The proving grounds, where dreams are made

[91t/a]

Originally Posted by camaro5

Thank you very much, sir.

One "small" question...

I am 6'7" tall, do you think I'm going to be comfortable in the new Camaro?

Thanks again!

great post and i was wondering the same thing, im 6'5" and its a tad tight in my thrid gen now, but its ok, so as long as there is equal amount of room as in the last few gens...we should be fine...?

[The_Stache]

Originally Posted by Camaro68

Thanks for shearing your, one of your best day's of your life with us here

Can you tell me were I could buy one of those awesome t-shirts at

You can only get them at the proving ground gift shop, and of course they are sold out now (I think)

[The_Stache]

Originally Posted by 91t/a

great post and i was wondering the same thing, im 6'5" and its a tad tight in my thrid gen now, but its ok, so as long as there is equal amount of room as in the last few gens...we should be fine...?

Due to the multiple demands on height issues.. heres what i posted over on camaroz28.com in response to how roomy the car is..

To me it looked roomier than a mustang, but I think that was mostly because the center console was lower. In a mustang the console is basically at elbow height when sitting in it, in the camaro it looked like the console only just came above the seat bolster.

The gift shop lady said some of the taller men complained about hitting their head on the a pillar when entering/exiting but I don't really sea that happening unless your almost 7ft tall. Come to think of it.. I didn't see any "oh $hit" handles on the pillars, so at this point I would say egress and entrance should be about the same as the mustang.

Another point of note, I remember one of the other saying "oh look bluetooth" and pointing at the buttons on the steering wheel. So add that to the confirmed list. Also the rear deck had what looked to be like 2 6X9 speakers in it. And the rear seats where not in any of the ones we saw so its hard to judge back seat room.

Still getting over not only seeing but touching the pre-prod... Ask away for questions and I will rack my brain for what I saw.

[KingGlamis]

Newbie here. Thanks to Bouncertime for inviting me to go with him today. I had a blast and the new Camaro is awesome. The Vette ride was incredibly fun.

As for the person above that asked about the T-shirt. They have them in the gift shop at the facility. Ask Punchy for details on how to get one, or maybe call the Proving Grounds and ask for the gift shop.

[JustinZS]

Great info!

Any idea on engines? - Nothing solid, one variant does have a supercharger.
Was the Mustang used as a comparison? - The GT500 was used as a benchmark.

This kinda talk leads me to think that we might be seeing a monster engine in the top end V8. CTS-V engine anyone???

[DGthe3]

sooooo . . . did anyone 'forget' to leave their camera behind? Nobody? Hmm. Thats fine, its nice to know that everyone plays by the rules and such.

(PM me the pictures . . . I won't tell anyone!)

[KingGlamis]

I didn't see any cameras. I'm quite certain everyone did play by the rules, as much as it hurt to do so. I always have a camera, except today, and I sure missed my camera.

[The_Stache]

Crap another thing... Ill edit my main post.

The engineer guy responded to a question about the IRS, that it was not the same one the GTO had..

and like KG said.. I saw no cameras, the only pics i have are in my head...

[Punchy]

You guys are killing me here. I keep waiting to come in here and see a pic.

I believe I had a great group of people though and from what I was seeing, everyone played by the rules.

[The_Stache]

Originally Posted by Punchy

You guys are killing me here. I keep waiting to come in here and see a pic.

I believe I had a great group of people though and from what I was seeing, everyone played by the rules.

Punchy, we were sooooo worried that you were gonna lose your job over just letting us look at and paw them.. nobodies job is worth some pictures of a car that will be out soon enough.

You deserve a lot more respect than that.

[09camaroSS]

Awesome post. All I can say is paddle shifters, S/C, and the GT500 was the benchmark. This new Camaro is going to be amazing, and I cant wait to get my hands on one.

[Punchy]

Originally Posted by diarmadhi

Punchy, we were sooooo worried that you were gonna lose your job over just letting us look at and paw them.. nobodies job is worth some pictures of a car that will be out soon enough.

You deserve a lot more respect than that.

And I do feel you all gave me that respect. Thanks guys.

[The_Stache]

More good questions from behind the scenes.... the names where changed to protect the inocent!

diarmadhi, thanks for the writeup and your impressions of the Camaro. Great to know that the auto transmission will have paddle shifters and that there are auxiliary buttons on the steering wheel that weren't seen in the spy photos. Also, I see that the HUD question is still left uncertain, but did you see or did anybody ask if it would have a nav system or an automatic climate control system as options? Thanks in advance.

Those questions where not asked simply because even if they are offered, they wouldn't be on these test mules. Those things don't need road testing just workup in a lab and then endurance tested in a warehouse. From what i saw of the interior, you will get standards stuff for climate controls and there was no nav screen/display.

[1st Gen Forever]

There was this one guy with a camera but Punchy spotted him, spoke into his 2-way radio and before we knew it, a fleet of black Suburbans showed up outa nowhere and hauled the guy off! Didn't see him again. If I didn't know better, I'd swear FbodFather was driving one!

Actually, contrary to typical Arizona wild west behavior, we all were very appreciative of what Punchy was doing for us and had no problem leaving our cell phones behind.

But I will say this, There's at least 3 test mules in Mesa, AZ and I travel about 100 miles a day for work. I do have both a camera and camcorder in tow. I have no problem being late to wherever I'm going if it's for a good cause. If I see one in the wild it's GAME ON!