will curb weight change your buying decision?

[Doc]

For a 2700 lb ricer car to equal the power-to-weight ratio of a stock SS with a stick (9.06), it's going to have to increase hp from 120 to 298 in order to match a stock SS. It won't have the bottom-end torque to get off the line like the SS, and it's power will most likely be near top rpms, which means a lot longer wind-up to get to power compared to the Camaro's asphalt-ripping punch. And that's just to MATCH the power-to-weight ratio.

With a few modest performance mods which pretty much every SS owner is likely to do, the hp goes up from 426 to 450 easily so now we have a p/w ratio of 8.58 which means rice rocket needs about 315 hp to match the typical street SS.

They aren't going to go from 120 to 315 with a few casual mods. They aren't even going from 200 to 315 with a few casual mods. They'll wind up spending a lot more trying to juice up their ride than the SS owner is going to spend and the reliability of their trick pony is going to suck compared to a modestly modded SS.

Chevy has done an outstanding job with this new Camaro. If GM had been building cars like this all along they wouldn't be having the troubles they have now.

[levi1922]

one car that i would be scared of is a modded 22 cobalt. the turbo one. they are impressive. they weigh justtt over 2800 pounds, and have 260 horse power. stock.
the SS beat it around the nurburgring by 3 seconds. impressive for the balt. (8:19 to 8:22)

[carfansince73]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

Weight does not play a role for me. It will still have state of the art safety, engine goodies, interior goodies, etc.

Now, if it got up to 5,000 lbs, yeah, I'd have to walk away (only because I know gas mileage is going to go down). A lil' extra weight has no difference for me.

What he said.

All that power, weight, safety, looks, and it still gets 24mpg on the highway. What's the problem??

From the IIHS.org when they crashed those new micro cars into midsize cars.

New crash tests demonstrate the influence of vehicle size and weight on safety in crashes

I'll take the extra heft if it means I'll have a better chance to survive a crash and live to drive a Camaro another day.

[rolnslo]

I used to wonder about the weight of the Camaro and what kind of impact it would have on handling and performance...then I read an article in the recent issue of MotorTrend and the Camaro's weight doesn't bother me at all now.

Here's some cars for comparison:

2006 Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR: 3851 lb (51/49%)
2009 Lamborghini LP560-4: 3626 lb (44/56%)
2008 Audi R8 4.2 Quattro: 3621 lb (44/56%)
2008 Maserati GranTurismo: 4350 lb (49/51%)

[alex33x]

Why is everyone wondering abou the weight? I thought this had already been discussed at 3820 for a Manual 1SS or 2SS.

At least thats the range I've seen in magazines and official specs 3750 to 3820.

[mkaresh]

Originally Posted by alex33x

Why is everyone wondering abou the weight? I thought this had already been discussed at 3820 for a Manual 1SS or 2SS.

At least thats the range I've seen in magazines and official specs 3750 to 3820.

Because the thread was started over a year ago...

Anyone who noted the car's dimensions knew it would end up where it did, at best. Good that they kept it under two tons.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by rolnslo

I used to wonder about the weight of the Camaro and what kind of impact it would have on handling and performance...then I read an article in the recent issue of MotorTrend and the Camaro's weight doesn't bother me at all now.
...

2008 Maserati GranTurismo: 4350 lb (49/51%)

WTF? How did they manage to make it that heavy? After checking into things a bit I see that the top engine is a 4.7L V8 in the GranTourismo S making 433hp, which is nice but it seems to be a little lacking for such a big performance car these days. Particularly a Maserati that costs $100 000 more than an SS. Seems they geared it fairly agressively because they claim 0-62 (100km/h) in 4.9s and 1/4 mile in 13s. BTW, city mileage is around 9 mpg, highway is about 21.

[BLUEMARO]

[catmaster1]

I can always make it lighter if i need too. There will be lots of accessories for this car in a year or so.

[SS Vazz]

That's were all of the cars are that have not been delivered yet....Jenny Craig? What is the dealer event code for that? :-b

[2SSJIM]

If people are so worried about the weight of a car.... Motorcycles are pretty light!

[FC_GIBB]

Originally Posted by BLUEMARO

I am guessing that the weight for the manual on the LS is a typo and should be 3760 and not 3780 since the rest of the V6 variants have a 9 pound lighter difference in manual and autos.

not sure how the 2LT(19" wheels) Leather and 9 speaker system and the 1LT(18" wheels) cloth and stock 6 speaker system are the same weight.
I would think the LS is heavier b/c of the steelies, but 2LT and 1LT should not be the same.
I think some one got cut and paste happy!

can we find something not so bogus?

[mkaresh]

Curb weights are often bogus, so much so that for a long time I didn't post them on my site (which provides car specs, among other things). I've seen too many cases where something as major as the engine changes, and the official curb weight does not. Or where the difference between powertrains is far larger or smaller than it should be. Or where differences are multiples of 22 (ten kilos).

Cargo volume is similarly often suspect.

[v6sonoma]

You guys do know this thread was started like 2 years ago right?? I'm guessing most things weren't official yet. Attack of the Necro Threads Part 2: Rise of the Zombie Posts!!!!!! LOL