Firsthand report: just sat in two Camaros at the Cleveland Auto Show

[Attorneyguy]

Originally Posted by t3chfr3ak

The G8 and Camaro have pretty much the same materials used on the inside. The G8 GT is actually a little worse IMO. Looked at both today at the Edmonton Motorshow and I definitly preffered the camaro over the G8. So why did you buy the G8 if interior was such a big deal?

I bought the G8 because it is the single best value on the market today (just like the Camaro will be once it hits dealer lots). But having said that, I also think that the G8 interior is lacking. The GTO from 2004 had a nicer interior! I mean, come on. GM should have made it nicer, especially if it is trying to compete against the likes of Infiniti, BMW, Nissan, et al. But I understand corners had to be cut to keep the price under $30K. At least the G8 has a nice center console screen. Indeed, a significant majority of cars that I saw last night had a nice center monitor to display key information and to provide navigation. It's a feature that more and more consumers are expecting to see, especially in a car that costs $30,000 plus. In this sense, the Camaro interior looks dated already. But I suppose that was the point, right? RETRO, anyone?

For what it is worth, I have not scratched off the Camaro from my car buying list. I still love that beast. I'm just going to consider it a little more carefully, that's all. Nothing wrong with that, right? I like to spend my $33,000 carefully!

[Attorneyguy]

By the way, for the record...if the Camaro interior had exceeded my expectations (as opposed to underwhelmed me), I would have been at the Chevy dealer today ordering one up.

OF COURSE, MY OPINION MAY COMPLETELY CHANGE AGAIN ONCE I ACTUALLY TEST DRIVE THE CAMARO AND HEAR THAT ENGINE!

[Koolwip]

Originally Posted by irpq11

Time to sleep. Y'all be cool.

irpq11: I too had to wrestle with the fact that my Benz E500 will keep up with the Camaro (I surprise Corvettes on a daily basis)- it is a fast car (albeit $70,000) but I wanted a true American Muscle car. The interior can be better - just from a cursory look at the layout - but it is not that bad at all. I sat in the Yellow SS for about an hour - it was nice and will work for me. Sure it ain't my Benz, but it is not supposed to be.

from your "hoooah" - sounds like you are a fellow 11B Infantry - more than few years ago for me - but as you know - you never forget!

[Optimus Prime]

Different strokes for different folks, ultimately. Attorneyguy doesn't like feeling cramped in his car, both with seating and visibility, and I'm sure there may be a few others out there who feel similarly. Then there are those of us like myself who actually prefer that "cockpit" feel, low-slung and "fits like a glove", as someone else said. Not to mention fbodfather is a good bit over 6 feet, and he's certainly not complaining about his experience.

As for the interior quality, it is GM, and while I certainly hope it's better than it used to be, as they're pretty much doing with all their newer vehicles, I remember sitting in a 4th gen SS, and those interiors were definitely much worse than the 5th gen. But I barely thought about the materials. The interior was attractive enough, simple, and functional, but what really got me was sitting behind the wheel of a super-fun car with sporty exterior looks and a 325+ HP engine, and a legend at that!!

[domano 68]

Originally Posted by t3chfr3ak

Only if you have the sunroof. Im 6'3 and my head was touching.

I usually ride with the vertical portion of the seat leaned back beyond its 90 degree position so this should help; I hope!

[Mr Twisty]

irpq, the Camaro just isn't Lexus territory. You'll be trading uplevel interior for 4.6 sec. car (yes) almost a half sec. quicker, that's alot...Infinitely more upgradeable...Better engine...Suspension tuned toward performance. Cushy is ok, but I'll trade it for go-fast any day.

I can't comment on material quality, other than the cloth seating, which is very good. The car I sat in was the black camo test mule with a $hit-load of miles on it, and it was holding up nicely.

I loved the way the car feels from the drivers seat, visibility in forward periferal is fine, rear 180 deg. is not great, but not unbearable. Seating position, shifter position, pedal position were excellent.

How fast is the Lexus in the 1/4 mile?

