Camaro ZL1

The point of American muscle cars is that you never buy the sock car. They are meant to be given more and more power until they are almost unusable and then they are put on sale. Unfortunately with the new generation of the Chevy Camaro that huge power gain has not really happened... until now. 

This car just spits game. When you take one look at it you know that it means business. You see the new grill and the large front splitter and the outrageous body kit and paint. This car was made for one purpose only: speed. I have driven one of the V6 Camaros and I have to say that i liked it a lot. It paid homage to the last generation of Camaro but had a distinctly modern feel. It had 323 bhp under the hood and had the suspension from the Vauxhall Manaro. It had a few problems though.  Chief among which was that the visibility was horrible. It was like being in a tank. The gear change was extremely tough and the clutch was hard too. 

            This new Camaro, however, will be much different that the one that I drove. It borrows many technologies from the Corvette ZR1, like its groundbreaking traction control system. This system is considered to be top of its class, and it employs five traction control settings. Compared to the RS version, this new Camaro has an entirely beefed-up driveline, and a new 6-speed manual transmission. Compared to the 323 bhp of the V-6 Camaro, the new ZL1 has a reported 580 bhp, which is delivered at 6000 rpm. The new engine also gives out 556-lbs .ft of torque at 4200 rpm (Car and Driver). The engine that gives this power is a huge 6.2-liter supercharged V-8. The engine was lifted from the Cadillac CTS-V and tuned to give 24 more horsepower. This new car will also have 20-inch sport wheels and massive rear tires to put that huge power onto the road. Chevy have also put some carbon fiber into the mix and made the hood largely of the black weave.
            Chevy has not released all of the details about the new ZL1, but we can expect that it will come out in the summer as a 2013 model. More details should be available around January of 2012. It has been said that the ZL1 will cost around 47 grand, but that price could rise. The ZL1s main rival, the Shelby GT500, is 50 grand, which puts them in the right spot to be direct competitors. I think that this car will be a drag-strip monster, but I have my doubts that the chassis can hold all of that strain. This car is a real threat for the Shelby, but it will not be as track oriented as the Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca.