Chevrolet Camaro 2018 Review

This is the life, sitting behind a small-block Chevrolet V8 and in front of two driven rear wheels.

It’s a sensation we’ve grown up with, been briefly denied by the end of homegrown Holden Commodore production and now reunited with courtesy of Holden Special Vehicles.

At its new plant in Clayton, HSV is now shifting the steering wheels in US-built Camaros from the left to the right-hand side and rolling them out to a bunch of expectant fans.

All up, 550 Camaros are in this first batch. All of them are 2SS-spec (or SS if you go by the badges on the body) coupes powered by Generation V LT1 6.2-litre direct-injected and variably valve timed pushrod V8s matched to an eight-speed auto.

And they’re all priced at $85,990 plus on-road costs (add $850 for metallic paint).

That price is $19,731 more than the Mustang GT Fastback auto, or $23,000 more than the manual version, but that’s what you pay for local remanufacturing – as HSV calls it – versus ex-factory production.

Why ‘remanufacturing’? That’s an attempt to distinguish HSV from low-volume converters. It’s attained full-volume compliance for Camaro, a process that included crash-testing four Camaros to comply with Australian Design Rules.

The hefty price-tag does not include some equipment like satellite-navigation and head-up display, which had been initially listed as equipment the car would have. Cost and time ruled them out.

There’s also no autonomous emergency braking or lane keep assist technology, but that applies to all Camaros and not just the ones we’re getting in Australia. So don’t expect an ANCAP rating any time soon, because it wouldn’t be good.

But even considering all that there’s no doubt HSV will sell these 550 Camaros. There’s just too much pent-up demand from Holden V8 lovers for it not to be successful.

The full equipment rundown is here, but key highlights include seven airbags, leather trim, dual-zone climate control, nine-speaker Bose audio, a choice of 24 interior lighting colours, wireless phone charging, a 7.0-inch touch-screen and a powered sunroof.

Apple Carplay and Android Auto are standard so at least you can get sat-nav that way.

Headlights are HID, reworked so they don’t dazzle oncoming drivers, a Driver Mode Control flips through four modes – Tour, Sport, Track, Snow/Ice – and affects parameters such as throttle, auto shift map, engine sound, steering calibration and stability control tune.

Tyres are staggered 20-inch Goodyear Eagle run-flats. Yep, no spare tyre.

Like the Silverado pick-up (the other Chevrolet now being converted here by HSV), the Camaro warranty period is three years or 100,000km -- not five years/unlimited-km like all Holden models including the Colorado SportsCat by HSV – and includes complementary roadside assistance.

Servicing is scheduled every 12,000km or nine months. There are no plans for a capped-priced servicing.

By the way, the Camaro being released here is the current sixth-generation launched in 2016, but not the facelifted MY18 version that arrives here late next year.

It is equivalent to the Argentine-spec, which delivered with it a significant amount of European compliance. That means things like emissions didn’t have to be re-tested for ADRs here, saving money.

While it’s unwilling to share details of its deal with GM and Holden publicly, you only have to walk along the Camaro assembly line at Clayton to understand the commitment HSV has made to this project.

The left-hand drive car is virtually stripped back to the shell and then refitted with a bunch of bespoke bits specifically designed to make this feel like an OEM right-hand drive car. All up the HSV Camaro gets 357 new parts.

The program has consumed more than $10 million since its green light in March 2016. The tooling for the new dashboard alone cost more than $1 million. There’s evidence everywhere that the right decisions have been made, even when it was the harder and more expensive option.

Sit in the driver’s seat of the pilot-build vehicle we drove and there’s no hint of aftermarket or bodge-job. The look, feel, finish and the gaps between trim pieces is top-notch. There’s no weird panels, holes or covers. Where the seat memory control has been removed from the left-hand door is a small Camaro badge. Most people won’t even notice it.

In fact, the one intentionally new item is the HSV numbering plate on the left-hand side of the radiator shroud in the engine bay. Otherwise there’s no sign of HSV’s work, only Chevrolet logos.

It will be interesting to see if any customers do personalise their car with the HSV or Holden badge, just like bowties appeared on Commodores.

Beyond the quality of the execution the Camaro’s 2+2 cabin is a bit hit-and-miss. You sit deep in a black hole, which is great if you like to feel immersed in a car rather than sitting on it.

Such is the exterior design – yep it’s stunning - with its limited glass area, that it offers only glimpses for the driver in any direction except straight forward.

Even then there’s a lot of real estate out beyond the black faux air-vents you can’t see. Thank Gawd this thing has a reversing camera, rear cross traffic alert and blind spot monitoring. It needs it.

There’s bugger all storage up-front, bugger all seat room in the rear and a tiny opening into a modestly sized 260-litre (approx) boot.

The driver gets looked after the best. The heated flat-bottomed steering wheel does have reach and rake adjustment and flappy paddles, and the large and supportive seat has eight-way power adjustment, two-setting memory and heating.

The pedal box has been widened by HSV to improve footroom and there’s plenty of it.

There are analogue white-on-black instruments under a double-bubble dome. The speedo goes to 300km/h, the tacho redlines at 6500rpm. In-between the dials are four gauges and below them a multi-mode digital screen that provides various functions including a trip computer and digital speedo.