[Number 3]

Well we went through this about a month ago, comparing the same cars and the same interiors when another OP made the same comments.

First, not sure what anyone means by cheap plastic. Unless you have a leather interior and leather wrapped dash, your intierior IS plastic. And as I am probably the pickiest person on this forum when it comes to interiors, I will say that a hard plastic material drives me nuts, unless it is well done. I can usually tell by looking if an I/P material is hard plastic and in the Camaro I can't. You have to touch it and by that I mean you have to tap it or push on it.

As we've discussed before, the Mustang has a skin over foam top pad. The rest of the Mustang I/P and door trim is also hard plastic. The G8 also has a skin over foam top pad, but the grain is more of a square pattern than typical leather graining. The G8 also has nicer door trims.

Now some interiors have leather inserts on the door (or leatherette), wood or metal on the I/P as an accent. Mustang has a huge metal trim runnig across the dash. This provides a different look and contrast to the interior.

So, yes, I normally prefer a skin over foam and soft touch plastics on the interior and the Camaro doesn't have these. But I don't sit in the car thinking about the interior.

Keep in mind, JUST for the Camaro, huge money was spent to give the car a unique steering wheel, a unique radio and HVAC controls and unique gauges. NONE of these were carried over from other cars. Look at the Corvette, it has the Cobalt/Malibu steering wheel, which is one of the big complaints. The gauges on the Solstice/Sky come from the Cobalt.

So it really comes down to the styling of the interior. Yes a select few parts could have been (and yes in my opinion) upgraded. But now consider that the Camaro has express up windows standard, power recliners standard on driver and passenger seat standard, Tilt and Telesope steering wheel standard and it has available PDIM which today is usually found on upscale cars or cars that offer very expensive audio systems.

The OPs opinion is valid. There are a lot of cars I personally wouldn't buy because of the interior. A Cobalt SS is one of them for me. Greatest small FWD car on the planet, hampered only by a cheap interior. Well I take that back, it's sooo good I would actually buy one in spite of the interior.

But I digress. Keep in mind also, that even though you can price a Camaro SS over 40 if you buy 4,300 wheels adn a 2,000 aero package, for the most part you can get a pretty darn nice Camaro for 35 or 36 K. And when you compare that to entry level luxury cars, like the CTS, the Camaro interior isn't that nice. But there isn't a $22,000 CTS either, which is always the flip side to that equation.

Also, keep in mind, most people that have sat in a car have not sat in one with ABL or the acrylic panels on the Doors and I/P. These break up the black on black on black feel that you get in the base interior. Which is how Number 3 is. Plus as few of the SSs have NOT had the up level door trims on them, you haven't seen the leather stiching on the arm rest. So the uplevel interior is nicer.

And absolutely don't post about visibility unless you sit in a car and can adjut the seats up to fit you. Yes, Mrs. Number 3 has a very hard time in the car when the seats are adjusted for me, full down. Keep in mind for the auto show Fbodfathers team probably makes sure the seats are full down so the max headroom is available. If you are under 6' tall, you probably would be adjusting the seat up.

Oh by the way now that I'm on this long post, I was in a parking lot at the Proving Grounds Thursday that had 30 or 40 saleable Camaros. Every color and trim (except white and CGM). You guys would have been very happy there.

[MrGazinya]

Thank you!^^

[b4z]

I'm a little concerned about the dash and doors being hard plastic.
My GTO has padded vinyl dash and doors.
I think that the GTO's interior is anomaly for GM in that it was very upscale(other than the hvac knobs).
Probably why it came to the US with a 33K price tag and no climate control.
It's interesting that the sub/tahoe has hard plastic dash, but the yukon/denali and escalade have soft touch.

Every Camaro I've ever owned has had a soft dash top.

I think i would get used to having the hard plastic after awhile but Chevy should rethink this and maybe step it up a bit for 2011.

