Chevrolet Camaro

One of the best bang for the buck sports cars money can buy. Best known for the Z28 performance variant which sports one of the ultimate production incarnations of Chevrolet's venerable small block V8. This car proves that American car quality still needs some work, but that 305 horsepower and 335 ft-lbs of torque are never a bad substitute. Much better looking than the horrendously gaudy Firebird, and a better bargain than a Corvette. Unfortunately, this car appeals to the brutish morons in society. Those insulting the car itself have simply never driven one. According to the rumor-mill, it will not be in production much longer.

A pony car/muscle car first released in the September of 1966. It was intended as a direct competitor to the Mustang. Although the Camaro has never failed to whip the Mustang in races year after year, the Mustangs outsells the Camaro by a huge margin (more than 3:1), and so the Camaro is to be killed 36 years after it began, in the September of 2002.

The Camaro V6 is a piece of crap in my opinion. Although it looks like a V8 Camaro (Z28 and SS), its 200 hp 3.8L engine doesn't give the heavy car much credit. The only advantages of owning a Camaro V6 are lower insurance costs, better fuel mileage, and lower intial cost (it costs around $4,000 less than the Z28, and around $8,000 less than the SS.

The Camaro Z28 is, in my opinion, the "real" Camaro. It only costs around $22,500, and its 310 hp 5.7L V8 engine allows it to acclerate from 0-60 MPH in 5.2 seconds.

The Camaro SS costs around $4,000 more than the Z28, but the gains are small; the ram-air hoods allows 325 hp, which translates into a slightly lower 5.1 second 0-60 time. Although not as good a value as the Z28, the SS is still a great value when compared to other sports cars.

The only car that can match the Camaro's great power and value is the Pontiac Firebird, which is its twin anyway.