STi

hey all

i was just wondering what you thought about camaros?

i have around 10-11K and i was wondering if this would be a nice car to pick up? for some reason, these cars seem to be fairly cheap and attractive to me :P


how are they on gas/insurance/reliability?

thanks for any input

Tech

gas - so-so, depends if it's the V6 or a V8 really
insurance - high
reliability - pretty reliable, plus plenty of aftermarket and surplus parts. very easy to fix, so it tends to costs less

but if you really want a camaro, you want it because they are a BLAST to drive. big engine, RWD, 5-speed (hopefully) low stance. they are great. but they are fun and fast, hopefully that's what you are looking for

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Halx

In my definition of a 'good car' the camaro fails pretty hard. Others, who care only about going fast and looking cool will tell you it's an awesome car.

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Ilow

IMHO you could do a lot better than a Camaro for 10-11k. But if doing donuts is you thing, then that's your car.

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Faygo

Good, hmmmm not in my definition. Fast, yes, cheap to fix, yes easy to find part, yes. I'd get a toyota or honda if you want good.

merkerguitars

Lots of upgrades out there makes it a big plus....they are pretty tricky to work on since its such a cramped engine compartment (the last gen)...you can get one for a good price, only problem is around here too many people own one. What exact generation are you looking at?

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shakran

for your price range you can get some low-miles (40k or so) late 90's Toyota Supra Turbos. I'll stack that up against a Camaro any day of the week.

Nimisys

its hard to argue against the ls1 f-body as a performance platfrom. 300hp, 6 speed, RWD, Torsen LSD. arguably more go fast parts aviable for it then you can find porn. mechaincly the drivetrain and engine are among the most reliable ever produced. fit and finish issues inside and the abundant use of plastic haunt the interior however.

powerclown

That much scratch can get you into a very nice camaro z28, which is the only model you want. If your going to spend 10-11k, you want the top of the line 6-speed (or auto, I guess) 350 c.i. V8, t-tops, cd player, auto everything, leather. Like Halx said, there's nothing 'quality' about the car, its all about a huge V8 with a ton of thrust, an awesome V8 rumble and roar, and very nice handling. Looks are subjective; I like the look. Reasonable to horrible on gas, insurance expensive to outrageous depending on your drving record/age, reliability above average in my experience. Mine never had any major problems at all.

I also like shakran's idea about the Supra Twin Turbo too. I like that car a lot. An inexpensive Porsche 928. Seriously fast car, luxurious leather interior. Better gas mileage, too. You can get a great car for that money, goodluck.

shakran

Yeah, porsche is a good one too. Only thing on that you have to be careful of is maintenence costs. They're through the roof!

powerclown

Heh, I worded it badly. I was referring to the Supra Turbo as an inexpensive Porsche 928; it reminds me of the 928, though I like the Supra's interior better. I don't think $25k could get you a decent 928, wish it could though...

shakran

I was kinda wondering, but I figured you knew something about 928's that I didn't


OH! also, check into the 2nd gen MR2 turbos. Those things are very respectable stock, and they can be made into beasts.

Glava

I have no idea about last generation, but my grandfather has an '87 Camaro. The engine compartment is designed to fit a 5.7L V-8, but he has a 2.8L V-6, so the amount of room left is ridiculously large.

krwlz

Unless you are gunna go old school, restoration project (60's)... Personally there isnt a camaro out there worth 10-11k.

Id second the Supra, and the Mr2 personally.

Ilow

For some reason, I'm guessing that if he is considering a Camaro he may not be considering Japanese cars, regardless of how nice they are.. I know it's an assumption...

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Nimisys

that brings up a good point, on the LT1 4th gen camaros, in car maintance sucks ass, for just about every job. ever remove an exhast manifold to replace the sparkplugs? buy an LT1 camaro and you will. not to mention the brilliant idea of the sealed optical spark ditributor under the waterpump weephole. waterpump goes bad, coolant gets into the distabutor, rusts and corrodes the optical disk and now your engne timing is junk. not a cheap part to replace, or an easy part to get to in them.

for what its worth however the 6speed cars can do high twenties to low thirties on the highway due to a rediculous overdrive overdrive of 1:0.51 in 6th gear. reality is that stock for stock a ls1 camaro will eat a stock twin turbo supera on the street.

irseg

That's the problem with those cars. They're made for and marketed to younger guys who beat the living hell out of them. Then when it comes time for maintenance they say "You have to do WHAT and it's gonna cost me HOW MUCH to change the spark plugs?! Screw it, I'm gonna sell this damn thing!"

They're nice looking, powerful, handle well, and are pretty dependable considering how they're usually driven. But the interior is really cheap, uncomfortable, and is quite hard to see out of. I'd say drive a few and see what you think. If you want a flashy car for tooling around town it'd be a good choice, but it'd probably suck if you go on a lot of long trips.

