Thread Starter
#1
Here's the story of my journey to and with the Camaro . Thought it would be more interesting to put it that way than just doing a review. First a little history about me
I moved to the US back in Feb 2004 and the first thing that I noticed there was a clear pattern among desis and their car choices so here are some stereotypes that I came across.
1. Honda civic --> students or fresh off the boat professionals who are relatively new to the US
2. Toyota Corolla --> students or fresh off the boat professionals who are relatively new to the US
3. Honda Accord --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
4. Nissan Altima --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
4. Toyota Camry --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
5. Hyundai Sonata --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
6. Toyota Rav4 --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now and need an AWD to beat the winters.
7. Honda CRV --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now and need an AWD to beat the snow in winters.
8. Honda Odyssey --> Been in the US for 4+ years got married and probably 2 or more kids and need something bigger to fit the family in
9. Toyota Sienna --> Been in the US for 4+ years got married and probably 2 or more kids and need something bigger to fit the family in
10. Kia Sedona --> Been in the US for 4+ years got married and probably 2 or more kids and need something bigger to fit the family in
And this is primarily due to the fact that most of us indians are very practical when it comes to car choices and of course most of the stereotypes described above and are less willing to take risks so they go with the tried and tested stuff. And also for most folks a car is just a means to get from point A to point B.
Thankfully I was neither practical nor wise back then [still ain't]
so I went for the biggest car with the biggest engine I could find for my $6500 back in 2005. Enter the gargantuous 2000 Chrysler concorde lxi with a decent V6 that had 225 horses. I got it for a steal at the time and it has been one of the best choices I have ever made. I've driven it for 75000 miles in the last 7 years and with 120K miles on the odo now it has never given me any problems till date apart from regular maintenance stuff like rotors , tires , pads etc
Anyways this review is not about the concorde it's about the camaro so moving on. In 2006 when Chevy revealed the concept camaro it was love at first sightfor me. There's something about it that just floors you. At that time however I never imagined it would ever come in production given the economic conditions in the US and GM's precarious perch.
GM is also known as Goverment Motors in the auto circles in the US because of all the bailouts it recieved. Also I never thought I would ever be in a position to get one even if it did come out. Plonking down 40K that too for a coupe is probably not the wisest thing to do. Arre bhai Log kya kahenge.. Not that I personally give a ****.
Anyways fast forward to 2009 and GM announces the launch of camaro in 2010 and the orders start to fly in for GM. People are ready to wait 8-10 months for their camaros. Remember the mustang , camaro and challenger are iconic cars that have a very long history that spans decades.
So there were tons of folks who had a lot of history attached to the pony cars and they were all set to lap up the new camaro when it launched. And that was exactly what happened. Not that I had any history with anything to do with pony cars but still it was cool to know that.
I had been drooling over the SS version [SuperSport] and lurking on the camaro5 forums since 2010 and finally when I figured I had enough to put down for it went in for a test drive in May 2010.
Having never driven anything that had more than 300 horses before it was a huge rush.The feeling of being thrown back in the seat with just a slight tap was awesome.![[drive]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Drive.gif "Drive [drive]")
The rumble of the V8 was intoxicating. . Could have been louder though. I just have a thing for V8 rumble. Couldnt drive it for too long since the sales guy was breathing down my neck but I did get to punch it around for a bit and that really did it for me. Decision made.
I did do my research on the competition and at the time it was a very close call on the performance numbers between the closest competitor [i.e. Mustang GT] . I do love the way the Challenger looks [better than the Mustang] but it was a slouch compared to the SS and GT and also it wasn't even cheap. Mustang lost out for me in the looks department and also because the Coyote Engine was newly introduced in the 2011 version of the GT and it wasn't well established like the LS3 and L99 powerplants.
Somewhere along the way there was also the "convincing the wife bit" that I had to do. I explained how vital it was to have all those 400+ horses to get me to the grocery store and back.. Kidding.![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
. My wife's a real sport and she didn't give me any hell for my choice.
I'm truly blessed. Thank you god again.
So onto the haggling process. I made a build order on the chevy website and passed it on to 10-12 dealers in a 40 mile radius and got my nearest dealer to price match the lowest quote that I had gotten from another dealer. Standard operating procedure. Always get the lowest quote you can find and then try to price match it with the dealer nearest to you. Works most of the time.
I went for the 2011 2SS [Super Sport] trim with the RS [Rally Sport] and stripes package [as close to Bumblebee as I could get without opting for the Transformers edition]. The color I went with was Rally Yellow [Don't ask me why . It's loud I know but I just loved the way it looked. Not to mention yellow and white are the easiest colors to keep clean. Big Adam's product fan here by the way. Victory Red would have been my second choice.
