Camaro Build Quality

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: steve20
I got rid of my 87GN in 89-too many trips to the dealer: how are you liking those nitrogen filled master cyclidners? or the hot air blowing through the tape deck, or the leaky O ring at the oil filter mount---finally had to have a short block put in cause thye could not pinpoint the location of a knock-which reappeared about 1500 miles after the new short block. The only thing I did NOT have problems with were the transmission and windshiel wipers.
That biing said, I have purchased 4 Chevys and 1 Olds and they have all been winners

Steve


Thanks for the opinion that I didn't ask for.

I have the hydroboost, no nitrogen backed electric brakes. I know how to tune so knock is not an issue. I'm making over 600hp at the wheels on mostly stock parts, not sure why you couldn't keep yours together at 250hp. You're likely one of those guys that ran 87 octane and jacked the boost up and blamed the car. No hot air through the tape deck and no leaky oil cooler adaptor. I've never even heard of those issues. Glad you got rid of it so it can be taken care of by someone that knows what they're doing.

 

[andrewg]

Geez man...it's just a car and one man's experience. You act like he's an idiot when you don't even know the guy.
Funny how the internet turns conversations into 'bullying' events. You're not a cop are you??? Lol.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: andrewg
Geez man...it's just a car and one man's experience. You act like he's an idiot when you don't even know the guy.
Funny how the internet turns conversations into 'bullying' events. You're not a cop are you??? Lol.


He's putting the car down for no reason. Telling me it needed a shortblock as if they all do when they're known for having a bulletproof bottom end. It's not like I asked him what issues he had with his GN. This thread isn't even about GNs. Don't give me the internet bully stuff. It's not like this guy would walk up to me after seeing I have a GN and start telling me all the bad stuff about them.

 

[saberz]

(Not a response to you BuickGN, just your reply button was closer for me =) )


I like having bolt on body panels rather than my old tC's pull and pry body paneling. I had to pull of the front bumper to install a CAFI kit and I snapped it back into place it was off by a nanometer. Kept undoing it and redoing it and not matter how many times I did I readjusted it would be off. It wasn't like that before and all the retention pieces were intact.

I for one think that GM build quality isn't bad, and its safe to say that all manufacturers have their share of really horrible cars/trucks. To say that Ford quality is "better" or Honda/Toyota etc is "better" in the end means diddly squat.

"better" is opinion. "Better" is not fact, you can sit here and survey 1000 drivers of X, Y , and Z car. Your results will be skewed unless you survey ALL owners of that car. I was never a fan of polls/surveys since you make an assumption based on the consensus of a few.

The saying "To each their own" fits well here. We all either love or hate something.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: Anies
(Not a response to you BuickGN, just your reply button was closer for me =) )


I like having bolt on body panels rather than my old tC's pull and pry body paneling. I had to pull of the front bumper to install a CAFI kit and I snapped it back into place it was off by a nanometer. Kept undoing it and redoing it and not matter how many times I did I readjusted it would be off. It wasn't like that before and all the retention pieces were intact.

I for one think that GM build quality isn't bad, and its safe to say that all manufacturers have their share of really horrible cars/trucks. To say that Ford quality is "better" or Honda/Toyota etc is "better" in the end means diddly squat.

"better" is opinion. "Better" is not fact, you can sit here and survey 1000 drivers of X, Y , and Z car. Your results will be skewed unless you survey ALL owners of that car. I was never a fan of polls/surveys since you make an assumption based on the consensus of a few.

The saying "To each their own" fits well here. We all either love or hate something.


I agree with that. Now I'm wanting to go back and look the car over more closely. It seemed fine to me but then again, I knew I was about to go and beat the snot out of it so I may have overlooked some of the small things.

 

[yeti]

anies -- who do you think you are, man ? using logic and common sense in such a thread ! even though you are a recent member, you should know that those qualities elude a large number of members.
joking aside -- good post.

 

[ViragoBry]

I've found many cars on the road that appear to have different shades of paint on the bumpers than on the rest of the car. What causes this phonemonon is that different paint is used on the plastic bumpers than on the rest of the car. It's paint that has an elasticizer added, to prevent it from cracking and peeling off the first time the bumper flexes from a minor impact. The formula difference can cause slight color variations which can appear and disappear depending on what angle they're viewed from and the position of the light that they're reflecting.

One of the worst examples of this I've seen was the previous-generation Maxima. The one I was looking at was gold, and I would've sworn it'd been wrecked from both ends until I started looking at all the lighter-colored Maximas on the line and they ALL looked the same way.

Regarding the panel gaps and out-of-place trim pieces...it does sound like something bad happened to that car. With the exception of the Cobalt, I haven't seen a recent GM or Ford that came from the factory out-of-spec in this manner, and I'm picky beyond reason about that kind of stuff. The SS I looked at in Dallas had none of those issues, and silver is a notorisouly bad color for the bumpers matching the body. I'd guess either some fool bought it for his graduating son or daughter and they racked it up, or something equally as common....it was dropped off the car hauler by accident during unload and you're looking at a repaired car.

 

[yeti]

virago -- you're right on with the paint on the front and rear fascias.as well, if the part supplier painted the fascias, it's common to have very slight color differences.the majority of car buyers would never notice any difference.that's just the way it is.

