2013 Chevy Camaro ZL1 Convertible and SS 1LE edition: Motoramic Drives

Last Sunday in the pleasant downtown of Grand Rapids, Mich., a woman accosted me across two lanes of traffic, shouting through her open minivan window "That's what I'm talking about!" What she was talking about was this, the 2013 Chevy Camaro ZL1 convertible, a combination of 580-hp raging road machine, boulevard cruiser and conversation starter that only a handful of buyers will ever put their hands on.

 

Convertible pony cars have an appeal that transcends their hardtop brethren, offering a way to experience summer that no other vehicle quite matches. Yet for much of the Camaro's history, General Motors either didn't sell a convertible or avoided putting its most brutal engines in the drop-top editions, because cutting a hole in a car can turn its chassis into a Bop It game. In the previous generation Camaro, the convertible combined with the LS1 offered good straight-line speed and cowl shake -- that sense going over bumps that the steering wheel and your seat are connected to different cars.

With the new generation, Chevy's engineers have vowed to match the Ford Mustang punch-for-punch, which means building a convertible version of its most powerful factory edition. Since it was in the plans when the engineers began designing the new models, the ZL1 convertible comes with more positive reinforcement than Donald Trump in a hall of mirrors. There's extra braces between the engine mounts, around the transmissions, in the windshield pillars and several other places, all meant to make the ZL1 convertible lose little in handing to the ZL1 coupe.

The resulting car glides like a well-trained monster. Around town and on freeways, the ZL1 convertible is perfectly civilized, it's supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 burbling along at one-tenth power. Decide to throw the hammer, and within a split second the ZL1 has thrown you forward as high as the law and your right foot allow. The convertible offers the best way to hear the engine in full melodious roar, and the combination of magnetic-ride shocks, Goodyear Supercar tires and the heap o'bracing keep the ZL1 properly tight around corners and over Michigan's imperfect roads. Even the new electric power steering, typically a fun-killer, works to make the ZL1 seem less hefty than its curb weight -- unspecified, but likely well north of 4,000 lbs. -- would suggest.

It's impossible to not feel more alive when driving a ZL1 convertible, which helps combat its biggest problem: the sticker shock of a $62,000 price tag. The Camaro has always been about affordable performance, about letting its owners outperform more expensive cars, but with the ZL1 convertible, the Camaro's knocking on the country club's door with its ponytail hidden under a new ballcap. GM engineers know what they've done, and set production estimates accordingly; there will be only a couple thousand ZL1 drop-tops sold at best every year.

But those same engineers make another argument: Compared to other top-flight convertibles -- the BMW M6, the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG, even the Porsche 911 -- the Camaro offers more power and comparable handling for up to $40,000 less. There will be no mistaking which cars cost less; in top-dollar form, the Camaro's interior offers at least 10 kinds of plastic and fabric that look like a nervous kid overdressing for his prom date.

Yet GM has a better answer for where those savings could go: the Camaro SS with the 1LE track package, a new combination of parts aimed at the Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca and all those who want a track car they can still drive to work. Starting with the regular SS, Chevy has grafted the ZL1's Goodyears, lighter wheels, tighter final drive ratio and tougher suspension settings into a 426-hp car that can generate more than 1g of acceleration side-to-side. (The black vinyl-wrapped hood is just for kicks.) At the GingerMan track in Michigan, my attempts at unsticking the 1LE failed time and again; you can run to more than 100 mph quickly, haul it down with fade-free brakes and then throw it around corners with a general lack of body roll or understeer.

There's not been a head-to-head test yet of the 1LE versus the Boss 302, but at $37,000 and change, the 1LE undercuts the more expensive 'Stang by a few thousand, and For the price of a traditional European convertible, you can get both the ZL1 convertible and a 1LE as a track toy. A few years ago, suggesting you could buy two Camaros with your MegaMillions winnings would have seemed off-kilter. It's a credit to Chevy engineers that the same idea in 2012 comes off as almost reasonable.

Source: Yahoo Autos