The Consumer's Car Review: The 2011 Chevy Camaro Coupe and Convertible

There are two very serious, life altering questions that you must ask yourself before you buy a 2011 Chevy Camaro. First, you must decide on the age old conundrum as to whether to choose the 3.6 liter 312 horsepower V6 that makes so much fiscal sense or the 6.2 liter 425 horsepower V8 whose size and power outputs put it into the realm of the absurd. Then you have to decide if you want a solid metal or a folding fabric drop-top.

Yes, dear readers, 2011 is the first model year for the admittedly very handsome Chevy Camaro convertible which looks a lot less like an overgrown Transformer with the top down. Sure, the Camaro is still a loud design in bright yellow but to my eyes I think that the convertible adds a more subdued and classic edge to the Camaro's occasionally too angular exterior treatment.

Do you know a 2011 Chevy Cruze sedan only has a tiny 1.4 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder under its hood and during a week of testing last week it returned over 32 miles per gallon? Why do I have a feeling that if you are interested in a Camaro that there probably won't be a lot of cross shopping going on, especially with the 6.2 liter V8 models that average 16 city/24 highway but at least all Camaros have decent sized 18 gallon fuel tanks. So you shouldn't run out gas unless you are stupid.

It's too bad then that the Camaro makes do with a trunk that is admittedly a useful square shape but is still only 11.3 cubic feet. The 2011 Challanger betters that easily and the interior of the 2011 Ford Mustang has more clever features, storage bins and, of course, far superior build quality. This, dear readers, is the thing that the 2011 Camaro is lacking in the interior-a high quality feel as one finds inside the 2011 Mustang.

So while you may have thought I was crazy to be mentioning a 2011 Chevy Cruze, last week I drove a $20,000 2LT version of that economy sedan and its interior was the best I have seen ever in that price class. All of the controls, chromed knobs and electronic equipment was also straightforward and imbued the leather-clad Cruze's interior with a touch of class missing in the 2011 Camaro.

The 2011 Chevy Cruze is nothing like the atrocious Cobalt that came before it, much like the 2011 Camaro coupe (starting at $22,680) and Convertible variants (starting at $29,150) are light years removed from their progenitors. It is just a shame that Chevy has allowed a plain looking, ergonomically dubious and unimaginative interior sully the Camaro's reputation yet again.

Remember, that 6.2 liter V8 will thrill you for a moment but you spend most of your life with your car sitting in the driver's seat. Do you really want to be reminded each time you sit in a Camaro how nice that whole Ford Sync system would work in your life if your Chevy had it? Of course you don't.

As long as Chevy gets to work on an interior update done with the style and elegance of the 2011 Cruze, Ford may yet again have a Camaro in its rear view mirror. I know the Camaro could always keep up in the engine size and horsepower department but that doesn't always mean that a car can actually keep up overall with a truly challenging competitor.
Source: Chevy.com