07-24-2013, 11:34 AM | #1 |
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Trade for a 1LE? My Trade review. (long read)
RePosted my Build thread Post here if there are others on the fence about trading a non-1LE Camaro for a 1LE. Feedback welcome.
******* I have waited to update my build thread until I spent more time in the car. So for starters I will do an upgrade review going from a 2011 2SS/RS LS3 to a 2013 2SS/RS 1LE LS3. I must be crazy right? First of all I started looking thinking that I was going to order a 2014. I may be in the minority, but I think they look a little less nostalgic than the older Camaros. I like modern, so the 2014's appeal to me. I especially like the more aggressive front end. I also think the look of the 2014 is preparing us for the look of the C6 Camaro. During my search for a 2013 I ran into two IOM (Inferno Orange Metallic) 1LEs. And really found myself attracted to the color. It looks orange in bright lighting and much more red in darker lighting. And since IOM is a premium color it gets 2 coats of paint as opposed to one on black Camaros (or so I am told). There is no 2014 IOM. :-( So I changed my mind, looking into existing stock 2013s. I thought this would be a smart $$ move, getting a good deal on an almost leftover 2013 over ordering a 2014. This turned out to be almost true. And I come to find out now the Recaros I wanted are $2,000. A bit pricey to me. What I wanted was this:
I settled on a 2SS/RS IOM 1LE with NPP and a sunroof and no Nav. After thinking about Nav some more it is a big waste for the $$, especially if you have a smartphone. I have that and a nice Garmin too. And Mounting the Nav on a center speaker bracket raises up the screen even more from the factory Nav MyLink spot makes it easier to see. I have successfully talked myself out of wanting factory Navigation. In the showroom the IOM 1LE shared space with three 427 C6 convertibles. There it attracted the most attention of the four cars. The car just looked angry with the black/orange contrast. Everyone in the dealership asked if I was the guy buying the IOM 1LE and they even brought it up again when I went back to the dealership to pick up my registration. After getting near invoice on the 1LE and a good trade value on my 2011 SS I jumped in the deep end and bought the car. Side note: I saw my car on the lot, they gave me $**k for the car and now are asking $**K. Good luck to them! And they took off the stripes! On to my 2013 1LE versus 2011 SS comparison. To put the review into perspective my 2011 2SS/RS had a Sunroof as the only option other than RS. when I bought my 2011 I thought long and hard between the 5.0 Mustang and the SS Camaro. This time I knew what I wanted. Plus I get to reuse many of my old mods. I took off as much of those mods as I could before I traded the 2011. Here are the 2011 mods:
Looks: Strangely my black 2011 SS got much more attention than the 1LE. It must have been the electric orange bumblebee stripes on the 2011. They were in your face. Everywhere I went with that car I got comments from both men and women. It did get a little tiring. At one of the dealers where I was looking at a black 1LE, the sales manager parked my '11 SS nose to nose with the 1LE in front of the dealership. Guess which car attracted walk ups first? You guessed it. But to me the 1LE is, if not better looking, the more serious looking car. 1LE fans are fewer but they all approve of the IOM/Black combo. The 1LE also got a ton of attention in the Atco staging lanes. More so then the '11 SS. But they were all disappointed when a Turbo New Beetle showed me his taillights in the quarter mile. In my defense he did red light. I dig the black wrapped hood, although I have to keep explaining the idea it reduces glare. I get blank stares to that. I have to think of a new reason. I also think the 1LE wheels are the best looking wheels you can put on a Camaro. Many agree. I really like the black out theme and the contrast with the IOM. I will continue this these with some plastidip and other mods later. On my '11 I installed an unpainted Heritage grill. This grill, to me, greatly improves the look of the car. But on the 1LE I like the stock grill a little better. The toothed shape of the grill goes better with the angry stance. I still have a heritage grill in the box if I change my mind later. Overall I give the 1LE the slight win as to looks over the '11 SS. Although many do not agree. I matter most. Interior: The 2012 dash insert and 1LE steering wheel/shifter cover improve the look and feel of the interior. Plus the frameless mirror looks great and opens up the windshield a bit. I also like that I have a lock switch on both doors and a power passenger seat for those short of stature. One more little bonus is the seatback latches are a little less sticky on the 1LE over the '11 SS. Mylink, although far from perfect, is a big improvement. My '11 SS had a hard time with Ipods and especially long audiobooks. All better on the 1LE. Ipod indexing still happens more than it should, but at least now you can switch songs while it is underway. The rest of Mylink is a bit messy and the side buttons are hard to use in that sometime I brush them and they go off and other times I deliberately