Hello Camaro5 Forum. I recently stepped into the 5th gen Camaro in December of 2020. It has been a hell of a ride so far. I am coming from my first real car, a 1987 Trans am GTA that I bought when I turned 21. I had that car for almost 10 years, went from a 305 TPI 5 speed to a 5.3 Swapped Iron block with a Tremec T56 Magnum trans. I was tired of constantly tinkering and having tuning issues, and strange noises that always needed to be addressed (Not to mention the lack of creature comforts, no AC in Florida). I also had a 2002 Chevy Avalanche that i used as my trade in and got a fair trade in value on it, eventually.
Enough Gibber gabber about my old GTA... I bought the Camaro right as Covid19 was starting to spike the prices of used cars, luckily I am a tough negotiator. It also helps that in South Florida 99% of people do not want to drive a manual car, because of all the busy highways. I paid roughly $23,000 for a 2011 2SSRS with only 33k miles on the clock. It was freshly traded in and they didn't even detail it yet. Still had Cigarette ashes all over the seats and floor (another reason why I got such a good deal on it). They tried to force me into paying for the maintenance that they did to the car which totaled an additional $1500. Which included an oil change and 2 new front rotors. I refused to pay for what I consider "road worthy" maintenance and "The manager" eventually agreed to it. I traded in my 2002 Chevy Avalanche that was lifted and actually super clean, they tried to lowball me at $1000 trade in. I eventually got blue book trade in value after threatening to leave multiple times. Blue book was roughly $5,000 for that. The car is Summit White with Orange hugger rally stripes, and the Inferno interior package. The previous owner already installed a Cold air inductions Cold air intake as well as a Borla axle back which was a nice little bonus!
While test driving the car on the local city streets, I couldn't help but think the car was absolutely perfect. I later discovered a few gremlins here and there. Such as; badly grooved rear rotors, shaking steering wheel at highway speeds, and worn out suspension. I've done alot of work to the car already, and I will post all the stuff that I have done to the car, and eventually end where the car sits today. All of this content is also up on my instagram @the_bald_eagle_machine.
Here are pictures from when I picked her up from the dealership with the Wife.