After a seven year hiatus in the production of the asphalt burning Chevrolet Camaro, General Motors came back with a bang in March last year, to renew production of this real transformer, at its plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is the fifth generation of its kind, tracing its lineage back to 1967, when Chevrolet first started production of the Camaro, as a direct competitor to Ford’s runaway success, the Mustang.
Initially offered only as a coupe, the fifth generation Chevrolet Camaro now comes in the form of both a 2-door coupe and convertible. Trim levels include LS, 1LT, 2LT, 1SS and 2SS. Both the LS and the LT trims are powered by a 3.6 L (3,564 cc) GM LLT V6 engine that produces 304 hp (227 kW) at 6400 rpm and 273 ft lbf (370 N m) at 5200 rpm. On the other hand, the SS trim with manual transmission is powered by the 6.2 L (6,162 cc) GM LS3 V8 engine that produces 426 hp (318 kW) at 5900 rpm and 420 ft·lbf (570 N·m) at 4600 rpm. The SS with automatic transmission is powered by a new variant of the LS3 engine called the GM L99 which produces 400 hp (300 kW) at 5900 rpm and 410 ft·lbf (560 N·m) at 4300 rpm. This new L99 engine uses a technology referred to as Active Fuel Management, which allows the engine to run on only four cylinders while in light-road conditions such as cruising along on the highway. This naturally contributes to fuel economy in a significant way.
[Click here for a full listing of the complete specifications of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro].
The 2007 Camaro Convertible Concept on display at the North American International Auto Show
Safety is central to the Camaro; all the trims come with standard safety features such as air bags – driver and front passenger dual-stage frontal with Passenger Sensing System and thorax side-impact along with front and rear curtains for side-impacts. Additional safety features which are also standard across all trims of the Camaro include GM’s StabiliTrak Electronic Stability Control System.
The Camaro comes in a dazzling array of exterior colors which include Summit White, Imperial Blue Metallic, Black, Cyber Gray Metallic, Aqua Blue Metallic, Silver Ice Metallic, Victory Red, Rally Yellow, Red Jewel Tintcoat and Inferno Orange Metallic. Note that the latter two are extra-cost, premium colors.
On the audio entertainment front, you are quite likely to be spoilt for choice, inside the Camaro; firstly, you have an AM/FM stereo with CD-ROM and MP3 playback, music navigator, Graphic Information Display along with an auxiliary audio input jack as standard across all the trims. Additional entertainment options available on select trims include Bluetooth wireless technology, Boston acoustics premium nine-speaker sound system, Personal Device Interface Module (PDIM), USB Port and XM Radio.
Style is where the Camaro really scores, with a wealth of options, most of which are not standard but optional across the trims, be it the wheels of sizes ranging between 18 to 21 inches, electric sunroof, rear spoiler, body color roof ditch molding, and ground effects in a variety of stripe packages.
A 2010 Chevy Camaro at Stewarts Drive-in in Tuckerton, New Jersey
Answering the million dollar question of why would you go for a Camaro; well the reasons are plenty. Firstly, the car offers excellent fuel economy. The 3.6 L DI V6 engine delivers City/Highway MPG of 18/29 in the Automatic and 17/29 in the Manual. Likewise, the 6.2 L V8 engine delivers City/Highway MPG of 16/25 in the Automatic and 16/24 in the Manual. Secondly, at a base MSRP of US$ 22,245 for the LS and US$ 30,245 for the SS, the Camaro sure offers good value for money, especially in comparison with the 2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster Touring, whose MSRP is above US$ 40,000.
[For a full comparison with other competitive models of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, click here].
Last but certainly not the least are the car’s looks which are certainly drool-worthy! The men would especially be happy to own this baby which sure makes all the women around go weak in their knees, especially after the car’s prominent presence in the Transformers movie sequel, which made it that much more noticeable.
Final words – go for this mean machine, if not for anything else but for the reason that it actually saved a lot of jobs at the Oshawa Car Assembly manufacturing plant in Canada…GM was planning to close the plant down, but eventually did not do so, one of the reasons for which was commencement of production of the fifth-generation 2010 Chevrolet Camaro there.