2010 Camaro SS Supercharged Review

Chevrolet Camaro SS Supercharged

6.8

Exterior

8.5/10

Interior

4.5/10

Performance

7.5/10

Pros

• Powerful LS3 6.2 Liter Supercharged engine
• Good Exterior Styling
• Good Exhaust Noise

Cons

• Poor Interior Quality
• Poor ICE
• Average gearbox and heavy clutch
• Poor visibility
• Very Common on roads

America’s head turning Muscle Car turned into a Brute Monster.                                                                            

What you’ll like:

• Amazing LS 3 Supercharged 6.2 Litre V8 engine.
• Wonderful exhaust note with sound cut off installed.
• Great Chassis, Over steering Hooliganism.
• Stylishly good looking still.
• Decent Manual gearbox.

What you won’t:

• Average interior quality.
• Below average music system.
• Notchy shifter and slightly hard clutch.
• Poor Visibility.
• Too many of them on the roads, especially the V6 version which looks very similar.

GM’s answer to Ford’s then 4.6 Litre boat anchor Mustang. Wow, What an answer !

HISTORY:

A refresher on GM’s pony car.

In the 60’s, Present Camaro’s grand parents were fighting the cold war. Not the one with the soviets but with another iconic pony car ” The Mustang”. 

First generation: 1967–1969

The Mustang launched first in 1964 which was a run away success with it’s front engine rear wheel drive layout and solid axle rear suspension, GM debuted the Camaro 2 year’s later in 1966.  The engine options were as follows 3.8 L  / 4.1 L inline 6 engine or 4.9L /  5.0L / 5.4L / 5.7L / 6.5L / 7.0L V8 powerplants. That’s a hell lot of engines which could fit in that engine bay. Needless to say this did not help Camaro beat Mustang in sales volumes. In the first 4 years Mustang sold 1/2 a Million Mustangs , Camaro could not catch even half of the Mustang sales in the same period.

Second generation: 1970–1981

The second generation was introduced in February 1970, this car was heavily restyled but still based on the same F-body platform and similar to it’s predecessor  with a unibody structure, front subframe, an A-arm front suspension, and leaf springs to control the solid rear axle. During this period the SS350 garnered good reviews as one of the best cars in the world , it was also during this same period that Camaro trumped Mustang to gain dominance in this segment for a while. As a result the Z28 package was reintroduced.

Third generation: 1982–1992

Modern fuel injection, four-speed automatic transmissions, five speed manual transmissions, 15 or 16 inch wheels, a standard OHV 4-cylinder engine,and hatchback bodies were introduced in these model years. This generation cars were even 227 Kilograms lighter than the 2nd generation Camaros.In 1987 the L98 5.7L 350cu in V8 engine became a regular option on the IROC-Z, paired with an automatic transmission only, although a limited run of 1,000 late 1986 350″ Camaros had been produced. The “20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition” was offered in 1987, as well as a “25th Anniversary Heritage Package” in 1992 that included a 5.0 L High Output engine.This basically created a Z28 in more subtle RS styling.

Fourth generation: 1993–2002

The fourth-generation Camaro debuted in 1993 on an updated F-body platform.The standard powerplant from 1993-1995 was a 3.4 liter V6. A 3.8 liter V6 was introduced in 1995. A 350 MPFI (LT1) Small Block V-8 engine, which was introduced in the Corvette in 1992, was standard in the Z28. In 1998 the 5.7-liter LS1 was the first all-aluminum engine offered in a Camaro since the ’69 ZL-1 and carried a 305-horsepower rating.Production of the F-Body platform was stopped due to slowing sales, a deteriorating market for sports coupés, plant overcapacity, and stiff competition for sales from Ford’s Mustang.

So as you can see , Camaro had been trumped quite badly by Mustang,and after 35 continuous  years of production they called it quits.

GM however brought back their Camaro after a 8 year sleep in 2010 and although Ford managed to still be in production , the 5th generation Camaro quite literally had Mustang running for covers. It’s proven in the recent sales charts (USA) where Camaro is still above Mustang in most months. The reason for this sudden Resurrection in GM’s fortunes can be seen in the review below.