Chevrolet Camaro Spy Video

by Clinton Deacon
May 30, 2008 4:00 PM
Filed Under: American, Chevrolet, Spy Photos

The unveiling of the full production Chevrolet Camaro is almost upon us as we previously reported, which is nearly six months earlier than we had previously expected. Just in case you haven't seen enough of the undisguised prototype, we have video of it driving on country roads followed by some action of it burning rubber on the Nurburgring circuit.

Power is set to come from a monstrous 6.0-liter V8 engine featuring a cylinder shutdown system to improve fuel economy, there will also be a V6 option as well.

Though this video footage was shot while the American car was testing in Germany, it’s the Australian brand of GM, Holden, that’s responsible for the development process. The car will be built in Canada, and the range will be completed by a convertible and an SS variant in 2010 or 2011.

Source: via omniauto

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Comments

Turkle

May 30, 2008 4:38 PM

Right at the beginning of the video when the car is at the gas station you can hear the car being put into drive or 1st gear. What is that loud "clunk" before the car drives forward? Also, love the sound of the big V8 running around the 'Ring. Listening to the wind noise when the car is really moving has me hoping that GM pays attention to how much of that gets into the cabin. I want to see one of these in person, more out of curiosity, than any desire to own one.

regaddr

May 30, 2008 8:24 PM

the "clunk" sounds like the handbrake to me.

regaddr

May 30, 2008 8:26 PM

But then again the car is rolling a little bit.. so i don't know

3Iceman

May 30, 2008 5:39 PM

I think he made an illegal U-turn on the beginnig of the video. He won't get away with this in Germany!;-P The car looks great.

Joe_Limon

May 30, 2008 6:17 PM

hahaha but he is in germany. Therefore he got away with that in Germany.

foose1397

May 30, 2008 7:49 PM

The damn looks like it can take a corner! That makes me happy, there is a lot less body role than what i would have expected (granted its still a muscle car). Big step for GM too, putting cars on the ring might just give the Americans a fighting chance again. Ill keep my fingers crossed.

pzigly

May 30, 2008 9:31 PM

I know what u mean. The CTS and the vette are sooo much better in handeling now. But i still do not like the big engine sizes with low output.

Joe_Limon

May 30, 2008 11:13 PM

since when was 630hp low output? Or even 505hp from a naturally aspirated 6.2 liter? Also, I can tell you have never driven either the CTS or the vette, the CTS wasn't improved. It was built to handle well in the first place. And the vette had always been easy to handle. You must play to many (simulation) video games where naturally 1000hp vette's are hard to handle.

foose1397

June 2, 2008 3:21 PM

Im pretty you joe that you haven't driven the new CTS if your making that claim. The old CTS was rubish, it was a plastic piece of junk. The CTS-V was good but once again they put that one on the track. Point being is GM has the tools and the engines to make a great car they just need to spend more time on them and at the track

foose1397

June 2, 2008 3:21 PM

*pretty sure

Joe_Limon

May 30, 2008 11:23 PM

whoops I mean 630hp from 6.2 liters, and 505hp from a naturally aspirated engine that weighs just as much as it's expensive 510 hp german rival.

pzigly

May 30, 2008 11:42 PM

I drove the CTS not the vette. using leaf springs in not modern. The older cts left you wanting more. It was all over the place and not stable. The brand new one i think is more stable than the older one. It looks likes its wider and made with better materials. 505hp from 7.0L and 436L from 6.2. To me that is horrible. Its a car that wants to compete with a porsche. Putting that huge engine sacrafices handeling. GM is a huge company and I think they should have enough money for R and D to get the same HP from a 5.0-5.5L

Joe_Limon

May 31, 2008 1:34 AM

no it doesn't, that 7 liter engine weighs as much as the 6.2 liter naturally aspirated amg engine. So to say it is heavy is a crock of shit, the reason why they use one. And that engine only gets 510hp. Also, the leaf spring setup in the vette is very modern. The corvette has double a-arms front and rear, but instead of traditional coil springs it uses leaf springs to pull the lower a-arm down. I'll copy the next bit from another site

"The big advantages are:

-It weights A LOT LESS than coil springs. One leaf replaces two coils. The two coil springs weigh 3 times as much as the one leaf. Additionally the leaf is placed at the bottom of the car. In addition to removing weight you lower the CG.

-It acts as an anti role bar. The article above explains how this works so I won?t. The advantage is you can run lighter anti-role bars because the springs are taking care of part of the job for you.

-The leaf springs never wear out. The vendor of these springs has never had to replace one due to fatigue failure. Coil springs to were out but you typically don?t notice on smaller, lighter cars. You do see it more on old, heavy Caddies and such. The improved fatigue life was really evident compared to the C3?s steel leaf spring. Thus this is an advantage over coils but not a big one.

What are the drawbacks for the Vette?

-They are expensive. We normally don?t think of leaves as the expensive suspension but in the case of the Corvette, coils would be cheaper. The Vette already has all the parts a coil sprung double A arm suspension would use. Pull the leaf off, replace the shock with a coil over and you?ve converted the Vette. Since the rest of the system is the same, the cost comes down to the price of 2 coils or one spring. Well if it was a steal leaf spring it might be cheaper (remember truck suspension is cheaper because the leaves also act as links)."

pzigly

May 31, 2008 1:56 AM

Ur comparing apples to oranges here though. I never said that amg was a smart sports car. The amg has the same problem, they are heavy. They are expensive lux cars that are heavy. They threw in a huge engine also. Zonda took their v12 engine and got it up to over 700hp (naturally) and they are a small company. GM could make way more output per Liter. They could save over 100-200 pounds on a smaller setup with the same out put. That engine would also get the power to the ground better than the bigger engine as tourque would be lower allowing less wheel spin.

