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Post by Travis "Zombie" Mihm on Oct 14, 2013 21:01:03 GMT -5
www.caranddriver.com/news/2014-chevrolet-camaro-z-28-officially-unveiled-newsI'm going to add this disclaimer to what I spill maniacally below. I am an American car guy, and I like good American cars. I say good, because we don't produce very many when compared to the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, even Volvo (Which I very much like: I'd kill for an S60R, don't ask why because I don't know). So to see cool, globally impressive cars come out of my country, and my favorite American car manufacturer is special for me. And when it's a car that I've held dear for personal reasons since I was practically born, it hits home. Chevrolet's new Z28 is, in one word... awesome. People bitch that it's $56,000 or however much. It has an LS7 mated to a Tremec TR6060. It has carbon ceramic brakes. It has impressively functional aerodynamic package that somehow adds to the muscle-factor of the car. If I had $56,000 to spend on a car, there'd be no question in my mind what I'd get. If I had $120,000, I'd buy two! -Travis
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 11:08:14 GMT -5
Love that stripper z28......looks amazing....all the non-essentials are stripped out.....vette z06 NA power.....what more could you ask for?! And I really didnt care much for the RS/SS, but i'd buy one of these too. And you're right.....I never really thought about it, but america really has no luxury brands that compete with bmw/merc/audi/etc. We have Cadillac....they're finally getting their performance sh!t together with cars like the CTS-V. Chrysler shouldnt even exist and Lincoln is garbage. Lexus and Infiniti are american "brands"...but obviously japanese cars so that doesnt count lol. The luxury electric brands fiskar/tesla are unique but are playing by themselves all the way out in left field...not to mention one of them is dead. I guess you could say SRT counts now...and the viper is....the shiznits, so thats 1 win. So other than the vette we arent doing too well in the performance car segment
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Post by Travis "Zombie" Mihm on Oct 15, 2013 11:47:15 GMT -5
Yeah, when you think about it, people don't stare at American cars and go "My GOD I will die without that" or "This is the best built car I've ever driven in my life".
I'm happy to see things changing a bit. Ford Motor Company is a very significant global presence, and their line of EcoBoost engines are amazing. Their 999cc Eco Boost turbo motor is from what I've heard, incredible. And through the years their smaller cars like the Focus and Fiesta have improved significantly to become a global force in their niche spectrum. My outside-of-racing dream job would be to work for SRT group, doing chassis engineering on the next American car that puts little bricks of shit into italian undergarments. The Viper shook up the supercar world. I don't know if you guys have actually sat inside one, but they have that Ferrari-class feel while retaining the American/Viper simplicity of a brutal road menace. Hand-stitched leather that almost feels like silk, the plastic parts on the interior don't rattle around like they were only concerned with how fast it would go. It's a nice car, everywhere. That's one of the things I didn't like about the Corvette, but I do want to head to a dealership and check out the Stingray as soon as I see one around. From the sound of it they've taken huge steps forward in build quality.
I have to hand it to Ford and the Mustang, too. I feel as though any country that imports a few of the GT500s will be impressed at the quality of car they get for it having such a "rough-around-the-edges", rowdy nature.
But the Z28... Jesus. When I think about a car that fits exactly what I want... It would be my 4th Camaro, and my 3rd Z28 haha. I might even have to break from tradition and get it in a color other than Forest Green. When I read that article, my head-gears immediately started meshing and working on "Alright how TF to I get out of debt super fast and make enough money to get approved and buy this car?"
Not very many cars do that for me. I just think "Damn, that'd be cool to have", and go back to staring at MoTeC data and updating paint schemes.
-Travis
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 12:51:12 GMT -5
Tbh 56k for a new car which is that quick is cheap. It looks awesome I must say.
And yeah, those ecoboost engines are impressive. That engine..
I didnt know they were so well put together, but it might actually mean those cars be worth buying?
How's the weight distribution on the Z28? That's always what I think about the cars from USA. While it can probably be quite good, there must be some sort of trade-off with having those large engines.
S60R thou? They are really not all that impressive. They feels incredibly sluggish to drive.
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Post by Travis "Zombie" Mihm on Oct 15, 2013 13:01:33 GMT -5
The LS7 is an all-aluminum smallblock. IIRC the SS already has around 52/48 weight distribution. The Z28 will likely have somewhere between that and 50/50.
When I think of the weight properties of a car, I'm way more concerned about the height of the center of gravity, which is not well published; wonder why! You can have perfect weight balance, but if the CG is high up in the chassis it's still going to handle like shit. Just evenly shitty between front and rear. But if you have a car with a super low CG and 60/40 balance, it's still going to handle pretty damn good.
I mean, look at Porsche haha. The 996 was 40/60, and the one before that was 38/62!
-Travis
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 13:33:35 GMT -5
Yeah you're right of course. But I think with having a decent CoG and a 50/50, you will always have a "drivers car". Look at BMW;) All respect to Porsche for getting such an idiotic placement of engine to work properly. But in all honesty, Porsches arent the easiest things to drive quickly, especially not the not new versions.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 21:55:00 GMT -5
Here ya go Travis! Details of how and why the z/28 was built! I love the first paragraph: "There are two reasons why the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 exists right now: To give longtime Camaro fans a true track car and, according to its top engineer, to "beat the shit out of anything Ford can put out on the road."" Linky
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