carmudgeons.com  

Go Back   carmudgeons.com > Automotive Forums > Car Talk

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 02-20-2018, 09:12 PM   #1
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
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.
__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:28 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Forums © 2003-2008, 'Mudgeon Enterprises - Site hosting by AYN & Associates, LLC