[ezlock83]

I went to the dallas auto show and to be honest i felt the same way you did. I kept going back to sit in it and figure out what was wrong. Well for one it was an LS i was sitting in keep that in mind. It was very plain and boring on the inside but i didn't feel the seats were uncomfortable but the dash was very high which made the windshield look very small. But i liked that part about it mad it feel like a real race car. The cheap plastic that was on the doors and dash were horrible. so when i got home i changed my order to a 2lt. now with the 4 pack gauges and leather and maybe the ambient lighting it will be just right. But to me the outside of the car is so fine it doesn't matter too much what the inside looks like.

[UCF w00t]

They had power to the whole car (including seats) in the Camaro in Jacksonville and I was extremely impressed with how much you could adjust the seat and steering wheel. There was a rather small lady there and it she was able to adjust it all just great for her even after the large guy had adjusted it all before her.

[z28camaro2471]

I sat in the Camaro Wednesday at the Rochester Auto Show. I for one liked the seating position and was impressed with the quality of the materials. I also liked the fact that the gauges, HVAC controls and radio were not "cookie cutter".

This base Camaro was also a manual tranny car and I thought the shifter throws were short and tight. I really can't wait to see what the Hurst option feels like when banging gears. Pedal placement was good as well.

To me, the view out the windshield was fabulous. I missed being able to actually see the hood out the windshield on my 4th gen. But you can actually see it going down the road in the 5th gen. If you are expecting a tall windshield with a great panoramic view you will be disappointed. I wasn't expecting that so I wasn't. Remember we are not talking about a full size truck or Pacer here, it is a sports car.

Well done in my opinion to the designers and engineers!

[1fastdog]

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

They had power to the whole car (including seats) in the Camaro in Jacksonville and I was extremely impressed with how much you could adjust the seat and steering wheel. There was a rather small lady there and it she was able to adjust it all just great for her even after the large guy had adjusted it all before her.

There is a huge range of seating position with the 5th Gen Camaro's driver's seat.

Here's a tip from someone who has spent tons of time with the car...

The manual seat has power seat back tilt. There is a handle which can be pulled up to raise the height in increments, the same handle can be pushed down to lower the seat in increments. Just keep pulling up or down until it's right for you...

The fore and aft seat adjuster is off to the console side of the seat bottom. The steering wheel tilts and telescopes.

With the powered seat, and I'm 6'1, I can adjust the seat too far back for me to drive, high enough that I have to tilt my head down where my chin is at my chest, and the forward adjustment will crush my pelvis into the steering wheel... Lowered the seat will easily allow wearing a helmet. It's an easy 4 finger widths above my head... and, as I said, I'm 6'1.

The shifter and pedal placements is excellent. All the controls are easy to operate without any gymnastics.

The 5th gen feels very much like a Camaro to me. It's different in some respects, but a Camaro fan should feel right at home. Sure, new things to see, but not at all an alien invironment. Easy to connect with. For a car of it's type, that's essential.

[1320junkie]

Originally Posted by Koolwip

irpq11: I too had to wrestle with the fact that my Benz E500 will keep up with the Camaro (I surprise Corvettes on a daily basis)- it is a fast car (albeit $70,000) but I wanted a true American Muscle car. The interior can be better - just from a cursory look at the layout - but it is not that bad at all. I sat in the Yellow SS for about an hour - it was nice and will work for me. Sure it ain't my Benz, but it is not supposed to be.

from your "hoooah" - sounds like you are a fellow 11B Infantry - more than few years ago for me - but as you know - you never forget!

HOOOAH!!!!!!!!! Old 13F here RLTW!!!

I agree with you as far as the interior goes I really dont care as long as I have the creature comforts I am good, as I plan to make it all motor. When I think muscle cars I think torque and horsepower first and foremost everything else is a very very distance second. My Z06 has a nicer interior than Vettes in the past but thats not what I bought it for. Now the "german" and "brit" in my garage I expect a level of comfort first then performance second..lol oh well I have been trolling this site and decided to finally join. You guys are very "in the know" about a ton of things and I am thankful for that. I am trying to use the search button so that my questions are not repetitive...lol