The first time we experienced a major oil shock—the Disco-fabulous 1970s—it eviscerated the muscle-car scene, leaving us with neutered behemoths constructed with all the care of a North Korean knock-off Benz. In comparison, as today’s crude oil and prices at the pump again head north, muscle-car fans are still coming out winners. Ford’s Mustang Boss 302 is a track-attacking monster. And now Chevy is actually increasing the standard horsepower in its base V-6 2012 Camaro, from 312 to 323, while maintaining a 30-mpg highway rating.
Happy Birthday to You
For the hard-core Camaro community, though, the bigger news is the 45th Anniversary Edition Camaro. While a 45th birthday is less noteworthy than a 50th, who wants to wait another five years? By then, the Camaro will probably be a wheatgrass-electric hybrid. The 45th Anniversary package is available for the top-spec Camaro regardless of engine, and dresses up the car’s exterior with asymmetric hood and trunk-lid stripes, new-design 20-inch rims, a spoiler, and HID headlamps. Inside, the package splatters 45th Anniversary logos all over the place—seats, dash, instrument panel, steering wheel, sill plates—and trims the seats, steering wheel, shift boot, armrests, and center console in red, white, and blue contrast stitching. Disappointingly—but not surprisingly—it offers no performance upgrades. It should, however, look very sharp at the local Sunday-morning car club, alongside owners clad in Camaro hats, T-shirts, and windbreakers, clutching Camaro key chains and Camaro thermoses.
As for that smaller engine, GM’s 3.6-liter V-6 is its workhorse, powering everything from the Cadillac SRX (as of yesterday) to the Buick LaCrosse. The Camaro’s version is now dubbed LFX (in the past it was called LLT), and it makes 323 hp versus last year’s 312. The engine has longer-duration camshafts and an improved head design with larger intake valves. It drops 21 pounds, mostly thanks to a composite (read: plastic) intake manifold and lighter connecting rods, and Chevy says it is still good for 30 mpg on the highway.
On the dynamic front, engineers went to work on the chassis, sorting the stiff ride of the V-8-powered Camaro SS. The new suspension features retuned front and rear dampers, and new solid anti-roll bars front and rear. You know the drill though—we’ll believe it when we drive it.
Bye, Bye, Miss Steering-Wheel Pie
General Motors was also kind enough to clean up the Camaro’s interior for 2012. Most notably, the deep-dish steering wheel—the bane of people everywhere who like steering wheels—is gone, replaced with Chevrolet’s corporate tiller. The gauges dump the retro font from last year’s car, and the monolithic slab of cheap plastic that used to span the majority of the dash has been replaced with several smaller panels. (We just hope the quality is better.) To deal with the Camaro’s pillbox-inspired visibility problems, Chevy added a standard rear spoiler. Since there will now be absolutely no rearward visibility, a rearview camera system is available; it displays the image on a screen located in the rearview mirror.
If visibility is the only compromise we have to make with the new Camaro—and Chevrolet seems to be trying hard to provide it all in terms of power and economy—then it’s just another welcome sign that the 2010s will be a lot gentler on the auto industry than were the ’70s.
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