The touch-screen dominates the dashboard and leans slightly forward looking at neither the driver or the passenger. Underneath it there’s a long line of buttons for the dual-zone air-con and then two massive outlets below that. You turn the rings to adjust temperature.

The automatic shifter sits in a leather gaiter ahead of the mode adjuster, electric park brake, cup-holders and almost symbolic centre lidded bin.

Things get seriously interesting when the starter button is pressed.

But before we get rolling let’s set the ground rules. As this is an HSV ‘remanufactured’ (not retuned) Chevrolet, so the objective was to disturb as little as possible in moving the steering wheel from left to right.

Outputs of 339kW and 617Nm remain fundamentally the same, as does the tune of the electric-assist steering, the passive independent suspension (MacPherson struts and control arms up-front front and five links at rear, all with twin-tube dampers), limited-slip diff and four-pot Brembo brakes, although they do upgrade from Dot 3 to Dot 4 brake fluid for Australia.

The biggest changes are to the Camaro’s laminated front firewall, which gets new holes in some places and riveted and glued patches in others to facilitate the steering swap.

The Camaro rumbles into life quietly enough and at low speeds there’s an obvious injection of road surface irregularities thanks to the stiff suspension set-up. Steering effort is heavy and a bit lumpy when cranked, even in the most polite ‘Tour’ mode.

The visibility issue does make this car a challenge to commute in. You are always worried about what’s alongside and behind – and sometimes even what’s out in front -- that you can’t see.

Roll up to cruising speed on the open road and the ride sorts itself out and so does the steering. The engine and transmission are unstressed and well combined. If you’re used to big, rear-wheel drive V8s then this will all feel very familiar.

Then open the taps. The bimodal exhausts bellows and the countryside starts blurring. Do it from standstill and the Camaro will happily leave a couple of black lines down the road. That’s familiar too!

With the aid of launch control HSV estimates (but does not claim) the 2SS will hit 100km/h in the mid-4sec range and 400 metres in 12.8. It feels fast. And loud. And cool.

That’s about the same sort of pace the last of the more powerful supercharged HSV LSAs were producing. Why is it so? The Camaro is around 150kg lighter at 1710kg, much of that because it rolls on the lighter Alpha architecture than Commodore’s Aussie-designed Zeta platform (which also underpinned the Mk5 Camaro).

The flipside of the equation is fuel economy. With the assistance of AFM (Active Fuel Management), which idles four cylinders on a light throttle, the claim is 11.5L/100km and 260g CO2/km. That’s getting up there.

Our trip computer was showing us 10.5L/100km to 11.0L/100km during our drive in the hinterland east of Melbourne.

There are some lovely roads out that way and the Camaro shines on them. With the drive mode in Sport or Track the steering heavies up too much for cruising, but feels right when some urgent, significant effort is being applied to it.

At 4784mm long, 1897mm wide, only 1348mm high and with a 2811mm wheelbase, this is not a small car. It’s more a case of slow in and fast out. Relatively speaking anyway, because the Camaro still dives for the apex with genuine pace, grips up nicely and then booms along the next straight.

This is no dull-edged brick of a thing. It’s sharp and alert and fully involved and involving. I dunno if there’s a lot of feel in the steering system, but there’s no questioning its response and accuracy.

Combine that with heaps of grip and a flat attitude that evicts bodyroll from the conversation and this is one heck of a car to drive. At the end of the fun stuff I wanted to turn around and do it again, which is always a good sign.

A couple of provisos in all this. The paddle shifters have the most plasticky unappealing feel; you know the gear has changed — or not changed if you ask for too many revs under brakes — by the tacho and engine note, but it would be nice for a car like this to have a more mechanical connection when changing. Even if it is faked.

More significant was brake performance and feel. Four-pot Brembo aluminium callipers up-front working on 345x30mm discs did not inspire great confidence under pressure. After being worked through a twisty section the pedal hardened up. Only briefly mind, but it was obvious.

If there was one part of the car I suspect HSV should have upgraded rather than retuned this would be it. Having said that, as part of its validation testing four Camaros were hammered at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin for a day and that place has big stops and high ambient temperatures. Only the US-spec car with Dot 3 brake fluid had any issues.

Despite being one of the first cars down the assembly line, there were few squeaks or rattles in our tester. The most noticeable intrusion was a rattle from behind the firewall (maybe steering column related) at low speed when pulling off a rough bitumen road-edge while U-turning.

On a logical, rational basis there is little reason to recommend the Camaro. It’s expensive compared to Mustang, lacks some key equipment and poses challenges as a daily driver because of the visibility issues its dramatic styling produces.

But some people will just say ‘who cares?’ and who could blame them?

For rusted-on lovers of Holden, HSV and GM rear-drive V8s, this is the only show in town. The good news is it delivers performance in spades without feeling like it’s been nailed together in the backyard. Just as its makers intended then.

But beyond the fanatics this car also has resonance. It’s a bloody good V8 sports coupe, simple as that.

If you want a Camaro and can afford it then forget logic and just buy it.

How much does the 2018 Chevrolet Camaro 2SS cost?
Price: $85,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 6.2-litre V8 petrol
Output: 339kW/617Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel: 11.5L/100km
CO2: 260g/km
Safety rating: N/A