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These are all cut and pastes off of other threads I am in:
"A few things to consider:
GM has to do what they can to appeal to the CAFE standards and also appeal to younger buyers. One way to accomplish both is to have a 4 cylinder Camaro option. With the styling the car has, how many future "sport compact" buyers may switch over and buy the Camaro? One issue I am sure they would face is trying to get reasonable insurance for a V8 F-body. Why not build a mod friendly 4 cylinder that let's them play and still be able to afford the car and insurance. It reminds me when I was 18 and looking to buy an 88 IROC-the insurance was near what my car payment was and I had a clean driving record! I am a die hard F body guy but at the time could not swing the payment and also go to college. Getting younger people into the f bodies will be good for the brand. As they progress they can step up and buy a z-28, etc.
Another consideration is also that the ECOTEC is a killer powerplant. The late John Lingenfelter raced one in his Cobalt, and it was rumored to make 1000+ HP. Pretty impressive. Before you hate on it, you should really see what potential there is. I could see 400-500HPbeing a possibility with a fair amount of mods.
I will be buying a v8 6 speed Camaro when they come out, so I am not a huge fan of the 4. But it does intrigue me to see what it could do for GM.
One last thing for me to say to let people hate on: What about AWD in the future? It would be great to have an AWD Camaro that made 450-500HP and could use every bit of it, and be able to put it down, any place, any time.
Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that GM has to get YOUNG people to buy the Camaro, and that means make it affordable. The idea behind any car company, I would think, is to get buyers to buy their first car with you, then have a great experience, and want to keep buying products over the life of the owner. I think Honda did a great job with this in the last 10 years, and GM is finally "getting it" by adding personalization accessories, building better cars and trucks, and trying to regain market share that they lost.
GM also should look at insurance. I know it is an odd thing to bring up, but back to my '88 IROC analogy-I could not buy one because I could not afford insurance. If GM offered "reasonable" insurance to young, responsible drivers (I had a spotless driving record), it could really work well. Had I had the option back in '88 to get insured for a reasonable amount of money, I would have bought the IROC. I bought a truck instead because I could make my car payment, pay my bills, and still pay for school, food, etc.
I really hope they DO build a 4 cylinder Camaro. It will keep the car I love around longer, since it will appeal to a broad customer base and probably sell more, and another person pointed out that in 20 years, I can swap an LSX or whatever engine in it for my son, who is now 7.
V8's have to stay in the Camaro. Just make them with variable runner intakes, variable cam timing, DOD, and, with a power adder. Oh yeah, don't screw up like Ford did with the Modular engine platforms and make them impossible to work on-that engine family is tough to even put headers on."
Al
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