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Old 02-20-2018, 09:12 PM   #1
clyde
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I bought a pony car missing half the bangers

On Saturday, I bought a new 2017 Camaro Coupe 2.0L turbo with a six speed manual transmission. Exterior paint is Nightfall Gray Metallic and interior is Jet “Focking” Black. The only option is the Technology Package which replaces the 7” center stack screen with an 8” screen and upgrades the base stereo from awful suck to merely not good.

The main reason this post took so long is that I kept making attempts at writing up my buying experience. It was…involved. I’ll leave details for another time, but at the end, I bought the car with the best deal I could work. It was about $2,500 better than anywhere else, but I think I may have left up to $1,000 on the table…even if there was no way anyone would have given it to me. Whatever, I bought a new car exactly how I wanted it (well, if Krypton Green didn’t exist) for about $19k.

The big catch was that I had to drive from DC to Elyria, OH, about 375 miles one way with the possibility that the deal might not work out. But it did. And 300 of the miles back in the Camaro were in light snow.

There are a couple things about the deal that aren’t completely sitting well with me:
  • The finance rate is slightly higher than what I agreed to on the phone Friday. They credited me back the difference in payments, but still.
  • I’m nervous about how the titling and registration is being handled (they contract out to a third party for non-bordering states), but the process sounded convoluted. Not sure I have a choice other than riding it out and trusting that if it goes wrong, it will get worked out without too much hassle. Hopefully, I won’t have to expand on this in the next couple weeks.
  • After getting home and setting up on Chevy’s my.cherolet.com website, I saw all the warranties were keyed to an in-service date of 9/13/16, which is the invoice date. I called the 1-800 number on the website and it didn’t go well, but they opened a case. An hour later, I got an email from the F&I guy saying it would be updated to reflect an in-service date of 2/19 (but I bought on 2/17?). Again, hopefully this will be fine.
  • A couple other minor things not worth detailing here.

Despite the weather, the drive home went fine. Traffic wasn’t too bad.
  • It’s a nice car to sit in, but it’s tight.
  • There’s not much room for storage.
  • The stereo isn’t good.
  • CarPlay leaves something to be desired.
  • When driving, you can’t see shit over your left shoulder. The mirror seems to have fantastic coverage, but changing lanes to the left is scary. Backing out of parking spaces in a crowded lot is also nerve wracking. There’s a camera, and that helps, but it’s my first back up camera and I don’t trust it at all.
  • The ride is comfy, but tight. Not crashy, even on the PA Turnpike and all it’s ridiculous potholes.
  • The exhaust makes some noise. Not sure how much of what I’m hearing is electronic enhancement and how much is real, but I can hear it. It’s not V8 noises, so, meh.
  • The view out over the hood is very anti-FoST.
  • I miss HIDs, but the regular lights it has don’t seem bad
  • The windows fogged up a lot on the drive home. Not sure how much is because of design and how much is because it’s a car that’s been sitting for 17 months. There is a known issue with the windshield fogging in humid environments that I expect to suffer from in summer, but this was with the side windows. We’ll see.
  • I think I need to detail it/have it detailed. After sitting for over a year, water doesn’t exactly bead.
  • It has a 19.0 gallon tank. It gets 30+MPG freeway. I have 409 miles on it as of this evening and the computer says I can go another 100 or so.
  • Interesting note

But how does it really drive? Despite putting 400 miles on it, I’m not really sure. I didn’t really get on it, but it seems like the turbo is quite laggy compared to the FoST. When it comes on, it comes on a lot harder. But I still haven’t gone WOT. The shifter feels a little on the rubber side. At moderate speeds, body motions feel well controlled and everything is balanced, but no enough experience to really draw conclusions. The steering wheel is leather wrapped and the leather is very, very smooth. I’d prefer some texture. We’ll see how it gets with use. The steering is a lot slower than the FoST’s and that takes some getting used to. It’s electronic power and feedback doesn’t seem great, but it’s not nearly as dead and unfeeling as the FoST. It’s mind blowing to drive something again where steering and throttle feel so independent of each other.

Overall, I’m not sure how easy it will be to live with this car. It feels good to drive it. It seems really eager to play. I’m looking forward to that.

I am happy I bought it and am excited to see what happens next.

And odd thing, the mental picture I have of the car looks like a Challenger, not a Camaro. Not sure what that means.
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Old 02-20-2018, 09:45 PM   #2
Alan
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Get those round mirror thingies for the exterior mirrors ... sounds cheesy but I had them on the Vette with its big blind spots and it made life so much better.

A lot of what you described is really just getting used to a new and totally different car.

Please post some pics when you get some time ... Chevy did a great job on the design ... every time I see one I just think what a beautiful and bad ass looking car.

Congratulations !!
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:02 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
And odd thing, the mental picture I have of the car looks like a Challenger, not a Camaro. Not sure what that means.
Means you are really a Mopar guy, not a bow-tie guy at heart. LOL

Good luck that everything will work out - sounds like it should. Just may need some babysitting and massaging.

Good luck with the car itself as well.
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:02 PM   #4
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Cool.

Also cool: Listening to people who have never been to Elyria trying to pronounce Elyria.
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:20 PM   #5
rumatt
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Congrats!

Does it have performance tires? How fun was that driving in snow?

EDIT: Just saw it has all-seasons. Phew.
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:34 PM   #6
clyde
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Thanks, all!

It doesn't need the little mirror things. The FoST had similar auxiliary mirrors built in and they were great. In the Camaro, both side mirrors are convex enough to offer fantastic coverage as they sit. When the mirrors are set properly, there's no blind spot. It's learning to trust them without being able to directly confirm with a glance over the shoulder.

The Mopar thing, when we were 14 or 15, my best friend that lived a couple blocks up the street bought a 1951 DeSoto Coupe. I learned how to appreciate them then. He wouldn't let me touch it to work on it at all, but he let me ride in it after we had licenses.

Comes stock with GY Eagle Sport M+S rated all seasons. To listen to people on the Camaro forum, they do reasonably well.

Not sure I heard anyone at the dealer pronounce it. "El-EE-ri-ah" or "EL-I-rah" are the two I can think of. I'd probably use the latter.
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Old 02-20-2018, 11:24 PM   #7
Alan
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Ok cool ... how about some pics
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Old 02-20-2018, 11:32 PM   #8
wdc330i
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Mazel tov!
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Old 02-20-2018, 11:53 PM   #9
JST
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
Thanks, all!

It doesn't need the little mirror things. The FoST had similar auxiliary mirrors built in and they were great. In the Camaro, both side mirrors are convex enough to offer fantastic coverage as they sit. When the mirrors are set properly, there's no blind spot. It's learning to trust them without being able to directly confirm with a glance over the shoulder.

The Mopar thing, when we were 14 or 15, my best friend that lived a couple blocks up the street bought a 1951 DeSoto Coupe. I learned how to appreciate them then. He wouldn't let me touch it to work on it at all, but he let me ride in it after we had licenses.

Comes stock with GY Eagle Sport M+S rated all seasons. To listen to people on the Camaro forum, they do reasonably well.

Not sure I heard anyone at the dealer pronounce it. "El-EE-ri-ah" or "EL-I-rah" are the two I can think of. I'd probably use the latter.
Yeah, it's el--EER--i-yah.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:36 AM   #10
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I thought you had your sights on a ZL-1 ??

What'd I miss ??
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