Redesigned Camaro still rocks the roadways

A menu of Mark Glover’s AutoGlo reviews of the latest motor vehicle models also can be seen on The Sacramento Bee’s website at www.sacbee.com/news/business/article4005306.html

This review first appeared in the May 2016 edition of the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News published out of Folsom, California – mg

Sacramento, California – The Chevrolet Camaro enters its sixth generation with a 2016 model year redesign, and let me answer your first question: Yes, it’s still cool.

In the affordable high-horsepower department, loyalties typically are divided between Mustang fans and Camaro fans.  That would figure given the decades-long history of the two makes.

What is kind of hard to believe is that the Camaro disappeared for a few years after the dawn of the current millennium.  Thankfully, sanity returned in 2010 with a much-anticipated, fifth-generation Camaro.  For Gen Six and 2016, there’s much to like.

My tester was the comparatively modest 2016 Chevy Camaro LT coupe, with a turbocharged, four-cylinder engine rated at 275 horsepower.   And the starting price was well less than $30,000, darn near a steal in the head-turning sports car class.

Even though my ride was not a thunder-producing V-8 blazer with more than 450 horsepower, I was more than pleased with the tester’s enthusiastic performance and fabulous engine growl making its ever-loving way into the cockpit.

Camaro engineers shaved significant weight – reportedly 200 pounds ­­– off the previous-generation Camaro, and Gen Six has a more-rigid structure.  For me, this translated into the Camaro handling slalom runs and high-speed lane changes with effortless ease, without me having to yank hard on the steering wheel.

Chevy promised a more agile, nimble Camaro this time around.  Promise kept.

And here’s how you know that the car is still cool: when passing motorists give you a thumbs-up, or Camaro groupies salivate all over your car when it’s parked in the supermarket lot.

Yes, seriously, these were common occurrences in my short week with the rear-driving Camaro coupe.

Which is to say that it looks good.  No mistaking the current-generation Camaro for another model, and that’s saying something in the current age of look-alike automotive hardware.  The Camaro has the double-tier, wide, get-outta-da-way front grille, which gives way to a hood line and raked windshield that look long enough to dock a hot-air balloon.  The back end has a decidedly sporty chop that is entirely appropriate for this Camaro.

Interior comforts are far advanced from the early Camaros I knew as a youth.  The tester was downright opulent, with plentiful comfort/convenience features to keep me satisfied.  A lot of chrome and flash inside the vehicle, lending a fighter-jet feel from the driver’s seat.

Flat-bottom steering wheel.  Loved it.

Fuel mileage was pretty lovable as well in this segment, coming in at 22 miles per gallon in the city and 31 mpg on the highway.

Overall, the Camaro upgrades give it plenty to keep up with rival Mustang in the bragging rights game.  Best part: The Camaro still rocks the road.