2016 Chevrolet Camaro: This is Generation 6
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Leaner, lighter, quicker, tighter–whether or not you can tell from the pictures, the Chevrolet Camaro, Generation 6, lifts everything up a duo more pegs. It`s almost entirely fresh, and even before Chevy mentions a word about ZL1/Z28/1LE upgrades, the view from Ford HQ has to be formidable.
The next Camaro will launch with the Corvette`s direct-injection LT1 V8, the ‘vette`s optional eight-speed automatic, available adaptive suspension and a substantial weight reduction. It`s running out of places to catch–or surpass–the Ford Mustang.
There’s no mistaking the Gen six Camaro for anything else. Photo by Brian Kelly
Leave behind emotional attachment. We`re talking cold, hard numbers. The Camaro has been pursuing Mustang since it was introduced in September, 1966, exactly twenty nine months after the original pony car took America by storm. By then, the Mustang was working toward its two millionth sale. Only once during Camaro`s very first thirty five years, before an aging assembly plant and a marginal business case buried it 2002, did it outsell Mustang for a significant open up. That occurred in the late 1970s, concurrent with the final years of the down-sized, Pinto-based Mustang II.
Times were rough when Camaro returned from the grave in late 2009. The U.S. economy was in the dumpster, gasoline was as expensive as it`s ever been and GM was fresh from Chapter eleven bankruptcy. But a funny thing happened on the way to renewal. When sales were tallied at the end of 2010, the fresh gen five Camaro had outsold Mustang by ten percent. It has topped Mustang on the sales chart every year since.
The current Camaro is larger than a Mustang. Like many of its predecessors, it`s had a power advantage in most iterations, but it`s also substantially stronger. Its edge has been a function of technology, including its independent rear suspension and Magnetic Rail Control in the ZL1. The Mustang was purer, maybe, but when it came to cold, hard numbers–and competitive acceleration or lap times–its advantage was singular: better power-to-weight ratios.
The Gen six Camaro gets a more aggressive rear fascia. Photo by Brian Kelly for Autoweek
Now comes Camaro gen 6, unveiled May sixteen at a public event in Detroit and expected this fall as a two thousand sixteen model. The bad news for Mustang, itself entirely fresh for 2015: Camaro`s weight disadvantage would seem to have disappeared, but its power edge remains.
The gen five Camaro`s sales success might explain the fresh one`s styling, which from fifty feet looks exactly like gen Five. We know the `16 is a fresh car because almost all its dimensions are smaller, but those who gripe about the fresh Mustang`s evolutionary design will have even more to complain about with Camaro.
Trust us. Up close, in the metal, the `16 Camaro is clearly different. The same, but different. The steel is opened up tighter and the effect is more sculpted or svelte. It looks lower and broader, even tho’ it isn`t. Aero improvements make it slipperier and substantially reduce aerodynamic lift. The fresh Camaro is the better looking car, right down to its mirrors–cleaner, even less adorned, and maybe less cartoonish.
2016 Camaro Gen six Photo by Brian Kelly
Much of its weight loss is structurally fundamental. The current Camaro was developed on GM`s Zeta platform, which also hosts full-size sedans such as the Chevy SS, the Holden Commodore and the Pontiac G8 of yore. The `16 Camaro starts with the Alpha platform–best known as the foundation for the compact Cadillac ATS sedan and coupe–however Chevy notes that seventy percent of its structural and suspension components are unique to Camaro. At 188.Three inches bumper to bumper, the fresh Camaro will be identical in length to the Mustang. Yet its 110.7-inch wheelbase is more than three inches longer, and its roof more than an inch lower. As significantly, according to Chevy: structural rigidity improves twenty eight percent compared to Gen Five, while body-in-white weight drops one hundred thirty three pounds.
Weight reduction proceeds in the suspension, which applies fresh geometry. The multi-link front layout uses Macpherson struts and double-pivot controls arms. Chevy says the five-link rear design reduces squat and improves lateral control. The Camaro SS will suggest Chevy`s active Magnetic Rail Control, which measures road and driving parameters one thousand times per 2nd and adjusts damping rates at each shock to optimize rail convenience or control. The suspension assemblies are now predominately aluminum, and some models will use composite suspension links that are lighter than aluminum. Combined weight drops twenty one percent, according to Chevy, compared to the steel-intensive suspension in the `15 Camaro. That`s good for another twenty six pounds.
Bottom line? Chevy says its engineers «have pared more than two hundred pounds» from the two thousand sixteen Camaro, however at this point only those engineers know exactly how much more.
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The two thousand sixteen Chevy Camaro will weigh in at two hundred pounds lighter than the fifth-generation model, which will put curb weight for the SS versions at about Three,700 pounds and LS and LT models at about Three,500 .
For the power part of the equation, the fresh Camaro will debut with three engines and six powertrain combos. All engines have direct fuel injection (the Mustang`s V6 and V8 have port injection), and all automatics have eight forward speeds (Mustang has six).
The base engine in Camaro LS will be GM`s turbocharged Two.0-liter four, tuned to two hundred seventy five horsepower and two hundred ninety five lb-ft of torque (and not the very first Camaro four-cylinder. That was the Two.5-liter Metal Duke in the IROC-era gen Three). Here, at least, Mustang retains a significant edge. Its Two.3-liter EcoBoost four is considered the mid-grade engine–more powerful than the Mustang`s V6, with thirteen percent more horsepower and 8.Five percent more torque than Camaro`s four. In any case, Chevy promises 0-60 mph times under 6.0 seconds and 30-plus mpg highway with the Camaro`s Two.0.
