The big US car manufacturers always seem to be caught wondering why people buy imports rather than their own home-grown products. Generally speaking it's because they build awful cars and they don't seem to want to improve. Case in point the new Camaro. Great looking car superficially, but when it comes to the details - not so much. Users at Camaro5 have started penning a combined list of problems with their brand new vehicles. Now everyone expects one or two issues with a new car, especially the first production run, but this list demonstrates clearly why the US car industry is in such trouble. The Camaro had the chance to be the saving grace - a new start - a chance to prove that GM really was capable of building a truly 21st century car. Instead, a long and horrifying list of items, a lot of which are non trivial.
Highlights?
The trunk doesn't open with the key or the remote unless you're pushing down on it.
Lots of loose and misaligned body panels outside, and loose and misaligned trim panels inside. Overheating and exposed, uninsulated wiring. Paint runs, bubbles and chips. Leaking radiators. A digital speedometer that's both inaccurate and only functions intermittently. An AC system that stops blowing cold air intermittently. Rims and tyres coming off the delivery transports in bad condition or damaged. Faulty gas gauges (improper readings). Missing brake parts.
For the full 68 reasons why you need to seriously reconsider buying a Camaro, visit Camaro5.
4 comments:
That's pretty disappointing. It's such a great looking car.
Let me guess though, it still has a live rear axle???
When will the US car makers discover the independant rear end?
Actually I stand corrected. I have read that all of the new Camaros have an independent rear end. So maybe US car makers are finally learning.
Learning what? The live rear axle in the new Mustang has earned rave reviews, and is stronger than any IRS rear end (something the Camaro boys are being made aware of). There's no replacement for displacement.
Oh good grief. Live axle is 1960s technology that has no place on a sporty car - or any car for that matter. Take the live axle off a Mustang and replace it with IRS and see what happens. Plenty of motoring programs have done it on TV and the results speak for themselves. I believe when Car & Driver did it, they had the same results as Top Gear - about a 15% improvement in lap times.
And the displacement argument is also 1960s. It's all about what you prefer. I prefer lightweight engines, blown for power, rather than lumpy, heavy V8s. Plenty of others prefer it the other way around. In most cases, an IRS import with a blown engine would show a domestic large capacity live axle car a clean pair of heels on a track.
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