Chevrolet Camaro 2016 Review

Muscle car enthusiasts in the US, Middle East and other countries where the Camaro is sold (your scribe included) were champing at the bit when the fifth-gen V8 coupe was on the verge of launching back in 2008 – not just because one of the most storied nameplates in the Chevy line-up was making a return after a seven-year hiatus, but also because its Australian underpinnings promised to make it a very tasty pony car.

The re-born Camaro's styling was a clever contemporary take on its 1960s ancestors, managing to forge a clear link to the past without being a retro parody. It looked tough, purposeful and even somewhat sinister with its hooded headlights.

What lurked tantalisingly underneath its sexy new skin was the same Holden-engineered rear-drive Zeta platform that underpinned the then-still-new VE-series Commodore, which continues to form the basis of very capable V8 sports sedans in the latest VF-series SS and HSV range.

Sadly, however, the last Camaro never quite managed to live up to its promise. I find the base models (RS and SS) plain uninspiring to drive – I'd rather have a Mustang, thanks – and even the badass ZL1 doesn't quite do it for me.

Although the latter is indisputably fast and grippy, it's too weighty and uninvolving to be a truly satisfying muscle car. It doesn't sound all that great either.

More than 100,000 customers flocked to the Mk5 Camaro in 2010 and 2011, when the Chevy pony car outsold the Mustang for the first time since 1985, but since then Camaro sales have hovered below the 100k mark – well below the model's best of 282,571 in 1979 and the new Mustang's 134,000 sales last year.

While the Mustang created America's pony car segment in 1964 and attracted more than 600,000 US buyers in 1966 alone, the Camaro has lived in its dominant shadow almost every year since its release in 1967.

Given all this, I don't have high expectations of the sixth-gen Camaro I'm just about to sample at Belle Isle in Detroit, where GM is staging a preview drive of the new coupe.

The examples we'll be driving today are pre-production vehicles, as the all-new Camaro is still some months away from launching – it's not due on sale even in the US until late this year. Unfortunately, its Australian prospects don't look good, as right-hand-drive versions production is off the agenda at this stage.

Although the styling is evolutionary, the oily bits are genuinely "all-new" as this time around the Camaro is built on the Alpha platform that we already know well from the tidy handling Cadillac ATS.

The little Caddy is a dynamic match for the agile BMW 3 Series, so the Alpha architecture was clearly a sound choice for the Camaro, even if GM says 70 per cent of its architecture is unique.

To my eye, the styling team has done a pretty sound job of carefully evolving the Camaro's design language and taking it to the next level. There's no mistaking it for anything other than a Camaro, although the pinched nose and more streamlined silhouette do lend the car a few parallels with the latest Mustang.

Visually, the range-topping (for now) SS stands apart from its siblings via a unique bootlid spoiler, bespoke bonnet with functional vents and a fascia featuring brake-cooling ducts. These are all in-line with GM's claim that the SS is a "track-capable" car.

In addition to being stiffer than before, the new Camaro is shorter (-58mm), lower (-28mm) and narrower (-20mm) than its predecessor, as well as being 91kg lighter, all which points towards a sportier drive – at least on paper.

There are six powertrain choices (some of which are all-new), including a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder (205kW/400Nm), a 3.6-litre V6 (250kW/385Nm) and a 6.2-litre V8 (339Nm/617Nm). Even the four-pot is respectably quick, sprinting to 100km/h in around six seconds.

Magnetic Ride Control active suspension also joins the options list on the Camaro SS for the first time, and GM claims when so equipped the car can better the lap times posted by the fifth-gen model with the track-focused 1LE package.

There's also a Drive Mode Selector that tailors up to eight variables via Snow/Ice, Tour, Sport, and Track (SS only) programs, and also includes launch control, shift mapping in automatic models, throttle sensitivity, exhaust sound, steering weight, stability control, magnetic dampers and interior lighting.

But so much for the theory; what I want to know is how it all feels behind the wheel. Sadly, the GM bods mandate an absurdly low speed limit for the drive, for which we are restricted to the (all-new) 3.6-litre V6, and there are spotters all over the course watching our every move.

Nevertheless, I manage to grab a six-speed manual and cheat here and there by standing on the gas where possible, caning it around a few of the corners, and first impressions are, on the whole, very positive.

The V6 mightn't be the most sonorous, but it serves up punchier performance than I expected, no doubt aided by the fact the new Camaro is the equivalent of one hefty bloke lighter than before. The manual gearbox isn't the slickest, but in most markets where the car is sold the six-speed auto will be the transmission of choice in any case.

The Mk6 Camaro feels impressively nimble and well planted, and credit here is due to the five-link rear suspension that works so well in the ATS. The sixth-gen Camaro shows a willingness to dive into corners and stays nicely balanced mid-bend, but we'll reserve final judgement until after a more comprehensive drive.

The cabin has also been skilfully revamped, with a more driver-focused centre console, flat-bottom steering wheel, chrome-ringed rotary vents and higher quality materials throughout. It's a little bit Transformers-meets-1960s-muscle car, but overall the driver interface gels nicely.

It remains to be seen whether GM will bump prices upwards when the new Camaro goes on sale in the US later this year, but if it continues to hover around the $US25k mark in V6 form, it will represent a very solid buy for US muscle car fans.

Now for a more extensive drive in a new V8 Camaro at speed – even if that's unlikely to happen on home turf for some time.

2016 Chevrolet Camaro LT V6 pricing and specifications:
Price: from $US25,000 (estimated)
Engine: 3.6-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 250kW/385Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual or auto
Fuel consumption: TBC
CO2: TBC
Safety rating: TBC