Next up is Camaro`s familiar Three.6-liter V6, strenuously revised and now tooled with GM`s Active Fuel Management technology, which disables two cylinders under light explosion to improve efficiency. Chevy estimates three hundred thirty five hp and two hundred eighty four lb-ft–up twelve and six units respectively from the `15 Camaro, and out-powering both the Mustang Trio.7-liter V6 and the EcoBoost four.
The Gen six Camaro will have a four-cylinder engine option; this is not that engine. Photo by Brian Kelly
Then there`s the 6.2-liter LT1 V8 for Camaro SS. It remains the only direct-injected VVT cam-in-block engine we`ve met, however Chevy says twenty percent of its parts are specific to Camaro, including tubular «tri-Y» harass manifolds. Here Chevy estimates four hundred fifty five horsepower and four hundred fifty five lb-ft of torque, which would make this the most powerful Camaro SS so far. Those numbers also represents a 15-hp, fifty five lb-ft edge on the Mustang GT`s overhead-cam Five.0.
The six-speed manual transmissions available with all engines are supplied by Tremec. The SS manual adds rev-match technology. The optional Hydra-Matic 8L90 torque-convertor automatic in the SS was developed for Corvette, and the 8L45 with the four and six comes with spanking paddle shifts. It`s based on the 8L90 design, but scaled for the torque and spectacle envelope of the smaller engines.
GM`s output «estimates» have been conservative of late–typically below final SAE certification. We wouldn`t expect Chevy to say the fresh Camaro is «more than two hundred pounds» lighter and not make the target. But let`s work with an even two hundred and extrapolate. The two thousand fifteen Camaro`s published minimum curb weight is Trio,702 pounds with the V6. Subtract two hundred and we`re down to Three,502. The two thousand fifteen Mustang`s minimum–Ford`s pony got slightly stronger with the new-gen IRS car–is three thousand five hundred twenty six pounds.
A decent manual transmission will be available on the two thousand sixteen Chevy Camaro. Photo by Brian Kelly
Apply the same reduction to the SS, and divide by the horsepower estimates, and the Camaros should have a better power-to-weight ratio than their Mustang counterparts by as much as ten percent. It`s not insignificant, and it hasn`t been that way in a long, long time. We note here that Chevy promises better lap times from the `16 SS than from the current SS with the track-geared, stiff-suspension 1LE option.
Both four- and six-cylinder Camaros will suggest a Brembo brake upgrade. The standard Brembo package on the SS has 13.6-inch rotors front, 13.3-inch rear, with stationary four-piston calipers. The LS and LT get 18-inch wheels, with a 20-inch option for LT. The SS will come standard with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric two run-flat tires on 20-inch rims.
All Camaros get a fresh Drive Mode Selector that adjusts eight vehicle parameter for Snow/Ice, Tour, Sport and–on the SS– Track modes. There are configurable high-def, eight-inch color displays, twenty four programmable ambient lighting effects and wireless phone charging. Temperature is adjusted by turning the trim rings around the center dash vents, and all steering wheels are squared on the bottom. Most significantly, the gen six Camaro`s interior is much, much nicer than gen Five`s, measured by finish, materials and ergonomic function.
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The two thousand sixteen Chevy Camaro debuts at Detroit`s Belle Isle on May 16, but the company has been taunting the fresh Alpha-based pony car for weeks.Today`s tidbit is about how the sixth-generation .
Yet the real promise rests in the driver`s seat. Two laps at GM`s Milford Proving Grounds in V6-powered engineering mules were more than enough to demonstrate significant improvements in both solidity and agility. This car is just more buttoned down. There`s almost no ripple through washboard-gouged kinks and no lateral dislocation. The electrical power steering offers a significant improvement in feel, with no dead-spot on center.
The view out, on the other forearm, is unspoiled Camaro, and it`s at least a bit ironic. Via gen Five, the Camaro has been an lighter car than Mustang to drive rapid, on a racetrack, thanks to things like IRS and MRC. Yet it`s also been the more difficult–perhaps the more requiring–car to drive on the street. The slit-window, hunkered-in, pillbox view from the driver`s seat makes for constrained outward visibility, a lot of double-checking and occasional indecisiveness for the operator. While the sixth gen might have a slightly thinner A-pillar, the slit-window, hunkered-in, pillbox view remains.
Camaro interior and infotainment options are upgraded on the Gen six model. Photo by Brian Kelly
It hasn`t seemed to hurt gen five Camaro sales. Beyond hitting Mustang in total volume, Camaro has also hammered the Ford in six-cylinder ratio–almost two-thirds, according to Chevy–for very likely the very first time in five decades. Chevy also says that sixty three percent of gen five buyers were fresh to GM. It all suggests that, beyond fighting for committed, old-school muscle car enthusiasts, Camaro could also be wooing some youngsters who might otherwise choose something like a Honda Civic Si, Scion tC or Hyundai Genesis Coupe.
Unless tastes have taken a significant turn, Camaro gen six shouldn`t switch much. This car is the same, only a lot better.
The best news? We`re in for a straight-up fight. Both Camaro and Mustang are spanking fresh in the same framework, and the inescapable specials–the 1LEs, Boss 302s, ZL1s and GT500s–are still over the horizon. It`s going to get good.