Buying a Camaro!

[MattD1zzl3]

No, i am not fat, no i am not a (US) southerner, no i have never killed...


How many other ways do you know to get to 160MPH for $3000 (1506 GBP)

[avanti]

Congratulations, I don't understand why people should make excuses for buying a camaro?? I love camaros, especially the first and third generation

[superchevy]

sweetness! btw, that's a really low price for a 4th gen. what's wrong with it?

^yeah, and i don't appreciate stereotypes and the apologist camaro owners/buyers either.

[Brother Michael]

I would really like to know why is it, that the Camaro (apparently) has the kind of reputation it has ? Me being outside of the US don't know if it's just some inside joke or something. My guess so far has been that some well known murderer perhaps used a Camaro as his/her car and maybe to transport bodies ? Yes, I do have a wild imagination.

[Dark_Templer_102]

Originally Posted by MattD1zzl3

How many other ways do you know to get to 160MPH for $3000 (1506 GBP)

A Plane ticket

[Samir]

Originally Posted by Brother Michael

I would really like to know why is it, that the Camaro (apparently) has the kind of reputation it has ? Me being outside of the US don't know if it's just some inside joke or something. My guess so far has been that some well known murderer perhaps used a Camaro as his/her car and maybe to transport bodies ? Yes, I do have a wild imagination.

The Camaro is such a Gino-mobile.

Still... T-top and tons of torque...

[Momentum57]

Just did a search on http://www.crimelibrary.com/ a few murders that owned them but i think Clarkson just watched some documentary the night before he shot that and was impressed.

[thedguy]

I had never heard the "murderers car" thing until clarkson. And my family has owned Camaro's most of my life.

The only reputation I've ever known the camaro to have is either as a Redneck mobile (those were more of the Pontiac Trans-ams though) or the Gold Chain wearing crowd (I assume thats what Samir meant by "Gino-mobile").

Avanti You sir have EXCELLENT taste in cars.

[MattD1zzl3]

The pontiac Trans-Am is the red-neck/Guido-mobile, not the camaro...


Despite them being the same car, with the same engine, by the same parent company...


^-- Camaro Trans-Am ---v


Aside from the reputation, i find the trans-am to be just a bit too "flashy", with its big scoopy hood and giant spoiler...

[tigger]

Originally Posted by thedguy

The only reputation I've ever known the camaro to have is either as a Redneck mobile (those were more of the Pontiac Trans-ams though) or the Gold Chain wearing crowd (I assume thats what Samir meant by "Gino-mobile").

Yup. I've never heard the murderer thing lol, but here in the midwest, at least 10 years ago all the rednecks wanted a 3rd gen IROC. Ten years before that it was all about the '77-'78 Trans Ams. I've owned a '78 TA, '81 Firebird, and an '85 Camaro, I guess that makes me a redneck . Personally I never saw any solid criticism of the cars themselves. Yea, you can't see shit out a 2nd gen, and the 3rd gen cars could stand a stiffer panhard rod, but they are dirt cheap, generally handle well, damn reliable, and have huge aftermarkets. Not to mention how fast the 1st and 4th gens are.

[cvrefugee]

IROC - Italian Retard on Crack

[AutoMX]

It's generally more the people than the car itself. I'm not talking about rednecks or gold chain crowd either, but almost all the camaro owners i've come across were under the impression they had some monster that could do wonders, and their egos were hard to measure indeed. Pricks basically...

So is it the car itself? No. Are camaro buyers all pricks? No, but a crapload of "hey dude check out my ride!!!" pricks drive camaros. So yea...

I considered a '95 one as a first car, but V8 and [lack of] fuel economy, plus cant see shit out the windows (and it was an auto) quickly made me run away

PS: 160mph? ...in florida? Unless you take it to some high speed oval track every weekend, why would that be a reason for buying?

...oh wait, high speed chase cuz you're a murderer?

[MattD1zzl3]

Because i live in Miami/Ft lauderdale, and you can drive as fast as you want here (90-100 on a daily basis, 100-120 at night) because the police dont enforce traffic... (unlike my home-city of cleveland)

Dont get me wrong, i'm not one of these assholes who weaves through traffic and kills people or anything, i (rarely) drive like this when i know there are no (or very few) cars on the road, and only on the big six-lane highways! (the very ones the three TG boys drove on in 09x03)

I'm not really one to show off (or i would get a big showoff-y trans-am), i just think they are nice cars. Plus, a lot of my new collage friends drive 90's F-body cars, and thought i needed to get rid of my camry.

