New Potential Camaro Owner-Several Questions

[Dante Rising]

Hello, everyone. I've been lurking on this forum for the past few weeks as I try to decide which car I'll own next. After test driving multiple cars and crossovers (370Z, RX8, Genesis, Challenger, etc) I'm close to being sold on the Camaro.

A dealership by my home has an absolutely mint condition 2010 Synergy Green Camaro and I have talked him down to an extremely good price. The car only has 1,200 miles, and is GM certified. The dealer pointed out that this basically gives me a 41 month/48,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty, which is better than a new GM vehicle. I drive 60 miles to work each day, so I feel like the V6 is a better fit for my wallet, even though I would love an SS. The car will be a daily driver.

I have a few concerns, and I was hoping a few of you might possible take a moment to answer a few questions. Where possible I've tried to find the answers myself (winter driving, for example).

1) Are the factory installed rally stripes covered under the warranty? If so, would that be the 3/36 bumper-to-bumper, or the 5 year rust and body warranty? Would bird-dropping discoloration be covered?

2) I really love the synergy green, but I'm worried about "color fatigue" after owning the car for a period of time. I'm usually the more pedestrian white and gray type of car owner. Have any of you regretted the color you chose, especially if it was a more vibrant color?

3) I saw the glowing Kelley Blue Book consumer review compilation on GMs website, but autos.aol.com (via JD Power) tells a significantly different story. The Camaro was "worse than average ("the rest") for initial quality in Overall Quality, Powertrain Quality, and Body and Interior quality.

http://autos.aol.com/cars-Chevrolet-...0/reliability/

Is there any website that has highly reliable data for actual repairs? Autos.aol and Kelley consumers are telling two completely different stories.

4) I've heard various myths(?) about the first 1000 miles a car is driven determines powertrain long term reliability. I've also heard that buying a first year production car is a big gamble. Would you guys recommend I go with the 2010 since it is GM certified and only had 1,200 miles? Or should I wait and get a 2011? Please note that I can get this synergy green Camaro for less than the cost of an automatic transmission equipped base Camaro LS.


Thank you everyone. If I purchase a Camaro I hope to become an active member of the community!

[sanseven]

I am also newbie browing to get enough tips whether I will own a camaro car

[Sir Nuke]

Dante Rising and sanseven I will answer your questions the best I can or at least offer my experience. I have a 2LT/RS, so I have the V6 ajnd I also have the factory stripes.

1. the stripes are covered in the bumper to bumper, as far as bird poop, just wipe itb off, you8 will be fine.....a very easy to make this happen for you is to take a hand towel, wet it, and put it in a zip lock bag to maintain it wet....put it ijn tyhe door or your trunk. If you go out to your car and find poop on your car, wip out the ziplock get you wet/moist towel out ahd wipe it off, put it back in the bag and your done.

2. I have a Inferno Orange car....I have had my car for 1 1/2 years now.....no problems at asll with the color. before that, I have had a BRIGHT colored car for the last 10 years, have nave had NO problem with color fade at alpl, and I live in Texas with a lot of heat.

3. I have had ZERO problems in ANY WAY with my car....I have 22000 miles on it....the only times it has been back to the dealers lot was for my first FREE oil change. I am in a fairly large Cararo Club and of all our members, we as a group have had no issues with our cars.

4. As far as the first 1000 miles goes....there are LOTS of opinions on this one, and you will most likely hear the same thing on ANY forum you go into.....the best thing I could recommend to be SAFE, jsut follow the recommendations from the manual, and seeing as how your car is at 1200, you are good to go, just get in and drive! The only thing I would do in your case would INSIST that the dealer change the oil, then starting DRIVING IT TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT!

now, TO GET TO BUSINESS.....Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to Camaro5. There is a BIG fridge on the back porch with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. Make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom's and wive's here don't care....and take it easy.



oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!!

[IBM/2SS/RS/LS3]

and you didn't include the pic of the big refer???


Shame on you!!

[nancygrl]

I'll throw in my .02 in regards to the consumer reviews....The one I pay attention to is Consumer Reports. They're going to be as independant in their reporting as it's going to get. In all my 30 years of vehicle ownership and having between 8 camaro's/firebird's. They've never given a good review of the older cars, however; they do give our new gen 5 camaro a very good review in all categories.

As for my personal opinion/experience...my SS has got to be one of the best vehicles we've ever owned , and in the past 30 yrs, let's say we've had a few (30) domestic and import. Yes, we're car enthusiasts, and I'm at the point in my life where I could've got any car I wanted (except the super expensive exotics-not worth all that $$) and I chose the Camaro. The other best vehicle I've had was my 2008 Chevy Avalanche, but I traded that in for the Camaro because I couldn't do 2 car payments, otherwise I would've kept that too. I've had my SS for 1 yr now and have 12,8xx miles without any issues, zero, zip, nada. My avg. is 23.4mpg, 55miles roundtrip that's 85%hwy/15%city. I recently did a 1100mile trip NJ and got 25-26mpg. Not too shabby for a 426hp V8. GM/Chevy has come a long way and they're making much better vehicles than most people give them credit for. If you don't abuse it, it will last a good long time.

