Sometimes I must pinch myself to come back to the reality that part of my business allows me to travel to interesting places and drive vehicles that only a handful of people around the world have seen in person. The benefits are bountiful, as our journey including myself and Chris Brewer to upstate New York to drive the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to Boston was as part of a #FindNewRoads initiative, an adventure that takes automotive journalists to all 48 contingent states of the USA to experience the newest pony car from General Motors.
>> Get the best price on the Chevrolet Camaro from a network of local dealers now. <<
Upon setting out on our journey, each journalist was challenged to find “innovative” stops along the way for their #FindNewRoads adventure with no definite set course. Basically, we could travel to wherever we wanted as long as we arrived in Boston to catch our flight back home on the third day of our journey. In knowing how much freedom we would have to travel and “find new roads,” I came up with the idea of making a stop at Hemmings Motor News, what I consider to be one of the best classic car news sources on the planet. It just so happens that my former colleague and good friend, Kurt Ernst, is the Editor of the Hemmings Daily who welcomed our idea to stop and tour his workplace along the way to Boston.
Lucky for us, our mapped out journey from Syracuse, NY took us through parts of Vermont, which is home to Hemmings Motor News headquarters nestled off of Main Street in Bennington, VT. As you would guess, everyone at Hemmings is just as much as a gear head as me, and taking the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS with its 455-horsepower and 455-lb-ft of torque pushrod V8-powered red hot American pride was a welcomed highlight for most of the Hemmings staff, including the Publisher of of Hemmings Motor News, Jim Menneto, and Editor of Hemmings Muscle Machines, Terry McGean.
The time of year for our travels was certain to bring about some high anticipation considering we could see snow covered roads if our timing was off by a few days. However, we were fortunate enough to have clear roads and nearly 70-degree weather for most of our journey, which afforded us to capture images of the colorful fall foliage as the backdrop to the newly redesigned 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS, which was not only a pleasure to drive over 350 miles on our journey, but it captivates a much tighter and nimble vehicle over its predecessor. Not to mention, the new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro 1SS with its V8 power sourced from the Corvette Stingray, gets up to 60 mph from a standstill in 4 seconds flat when equipped with the optional 8-speed automatic transmission. A 6-speed manual transmission comes as standard equipment for all Camaro trims with a 0-60 mph time of 4.3 seconds for the SS V8.
The new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro, now built off of the latest Alpha platform that underpins the Cadillac ATS and CTS, is quite the desirable choice to hone added athleticism to the Camaro and weight savings to the tune of just over 220 pounds in for the SS V8 trims, and the RS V6 with its 335 horsepower loses an astonishing 368 pounds over its predecessor. The dimensions of the new Camaro are smaller in just about every exterior aspect to rid that weighted boat feeling garnering a slim and trim vehicle that doesn’t take away from its muscle car roots inside and out.
The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro’s interior gets a reworking only to marginally coincide with its slimmer exterior proportions to retain plentiful room for two passengers up front while the two rear bucket seats are reserved for small children or added storage for items that won’t fit in the nine cubic foot trunk.
The ample adjustability of the front seats, with the ability to lower the driver’s seat more than before, makes way to give people like me that are well over 6-feet tall more than enough room to wear a helmet and retain full motion – something seriously lacking in the previous generation Camaro. The use of a Chevrolet’s latest MyLink infotainment system nicely integrates vehicle, audio, navigation and Apple CarPlay settings and features. The downward slant of the touch screen took a little to get used to, but my speculation is its negative degree cant is to limit or reduce sun glare, which is a common issue that tends to wash out infotainment screens of many other vehicles on the current market.
My enjoyment and once-in-a-lifetime conclusion to our Find New Roads journey in the new Camaro could not have been any better. If Chevrolet’s goal was to impress me with the new Camaro by allowing hundreds of miles and many hours to experience its V8 power, stiff but compliant chassis, adaptive ride quality, and countless improvements, they have surely succeeded and potentially outdone themselves. We’re talking about something I would go as far as to say it is the base-trimmed 4-seater Corvette Stingray that you always wanted.
