The Chevrolet Camaro is one of America’s iconic muscle cars. It should forever roar with the nicotine rattled dragon bark of an equally iconic Chevy small block V8.
The fact that Chevy now needs to offer a track-equipped V6 Camaro is a sad sign of our nation’s state of affairs. The fact that Chevrolet execs report wet-nosed performance drivers demanded such a car is outright heartbreaking.
It seems there’s some terror that the thought of a thirsty, beautifully powerful V8 engine strikes in the hearts of young turnips looking to muscle cars fearfully. Sure, they hope they might garner some masculinity off, say, a Camaro’s natural testosterone factor. But, a V8 evidently burns polar bear cubs instead of gas — and they’re just so gosh-darn loud.
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Don’t misunderstand me. The latest edition Camaro 1LE rolled out at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show looks to be an outstanding performance car for both track and road use. Chevy is rightly proud of it. Sporting the now-signature styling of the Six Generation Camaro, the 1LE offers everything from lightweight, sport tuned suspension through special issue Brembo brakes to maximize track performance.
The SS 1LE misbehaves with a right proper 6.2 liter, 455 horsepower V8 engine mated to a six speed manual transmission. If you want an automatic instead of that stick, go to hell. There isn’t one.
Beyond that beautiful engine, the SS 1LE enhances the track run with Magnetic Ride Control, an electronic limited-slip differential, forged-aluminum wheels, a special track cooling package, dual exhaust, Performance Data Recorder and an interior wrapped in suede.
It’s everything a Chevrolet Camaro track car must be.
Apparently, that wasn’t enough for some drivers with more neuroses than sperm cells — so those same drivers demanded a V6 version that cut two cylinders’ worth of weight and a few thousand dollars from the car.
Chevrolet reps insist the 3.6 liter, 335 horsepower V6 in the LT 1LE puts out comparable performance numbers to a standard Camaro V8 in track conditions. I’m sure that’s true as nothing would indicate the LT is somehow less well-engineered than the SS. But, the key world is “comparable.” If you’re buying a track bred Camaro, wouldn’t you want to erase the word “comparable” from your vocabulary considerations? You want “incomparable” V8 track power.
No doubt the bloodless swats who look to a V6 muscle car for track driving crawl into the driver’s seat wearing skinny jeans and worrying that calling a car “she” might be a micro-aggression. The reality that those drivers feel a V8 1LE is a little too much for them just indicates their entire lives are probably led by something a little too little.
