From the base V-6 to the top-of-the-line V-8 SS
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00:00 It's been 7 years since our last Camaro test and the long wait is about to end.
00:11 Today I'm at the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan where we're going to
00:14 test V6, V8, manual and automatic transmissions of all four Camaros.
00:19 Now the last time we did this it was an SS model, 2002, the hottest one you could get,
00:23 made 325 horsepower.
00:25 Today's V6 makes 304 and the V8 SS makes 426 horses with the 6-speed manual.
00:31 On paper it sure looks like they're going to give stiff competition to the 2010 Mustang.
00:35 But let's take them out, run our full battery of acceleration, braking and figure 8 handling
00:38 tests and see if they can talk the talk.
00:41 We had a nice cold morning for testing, 33 degrees or so which is great for engine performance,
00:47 not quite as great for grip, especially when two wheels are accelerating.
00:51 So that may be responsible for an interesting fact that we found 0-60 was slightly quicker
00:57 with the V8 automatic versus the V8 manual.
01:04 Had a little more trouble getting out of the box.
01:11 But the manual does pull ahead by the quarter mile with a 13.0 at 111 versus 13.1 at 107.5.
01:21 The V6 ran 6.0 with an automatic and 5.9 with a manual.
01:32 That's getting fairly close to the old day V8s that the Camaros used to run.
01:37 Quarter miles were 14.4 to 14.6 at between 96.3 and 98 miles per hour on the V6.
01:44 Stopping wise, all four were within a couple of feet of each other from 104.9 feet, 105
01:50 feet to 107.
01:52 So very impressive brakes.
01:53 Now both of the V6s had the optional 20 inch tires, so essentially all four cars were running
01:59 on the same tires, which accounts quite a bit for the closeness in those results.
02:05 On our skid pad, we tested the V6 and V8 and they were also very close.
02:10 26.3 at .75 G for the V6, 25.8 at .8 G for the V8.
02:24 Maximum G is slightly better with the V6 because it's lighter, .93 G and .90 for the V8,
02:31 a heavier car.
02:32 Obviously the average G is higher though because the V8 accelerates much harder out of the
02:37 turns.
02:41 Well there you have it.
02:42 At least at the track, the new Camaro appears poised to outperform its Mustang rival.
02:46 But stay tuned as we take these cars and the Dodge Challenger out into the real world to
02:50 see which car earns bragging rights as king of the modern day ponies.
02:53 [Music]
02:59 you