And I just mentioned the leaf springs because thats what they use on trucks. I just looked at the setup and it looks nothing like what i thought it was.

Joe_Limon

May 31, 2008 8:52 AM

The AMG v8 is considered to be the worlds most powerful naturally aspirated v8, that is hp/liter which is what you seem to be concerned with. You must also realize that hp/liter ratio's favor smaller low torque engines that can rev really high. Hp is a number that is based on the amount of torque at a certain engine speed, thats why you can still get high hp numbers out of low torque/displacement engines. A 500hp turbo'd inline 4 cannot compete with a 500hp naturally aspirated v8. The v8 will simply have gobs more torque.

pzigly

May 31, 2008 10:53 AM

I wasnt talkin about the v8's. I thought u were talkin about the 6.3 v12's.

pzigly

May 31, 2008 11:13 AM

The point of all this is to say that the output of GM engines should be more then they are now. If you took that block to Europe or japan, do you honestly think that that engine would have that output? They would be able to get atleast 630 natural.

gmfan09

June 1, 2008 6:02 AM

I would like to say that the reason GM has lower hp/liter number is because they use. a different kind of engine GM uses an OHV system as opposed to a DOHC or SOHC setup. they both have the advantages and disadvantage but most Americans who buy Corvettes like the Chevy small block. And also you don't get the same sound from a low displacement engine that u do from a big V8 and that is not such a thing for euro and japanesse cars but American cars are supposed to have that classic V8 sound that europe and japan don't make. And the power that gets to the wheels is all that really matters anyway so who really care what the displacement is. The corvette has already proved that it can handle with and surpass many of the best in the world so whats really the problem? I think its just people trying to find anything they can to point something out with American cars. Thats what I think

pzigly

May 30, 2008 11:45 PM

and in the simulation games I would never bought a vette FYI. I always win with the GTR..........

si1982

May 30, 2008 11:52 PM

its interesting that the car has Australian numberplate even on German roads... is that allowed? Also, the video angles suggest that its hardly a spy video...

nice looking car though...

Joe_Limon

May 31, 2008 1:39 AM

man I really need to proof read before I post.

No it doesn't, that 7 liter engine weighs as much as the 6.2 liter naturally aspirated amg engine. So to say it is heavy is a crock of shit. That same amg engine gets 510 hp. So if given a choice between using a 6.2 liter engine with 510hp and a 7.0 liter engine with 505 hp that both weigh the same really brings the decision down to a question of feasibility. The AMG engine is definitely not the feasible solution, therefore it can be argued that the LS engine although having a lower hp/liter ratio is the better engine overall (it's lighter and cheap). Also, the leaf spring setup in the vette is very modern. The corvette has double a-arms front and rear, but instead of traditional coil springs it uses leaf springs to pull the lower a-arm down. I'll copy the next bit from another site

radmeister

May 31, 2008 3:08 AM

I want to see figures on the weight of the 7L LS fully dressed and with fluids, if i remember correctly the 6.2L amg is roughly 460lbs. And also when did price ever come into judging if something is better or not? The AMG is a better engine and that's why you pay more. If price was something to base if an engine is better than an other then a dacia or some chinese car would win. Chinese motor cant be more than 400$ to produce and puts out 80ish HP, vette puts out 505 and that engine is 7000$ so do the math you pay 5$/hp on the chinese car and 13.86$/hp on the vette so applying ur logic the chinese 80hp engine is 2.77x better than the vette..... I'm tired of people comparing the vette to porsches/ferraris/lambos and saying it's a better car because you pay less. Its a shittier car and that's why you pay less, price has no meaning in comparing if 1 car is better than another. Which is a better BUY yes, but not better CAR.

Joe_Limon

May 31, 2008 8:38 AM

since the power and weight of the two engines are almost identical, what else is there to base on an engine besides price? I'd say the one that can achieve those numbers for a third the price of the other is a hella lot more thought out. As to the weight of the engines the LS7 has a dry weight of 458lbs, and the smaller amg is 438lbs dry. If you wanted to compare with fully dressed with fluids the LS7 would hold an advantage for it runs a dry sump system whereas the AMG engine still uses an oil pan. The Corvette cooling system is also weight optimized being as the Corvette is a sports car. All in all, if the 6.2L amg is 460lbs I would expect the fully dressed Corvette engine to weigh in around 470-475lbs.

radmeister

May 31, 2008 11:33 PM

You also have to consider long term reliability, fuel consumption, smoothness of operation, delivery of power(hp/torque band). The AMG wins in all those categories, the fact is plain and simple the AMG is a better engine, whether or not it's worth it's price is another question and entirely dependent on the buyer and their budget.

radmeister

May 31, 2008 11:35 PM

Also the LS7 is not dry sump, only the LS9 in the ZR-1 is.

gmfan09

June 1, 2008 6:08 AM

No no the LS7 is a dry sump too. Look it up dude

scalafragus

May 31, 2008 2:12 AM

Is that a G8 behind the camaro just before he takes a turn? It sure looks like one

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