1slOwCD8

A little off subject, but since its in the topic. Have they stopped making the camaro? I justed noticed it, i dont really see very many around, and havent seen any new generations for 05 like the new mustang. I searched chevy.com and couldnt find any info.

Ilow

yeah, there's no more Camaro. I think they stopped after last year, but I didn't really pay attention. There's talk of a redesign and reissue in another year or three.

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GetRdone

Location matters to if u look at it. Around here (midwest; Wisconsin) we can find Camaros in every year condition option etc for almost ayn price, but good luck finding a decent Twin Turbo Supra for that money. The value of those cars is waaaay over what it should be because or rarity, and because of how many people have already modified them. You can however find a N/A supra and turbo it for relatively low cost, instead of struggling to find a turbo one. The 2jz-gte motor is a beast and can hold over 600 hp on the stock bottom end if you are careful.

Lockjaw

They stopped making the Camaro in 02 actually. As far as power potential the LS1 is pretty stout itself.

While it won't eat tons of boost like a Supra it can get scary fast really easily.

Lid,head,cam package some bolt ons and a hefty shot of nitrous and you'll be eating up most things on the street with little problem.
Check out
ls1.com to see what I mean. And as far as no Camaro being worth 11k...let's just say I strongly disagree with that and I don't even really like the last generation cars all that much but they were a bargin for 26k when they came out and they certainly are worth 10-11k now.

pocon1

Don't listen to the naysayers. If you want a Camaro, get one. As far as turbos, turbos are great but not cheap. Imagine replacing two. If I had to pick an all-around car, I would not choose a Camaro. But if you want something fast that is inexpensive, a Camaro will serve you right right out of the box. You could buy two camaros for the price of a worn-out supra. Obviously, don't get a v-6 because every little ricer will want to challenge you. Gas mileage, my co-worker had one and he got 25 to 26 mpg on the highway. I think 60 mph was under 2,000 rpms.
They have a ton of power, and actually handle really well. I cannot comment on the interior, but I think some of the exteriors look pretty good (if you want to stand out).
Me personally, I would not get one except for as a track car (plus the wife would kill me), but if you like it, then get it.

GetRdone

ooh ooh, i wish i still had the link, but yesterday i found a police interceptor model camaro. It was black with 18" polished wheels, and had a big freakin supercharger under the hood. It was under 10k and it was on ebaymotors i think,

Spyder_Venom

Well, I am an Fbody 'guy' if you will. We choose the Fbody platform over the Mustang, Corvette, 300ZX, RX7, M3 and the Supra when we build my firebird 3 years ago. Although all cars have there up sides and down sides (and yes, even a supra has a down side) we felt that for what we were doing at the track, you couldn't find a better package for the money. The major points we considered were:

1. Cheap, for the car itself, for parts - every thing is cheap.

2. Reliable, the motors will by far, outlast any other car I listed (exc Corvette, same motor) in a road racing situation. When it comes time to do a freshen up, the LT1 or the LS1 is cheap in compairision to the 2JZ, 4.6 DOHC or any rotary motor. The stock 7.5" 10 bolt is a little weak once you start laying down the power, but if you don't abuse the car you'll be just fine. There are also many aftermarket, bolt in rear ends from companies like Moser that even give you the ability to keep ABS if you desire. The trannys are rock solid, it's a T56, the same tranny that is behind the Vipers V10.

3. Cornering, while they maybe not as good as a RX7 stock, these cars with very minor modifications can do over 1G on the skid pad. This would be more than adiquate on the street. I really wish this car had a IRS for the track, but it is defently nice not having an expensive Dana rearend in the back to worry about like on the Corvette. Only on tracks like Black Hawk Farms do I yearn for a lighter, more nimble car. On almost any other track the car has the ability to run with the best of them in the corners.

4. Mechanical, these cars are by far the easiest to work on. Have you looked at a 300ZX? OMFG, that is a mess I would never want to drive into. While some people may compain about the Optispark being a POS, I have over 25k on mine, but that is all racing miles - with several blown up water pumps that spewed crap all over it - not one problem. In 1995 they went to a vented Opti, this greatly increased the life of the distributor. While it isn't a cure, it elimintated a lot of the problem by allowing trapped moister to exit the distro. Most people see over 100k on an Opti, and it's an afternoon job for a shade tree mechanic to replace. Keep in mind that this is not a factor on the LS1 cars, they got rid of the damn thing

5. Braking, the stock brakes are a little under powered on the LT1 cars, the LS1 cars (and for 10k, you should defently get a LS1) are a lot better becuase they switched to the 2 piston caliper. If you do get an LT1 you can do the LS1 swap or find a pair of the two piston PBR calipers found on the C4 corvette or any 1LE camaro.

