bascho

That's the sad truth for most concept-to-production vehicles

Japan8

Although the Viper and the Solstice seemed to have survived it well...

brillo

so did the mustang

I expect the car to be very close on the exterior, its the interior, like the mustang, that is going to prolly hurt the most. Then again, the solstice interior isn't have bad for being a hodge podge of gm parts

dillsrotary

i wish the production mustang wasn't as toned down as it is compared to the coupe concept.

i think its the little things that hurt it, not slanting from the the headlight to the grill. removing such an aggressive overhang on the front hood, plus the concept was lowered with 20inch wheels just to visually appeal. now those features i just mentioned are actually on the new GT500 but for some reason it still doesn't look as nice as the silver couple concept.

oh and to keep the thread on key here's the camaro concepts insides.

bascho

Oh....and the Concept Mustang had 400hp and the production car has 300hp. Oh wait, the concept Camaro states 400hp too!!! Let's see what they bring to production in 2008. I'm not saying they don't already have a 400hp LS2 available to them....but it's never been in a car with a base price of $25K which is where they need to be. I would expect an engine in the 330-350hp range with an 400hp LS2 SS version coming the next year. I don't see GM going over 400hp with the Camaro because there is no need. Ford doesn't have a Corvette competitor in the $50K price range......so it makes sense to build the GT500 with 500hp. GM has the Vette, so it makes no sense to have a high dollar Camaro with the LS7.

snizzle

I agree with you that Chevy will probably launch with a V6 and a V8 Z28 that'll compete with the GT. Ford will either bump their HP up on the base GT just in time for the launch or release another variant. I doubt Ford will allow the Z28/SS to smack around the GT this time around.

So if Chevy was to learn from their mistakes from the last gen Camaro, what do you think they would fix this time around? Performance certainly wasn't the problem. I've always thought they priced themselves out of the segment... especially on the high performance SS.

They still don't

bascho

I agree that they priced themself out of the segment.......and the body style changes were not radical enough (10 years of basically the same design).

therm8

Well the SS was mostly just apearance upgrades. The 330hp you could get on the Z28 with SLP upgrades at the dealer, for a lot less $.

This time around make the SS like those of old.

Better interior. I'm a fan of spartan interiors, but most have to have their leather, navigation, memory seats and all that garbage.

Don't use the LS1 for the Z, use the 4.4L engine mentioned above (the one the STS-V uses albeit supercharged). GMPP can market the supercharger for the aftermarket (450+hp). Has to have DoD though.

Keep the weight under 3500lbs. Or at least under 3500lbs if it's not fully optioned.

snizzle

No chance they use the Northstar.

I think the base Z will either be the LS4 bumped up in the 330 range or the 350HP LS1 used in the '04 GTO.

zoom44

i read something just yesterday or so that said there might not be a 6cyl available at all

snizzle

That would be a huge mistake. I see more V6 Mustangs than GTs... current and last gen.

bascho

If that's true then GM should expect low sales numbers.....which might not be a bad thing. The biggest complaint about the Mustang is how many of them litter the streets of Anytown USA. Having only V8 variants selling in the neighborhood of 30,000-50,000 units a year would definitely keep this baby unique vs the Mustang's 200,000 units a year including base V6 sales.

snizzle

Ford's accountants aren't complaining about how many Mustangs litter the streets.

bascho

That's for sure.

Clavius

Few things.. when I first read up on the Camaro when it came out the entire car was fabrictated from the wheels up. Pretty much everything was created just for the concept, where as the Challenger was created using a shortened frame of the 300/Magnum. When did they swipe a frame from Holden?

I'm happy the car is coming out but sad at the same time since everyone is bolstering about the Muscle Car Era is back when most of these supposed cars are way out of the price range of well High School/College students. Reason I bring this up is wheneva I read or watch a documentry about those oh so famous years is that most of the cars a kid in high school with a half way decent after school job could walk into a show room and buy one of these "bad boys". Be great if one of the US Auto Makers took one of their famous name plates and slapped it on a affordable car with decent/high horsepower for under/around 20k. I know I'm smoking sumthing with that statement but to me I'm just sick of that statement being tossed around.

dillsrotary

back in the day wasn't the z28 actually the highest model camaro (late 60's early 70's)??? and the SS version was indeed a toned down version of the z28??

and i retract my statement before hoping for an ls7 in the SS model, that engine cost around 15k to 17k alone. WAAAAAAY to pricey for affordable performance.