I see what young Nasty is trying to say.
He thinks that the 5th gen is not a Camaro at all. Its just a futuristic space car that just so happens to wear ill fitting skin of a 69 and share a name.
It has modern fandangled doohickies such as IRS, active fuel management, 6 air bags standard, advanced stability and traction controls, and other things that Camaros shouldnt have.
Nasty is one of the "box with a big engine in it" people. These people are not aligned with any brand, name plate, or vehicle, but just that its a box with a big engine in it.
Had this been a leaf spring'ed 12 bolted M-22 shifting 454 2010 Camaro SS, he would outdo even myself in the nutswinging. He has not evolved his thinking to what a modern sports car is. These knuckel draggers are somewhere between the Mustang GT500 and the Challenger.
Now some of you might like thoes type of cars, as do I, but we have evolved our thinking of what a MODERN sports car must have to survive.
If we look at the evolution of Camaro, we can see that as every generation moved foward, the angle was more on total package then straight performance. While Mustang was the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-sales type car, the Camaro had a goal of being the total package car. Second gens brought this foward with just the idea of European styling. Front wheel disk brakes standard, assortment of engines as well as the road-racing Z28 car leading the pack. While Ford just had a million variations of thier Mustang. The GT, Boss cars, Cobra's, GT350 and GT500's, there was just so much that clouded the Mustang, and by the mid 70's it was a big Pinto.
Camaro moved on, developing an all new platform for 82, and this is what I equate the 5th gen too.
In 1982, the conventional thought was leaf springs and SLA front end. But Camaro came out with a McPherson strut front end, and a multilink solid rear end using coil springs. It blew the Mustang, and many others in and out of its class, out of the water reguarding its handling. While its 305's didnt blaze any new records, the car still took MT's Car of the Year. Few years later, in came the IROC package, and the car became better and better. Then powertrains started to catch up and by 1992, the Z28 with the B2L/L98 was probably the best bang for the buck car on the road.
The 4th gens took the evolution to the next level. They pushed foward with the performance almost too far. 275hp in the days of 150hp family sedans ruled the roads. With the added performance came loss of ergonomics, added with subpar quality materials, and you had a performance machine that would rattle the fun right out of it.
The 5th gen brings yet another evolution to the game. Step up in the handling, step up in the ride, step up in performance, and a step up in design. A move to higher quality interiors, and a move to better ergonomics, this car is designed for the modern age. Sure its design makes you drool, but its not too loud that it will scare the neighbors. It will supply a nice package, and thats just the V6. No longer will the V6 car be the fall back car, but the car that people would like to own because this car is a great deal. It looks good, it sounds good, it performs great, it feels great, and it wont rape your wallet at the dealer or at the pump.
Some people still think the world is flat. Thoes people drive LS1 cars and think that the 5th gen is a POS. Impossible they say...IRS, 300hp, 6spd manual or auto trans, quality interior materials, superior crash saftey, great gas milage, and amazing looks, and starting for under 23k? That could never happen.
Well to thoes people, I give you the globe
...
got ya
