Driven: Chevrolet Camaro 45th Anniversary

• Autogespot-Crew
• Driven
• 1542
• 0
• 2012-05-01 16:00

Reincarnation of cars. In some cases you better can’t do it, but in other cases it’s good that it happens. The Chevrolet Camaro is such a car that was released again with a new look, but was this a good idea from Chevrolet or not?

1967 was the year the Camaro was introduced and it was produced to compete with the Ford Mustang and shared a lot of parts with the Pontiac Firebird. Until 2002 the Camaro was in production, obviously with some facelifts but after 2002 no Camaro ever rolled out of a factory. After seven years, Chevrolet some with a new Camaro, a good move or could Chevrolet better kept these plans in the closet?








To be honest, the Camaro isn’t a car to go fast with. We experienced the engine as lazy and also the automatic gearbox was just the same. The fast reactions weren’t there when you pushed the pedal to the metal and there was no firework at all. It is not the first time we did not had any pleasure with a car with more than 400 bhp. That is too bad, because actually the Camaro is a nice car to look at. The giant nose and the beautiful back end are typical American. These lines are lines we won’t see soon on European cars.




To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chevrolet and the 45th anniversary of the Camaro, Chevrolet introduced the Camaro 45th Anniversary Special Edition, a limited edition, deliverable as coupe and convertible. Unfortunately, the 45th Anniversary cannot be order anymore but this is also the version we drove. Typical for the 45th Anniversary Special Editon is the unique red and grey striping on the bonnet. Besides that, you can recognize the 45th Anniversary Special Edition on the emblems on the front wings and the borders around the fog lamps, the deep silver back lights and the specially designed silver color 20 inch rims. Also in the interior, Chevrelot has taken into account the milestone with the 45th Anniversary-logo on the leather seats, the steering wheel and the doorsteps. The seats, the steering wheel and the gear shifter are finished in red, white and blue stitching. Motorical it is the same version as the Camaro SS. The V8 in the front delivers 405 bhp and 556 Nm of torque. In combination with the weight it is clear why the Camaro feels so slow and heavy. It is a car that sprints to 100 km/h in 5,4 seconds and has a top speed of 250 km/h.




Now, we are not trying to say that the Camaro is a bad car. Some things could have been done better by Chevrolet. Besides the lack of power, the interior also isn’t that good and it is just a typical American car. Plastic all over the place and that is too bad for a car that cost less than 100.000 euros. Maybe it is the charm of the American cars and you should love it. We could not get used to it in any case. The same for the body work of the car, it is all plastic and you can actually push it in. Try this at a BMW M3 or a Lexus IS-F, it won’t happen.


We can of course be positive about the sound of the V8. Once you’re making enough rpm, you forget all the disadvantages of the car and the love for the sound appears. Until you’re driving calm on the highway and the engines shuts down four cylinders because the fuel emission. Again something that is not right. Of course you save a lot of taxes, but a car like this does not need a system like this. A start-stop function is a good idea, but shutting down four cylinders of the American V8. That is something we do not like to see.



But as we described earlier, when we were driving on the beautiful roads of the country and we could hear the sound of the V8, you forget all these things, because you actually can steer with the Camaro. You can go around corners without any fear, but you have to take into account the weight of the car while braking.

In the end, the Camaro is a car we won’t buy soon. We didn’t felt any love but with a lot of American petrolheads, the harts will beat a lot faster, maybe only because of the nice V8 sound. Maybe this love will show up with the convertible for example.