Hey Piglet, could you make me one of these...?

No Camaro yet, but I do have a Challenger and a Mustang.. :engel016:

Shelby_GT6.jpg


Challenger_cup40.jpg
 
cheezyflier said:
gm is weird. they had a far better car and they killed it to make the current camaro? that car still couldn't beat this one, which is already 8 years old:

hppp_0704_01_z+2000_pontiac_firebird_trans_am_WS6+side.jpg
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First off, again, I "only" have the V6. Despite that V6 having better horsepower than all but the highest-performance '02 Firebird V8s (the current SS has over 120 hp more than my V6, incidentally), it is still a six cylinder. So the comparable Firebirds could beat out my V6 Camaro (barely, in most cases), while the higest performance naturally-aspirating ones would lose to the current SS. The ram-air version can beat an SS, but that's hardly a fair comparison and just to make sure, there's supposed to be a new Z/28 in development with enough stock torque and horsepower to take on the Ford GT500, to say nothing of the Firebirds.

Second, the Camaro didn't kill the Firebird - depending on how you look at it, either the Pontiac GTO killed it off (by replacing it - eight years ago, as you pointed out, the same time the 4th gen Camaro went away) or Pontiac's recent discontinuation did (which had nothing to do with the new Camaro, already designed and entering production months before Pontiac's closure was announced).

Furthermore, since the Firebird has long been closely related to the Camaro anyway (especially in the case of that 4th gen you've shown, the major difference was always in the body panels bolted to the F-body chassis. Compare the performance and styling of an '02 SS to an '02 Trans-Am and you'll see), you can claim the Firebird is still here. To help you with that idea, there's even an aftermarket company out there planning to do "Firebird" conversions to the Camaro (as usual, just a difference of body panels).

My apologies at getting bent out of shape, but this is my new rocketship, after all. Can't allow any insults to her awesomeness go! :icon_lol:
 
To further silence the evil critics:

OBIO: to the best of my knowledge, the Taurus SHO is the highest-performance trim level in their selection, and uses forced-induction to boot. Okay, well and good, but my Camaro isn't the highest-performance Camaro available. Even without putting a twin turbo in the SS's 426 hp, 420 ft-lb torque engine, and you'd leave the SHO in the dust while still saving a couple thousand dollars. Put the turbo in there, and... oh, excuse me, I just drooled all over the keyboard. Haha

Bjoern, I've already met three people who've owned the original generation, '67-'69 Camaros, and all three have gushed over how amazing the new ones look & how much mine reminds them of their old ones. I even got a thumbs-up from a Ferrari driver a couple days ago. So there. ;)
 
I don't know if they would turbo the Z-28, but gen4 had a nice aftermarket supercharger setup available....

Plus, there is the supercharged V-8 from the Corvette ZR1 they could drop in...

On the otherhand, they did drop the Buick turbo V-6 into the Firebird (gen3). That was nice too...

Brian
 
From what I've read, it seems like Chevy is aiming to create a GT500-killer with something like 560 hp, so some sort of forced induction would certainly help quite a bit. But you're right, the aftermarket is alive for this car.

People are even putting turbos on the V6, which seems ridiculous until you consider that in the last couple years the Ford Mustang GT went from 300 hp to 315 hp almost solely due to the addition of a performance cold air intake. With a V6 coming that close to the performance of the latest V8 version of the original pony car, the Camaro forums are abuzz figuring out how to equal the performance of the Mustang GT. Weight you can't do much about (and the Camaro has much more than the Mustang, though I can tell you it feels pretty nimble on the road), and a CAI won't close the 25 ft-lb difference between the two by more than a couple foot-pounds despite strong suspicions that the V6's LLT engine has a LOT more to offer but was electronically detuned by Chevy to meet fuel economy standards, but it is still temptingly close, enough that a decent FI system could put you over the Mustang GT while still saving money over actually buying one - and looking better all throughout, lol. Even I, a pretty practical guy (...for a Camaro owner... ;) ) have been considering at least a CAI for my V6. I guess I'm turning into an amateur gearhead...
 
i wasn't saying that the camaro killed the firebird. gm did that by creating a car that was bloated and overpriced. (unless you bought the full-boogie ws6 like i posted) even if you did buy the ws6 it was fast, but for the $$ it wasn't the best "bang for your buck" even if you only considered american cars. i posted it because i think the ws6 is still the most awesome non-corvette american sportscar ever made. even though it was over priced.
sure the buick grand national was cool, but it was a muscle car, not a sports car.

the firebird and the camaro were always (as far as i understood them) meant to be like cousins. one fast, yet somewhat basic, the other fast, yet a little more luxury and refinement. i didn't realize you were saying that was your car you posted. i wouldn't kick it outta bed for eatin crackers, if you know what i mean. just not my personal fav. congrats :applause:
 
Lazerbrainz2k3 said:
Bjoern, I've already met three people who've owned the original generation, '67-'69 Camaros, and all three have gushed over how amazing the new ones look & how much mine reminds them of their old ones. I even got a thumbs-up from a Ferrari driver a couple days ago. So there. ;)
Click to expand...

Well, whatever makes you happy. :d


Just told what *I* think about this car. ;)
 
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