2016 Chevrolet CamaroTrim, Toned, and Out for Mustang Blood review
he 2016 Chevrolet Camaro has arrived, and it looks trim and toned—and thirsty for Ford Mustang blood.
Yes, we’ve already mentioned that car. There’s simply no way to avoid the Mustang when you discuss the Camaro, just as there’s no denying that the Ford largely overshadowed the Chevy for five decades. Consider that the first 1967 Camaro was a two-year-late response to the Blue Oval’s original pony. Or that, until recently, the Mustang traditionally outsold the Camaro. Or that the Camaro nameplate was scuttled from 2003 through 2009, an indignity never suffered by the Mustang. (To be fair, that the front-drive Probe was intended to be a Mustang might be the bigger humiliation.) Or, perhaps worst of all for bow-tie fans, that the Camaro has usually lost to the Mustang in our comparison tests.
Laying the Groundwork
The most potent weapon in the new, sixth-gen Camaro’s arsenal is its platform. The new car sits on GM’s Alpha architecture, the foundation on which the Cadillac ATS and CTS have built their reputations for kick-ass dynamics. Chevrolet says that the new car is 28 percent more structurally rigid than the last one, and that some 70 percent of its Alpha component set is unique to the 2016 Camaro. (This seems like a good point to drop in the fact that the only carry-over part numbers are said to be the bow tie on the decklid and the SS badge.) The Alpha bones make for a slightly smaller Camaro in every dimension; the 2016 is 2.3 inches shorter overall, 0.8 inch narrower, and 1.1 inch shorter in height. The wheelbase is down by 1.6 inches, and the track measurements, front and rear, are reduced by between 0.4 and 1.1 inch, depending on trim level.
All the decimal shaving results in a car that, depending on the trim level, is more than 200 pounds lighter at the curb, according to Chevrolet; the body-in-white alone is down by 133 pounds. Even before we dive into the rest of the chassis and powertrain details, that’s already promising—weight is the enemy of performance, after all. Rendering the cross-dash beam in aluminum instead of steel saved 9.2 pounds, while 26 pounds were pulled from the suspension by using aluminum links up front and punching holes into the steel links fitted out back. Once again, the front end is suspended via struts while the rear gets a multilink arrangement; GM’s sublime Magnetic Ride Control active dampers will be available for the first time on the Camaro SS.
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