Thank you GM!
I rented a camaro some time ago and my impressions were. Engine: Excellent. Brakes: Excellent. Handling: Good....but not Excellent. However, the ride quality was amazing. Compared to the cars I have it handled like a luxury car which was impressive.
So naturally when they made changes to the suspension in 2012 I was going to get one of those, but now the 1LE package is available on the 2013's which seems exactly what I would want. Since this will be more DD and less track car (for now) I have to ask to make sure I'm making the right choice:
How much harsher are we talking about? The SS that I rented was excellent on bumps. I could live taking it from excellent to good in ride quality for excellent instead of good handling. I just don't know if I want to handle bone jarring.
As for the transmission. Are the cooling and gearing changes all there is or has it been beefed in other ways? Any changes to the syncro's or other parts?
I have also taken a look at the new final ratio and gear ratios and I am not a speed calculating expert, but here is what I got using this calculator. Can someone tell me if this is accurate or if I should go back to math class?
http://www.apexgarage.com/tech/gear_ratios.shtml
I used 27.8544 for the tire diameter, 6,600 for the rpm.
So with the 3.45 Final and the transmission gearing listed for the SS I get max speeds of
1st: 53 mph
2nd: 77 mph
3rd: 111 mph
4th: 159 mph
5th: 189 mph
6th: 278 mph
With the new 3.91 Final and the transmission gearing listed for the 1LE I get max speeds of
1st: 53 mph
2nd: 79 mph
3rd: 108mph
4th: 140 mph
5th: 189 mph
6th: 280 mph
It looks like first gear comes out to exactly the same.
Second gear is actually slightly taller on the 1LE, but very minimal (around 100 rpm)
Third gear is a little shorter on the 1LE, but not much again (around 100 rpm)
Now 4th gear is where you notice the shorter gearing of the 1LE.
The overdrives are pretty much exactly the same as well so it looks like you can still sip fuel in granny mode. Very nice. It looks like this is still a great daily driver.
Of course, that's if my calculations are correct???
My last impression of the rental camaro was that it was too damn quiet and refined, but I can see how some people might like that. I was going to solve that with an aftermarket exhaust, but maybe the dual mode exhaust on the 2013's will be exactly what I wanted stock!
