2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS Arrival - Motor Trend - Car News, Car Reviews, Car Maintenance & Repairs

You saw this coming, right? After being chosen Motor Trend’s 2016 Car of the Year, the Chevrolet Camaro was destined to spend a year with us. Naturally, we chose a Red Hot SS, which includes a passive-entry key with push-button start and a direct-injected all-American pushrod LT1 V-8 displacing 6.2 liters (or 376 cubes if that’s how you like it) making 455 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque. Standard equipment includes a six-speed manual transmission, a limited-slip differential, Brembo brakes, a four-way drive mode selector, a rearview camera, and 20-inch wheels with run-flat summer tires. With the $5,000 2SS upgrade ($42,295), we netted rear parking assist with cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, a head-up display, Bose premium audio with seven speakers and satellite radio, heated exterior mirrors, and heated/ventilated leather front seats. To that we added Magnetic Ride Control ($1,695: adjustable shocks), a dual-mode performance exhaust ($895), the Adrenaline Red accent interior package ($500), MyLink audio with navigation and Apple CarPlay ($495), and black low-gloss aluminum wheels ($200) for a total of $46,080.

We wasted no time handing the key over to our Real MPG lab, which managed to eke out 1 mpg better than in each of the EPA’s city/highway/combined tests with 17.3/26.1/20.4 mpg. We also ran our Camaro 2SS to the track, where it laid down a 4.3-second 0-60 time and a quarter-mile pass of 12.5 seconds at 114.8 mph. We’ve tested lighter Camaro SSes as quick as 4.0 seconds to 60 mph and 12.4 seconds at 115.8 mph, but our fresh engine will loosen up; we’ll take another run at it in the future. We absolutely love the dual-mode exhaust, especially because the drive mode selector remembers and retains our favorite Sport setting. The neighbors probably love it less on early mornings. The magnetorheological dampers have also proven their worth, doing an excellent job with freeway chop and posting the best Camaro SS result to date on our figure eight at 23.9 seconds.

Naturally, we chose the SS, which comes with a direct-injected all-American pushrod LT1 V-8 displacing 6.2 liters.

There are already a couple things we really don’t care for. The unpredictable 1-4 skip-shift built into the manual shiftgate has us either short shifting to second gear at 5 mph (to avoid it) or gently starting from a stop in second gear. Also, although the lighter, leaner Alpha chassis it shares with the Cadillac ATS/CTS pays dividends elsewhere, snaking our hand back to the rear seat to root around for the seat belt has gotten old. Why is there no tether atop the front seat to retain the belt? Small complaints from an otherwise stellar arrival. We were right to name it Car of the Year and can’t wait to learn and share more over the months to come.