[SpecialPurpose_1LE]

Hello Everyone! As you can tell from my new profile, I am a new owner of a 6th gen Camaro and to the forum! Figured I would do a little introduction on the new ride, and what my impressions are so far after 4 days of ownership and about 750 Miles.

To begin, a little background about myself, I'm currently a college senior and my current daily driver (before the 1LE) was a 2001 Ford Excursion Limited with the 7.3 PowerStroke (for all the diesel enthusiasts here, I do still have the truck and never plan on selling it as it has been in my immediate family since new and now has about 307,000 miles on the ticker). Growing up, I was always super into automobiles, trucks, motorsports, etc. As log as it had a motor, I was game for it. Because of this, as long as I could remember growing up I saved nearly every last dollar I either earned from working, birthdays, random side jobs, etc. in order to purchase a car when I turned 16. As it turned out when I got to the age of 16, our family's Ford Excursion wasn't being driven as much as my father had recently gotten a new truck at the time, so I was able to drive the vehicle as long as I performed the maintenance and paid for the relevant expenses that went along with it. Since then, I've been enjoying driving the Excursion everyday and am extremely grateful to my parents who always instilled great work ethic in myself, and always making me earn everything growing up.

Fast forward to college, as I've been able to drive the Excursion thus far, I still never really tapped in to any of my money I saved up for a car throughout my childhood, and had been able to grow that saved money quite a bit by working part time during school and throughout summers at various internships throughout college. Throughout college, I've been religiously looking for a car to purchase to accompany my Excursion, but for some reason the purchases never worked out for some reason or another. Whether the seller flaked out, or the car didn't check out, me changing my mind on what I wanted, there must have been 20 or 30+ rounds of this seemingly never-ending cycle trying to decide on a car purchase. However, a common theme I noticed was that over and over I was consistently drawn back to the 6th gen 1LE cars and C6 Z06's, as I always felt they offered a quite unmatched price-to-performance bargain, and checked every enthusiast box that I was looking for (V8, RWD, 6 Speed, etc.).

Now, to recent times, for the past couple months I have been searching day and night for either 6th gen 1LE's, or very low mile example C6 Z06's. As the theme has been for the past years, all the purchases and good leads seemed to fall through for one reason or another. Losing hope, I decided to give one last call to a dealer down the street from my college a couple Fridays ago (March 4, 2022) on a Riverside Blue 2SS 1LE that had just gotten delivered the same day. However, as I suspected, the car was a custom order for another customer that had been agreed to be sold to him when it was ordered. Heavily discouraged, I decided to take a break from looking at cars and decided that I would start looking again once I start my full-time work position immediately after graduation.

However, quite surprisingly, I got a call from the dealership last Monday (March 7, 2022) informing me that the customer that custom ordered the car was not able to get comfortable enough driving the car with his body type, and decided to forgo the purchase, making the car available on the dealership lot. They informed me though, that due to Chevy's poor inventory management system, the car would not be posted on the dealer/chevy inventory websites for about a week with the updated information that it is no longer reserved as a custom order. Knowing I had to work fast, I was able to stop in and see the car the next day (March 8, 2022). Walking into the dealership and checking the window sticker, the car was exactly the spec I was looking for, a 2022 Riverside Blue 2SS 1LE with PDR. After being judged by some of the dealership staff for being young (what's new), once they realized I was serious I ran some numbers with the sales guy and decided to come back later that week to take the car for a test drive and potentially make a deal.

Fast forward to Saturday (March 12, 2022), I walked back into the dealership to see the Camaro pulled outside for a test drive. As I hopped in and started the car, I was pretty amazed to find out that the car only had 6 miles on it, as I have never seen a brand new car with that low of miles. After taking it for a test drive, I knew that I had to somehow make a deal on this car. Although I have driven some 6th Gen 1LE's previously, they were never exactly what I was looking for. Whether they had too many or too little options, or not the right color, this one was just right, and it was brand new, which was a great peace of mind to my car enthusiast OCD. However, there was a slight issue. As we all have experienced, the car market is red hot right now from chip shortages, logistics issues, and excess disposable income that individuals have from COVID-19 relief packages. It's not uncommon to see new trucks or specially optioned cars go for $10,000 or $15,000 over sticker, and the 6th gen 1LE's are no exception. While the dealer I worked with was already doing a solid by simply offering sticker price, that's just simply not how my family rolls (LOL). Growing up, I never recall a single time that my family failed to negotiate under sticker price on a vehicle, and I knew that I would not let this be the first time. After a long day at the dealership Saturday, walking out a few times, back and forth calls with multiple salesman and the sales manager, we finally managed to work out a deal, and left me walking out of the dealership that day with a brand new 6th Gen 1LE with only 10 miles on it for under sticker price. To be honest, I'm almost more proud of the deal than I am with the car considering the car market we're experiencing right now, LOL.