>> Get the best price on the Chevrolet Camaro from a network of local dealers now. <<
2016 CHEVROLET CAMARO PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS
Overview
| Body style / driveline: | four-passenger, front-engine, rear-drive coupe |
| Construction: | unitized body frame, one- and two-sided galvanized steel |
| EPA vehicle class: | coupe |
| Manufacturing location: | Lansing, Mich. |
Engines
| 2.0L Turbocharged I-4 VVT DI | 3.6L V-6 VVT DI | 6.2L V-8 VVT DI | |
| Displacement (cu in / cc): | 122 / 1998 | 222 / 3640 | 376 / 6162 |
| Bore & stroke (in / mm): | 3.39 x 3.39 / 86 x 86 | 3.74 x 3.37 / 95 x 85.6 | 4.06 x 3.62 / 103.25 x 92 |
| Block material: | cast aluminum w/ cast-in-place iron bore liners | cast aluminum w/ cast-in-place iron bore liners | cast aluminum w/ cast-in-place iron bore liners |
| Cylinder head material: | cast aluminum | cast aluminum | cast aluminum |
| Valvetrain: | DOHC, four valves per cylinder, continuously variable valve timing | DOHC, four valves per cylinder, continuously variable valve timing; Active Fuel Management | overhead valve; two valves per cylinder; Active Fuel Management |
| Fuel delivery: | direct high-pressure fuel injection | direct high-pressure fuel injection | direct high-pressure fuel injection |
| Compression ratio: | 9.5:1 | 11.5:1 | 11.5:1 |
| Horsepower (hp / kW @ rpm): | 275 / 205 @ 5600* | 335 / 250 @ 6800* | 455 / 339 @ 6000* |
| Torque (lb-ft / Nm @ rpm): | 295 / 400 @ 3000-4500* | 284 / 385 @ 5300* | 455 / 617 @ 4400* |
*SAE certified
Transmissions
| Tremec TR3160
6-speed manual (2.0T and 3.6L) |
Tremec TR6060
6-speed manual with Active Rev Match (6.2L) |
Hydra-Matic 8L45 8-speed automatic (2.0L and 3.6L) | Hydra-Matic 8L90 8-speed automatic (6.2L) | |
| Gear ratios (:1): | ||||
| First: | 4.40 | 2.66 | 4.62 | 4.56 |
| Second: | 2.59 | 1.78 | 3.04 | 2.97 |
| Third: | 1.80 | 1.30 | 2.07 | 2.08 |
| Fourth: | 1.34 | 1.00 | 1.66 | 1.69 |
| Fifth: | 1.00 | 0.74 | 1.26 | 1.27 |
| Sixth: | 0.75 | 0.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Seventh: | — | — | 0.85 | 0.85 |
| Eighth: | — | — | 0.66 | 0.65 |
| Reverse: | 3.99 | 2.90 | 3.93 | 3.82 |
| Final drive ratio: | 3.27 | 3.73 | 3.27 (2.0L)
2.77 (3.6L) |
2.77 |
Chassis / Suspension / Brakes
| Front: | MacPherson-type strut with dual lower ball joints, twin-tube struts and direct-acting stabilizer bar; Magnetic Ride Control with monotube inverted struts (avail. on SS) |
| Rear: | independent five-link with twin-tube shocks and direct-acting stabilizer bar; Magnetic Ride Control with monotube shocks (avail. on SS) |
| Steering type: | ZF rack-mounted electric, power-assisted and variable ratio |
| Brakes: | four-wheel disc with four-channel ABS/TCS w/ DRP |
Dimensions
| Wheelbase (in / mm): | 110.7 / 2811 |
| Overall length (in / mm): | 188.3 / 4784 |
| Overall width (in / mm): | 74.7 / 1897 |
| Overall height (in / mm): | 53.1 / 1348 |
| Track, front (in / mm): | 62.5 / 1588 (LT)
63 / 1601 (SS) |
| Track, rear (in / mm): | 63.7 / 1617 (LT)
62.9 / 1598 (SS) |
| Headroom (in / mm): | 36.6 / 930 (front) |
| Legroom (in / mm): | 42.6 / 1083 (front) |
Note: Information shown is current at time of publication. See media.gm.com for updates.
