I was invited by Chevrolet to visit the New York International Auto Show again this year to see their latest offerings. While many of their cars that are or will be available this year, their press conference focused on five vehicles. The 2014 Corvette Stingray, the 2014 Corvette Stingray Convertible, the 2014 SS sedan, the 2014 Camaro SS, and the Camaro Z/28.
While the other cars had been seen before, or at least were known of, the Camaro Z/28 was unveiled as a complete surprise to the crowd. The Z/28 takes it’s name from a classic line of muscle cars under the Camaro name, and it appears to live up to its lineage. The Camaro SS I borrowed in Florida this past January was a pretty powerful car to begin with, but they took it and made it leaner and mightier to bring it closer to its race track brethren.
By lightening the weight and giving it a more powerful engine, the Z/28 edges out the SS. It has a more aerodynamic package to reduce lift and everything possible was done to make the car lighter – by 300 pounds. The windshields were made of thinner glass, the carpets were removed from the trunk, sound deadeners were removed, air conditioning is not standard (but is an option), and even the speakers were removed – except one, since they needed it for the seatbelt indicator.
While I am not the most savvy of car enthusiasts, from the details they outlined, the engine is more powerful and the brakes are tighter for better acceleration, tighter turning and faster braking. Unfortunately, I can’t go more in depth than that due to my lack of knowledge about what the engine details mean, and I would just be quoting a press release without knowing what it all means.
I loved driving the Camaro around Florida, but it seems like it is just a shadow compared to what the Z/28 is. While I may not know what all the technical details mean, I do know that this is one powerful car that is street legal, track ready and something I’d really like to try driving.
My pictures from Chevy can be seen below. To see other pictures from the auto show, check out my picture set on Flickr.