[jetsetter]

If you are thinking about buying a Camaro I would suggest the 1998 or later model. While the 1993-1997 are good vehicles they use the LT1 engine and there is a limited following for it. Beginning in 1998 the Camaro used the LS1 which has a tremendous following.

[tigger]

You can still get the LT1 over 450hp with a GM Performance Parts kit. I'd take an LT1 car, even though they are a little heavier. Plus if it bugs you, you can always drop in an LSx engine later.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Samir

The Camaro is such a Gino-mobile.

Still... T-top and tons of torque...

Gino...


Now I got a vision of a resident of Passiac, New Jersey in my head.

...Gino....


Anyhow. Have fun with it, it has alot of aftermarket support.

[MattD1zzl3]

Originally Posted by jetsetter

If you are thinking about buying a Camaro I would suggest the 1998 or later model. While the 1993-1997 are good vehicles they use the LT1 engine and there is a limited following for it. Beginning in 1998 the Camaro used the LS1 which has a tremendous following.

And thats another 4000 dollars to the pricetag...

I'll have an LT1


Only real flaw is the optispark problem, but the two engines have similar potential

[avanti]

Originally Posted by thedguy

Avanti You sir have EXCELLENT taste in cars.

Thank you very much

[janstett]

Originally Posted by MattD1zzl3

Aside from the reputation, i find the trans-am to be just a bit too "flashy", with its big scoopy hood and giant spoiler...

You probably meant this:



I think the Camaro was too conservatively styled. The LS1-era 4th gen looks like a Chrysler Concorde. The LS1-era Trans Am has curves in all the right places, even if it's overstated.

Aside from the milder body work, the Camaro had plainer seats and a plainer dash. But they're twins.

Anyway, I think the bad reputation stems from a couple of places.

- They survived the muscle car era while nearly everything else went extinct. The Corvette barely escaped extinction, the early 70s Corvettes were pathetic shadows of the great Vettes of the 60s. The Mustang became a glorified Pinto. The Camaro and Trans Am were the lone survivors that escaped relatively unscathed. Pontiac stubbornly kept at it, with a 6.6 liter V8 in 1977, the heart of the 2nd oil crisis. So they were seen as politically incorrect and undesirable to the hoardes who would soon be buying Honda Accords.

- They epitomized the out-of-control 70's style (or lack thereof). The TA in black and gold with the giant screaming eagle was actually cool (like bell bottom pants) and then people woke up, and it was a "what were we thinking?" moment. Even to this day, when people hear Trans Am they think "Smokey and the Bandit" and then Knight Rider.



- In the 80s they, along with the Fox-body Mustang, were the last American "tuner" cars. The same bad impression we have today of Civics with fart cans, these three experienced in their day as cheap, loud, and fast. For some reason, the redneck label stuck with the Camaro and Trans Am but not the Mustang. (Probably because they sold a lot more and appealed to women and poseurs with the V6). Today's retro trend doesn't hurt, it appeals to the golden age of the 60's.

- In the age of the Camry and Accord, they were politically incorrect and sales began to fall. The much more expensive Corvette was acceptable but the Camaro and TA were not.

- The affordable performance was derided as the dream car of redneck "Joe Dirt" types. Rich people of course want 911s and Corvettes; only a person living in a trailer would want an affordable sports car (kind of backwards logic, but there you go).

- GM did nothing to change the car's image. They started out in the 60's as pony cars. They survived the 70s. In the 80s they became part pony car and part sports car, with an emphasis on handling (which had been foreign to American cars) taking equal priority with straight line performance. By the time the LS1 4th gen rolled around, the cars were really part muscle car and part sports car. But the image held by the public had changed little from the loud 70s dinosaurs. GM let it sit, and also let the designs grow stale.

I bought my Trans Am two years before they went out of production. At the time I was initially concerned about the red neck image it would portray, but I said "f*ck it", I like it and who cares what other people think. Go crash into a tree in your Camry.

[jetsetter]

The TA got ugly in 1979 but up until then it was quite good looking. Once 1982 came around it got good looking again.

One of the fastest TAs was the 1989 Indianapolis 500 pace car replica with the turbocharged 3.8 V6 from the Grand National. That car just kicked ass.