ZL1 Constructive* Criticism Thread

[Eich]

Originally Posted by TLSTWIN

+1

+1

that's just funny right there, I don't care who you are...

Glad you saw the humor in it as it was intended! But deep down, you have to admit, there is an 80's-like, friendly-looking, little robot dude perched on the center stack of every 2010+ Camaro.

[Eich]

Originally Posted by Shurenuff

I'm one of the biggest techno geeks that I know, but I agree with you completely. That's not what this car is about IMO.

Then Bluetooth, USB, mp3, HUD, steering wheel controls, ambient lighting, etc... shouldn't be a part of the car either. Save the weight and cost and offer only a basic AM/FM/CD player with no external amp or sub.

[Tantalizer43]

Do away with the dual DRL/foglight assembly.

Put DRL's where they are on current 5th gens WITHOUT the RS package, the amber cornering lights.

Just put a nice HID foglight in that location of the front fascia of the ZL1...

[Shurenuff]

Originally Posted by Eich

Then Bluetooth, USB, mp3, HUD, steering wheel controls, ambient lighting, etc... shouldn't be a part of the car either. Save the weight and cost and offer only a basic AM/FM/CD player with no external amp or sub.

That's not really what I meant. I was agreeing with Revo1 that a nav screen doesn't fit in with this car from a design perspective. The interior is clearly a retro theme and the design is not nav screen friendly IMO. Aftermarket nav kits that fit into the head unit space like you posted just look odd and out of place IMO. Those other features you mentioned do not affect this interior design like a giant screen would.

I'm not against nav, but I think they'd have to redesign the whole interior for it to look right.

[SS_FireHawk]

IMO, the center steering wheel looks like hot garbage. The only other complaint that has been beaten to death is of course the apparent weight problem the Camaro has. To my understanding Chevrolet describes this car as being track ready from the factory. I personally think it would be great to have a stripped down version of the ZL1 package. Have the radio and air conditioning as an option, but removing more sound deadening material, replacing the seats with lighter weight recaro's (built in air bags as req'd of course), lighter rims, lighter exhaust, removing power seats, and power windows. It could introduce a lower base price and improve performance. I plan on having my wife going to the local dealer to reserve one. Ill be deployed till the end of the year or early next year. Of course I had to warm her up by getting her a BMW 328 she's been lusting over. Either way, if I'm alive when it finally arrives, I will have one, even if it requires selling an arm and a leg. Wait, I need those to shift...

[Revo1]

Originally Posted by SS_FireHawk

IMO, the center steering wheel looks like hot garbage. The only other complaint that has been beaten to death is of course the apparent weight problem the Camaro has. To my understanding Chevrolet describes this car as being track ready from the factory. I personally think it would be great to have a stripped down version of the ZL1 package. Have the radio and air conditioning as an option, but removing more sound deadening material, replacing the seats with lighter weight recaro's (built in air bags as req'd of course), lighter rims, lighter exhaust, removing power seats, and power windows. It could introduce a lower base price and improve performance. I plan on having my wife going to the local dealer to reserve one. Ill be deployed till the end of the year or early next year. Of course I had to warm her up by getting her a BMW 328 she's been lusting over. Either way, if I'm alive when it finally arrives, I will have one, even if it requires selling an arm and a leg. Wait, I need those to shift...

[liquidsmoke]

Make an option to strip out everything from the interior.
Bluetooth, cd, xm gps,ac,hud,ambient light,onstar, heated seats,rear sensors, backup cam. No turn signals and no windows and no working doors, get in like the good ole boys did. Rip it all out! So the purist can be happy.

For the rest of us.

Put a decent radio in the car that actually works.
Nav with a touch screen
And if the touchscreen nav in all your other cars sucks, then maybe you should fix that first and then put it in the camaro.
The radio is like the top third most used function inside a car and the #1 area chevy dropped the ball.

For all you guys saying, this isn't what a muscle car should be ect. This makes no since at all to me. It's not 1969, it's 2011. Lets say it together, 2011.
Gps navigation in your car did not exist in 1969.
Bluetooth did not exist in 1969
No one had a cell phone or mp3 player in 1969.
Just because these technologies did not exist don't mean they shouldn't be in a car that takes design cues from 1969, but is produced and uses production standards of 2011.

I don't see anyone complaining about all the mechanical advances that have been made since 1969 in pretty much every aspect. What muscle car you know had magnetic suspension, and traction control? Computers that remind you when to change the oil and actually tells you when something is broken?

If touchscreen gps navigation existed in 1969 it would have been inside a camaro.

It's the natural progression. Don't shun modern tech cuz it didn't exist 40 years ago. You just sound old and out of touch.

[Shurenuff]

Originally Posted by liquidsmoke

Make an option to strip out everything from the interior.
Bluetooth, cd, xm gps,ac,hud,ambient light,onstar, heated seats,rear sensors, backup cam. No turn signals and no windows and no working doors, get in like the good ole boys did. Rip it all out! So the purist can be happy.

For the rest of us.

Put a decent radio in the car that actually works.
Nav with a touch screen
And if the touchscreen nav in all your other cars sucks, then maybe you should fix that first and then put it in the camaro.
The radio is like the top third most used function inside a car and the #1 area chevy dropped the ball.

For all you guys saying, this isn't what a muscle car should be ect. This makes no since at all to me. It's not 1969, it's 2011. Lets say it together, 2011.
Gps navigation in your car did not exist in 1969.
Bluetooth did not exist in 1969
No one had a cell phone or mp3 player in 1969.
Just because these technologies did not exist don't mean they shouldn't be in a car that takes design cues from 1969, but is produced and uses production standards of 2011.

