A few words on the Camaro...interior-wise...

[Supermans]

Nice and honest review. I'm glad you like the interior. I'm a huge Camaro fan as you all know, however I do find the interior pretty cheap in feel and quality in comparison to the 2009 Challenger and 2010Mustang. I wish it wasn't so however I have no reason to convince myself that is is better or equal to what I want it to be. With that said, I could make it into this ultra exotic looking interior thru indpower's company by spending upwards of $10,000 if I want all leather and carbon fiber.. However There is no need for me to do that and to me the most important thing about the Camaro is the exterior look and the way it handles.. Visibility is concerning to me however like anything I will have to get used to it. There is no doubt the visibility in the Challenger and Mustang is a whole lot better.. Yet again the Camaro would not look as good in the exterior dept. if it did have a larger/taller cabin. I will even go further on and say I might even change my mirrors around to the ones that look like the concepts and make the car a little less safe down the road. But that will be when I am completely used to the car and its abilities..

[stovt001]

Gonna have to disagree on the Mustangs interior materials. I found them to be of high quality too, and soft touch. They were noticeably softer than the Camaro's. Does that make them better? IMO, no. The only time softness counts is on surfaces you touch or rest on. I do prefer the Mustang's "leather", fake though it may be, on the doors to the Camaro's cubicle-fabric or acrylic. If I get the Camaro, I'll be replacing that trim with something aftermarket as quickly as possible. The Mustang's aluminum trim is very attractive.

Quick question: did your car have the auto-dimmer mirror? That larger rear view mirror is the main visibility problem I've encountered. Since I don't intend to use On-star often, I'll probably just flip the mirror as discussed elsewhere in this forum.

Another question: what kind of roads did you drive on? That would qualify the seat support remarks.

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by stovt001

Gonna have to disagree on the Mustangs interior materials. I found them to be of high quality too, and soft touch. They were noticeably softer than the Camaro's. Does that make them better? IMO, no. The only time softness counts is on surfaces you touch or rest on. I do prefer the Mustang's "leather", fake though it may be, on the doors to the Camaro's cubicle-fabric or acrylic. If I get the Camaro, I'll be replacing that trim with something aftermarket as quickly as possible. The Mustang's aluminum trim is very attractive.

Quick question: did your car have the auto-dimmer mirror? That larger rear view mirror is the main visibility problem I've encountered. Since I don't intend to use On-star often, I'll probably just flip the mirror as discussed elsewhere in this forum.

Another question: what kind of roads did you drive on? That would qualify the seat support remarks.

I agree they used really quality materials in the mustang but the design they chose makes them LOOK cheap.

[fad1]

I agree with a lot of what you said. Good review

[bballr4567]

OMG, all this talk about how soft a dash is going to be is ridiculous. I mean honestly, do you constantly man handle the dash to feel how soft it is? Its the hot item in the media to talk about so if a car has a soft dash it HAS to be quality.

Leather wrinkles. Its the nature of it. No matter how much you take care of it, it will wrinkle. You can minimize it by taking really good care of it but itll happen unless you use a REALLY high end leather.


Great review Dragon.

[stovt001]

Originally Posted by bballr4567

OMG, all this talk about how soft a dash is going to be is ridiculous. I mean honestly, do you constantly man handle the dash to feel how soft it is? Its the hot item in the media to talk about so if a car has a soft dash it HAS to be quality.

Well, a couple items - soft plastic is often higher quality than hard plastic. It will squeak and rattle less and can be more durable than some of the hard plastics GM used to us. For example, in my Cobalt the hard plastic dash is really thin and I'm pretty sure 10 years down the road or so it stands a good chance of cracking. Now you can get some pretty thick, durable, high quality hard plastics. The new Camaro falls into this category, as do cars like the Mazda3. Soft plastic being higher quality than hard plastic is a loose generalization. However, as I said it does bring real advantages to reducing squeaks and rattles. Interiors don't stay tight forever. The other very important function of soft plastics is for comfort on any surface you touch or rest on. In cars with wide flat seats like the Camaro, you'll be bracing your knees on the door panels and center stack to stay in place during aggressive driving (there is life beyond the quarter mile) so it really helps if those items are soft plastic or padded in some way. Armrests and steering wheels also fall into this category, and leather works well here too.