I could have picked up a camaro from the dealer lot but the fact that you have less wiggle room in negotiating and also the fact that you won't get exactly what you want in terms of color choices and package options was not appealing to me. So I went the ordering route. Put in the order in July 2010 . The wait was agonizing . I used to monitor the build process like a hawk every evening after coming from work and even while at work actually. Also made some friends along the way who were in my same TPW batch in the build process thanks to the camaro forums. TPW = Target Production Week. We used to all give each other dilasa that your camaro would be home soon. And these are folks I've never met or seen before in completely different states. Funny how an automobile can bring people from different continents together. This went on for about 10 weeks and finally in September 2010 I check the status and voila its been delivered to the dealer. Took the day off and rushed to the dealer and lo and behold there she was all shiny and new. My first ever first hand car purchase [Another milestone checked].
Finished the last bit of paperwork at the dealership in a hurry and I was out of there in a flash. The drive back home was the awesomest time of my life. The amount of rubbernecking I got from people on my way back just made the stupid grin on my face from wide to mega wide [In the camaro world its better known as the permagrin].
Anwyay reached home and I was in the garage for at least an hour or 2 . And throughout the day in fact throughout the next couple of weeks I used kept visiting the garage to check on my baby with that permagrin patched on my face. She was cleaned after almost every time she came back from a drive. Although that ritual lasted only for the first couple of months after which I used to clean her once a week. She's garage kept for the most part so doesn't see a whole lot of dust other than the daily commute. She has been hand washed by me ever since I got her . Don't want no swirl marks from the local car washes.
I went with the automatic which has the L99 powerplant [rated at 400HP which is 26 less than the LS3 manual variant]. It was going to be my daily driver plus I had heard about issues with the manual transmission on the SS so went with the more reliable version even though it had wee bit lesser juice.
The camaro now comes in 2 specs [US and European] . The European spec has uglier larger mirrors and also slightly different looking tail lights and extra crash sensors.
Ho -hum feeling sleepy now so off to catch some winks
To be continued
I moved to the US back in Feb 2004 and the first thing that I noticed there was a clear pattern among desis and their car choices so here are some stereotypes that I came across.
1. Honda civic --> students or fresh off the boat professionals who are relatively new to the US
2. Toyota Corolla --> students or fresh off the boat professionals who are relatively new to the US
3. Honda Accord --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
4. Nissan Altima --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
4. Toyota Camry --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
5. Hyundai Sonata --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now
6. Toyota Rav4 --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now and need an AWD to beat the winters.
7. Honda CRV --> Been in the US for a couple of years probably got married maybe even a kid now and need an AWD to beat the snow in winters.
8. Honda Odyssey --> Been in the US for 4+ years got married and probably 2 or more kids and need something bigger to fit the family in
9. Toyota Sienna --> Been in the US for 4+ years got married and probably 2 or more kids and need something bigger to fit the family in
10. Kia Sedona --> Been in the US for 4+ years got married and probably 2 or more kids and need something bigger to fit the family in
And this is primarily due to the fact that most of us indians are very practical when it comes to car choices and of course most of the stereotypes described above and are less willing to take risks so they go with the tried and tested stuff. And also for most folks a car is just a means to get from point A to point B.
Thankfully I was neither practical nor wise back then [still ain't]
so I went for the biggest car with the biggest engine I could find for my $6500 back in 2005. Enter the gargantuous 2000 Chrysler concorde lxi with a decent V6 that had 225 horses. I got it for a steal at the time and it has been one of the best choices I have ever made. I've driven it for 75000 miles in the last 7 years and with 120K miles on the odo now it has never given me any problems till date apart from regular maintenance stuff like rotors , tires , pads etc Anyways this review is not about the concorde it's about the camaro so moving on. In 2006 when Chevy revealed the concept camaro it was love at first sightfor me. There's something about it that just floors you. At that time however I never imagined it would ever come in production given the economic conditions in the US and GM's precarious perch.
GM is also known as Goverment Motors in the auto circles in the US because of all the bailouts it recieved. Also I never thought I would ever be in a position to get one even if it did come out. Plonking down 40K that too for a coupe is probably not the wisest thing to do. Arre bhai Log kya kahenge.. Not that I personally give a ****.
Anyways fast forward to 2009 and GM announces the launch of camaro in 2010 and the orders start to fly in for GM. People are ready to wait 8-10 months for their camaros. Remember the mustang , camaro and challenger are iconic cars that have a very long history that spans decades.