I don't see anyone complaining about all the mechanical advances that have been made since 1969 in pretty much every aspect. What muscle car you know had magnetic suspension, and traction control? Computers that remind you when to change the oil and actually tells you when something is broken?

If touchscreen gps navigation existed in 1969 it would have been inside a camaro.

It's the natural progression. Don't shun modern tech cuz it didn't exist 40 years ago. You just sound old and out of touch.

That's not what I said. I have no problem with nav (or any modern technology for the most part), I just don't think it fits well with the current retro styled interior. The design just isn't nav friendly IMO. A redesigned interior would fix this, but that ain't happening.

[liquidsmoke]

Originally Posted by Shurenuff

That's not what I said. I have no problem with nav (or any modern technology for the most part), I just don't think it fits well with the current retro styled interior. The design just isn't nav friendly IMO. A redesigned interior would fix this, but that ain't happening.

I wasn't speaking directly to anyone or in response to anyone specifically.
I don't even recall what you said. I'm just saying in general to anyone who thinks a nav screen shouldn't belong in this car because it's a "muscle" car.

Sorry if you felt I was talking to you or in response to you specifically.

[thePill]

I would only ask for a NAV screen only if GM pioneered the first ever "On-board Performance Tracker". By utilizing "OPT" (What i'm calling it since its my idea), your performance statistics can be monitored in real time. 0-60, 8th & 1/4, 60 foot, G's, braking, lap times... whatever you want it to display... Using satellite, you can also improve over your previous laps as it will display entry speeds, mid-corner and exit on each turn as well as maximum speed through the straights and average lap speed....

You can use it as regular NAV but it has a Pandora's box option for performance... It would be expensive...

[liquidsmoke]

Originally Posted by thePill

I would only ask for a NAV screen only if GM pioneered the first ever "On-board Performance Tracker". By utilizing "OPT" (What i'm calling it since its my idea), your performance statistics can be monitored in real time. 0-60, 8th & 1/4, 60 foot, G's, braking, lap times... whatever you want it to display... Using satellite, you can also improve over your previous laps as it will display entry speeds, mid-corner and exit on each turn as well as maximum speed through the straights and average lap speed....

You can use it as regular NAV but it has a Pandora's box option for performance... It would be expensive...

Why would it be expensive? It seems ( at least to me) the car industry is way over due for something like that. All you need is more sensors and most of the extra ones we need are already built into iPhones so the hardware side should be cheap. Everything else is just math.

GM really needs to do something in the tech dept. Onstar isn't nearly enough and compared to everyone else chevy looks behind the curve, esp with the camaro which along with the vette are the two models people will look to to judge chevy as a whole. It seems from the small info I know about the volt, these concepts aren't new to chevy, they just choose to ignore them which shows incompetence and not ignorance. Or just plain cheapness.

The two brands that off the top of my head who I feel get this stuff more than others is Ford and BMW. While there systems aren't perfect, they are at least actively trying to do something and trying to solve common issues with putting this high level of tech into a car. Chevy/GM isn't doing anything.
And after awhile your brand starts to be known for certain things or the lack of. And it's really hard to change that once the damage is done. Look at Cadillac for example. No matter what they do with the CTSV, no matter how fast and sporty there cars are, most still view the brand as cars for old people. But that's a job for marketing to fix.

Either way I'd love to see your idea in the next camaro, with or without a nice screen to go with it.

[Shurenuff]

Originally Posted by liquidsmoke

I wasn't speaking directly to anyone or in response to anyone specifically.
I don't even recall what you said. I'm just saying in general to anyone who thinks a nav screen shouldn't belong in this car because it's a "muscle" car.

Sorry if you felt I was talking to you or in response to you specifically.

no problem, sorry for the mix up

[thePill]

Originally Posted by liquidsmoke

Why would it be expensive? It seems ( at least to me) the car industry is way over due for something like that. All you need is more sensors and most of the extra ones we need are already built into iPhones so the hardware side should be cheap. Everything else is just math.

GM really needs to do something in the tech dept. Onstar isn't nearly enough and compared to everyone else chevy looks behind the curve, esp with the camaro which along with the vette are the two models people will look to to judge chevy as a whole. It seems from the small info I know about the volt, these concepts aren't new to chevy, they just choose to ignore them which shows incompetence and not ignorance. Or just plain cheapness.

The two brands that off the top of my head who I feel get this stuff more than others is Ford and BMW. While there systems aren't perfect, they are at least actively trying to do something and trying to solve common issues with putting this high level of tech into a car. Chevy/GM isn't doing anything.
And after awhile your brand starts to be known for certain things or the lack of. And it's really hard to change that once the damage is done. Look at Cadillac for example. No matter what they do with the CTSV, no matter how fast and sporty there cars are, most still view the brand as cars for old people. But that's a job for marketing to fix.

Either way I'd love to see your idea in the next camaro, with or without a nice screen to go with it.

I would love to see an On-Board Performance Tracker on all performance vehicles. Maybe add in the Factory flash tuner like Fords "Track key/Red key". Along with the OPT, the track key could activate the performance mode and parameters of the engine/transmission can be adjusted via touch screen.

It would be a cool idea and as long as you are in satalite range, all of the above would be possible... Just as long as the factory ECM and OPT could communicate it would work... You may have to use a primary/secondary ECM like the Boss does... but it would be expensive over the standard NAV..

[liquidsmoke]

ill add another item to the list.

multiple stock tunes i can choose, from a list depending on the situation.

not sure why cars only come with one tune most of the time, and if there is another option its usually just one other tune (performance) to choose from.

Id like as many as someone can come up with for specific situations.

how about a setting for when its wet or snow
turtle setting to save gas when you dont want to go fast, turn off two of the cylinders
performance mode of course

this way you can have ur cake and eat it too, and not have to worry about voiding your warranty with aftermarket tunes