 

[BuickGN]

Yep, the white TLs are notorious for this. You can spot the difference in the bumper to fender from about 15' away. Some were bad enough that they managed to get warranty coverage of the repaint.

 

[saberz]

Most white cars suffer from "storm troopers disease" where the white turns creamy/off white from exposure to heat and other elements.(Storm Troopers disease occurs on the Star Wars toys just from sitting in a drawer and being exposed to air).

Should also keep in mind that Paint on Metal will retain its full color more so than Plastic's and tends to adhere better and less likely to crack(even with elasticity modifiers) as Plastics are more susceptible to flexing and bending.

 

[bretfraz]

Cruised past my local Ford dealer today. They had EIGHT... count em.... 2010 Camaro SS models on their used lot. I have no idea why a Ford dealer has so many Camaros, but they do.

I did not get out of my truck to investigate, but a salesman literally ran up to my truck trying to get me to buy a Camaro. When I asked, "did you guys get those from an auction?", he said he didn't know where they came from. Of course, all the cars had the grease pencil markings from the auction house on the windows.

Who knows where these cars came from, but obviously this Ford dealer thinks he can resell them at a profit.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: ViragoBry

Regarding the panel gaps and out-of-place trim pieces...it does sound like something bad happened to that car. With the exception of the Cobalt, I haven't seen a recent GM or Ford that came from the factory out-of-spec in this manner, and I'm picky beyond reason about that kind of stuff. The SS I looked at in Dallas had none of those issues, and silver is a notorisouly bad color for the bumpers matching the body. I'd guess either some fool bought it for his graduating son or daughter and they racked it up, or something equally as common....it was dropped off the car hauler by accident during unload and you're looking at a repaired car.


Interestingly enough, we had a discussion about this very phenomena a few months back on one of the Mustang boards. One of the guys was looking to buy one, and another chimed in about a yellow one he had gone to look at which could be described in much the same manner as the red one I saw.

The thing was, the silver one the guy was thinking of buying had none of these issues apparently.

Maybe the consistency is off? I know Oshawa's been a little "sketchy" since GM closed the one plant and the possibility of the car plant going too was recently being discussed.

 

[Ben99GT]

Not too impressed with the look of the new Camaro out on the road.

And the SSs are waaaaaaaaaaay slower than I thought they would be.

 

[saberz]

You also need to take into account for all the used Camaro's it could be buyer's remorse. Being one of the first to get one means your paying a premium(sometimes more than 10k over Invoice!

They may have ditched the car because of the payments, ditched it due to practicality(its a weekend warrior really). I enjoyed driving it and didn't find any of the qwerks noted in this thread but again it doesn't mean that its not out there.

The car is a nice performer, sleek and well designed. The only 2 things that put me off is the price(it should be in the lower 20's) as the movie markets the car towards that demographic, but only mid 30 somethings and older with spare change will go out and buy it. Cost to maintain is probably really high since the car itself is "new" there isn't any real cross platform part availability.

 

[Scdevon]

Originally Posted By: Anies
since the car itself is "new" there isn't any real cross platform part availability.


Chevy was out of the pony car market for years. BIG mistake. While Chevy was sleeping, the Mustang developed a huge aftermarket parts cult following among other things.

 

[Buffman]

Originally Posted By: Ben99GT
Not too impressed with the look of the new Camaro out on the road.

And the SSs are waaaaaaaaaaay slower than I thought they would be.


They run 12s in the 1/4 mile, and weigh 4000lbs. Fast enough stock for me. The new Ford SHO, can barely muster 13s with AWD and 365Hp. I believe the lowly FWD Impala/Monte Carlo/Gran Prix with the 5.3L 305HP V8 was a couple mph faster and a few tenths quicker stock...

 

[andrewg]

You're comparing the new Camaro to a four door sedan? The SHO is a very comfortable sedan....but it's not meant to be a Mustang. You need to compare oranges to oranges.

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: Scdevon
Originally Posted By: Anies
since the car itself is "new" there isn't any real cross platform part availability.


Chevy was out of the pony car market for years. BIG mistake. While Chevy was sleeping, the Mustang developed a huge aftermarket parts cult following among other things.


Thats true as well. It will take time for aftermarket parts availability to come forth. Ford never really discontinued the Mustang and just kept it chugging. GM has killed muscle and sedan cars and waited years to re-introduce them. Albeit its at a really poor time and didn't get the attention in R&D it probably needed.

 

[GMBoy]

Looking at some magazines I got there are already quite a lot of aftermarket stuff for the new camaro. It's not like the driveline is all brandnew.

 

[BuickGN]

Exactly, the LSx and transmission have been around for many years. The aftermarket is huge for them. It may have taken a few months for suspension upgrades and things like that to appear but I'm sure they're popping up already.

The weight would be the only deal breaker for me. But then again if I left it as a faster than average stock daily driver it would be fine. It really depends on if I plan on getting rid of the GN as to what I would do with the Camaro. I've gotten the GN down to nearly 3,000lbs now, not sure if I feel like going through that ever again. It would be nice to have the TL as a daily, GN as the drag car and the Camaro as an auto-x/road course car but again, the weight just kills it. In other words, I just can't see where the Camaro would fit other than a stockish daily driver and I already have one. I think I talked myself out of one as I was typing this post lol.