[clg_98ta]

The stripes will be covered as far as installation problems, i.e. peeling or bubbles. But I doubt the warranty will cover them for damage, fading, etc. since cosmetic problems are generally excluded. Same with paint - only problems blamed on "manufacturing defects are covered...

Bird droppings definitely not covered. I guess if the metal under the stripe rusted out, the body warranty would replace them - but that's not likely to happen.

If I was getting stripes, I'd take delivery, then have the stripes painted on by a good body shop. That way you get exactly what you want, and no worries about peeling.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by IBM/2SS/RS/LS3

and you didn't include the pic of the big refer???


Shame on you!!

what you talkin about willis.......are you blind? there IS a picture in the post! GEEEEEEZ

LOL

[NYJets77]

I'd wait for the 2011, but maybe that's just me.

[chd1]

just get it you won't be dissapointed promise

[Ironheadspearo]

Originally Posted by Sir Nuke

Dante Rising and sanseven I will answer your questions the best I can or at least offer my experience. I have a 2LT/RS, so I have the V6 ajnd I also have the factory stripes.

1. the stripes are covered in the bumper to bumper, as far as bird poop, just wipe itb off, you8 will be fine.....a very easy to make this happen for you is to take a hand towel, wet it, and put it in a zip lock bag to maintain it wet....put it ijn tyhe door or your trunk. If you go out to your car and find poop on your car, wip out the ziplock get you wet/moist towel out ahd wipe it off, put it back in the bag and your done.

2. I have a Inferno Orange car....I have had my car for 1 1/2 years now.....no problems at asll with the color. before that, I have had a BRIGHT colored car for the last 10 years, have nave had NO problem with color fade at alpl, and I live in Texas with a lot of heat.

3. I have had ZERO problems in ANY WAY with my car....I have 22000 miles on it....the only times it has been back to the dealers lot was for my first FREE oil change. I am in a fairly large Cararo Club and of all our members, we as a group have had no issues with our cars.

4. As far as the first 1000 miles goes....there are LOTS of opinions on this one, and you will most likely hear the same thing on ANY forum you go into.....the best thing I could recommend to be SAFE, jsut follow the recommendations from the manual, and seeing as how your car is at 1200, you are good to go, just get in and drive! The only thing I would do in your case would INSIST that the dealer change the oil, then starting DRIVING IT TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT!

now, TO GET TO BUSINESS.....Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to Camaro5. There is a BIG fridge on the back porch with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. Make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom's and wive's here don't care....and take it easy.



oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!!

I think he meant color fatigue as to being something like getting tired of the color because it is too unique. I feel that way about the synergy myself. first one I saw I thought WOW what an awesome color. but, now that i see them around I am already tired of it and i dont even own it.

[RubyCamaro]

I have had my 2010 V6 since May. Absolutely no problems! It is my daily driver & My daily therapy on a long commute from Rural county roads to urban city streets. I love my Camaro daily driver. I am confident you would too.

[Hired Gun]

I love my Camaro. I have 8,440 miles on it as of this morning, and love it more and more each day.

I agree on the color, I went with black, and love it.

[jamie]

Just my two cents, but I have had my Camaro for about 7 months and so far no issues.

This camaro is the best one I have ever owned. The Quality and ride is quite good. The older versons were a bit less civilized and quite frankly just arent as nice as this one.

As far as quality goes. I traded a $60,000 Audi in for this car and have never looked back. It is equal to that car in every way with the exception of maybe the interior and a few high dollar options.

The V-6 is a good choice. Plenty of power. The SS is nice, but if driven hard it drinks gas.

I think you will get tired of the Synergy Green. I did this once on a competition yellow Monte Carlo and I had the car 18 months because I needed to drive something that did not look like a taxi cab.

Couple Known issues. The V-6's tend to blow a little oil (As well as the V-8s). Consider buying an oil catch can. Also if you are getting a Manual trans go out and re test drive it. Drive it hard and make sure you do not get gear grind going into second or third. Many of the early 2010's were assembled and the Pressure plate was not torqued to spec and people have been complaining about the gears grinding when going into second. It is covered by warranty, but you may be carless for 3 weeks or more. There are many threads on here about both of these.

Good luck and Hopefully Welcome to the Family...

[Kermit1]

Its hard to beat a cerified warranty as dealer stated. Your getting 5 extra months coverage. However, if a daily driver, how soom will you burn up that 48k miles/ But the color is awesome....