press with no result. Sound quality is not so good with the radio and XM, but very good with the Ipod. It sounds so good, I am not sure if I am going to install my ******** Stealth box with a 4+1 Amp, 10-inch subwoofer, and ******** harness. Although I know my system will sound at least slightly better, I am not sure it is worth the weight gain. Jury is still out. Here the 1LE definitely pulled off a win. Performance: This is not a fair fight. My '11 had a CAI, Scoop, Ported TB, Longtubes, and Highflow cats with no tune. So while it was never dynoed the RWHP was most likely over 400. Compared to that the 1LE feels like 350+/-. So far the drag strip has confirmed my impression. More on that later. Also before I traded in my '11 I took it back to stock. So I had a back-to-back comparison of stock to stock and the '11 felt stronger. But the 1LE has only 1,000 miles on it so a few more stock HP may shake themselves out later. Here it's a tie. I think over time the 1LE (1,000 miles) will improve a little and be more like the '11 (25,000 miles). To those who think a 1LE is faster than a normal SS I think not. Still, I did not expect the 1LE to be faster in the quarter mile. Later I hope to improve the 1LE. Handling: Like with the engine mods, my '11 had most of the good chassis mods. It had cradle and differential poly bushings, front and rear adjustable sway bars, toe rod, trailing arms, and radius rod inserts. The only major thing I never got around to was tires and wheels. My modded '11 handled really well at least as good overall as the 1LE. But the wheels and tires held it back. The stock '11 SS wheels and tires are very heavy and the Pirellis are not as sticky as the 1LE Goodyears once they are warm. The 1LE Wheels and tires are also heavy, but the wheels are a few pounds lighter. I will weigh these later. As with the '11 SS the 1LE would benefit from 18" lightweight wheels along with a good set of tires. So both are handicapped by the 20" wheels, but the 1LE less so. Those 1LE wheels though, are the best looking wheels for the 5th gen Camaro IMO. Wish they were 18"s or 19"s. The '11 SS, with the rear BMR sways set to the highest setting, is perfectly neutral with no under steer. But the over steer comes on very quickly in the corners, so you have to be very careful with the throttle. I understand that this behavior is due to the ineffective mounting points of the rear bar and that the sway bar has to overcome the staggered tires. Because of these two issues, the bar has to be extra strong to achieve neutral handling. This result is the somewhat delicate nature of balance in the corners. The 1LE benefits from the 2012+ sway bar mounting point and square tire sizes. The 1LE has some under steer, but it is very easy to add a little power to straighten out the curves. So the 1LE inspires more confidence in cornering. Since I like to drag race wheel hop is important to me. The '11 SS with the suspension mods had none except in bad conditions. The 1LE has some, but it is not as bad as the stock '11 SS. Later I will try to cure the 1LE wheel hop, hopefully without disturbing the balanced nature of the 1LE. One of the big things I noticed on the '11 SS on the drive home from the dealers, was rear "step out. If you get into the big torque of the LS3 with the steering wheel anything but straight, you can feel the back of the car shift to the outside of the curve just a little. I thought something was wrong with the car until I went home and read about it. Normal for an SS and many other IRS cars. Bushings fix this, and my '11 SS had all rear poly bushings. The result is laser corner tracking and no step out. One bad side effect of the poly bushings is more drivetrain noise is transferred to the interior of the car. But it is not too bad once you get used to it. The 1LE may also have some step out, but if it does it is not as noticeable. So to compare my modded '11 SS suspension to the 1LE it is close with a perhaps slight nod to the modded '11 with the solid well planted rear. But the balanced nature of the 1LE feels better driving. On a track I think the 1LE would run and hide due to the Goodyears versus the Pirellis. With equal tires it would be much closer. Comparing the 1LE to the un-modded SS the 1LE wins hands down. Driving: We buy these Camaros because they are fun to drive and both of these cars stir your emotions. The big difference between the two is that with the '11 SS right away I could recognize improvements that could be made and with the 1LE, it is so good I feel the need to be careful when modding so as not disturb the balance of the car. Also the damping on the shocks feels very sophisticated. The car flows like molasses over small bumps and only becomes a little harsh on big ones. Where is the downside to 1G cornering? The shifting, gear spacing, exhaust sound, handling, and the LS3 torque all work together to make the 1LE feel like you are driving a shark among the minnows. You can drive it as if you are driving hard off the banks of Daytona or just take it easy and enjoy a comfortable cruise. Very BMW like, but with more attitude. The '11 SS was also fun to drive, but it is hard to miss the old car when the 1LE has everything the '11 had with many big improvements. Another