visual and visceral appeal. It's the classic wide-track, hunched quarters, long-bonnet, short-tail coupe, re-drawn for the new millennium. It not only stimulates nostalgia among middlers and olds who remember the (four) earlier iterations, but also hits the spot with the Transformers generation.

Outwardly, the Camaro's distinctive look owes much to the shallow gun-slit windows. From inside you may form a rather different view. While the headroom and forward field of view are reasonable, rear vision ain't wonderful. Nor is the luggage boot. Although its floor area is ample, the cavity lacks height for bulky stuff.

If you weren't aware of Performax's role, the interior could easily pass as being Chev-built original. However, the carbon-copy authenticity is not all good news.

As you'd suppose, the two-place rear seat is a squeeze for average adults. More importantly, the front buckets are roomy, comfortable and supportive. But since their positions are unchanged, the RHD driver misses out on height adjustment which remains exclusive to the left-hand seat. Just like Chevrolet intended.

The decore is unusual in the dash panel's painted accent strip that blends into a very sizeable same-colour slab on the door panels.

In fashion and function, Camaro's instrumentation, gauges, and HVAC and audio controls have an unmistakably US flavour, which some may find a taste too far, but which Americana fans will relish. Either way, one must wonder about the absence of climate control aircon, the econocar-like display panel and the supplementary gauges ludicrously low placement.

Still, even with those few niggles and queries, the new Performax-converted Camaro is a hoot to drive, a seismic change from the usual Japanese and European stereotypes, and a hearty addition to the market. You're welcome.

CAMARO IN OZ -- By The Numbers
Under the limited-volume rules, Performax can produce up to 100 RHD Camaros annually, but says it will be pleased to achieve 30 per cent of that number. It's still early days, but already several cars have been delivered, 10 firm deposits are held and a dozen or so serious enquiries are progressing.

Swapping LHD imports to RHD is what the Gympie (Qld) based Performax International has been doing for 20 years. Not only to Camaros, obviously. Other recipients of PI's conversions include Corvettes, Mustangs, H2 Hummers, Prowlers, Suburbans, Tahoes and, for contrast, super-size Crossroads Cruiser fifth-wheel trailer homes.

The company has 40 employees and top quality capabilities that include CAD, 3D laser scanning and injection moulding. The Camaro is PI's most ambitious project so far.

However, Holden could bring it unstuck. Should Holden get into the Camaro business, the Chev coupe would become off limits to Performax (and other converters) due to Australia's prohibition of parallel imports. Basically, independent companies can't import any model that's marketed here by the maker's representative.

A QUESTION OF MONEY
Performax quotes the manual and automatic V8 versions as costing from $135,000 depending on spec level and exchange-rate fluctuations, while the base V6 LS model is nominally from-$99,000 and the better equipped V6 LT from $110,000. Performax also points out that a financially juicy carrot is available to people who choose to privately import a Camaro and have PI switch sides.

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Chevrolet Camaro 2010 Review

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