So there were tons of folks who had a lot of history attached to the pony cars and they were all set to lap up the new camaro when it launched. And that was exactly what happened. Not that I had any history with anything to do with pony cars but still it was cool to know that.
I had been drooling over the SS version [SuperSport] and lurking on the camaro5 forums since 2010 and finally when I figured I had enough to put down for it went in for a test drive in May 2010.
Having never driven anything that had more than 300 horses before it was a huge rush.The feeling of being thrown back in the seat with just a slight tap was awesome.
The rumble of the V8 was intoxicating. . Could have been louder though. I just have a thing for V8 rumble. Couldnt drive it for too long since the sales guy was breathing down my neck but I did get to punch it around for a bit and that really did it for me. Decision made. I did do my research on the competition and at the time it was a very close call on the performance numbers between the closest competitor [i.e. Mustang GT] . I do love the way the Challenger looks [better than the Mustang] but it was a slouch compared to the SS and GT and also it wasn't even cheap. Mustang lost out for me in the looks department and also because the Coyote Engine was newly introduced in the 2011 version of the GT and it wasn't well established like the LS3 and L99 powerplants.
Somewhere along the way there was also the "convincing the wife bit" that I had to do. I explained how vital it was to have all those 400+ horses to get me to the grocery store and back.. Kidding.
. My wife's a real sport and she didn't give me any hell for my choice. I'm truly blessed. Thank you god again.
So onto the haggling process. I made a build order on the chevy website and passed it on to 10-12 dealers in a 40 mile radius and got my nearest dealer to price match the lowest quote that I had gotten from another dealer. Standard operating procedure. Always get the lowest quote you can find and then try to price match it with the dealer nearest to you. Works most of the time.
I went for the 2011 2SS [Super Sport] trim with the RS [Rally Sport] and stripes package [as close to Bumblebee as I could get without opting for the Transformers edition]. The color I went with was Rally Yellow [Don't ask me why . It's loud I know but I just loved the way it looked. Not to mention yellow and white are the easiest colors to keep clean. Big Adam's product fan here by the way. Victory Red would have been my second choice.
I could have picked up a camaro from the dealer lot but the fact that you have less wiggle room in negotiating and also the fact that you won't get exactly what you want in terms of color choices and package options was not appealing to me. So I went the ordering route. Put in the order in July 2010 . The wait was agonizing . I used to monitor the build process like a hawk every evening after coming from work and even while at work actually. Also made some friends along the way who were in my same TPW batch in the build process thanks to the camaro forums. TPW = Target Production Week. We used to all give each other dilasa that your camaro would be home soon. And these are folks I've never met or seen before in completely different states. Funny how an automobile can bring people from different continents together. This went on for about 10 weeks and finally in September 2010 I check the status and voila its been delivered to the dealer. Took the day off and rushed to the dealer and lo and behold there she was all shiny and new. My first ever first hand car purchase [Another milestone checked].
Finished the last bit of paperwork at the dealership in a hurry and I was out of there in a flash. The drive back home was the awesomest time of my life. The amount of rubbernecking I got from people on my way back just made the stupid grin on my face from wide to mega wide [In the camaro world its better known as the permagrin].
Anwyay reached home and I was in the garage for at least an hour or 2 . And throughout the day in fact throughout the next couple of weeks I used kept visiting the garage to check on my baby with that permagrin patched on my face. She was cleaned after almost every time she came back from a drive. Although that ritual lasted only for the first couple of months after which I used to clean her once a week. She's garage kept for the most part so doesn't see a whole lot of dust other than the daily commute. She has been hand washed by me ever since I got her . Don't want no swirl marks from the local car washes.
I went with the automatic which has the L99 powerplant [rated at 400HP which is 26 less than the LS3 manual variant]. It was going to be my daily driver plus I had heard about issues with the manual transmission on the SS so went with the more reliable version even though it had wee bit lesser juice.
The camaro now comes in 2 specs [US and European] . The European spec has uglier larger mirrors and also slightly different looking tail lights and extra crash sensors.
Ho -hum feeling sleepy now so off to catch some winks
To be continued
![ilango[speed thirst]](/forums/data/avatars/m/0/80.jpg?1543402189){kind=avatar}
![[thumbswink]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Thumbs%20&%20Wink.gif "Thumbs & Wink [thumbswink]")
![[rules]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Rules.gif "Rules [rules]")
The first picture itself is a drool stuff.
![[clap]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif "Clap [clap]")
![[sad]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Sad.gif "Sad [sad]")