big win for the 1LE. Conclusion: So the big question is was it worth it to trade a dead reliable 2-year-old car with 25,000 miles, great handling, and over 400 rwhp for a new 2013 1LE? To me a big yes. The 1LE is a much better start towards the car I was trying to build. It has a number of small improvements on the inside of the car besides the 1LE package. The new MyLiink setup for example, handles Ipods better than the ‘11, which was an Ipod disaster, especially with audiobooks, which I enjoy on long trips. To add to that on the '11 I kept the exhaust very quiet, despite my mods so as not to be annoying on a long drive. But I sometimes wish it were more expressive than it was. NPP solves that problem nicely. And now that I have added the Exhaust Commander I can liven up the exhaust at any time with a push of one of the Home link buttons. I also like that the 1LE has no badges. It is like a secret handshake, only those in the know, have any idea of what the car is and what it can do. It is very comparable to the Mustang Boss with no Boss fanfare. Some people look at it and wonder if it's stock but get the idea it is something special. Very cool. To add to all that the 1LE will always be a bit exclusive because of the price of the package, one of the rarest Camaros. Not collectable rare, but in a 1LE you will not see yourself coming and going. And finally I really dig the IOM over the black. The paint is thicker and dirt does not show as fast. An added bonus is the color seems to change depending on the light from orange to red. I would do it all over again, no remorse.
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07-24-2013, 01:41 PM | #2 |
Nice dude! Congrats on the 1le glad you like it. I traded my reliable 2010 2lt/rs for my black 1le so my jump was more drastic than yours but I could never go back. Happy modding and awesome review!
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2013 Black 1LE 2SS/RS 1 of 451
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07-24-2013, 03:29 PM | #3 |
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Looks good in black too.
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07-24-2013, 04:28 PM | #4 |
Drives: 2013 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Byram,MS
Posts: 39
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Nice review! I noticed you had a vararam you took off your old car, I was under the impression they wouldnt fit on the 13 models, or do you not plan on putting it on the 1LE?
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07-24-2013, 08:45 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
Edit: I looked on the Vararam web site and did not see any mention of a Camaro year restriction on the LS3 version. I think the throttle body and manifold are the same on '13. The confusion is the Vararam CAI not fitting, not the wedge.
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"Democracy Dies in Darkness" Last edited by Fraxum; 07-25-2013 at 09:19 PM. |
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07-24-2013, 08:56 PM | #6 |
Drives: 2013 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Byram,MS
Posts: 39
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According to everyone else on here it will not. Vararam has supposed to have been testing one on the 2012 model that will fit the 13s also but they still haven't released it
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07-25-2013, 02:07 AM | #7 | |
NEC5 C-HOLE CHAMP
Drives: 2013 camaro 2SS/RS 1LE 1 of 221 Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MYSTIC CT
Posts: 562
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i hope you have more than 350 stock HP i wat right at 385 my brother 387 and some guys with npp have hit 400 bone stock dont forget the 1le's peppier tune also my previous camaro was a 2012 2ss/rs 45th anniversary my best way to sum of the difference is easy one word REFINED
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07-25-2013, 06:49 AM | #8 |
Sellin Chevy's since '06
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I pulled off my bolt-ons from my 2012 1SS and put them on my 13 1LE and I got 20 RWHP over my '12 untuned and 30 RWHP over my 12 with a tune. I tuned my '13 with 99 miles and same dyno as the 12....just way warmer conditions with the '13. THEY ARE STRONGER.
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'19 Z06-7Speed and lowered on stock bolts
'02 Z28-Kooks true dual headers/TSP heads&cam/full suspension & Kmember sub40K orig miles. https://youtu.be/h6faSdcvNew TRADED!'17 ATS-V Coupe w/ Carbon Black pkg https://youtu.be/GH_t-R-TJV0 SOLD! '18 ZL1 Mosiac Blk SOLD!'16 SS Sedan-Forgestars/ARH/rotofab TRADED!2014 SS Sedan SOLD! 2013 Blue Ray1SS/1LE 1of20. TRADED! 2012 White 1SS/RS |
07-25-2013, 02:40 PM | #9 | |
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07-25-2013, 02:46 PM | #10 | |
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So I never dynoed my '11, but rarely are LS3 numbers over 425 with a tune, LTs, cats, and CAI with scoop. What was your final number? Just tune, LTs, cats and CAI? Time will tell with mine. It seems a bit slow. I need to fuse pull and get all 93 in the tank.
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