Chevrolet Camaro

On The Road

Once again, the Camaro betrays its transatlantic bias when you get under way. A certain ‘Europeanisation’ wouldn’t have gone amiss as the ride is on the fidgety side, tailored no doubt for American billiard-table smooth turnpikes. As the road clears ahead, the supersized throttle pedal is slowly depressed, the prow of the car rises like a speedboat and the big V8 doesn’t so much sing as bellow as the Camaro is flung forward. The effect is great fun and rather infectious. Motorway on-ramps become a playground for the Camaro to unleash its full quota of horsepower, reaching 60 in 5.3 grin-inducing seconds. The 3.8 litre cars aren’t so much fun, the 193bhp engine taking 8.5 seconds to drag the heavyweight Camaro to 60mph.

Motorway off ramps are rarely such fun, however, as there lurks at the end of them an item which ties the Camaro in metaphorical knots, leaves it puzzled and embarrassed, scratching the back of its head and staring at its cowboy boots. That item is the roundabout. Whilst the Z28 Camaro is a straight 'A' student when it comes to acceleration, in the disciplines of braking and cornering its report card would read ‘Must Try Harder.’ The brake pedal, while undeniably effective has a rather strange, over-servoed feel, which doesn’t inspire either delicacy or confidence. It’s somewhat all or nothing, hauling 1577kg of car to a standstill in a fuss-free manner.

The Camaro never tackles corners with any great relish. The old-fashioned live rear axle arrangement hops and skips slightly, the car never feeling fully at home. Best to relax, and drive the car on the vast swell of torque that’s available, cruising gently through corners that would bring a manic gleam to the eye of most keen drivers. In this guise, the Camaro makes a strange kind of sense. Despite being quicker than most cars it’s likely to stumble across, the most rewarding way to drive the Camaro is slowly, relaxing and appreciating the throaty burble of the engine up ahead.

It’s definitely better suited to the wide-open spaces of Wisconsin than the Wandsworth one-way system, but it isn’t the automotive Liberace that some have suggested. There’s an honest charm in its eagerness to please, and whilst it could be accused of gaudiness, you can rest assured that it offers at least double the gaudiness of many rivals costing twice as much. Fuel consumption isn’t the disaster that could be expected either, with the big understressed engine routinely generating figures that embarrass its frenetic turbocharged competitors.

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