6. The aftermarket for these cars is 2nd only to the Mustang. There are more parts, for a cheaper price for the Fox bodys and the SN95 cars - but the Fbody comes in a very close second. Everything from cat backs to coilovers are avalible for these cars - cheap. Another nice thing is that almost all wearable parts are avalible from a aftermarket manufature unlike most of the Jap and Euro cars. It's nice when you can buy a sealed wheel bearing assembly (or what ever it may be) from a WD and don't have to go through the dealer. It literally cuts my wearable budget in half from the price savings of going to a non-OE piece for bearings, u-joints, ball joints etc.

7. Stubs, while this is something that you shouldn't worry about - it was a concern for me. There are pre-fabricated stubs in the event that you torque up the subframe. If you were to do this on a street car it would be totaled, collect your insurance check and get another - if you ever want to make a track car, its a great way to save money over a custom fab stub.

All in call if you like the lines of the car they are a good solid car that can be easly driven daily. Even on the V8 models, you can see over 25 MPG on the freeway. If you like the car - get one, and happy shopping!

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animal909

Camaro isn't a cruiser either, you always have to be on top of it while driving. Don't discount the v-6 either, its not close to being fast as the LS-1, but the OHV 3.8 is a proven engine. The 1989 turbo trans am with the 3.8 makes approximately 350 rwhp with a manny swap.

It has to be the LS-1, don't get the LT-1. Interior is fugly in IMO, but you won't really be looking at that. Visibility is lame in all directions, and stock handling is ok.

If you want a supra, then you'll be stuck with an early 90's model and nothing with a modern design. On autotrader, the last gen supra cost more than 20k for NA. IMO, as nice as the supra is, its more of a dyno queen with lots of peak and raw horsepower but is not a great track car cause of traction issues. Just to much power for the rear wheels but it is nice to know you can get 600 rwhp on stock internals.

ShaniFaye

I will just say that I have a 1995 model (automatic) 3.4 liter and it is by far my favorite car. I had 1992 anniversary edition (5 speed) and IMO this one is better than that one. Its got 140k miles on it, but still runs like its brand new. Even for a V6 its got some kick ass get up and go (Im not as technical as ya'll on this car stuff but...) from dead stop it gets up to 60 pretty quick (no I dont know how many seconds, I know that if Im getting on the interstate that I can already be doing 70 by the time I get to the bottom of the on ramp)

Insurance is great...but then Im 36, so that probably makes a differenc... I pay 750 a year for full coverage on it. I've had several camaros (this is my 5th) and It would take a LOT for me to part with it.

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Ilow

anybody else notice that the original poster hasn't reponded? [sigh]

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c172g

I have a 1973 Camaro. Although irrelevant to what you are probably looking at, I have dumped over 15 grand into mine. While it looks very nice & sounds good, and will outrun just about anything that's not a motorcycle, save your money for a better car. The 80's plus versions of the Camaro were in my opinion junk. If you are bying an older classic Camaro RS or SS for 10 or 11, you'll have very little work to do & a nice ride. Taking a car that started the pony car revolution (OK, the Mustang started it) and dumping a four cylinder in them (circa 1984) was disgusting. I'd look at a Mustang, or some of the Japan cars mentioned above if you want something sporty with balls.

tommylee02

What do you mean by good? A newer one is good for speed and power, but that's about it. Stuff rattles and the interior is chincy. If you're going for a classic that's awesome, but it won't provide a very comfy ride, and for that price, all you'll get is a fixer upper. I wouldn't waste my money on one, especially the low cost ones, you get what you pay for and I bet any Camaro owner wasn't drivin' the engine responsibly! If speed and power is all you want, though, go for it, just make sure to get it inspected by a mechanic that you trust, first!

Scorps

I have never owned one but would love to...the 2nd gen. I got a 350 5.7L with a TH400 tranny in my van and that thing moves for the big beast that it is, now if I could have that setup in a Camaro...Just try and race me

They are cheap to fix like everyone has said, just because its an american made car, If you go over seas the parts go up in price, just keep that in mind. I also think the 350 can out last any P.O.S. Honda out there, but steer clear of the 305 5.0L.

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LLL2

I also been looking at camaros,seen one in this local mag for cars for 12 grand,6 speed t-tops v8 .....But I'm having lots of doubt,because insurance will cost a bunch money,Then i think about a car payment ,then i think that someone probably drag race this car to the max and couldn't afford to keep up the repairs.Then i add them all together and it would cost me to much.

Scorps

You build a machine like that I would only drive it in the summer....and drive a 4 door P.O.S. in the winter