[storm79]

i completely agree dragoneye...i thought the camaro's plastics didnt look cheap at all....i actually thought the mustang's looked extremely cheap compared to the camaro's....just my opinion....i dont really care about if the dash is soft touch...im not going to be fondling my dash while im drivin down the interstate....i want soft touch materials where i rest my arms, and my knees

[bobby35ny]

Originally Posted by bballr4567

OMG, all this talk about how soft a dash is going to be is ridiculous. I mean honestly, do you constantly man handle the dash to feel how soft it is? Its the hot item in the media to talk about so if a car has a soft dash it HAS to be quality.

Leather wrinkles. Its the nature of it. No matter how much you take care of it, it will wrinkle. You can minimize it by taking really good care of it but itll happen unless you use a REALLY high end leather.


Great review Dragon.

Perception is the word of the day!!

Like it or not, it is what it is. BUYERS perceive soft touch surfaces with quailty. Stand back at dealership or car show, first thing people do is touch the steering wheel and then the dashboard. Chevy could ignore that fact all they want but when the sold numbers aren't there they will know why.

Why are people hooked on imports? They think they are built better than a GM product. GM MUST get those people BACK, One of the things they must do is blow them away with the guts of the car and obviously build quality, They have to one up the imports not meet them!

=bobby

[2SSJIM]

Let's see... I have an '89 Dodge Ramcharger with the "thin" plastic dash in which we call "the beast" (for a good reason)..... 20 years old... no cracks! I also have a '94 Mustang GT.... soft touch dash... 15 years... 3 cracks! The dash in the Camaro will still be looking good and have no cracks in 20+ years! IMO... the Camaro Interior looks and feels great!

[PQ]

I'm pretty much along the lines of D'eyes opinion. It's a Camaro, not a Corvette or Cadillac.

[navmaxlp]

To be honest, I've never even heard of soft plastic or hard plastic. Never knew there was a difference. When I buy a car and am trying to discern the quality of the interior, I generally go off of looks. I'm not saying that's the right way, it's just how I have always done it. I think, for the most part, consumers are more like me. The people who are enthusiasts and interior connoisseurs may know the difference but your average lay person will not. That being said, an enthusiast, such as most people here on this site, are probably not going to let the firmness of the plastics used on the dash dissuade them from purchasing this vehicle. Taking these into consideration, I find it unlikely that GM will be missing out on any sales because the plastics they used weren't soft enough. Just my opinion.

[THE EVIL TW1N]

I generally like the camaro interior and also found that the plastics used were OK. The only issue i had was with the EXTREMELY cheap looking tach and speedo and the needles that go along with them. They are both pretty much rendered useless for any accuracy during performance driving. That, and the big-ish seats weren't a plus, but not TOO bad.

[rayhawk]

Originally Posted by THE EVIL TW1N

I generally like the camaro interior and also found that the plastics used were OK. The only issue i had was with the EXTREMELY cheap looking tach and speedo and the needles that go along with them. They are both pretty much rendered useless for any accuracy during performance driving. That, and the big-ish seats weren't a plus, but not TOO bad.

Its funny you mentioned the gauges, that is one thing that you can't really tell in the pictures. I actually thought they were really unique with the dished face, as virtually all gauges out there are flat. You might be right about being harder to read, but I thought they were pretty nice. I can't wait to see the gauges at night, at least in pictures I think they look good.

As for the overall interior, I found the 1LT to be kind of plain, but really liked the 2LT I sat in. To me it makes a huge difference and the extra price is well justified.

[CGM2SSRS]

Let me shoot my first post here. Many think the interior is inferior. Comparing it with disdain to the horse GT. I for one without bias like the quality AND disign of the new camaro interior much better then the other. It almost has a futuristic throw back style. An oxymoron but not I know.