Category Archives: Driving

Driving the 2014 Camaro

That Magic Moment…

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IMG_3306I’ve had my 2014 Camaro SS (RedRock) for six months now and it has been everything and a bag of chips – today though, was that magic moment.

Slowly but surely, I’ve been testing the limits on RedRock.  Pulling at the tail of the beast if you will…  Today, driving home from work I decided to take a spirited drive.  I selected “sport” mode and switched the Range Device on.  For those of you that don’t know what that is, well…  That is the “on” switch that GM forgot to include.

The Range device enables the Active Fuel Management (AFM) to be disabled.  This means the L99 is in full 8 cylinder mode all the time.  With the Range device “on”, RedRock takes on a different personality.

So, there is this off-camber left-hander on the way home that if you catch “just right”, will put a perma-grin on your face of epic proportions.  I’ve taken this all wrong before in bowtie6 and the result was a nice loop:  I ended up facing the wrong way.  Well today was special…  I was able to get RedRock in most impressive oversteer drift.  Nothing stupid, mind you…  Just right!  Just the kind of stuff that makes you want more…  :mrgreen:

I just love this car!  400hp at your beck and call is just intoxicating.  That magic moment indeed!

2014 Chevy Camaro

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2014-chevrolet-camaro-ss-photo-509814-s-986x603It it has been 4 months into the stewardship of RedRock – my 2014 Chevy Camaro SS – and I could not be happier!  This thing is a real ground-pounder.

Going full retro here, but this bad boy is the “Heartbeat of America” and “Chevy Runs Deep” all balled up into one, bigtime.  There is nothing like having 400hp on tap at your beck and call and I just love it – Michael, if you are reading this, that crate LS3 you have is going to amaze the living daylights out of you and put a perma-grin of epic proportions on your face!!!

Since the first fuel-up, I’ve been tracking mileage on an online website that deals with this kind of stats.  Not that I give a shit (after all, if you own a muscle car, MPG’s should be the last thing on your mind), but I like data…  At any rate, so far RedRock has averaged 17.1 miles to the glorious gallon.  How about them apples?

So while on the subject I found some interesting photos from the folks at Gee-emm.  So with all sorts of disclaimers and due respect, I figured it might be nice to add the following photo gallery in the interest of posterity.  And I say that because the C6’s are becoming more visible on the streets.  I’ve spotted 3 so far:  two back ones and one red.  IMHO, the jury is still deliberating about their looks…

And while on the subject of keeping things for reference…  The 2014/2015 Camaro had a bit of a facelift:  there improvements to the nose, the headlights and the back.  Oh dat ass… There was also the addition of a fully functional heat extractor on the hood.  I’ve read on the InterWebz folks like and folks dis-like the facelift.  Personally, I could not be happier especially since my 2SS is also an RS, it has the halo headlights.

So back to pictures – this time the following collection shows some cool aero diagrams of what the bodywork does, including the hood heat extractor.

First Road Trip in RedRock

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IMG_3357Yesterday (Christmas day) was my first real road trip in RedRock.  I left early in the morning for a 2.5 hour drive to my mom’s house in Aiken SC.  We had a great deal to be thankful for this year:  my nephew Chris graduated last week, from Louisiana State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering.  Uncle Joe (that would be me) is extremely proud of him:  he has accepted a fantastic job offer with NISSAN at their Canton, Mississippi plant.  I could not be more proud.  I suppose my eldest nephew will be a gearhead, just like me…  😉

So back to RedRock:  As you can see in today’s pictures, RedRock achieved 22.5 miles per gallon on this first road trip.  This was done by sticking to Interstate travel instead of the usual secondary roads and setting the cruise control to 75 mph.  I would have tried a little more, but I just did not have the stones to tempt fate and get a freakin’ ticket.  The SCHP was thick as flies over fresh roadkill yesterday.

At any rate, I think this result is remarkable…  A 400hp 6.2L V8 3500lb muscle car producing this kind of efficiency is amazing.  My old Z28 would be lucky to break the high teens, then again… It was 21 years old.  Don’t take me wrong, the last thing I worry about is fuel – after all, this is why one owns a muscle car, right?

I hope Santa has been good to you and your family.  Peace!  😀

And… One last picture.  Here is my sister and her two boys, Chris and Andy.  Andy is currently in his second year at Colorado State University in Ft Collins CO.

It is a hard rule of this blog to keep things car related, but rules are meant to be broken.  Today, the rule is broken:  I am VERY PROUD of Sis and her two boys.

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GO TIGERS!!!!

RedRock at 5,000 Miles

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RedRock hit a milestone yesterday at 5,000 miles on the odometer.  Only happens once…

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Barely broken in…

The event happened on the way to a local Chevrolet dealer, where they were kind enough to download and re-flash the firmware on the MyLink entertainment center.  Nothing wrong mind you, I just wanted to make sure we had the latest and greatest.  All is good…

While at the dealership, I saw this:

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2016 C6 Camaro SS

This is the first C6 2016 Camaro I have had a chance to check out up close and personal.  Compared to mine, it is a bit smaller, lighter and more “refined’ if you will.  It is going to take some time to get used to it.

The magazines say this is an evolution of the concept and not a full re-write.  The body is certainly different, take a look at the following photo gallery:

Some thoughts about the new Camaro:

  • Sticker on this SS (it was an automatic) was $45,780.
  • The interior is very nice indeed. The door cards have a different lighting affair and so do the thresholds. It feels “smaller” inside. Instrumentation and AC vents are completely different. The center console is weird! The lid is narrow and long.
  • Front looks nice – I prefer my 2014 better.
  • The rear quarter panel looks out of proportion. Probably the least favorite part.
  • The lower rear bumper is not as big as the C5 – again I prefer my 2014.
  • Finally, the rear fender bulges are different. The C6’s are more “rounded”; I prefer the looks of my 2014.