With that being said, after 750 miles on the car (and a one day trip to and from Las Vegas to SoCal to register the car), I could not be more happy with the car. It's a perfect balance of daily-ability and weekend car wrapped in one package, and handles even better than I imagined. After my whole car buying experience, I truly believe in the saying now more than ever that if its meant to be then it will be! All the failed purchases, changed minds, and days of researching vehicles all paid off to find (what I believe to be) the perfect car for what I was looking for.

After these 4 days of ownership, I have 0 regrets with the purchase, and am proud that I was able to purchase the car by myself with my own money at a young age. Although the C6 Z06 was a compelling option that would've been slightly cheaper, I realized that the creature comforts present in the 6th gen would be something that's nice to have considering the C6 Z06 and the '01 Excursion I have offering nearly the same options in terms of creature comforts. I also feel confident in my purchase considering that if I change my mind on the car, or my financial situation takes a turn in the near future, I'll be able to dump the car for either more than I paid, or equal to what I paid for it and have no lasting impact on myself. Ultimately, I am extremely pleased to join the 6th Gen Camaro community and can't wait to drive the car more!

Below are some pictures of the new ride! If any of you guys are in the Orange County area, please pm me as I'd love to meet up and go for some drives!

TL;DR: Recently purchased a 2022 2SS 1LE 6SPD, love the car, purchase worked out after some struggles.

[Bad 1LE]

Congrats! Beautiful car. The 1LE package is certainly more than a few fancy bolt-ons. It truly transforms the car into something special. I hope you have a lot of good times with it!

My only advice... If you do nothing else, get some real ppf in front of the rear tires from the rocker up to about where the gas cap is. I bet if you look close you'll already see tiny rock chips. The oem piece on there in not nearly big enough.

[Bwaahhh]

May you have many blissful miles with your 1LE! Congratulations! If I bought my car all over again I would have done PPF on the front and on the rear rockers (They get sandblasted - especially if you track the car). And maybe get some MPS4S...but looks like you'll be in warm climate so you are good.


I also agree with your statement. Before we had "DDs" I would take my 1LE all over. It's just SO much fun to drive. I will fight tooth and nail with anyone that says you can't dd these. And then you can whomp on it. and then you can track it. Or you can drive it slow and shortshift...just such a great all rounder and you don't have to worry about ANYTHING breaking. Love these cars.

[ZPirate]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum! Nothing like a 1LE.

[kropscamaro16]

welcome ! looks good

[VR Baron]

Congrats! Great car and other then a bit cramped to get in and out of its a fine dd. My wife says it’s more comfortable then our Camry!

[Bwaahhh]

We have a Corolla and I prefer to take the Camaro on road trips. Mag ride + recaros are so much better than those tiny piece of shit seats in the Toyota.


ZPirate, dang I love that rapid blue!!!

[SpecialPurpose_1LE]

Thank you guys for all the great comments! Been lurking on the forum for a long time and pleased to finally join!

And yes! I already have quotes for full front and rockers PPF and Ceramic Tint all the way around the car. Thankfully I have only spotted the tiniest rock chip on the lower drivers side of the bumper so far, just next to the lower running light that is only visible from about 3-6 inches away. I have also ordered ZL1Addons Rock Guards to protect the rockers as much as possible until I am able to get PPF.

[ZPirate]

Originally Posted by SpecialPurpose_1LE

Thank you guys for all the great comments! Been lurking on the forum for a long time and pleased to finally join!

And yes! I already have quotes for full front and rockers PPF and Ceramic Tint all the way around the car. Thankfully I have only spotted the tiniest rock chip on the lower drivers side of the bumper so far, just next to the lower running light that is only visible from about 3-6 inches away. I have also ordered ZL1Addons Rock Guards to protect the rockers as much as possible until I am able to get PPF.

Yes, with the 1LE you definitely need some protection from rocks. The wide wheels and sticky tires really throw stuff up. I have ACS rock guards and side rockers on my car and those help a bunch.

[m6-lt1]

Congrats on the purchase. I absolutely cannot believe you paid under msrp. I wonder if with the gas price increases these cars are starting to sit longer on dealerships now. I too am contemplating getting an SS 1le or c6 z06 right now or waiting longer until I can afford a ZL1. Seeing pictures of 1le’s is really making me want to get one.

[pauly1119]

Nice ride!

[2004YZFR1]

Congratulations on your new car. Which dealer did you buy from here in Vegas?

[ZPirate]

Originally Posted by Bwaahhh

We have a Corolla and I prefer to take the Camaro on road trips. Mag ride + recaros are so much better than those tiny piece of shit seats in the Toyota.


ZPirate, dang I love that rapid blue!!!

Thanks! It's an awesome color. Even better in person.

[arpad_m]

Congratulations, brother, you have scored an amazing car. The fact that you were able to even make a deal in this current climate speaks volumes about both you and the dealership, heh