Horse 1075 - Camaro... Can I Smell Poo?

Today I turn your attention to the car which goes on sale next week, the Chevrolet Camaro. Now admittedly I haven't done a road test; I can't do a road test without getting my hands on the car, but by the same token I know that I'm fully qualified to give an opinion without doing one. Why? Because in all fairness, I don't even need to. I already know it's crap.



Now I don't say this to be jingoistic (though given that GM did kill what is essentially the same car in the Monaro), but rather on basic economic fact.

The Camaro was developed by none other than our own Holden, right here in Australia. It sits atop GM's Zeta platform, which was developed by Holden. It shares the same 3.6L V6 and 6.2L V8 engines along with the Commodore (and related HSV cars). It shares the same drivetrain and gearbox as the Commodore. In fact, the only real difference technically is a different set of springs and shocks, and a different set of engine management chips.
The Camaro for all intents and purposes is basically a two door Commodore; fulfils precisely the same function as the Monaro.

The biggest difference and in fact the main reason why I think that it is so incredibly crap is... the pricetag.
The starting price is A$134,990 as opposed to the top of the line HSV product at $87,690*. What that says to me is that GM think that it's worthwhile to give consumers the same car wrapped in a different skin, and charge them 40 odd grand more for the privilege of doing so.

Also I suspect after visiting America, that because the Camaro was built in America for Americans, it will be built to lower production standards. This was evident when comparing like for like - Cobalt and Astra, Malibu and Vectra.

All I can say is "Well Done" to GM for killing the Monaro and then selling a worse built car for 40 odd grand more. If the car had been built in Australia then it would have been done better, but then again Holden already inadvertantly admit this with their own advert tag: Holden. Go Better.
Well they would do, if they were allowed to.

*Actually the HSV W427 chimed in at A$155,500 but that's got a thumping 7L V8 in it, but they only built 138 of them and on special order only.