A friend of mine works at the assembly plant, and he brought a new SS out to give some of us a chance to look at the car and even let a bunch of us drive it!
I got to drive it about 10 miles or so, but the road was very straight, so I didn’t get to see how it cornered. I did get the chance to go full throttle a couple of times, it feels about the same as a stock LS1 f-body unfortunately. I figured they would be quicker, but it feels like about a 13.3 at 105 to me. It’s got 426hp, but weighs probably 3800 lbs so that obviously hurts performance. The suspension is nice, it felt very comfortable over the bumps, not harsh, but still firm and sporty. I found the seating position odd, it was a lot different than what I’m used to in my C5 Corvette. The gauges are kind of odd looking, IMO, it would take me a while to get used to them. But the entire dash layout is pretty cool, especially the four gauges down low in the console (including trans temp and oil temp, those are nice touches!)
I’m not sure what the name of this color was (I’m sure a lot of you guys in here will tell me what it is), in the pictures it just looks like Victory Red but it’s actually a metallic red that has a very strong orange look to it in the direct sunlight.
This car was the 210th one off the assembly line, and I believe they are going to start being sold to the public in mid March. It was very cool to be one of the select few people (outside of GM employees and the automotive press) to have driven one!! It’s amazing how fast time flies though, it seems to me like it was just yesterday when I got the chance to see one of the very first 98 Camaro SS pre production models before anyone else saw them.
Tail lights bloooow. My grandpa is having one delivered next month so I’ll be able to get some good pics from his. I think he said he’s getting black with white stripes, 6spd blah blah blah.
engine cover is a little over done but that’s the “refinement” people want these days. Love the looks of it though, retro with a modern twist is always good, angles are nice.
