The new Camaro's big challenge

Pity the poor Camaro. It seems the entire weight of the automotive world is resting on its fenders.

Somehow in the last year or so, the fifth generation of the famous name has become the car on which the fate of General Motors itself rests: if it's a dud, then GM will fail, never to build another vehicle. And if that happens, then the ripple effect will be felt around the world.

To be successful, it must appeal not only to the thousands of Camaro enthusiasts who already pledge their brand loyalty to Chevrolet, but also to the hundreds of thousands of sports car wannabes who couldn't care less for brand loyalty but who want to buy a powerful yet affordable 2+2 coupe.

So seven years after the last of the last generation was built, in GM's now-razed Quebec plant, is the 2010 any good?

It depends on who you talk to.

Regular people are mixed about it. They're not sure about the plastic front bumpers, which echo the famous plastic front fenders of the previous generation. They're not sold on the wide expanse of painted plastic panel that faces the driver, despite the optional analogue gauges clustered down by the gear shift.

And they're definitely not convinced about the smoothness of the overall finish. Fish for your wallet in the door cubby and its sharp edge will scratch your hand.

But this is a car with a base price of $27,000, which will give you more than 300 hp while sipping just 12.3 L of regular gas every 100 km in the city, 6.8 L/100 km on the highway. That's 23 and 41 m.p.g. – impressive for a vehicle of this size, let alone a sports car. The slightly thirstier, premium-powered V8 comes with Displacement on Demand to shut off half its cylinders when they're not needed.

These figures alone finally win the pony car wars against its Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger competition. The 3.6 L V6 makes more horsepower than the original 1967 eight-cylinder "SS" version. And that's before spending the extra $10,000 for the modern 6.2 L V8 SS that's good for some 425 hp.

Out on the road, the car draws looks that the competition can only dream about. Thumbs-up through open windows from friends and foes alike, double takes across the demographics, and open-mouthed adoration from kids. "It's the Transformers car!" yelled children from both my sons' schools, remembering the yellow Bumblebee and not confused at all by the tester's Victory Red.

So yes, it's a hit at first sight, which is very nice during this honeymoon period but won't keep the Oshawa plant open unless it keeps delivering what's promised on a large scale. And it's hardly unexpected after numerous concept appearances at car shows.

The new Camaro was first shown a couple of years ago at the Detroit show, when GM's Bob Lutz announced it would be built; conveniently, he forgot the promise made to the laid-off Quebec workers in 2002 that it would be built in Sainte-Thérèse. That's okay – Oshawa got the job, shutting down the Allure/LaCrosse line last December to make it happen.

It was heralded back at the Detroit show by a marching band and hundreds of Camaro enthusiasts, whooping and punching the air. One of those in the cheering squad was John Scott of Waterloo, who drove over last weekend in his show-winning '99 Camaro with his wife Karen to meet me and finally take the new car out for a drive.

"I've been thinking of buying one, but I'm not sure about it," he said. "I sat in it at the car show (in Toronto in February) and I'm just not sure. I couldn't adjust the seat then, and I don't know if it will have enough space for me."

Scott and I are about the same height, around six feet, and my head brushes the ceiling with the seat at its lowest point. He just set the seat back at a greater tilt and was happy.

I wedged myself into the back and was glad that Karen Scott in front needed very little leg room. The 2+2 seats back there are good only for kids or luggage, though the capacity is surprisingly generous when the seat back is pulled down to open into the trunk.

The V6 tester was pretty much at the top of the line for options, with an MSRP of $38,000, of which $1,200 was for the sunroof. This option lowers the ceiling by a couple of centimetres, so taller drivers might be wise to avoid it. And besides, it's annoying. Press the power button once and it slides back all the way, not stopping to just tilt up. It takes some fiddling on the return to leave the glass tilted.

Forget the sunroof and the modern price is almost exactly the same as the $36,500 Scott paid for his less powerful 5.7 L car back in 1999. And his didn't come with traction control, HID headlamps and six airbags.

Other options are generally good value, though, and a world away from anything in the previous generations. Bluetooth connectivity for your phone; a 245-watt Boston Acoustics sound system; steering-mounted switchgear. Standard across all versions is an absolutely gorgeous pair of interior trim sweeps on the doors that illuminate gently to complement the ambient lights.

This automatic six-speed also offered TapShift paddle buttons on the back of the steering wheel for switching through the gears. Unlike most steering-mounted shift paddles that can be tapped anytime to quickly drop a gear or two, these buttons only work when the gearshift is set to Manual. They don't revert after a while back to automatic: it's one or the other, no middle ground.

Scott didn't care. He's used to the four speeds of the automatic on his '99. He used the buttons a couple of times and then couldn't be bothered with them.

"It's a lot tighter than I'd expected," he said as we swung through a 20 km/h S-bend somewhere outside Campbellville. "There's very little body roll and it feels well planted on the road, but I'd like to try the SS. More power would be nice."

Scott's own V8 now makes about 365 hp, kept on line around corners with the help of a BMR shock tower brace. There's a fair bit of performance extras under his functional hood scoop, and he was concerned that the plastic-covered V6 of the fifth generation won't allow much tinkering.

But just wait a year – heck, wait a few months – and we'll all find out how valid that worry is.

At the end of his hour in the car, Scott seemed not so much impressed as he was relieved. The car was comfortable (for him, if not so much for me) and drove like a true mid-sized sports car.

He's not about to sell his '99 for the V6, but he'd like to try the V8. That might do it.

But Scott freely admits he's biased, and the new Camaro has a much greater challenge ahead of it than impressing him. Besides, most Camaro enthusiasts will probably keep the cars in which they've already invested so much time and money and elbow grease.

To be successful, the fifth-generation Camaro must appeal to a whole new generation of car buyer. Those people won't care too much about the name and will care even less for the misty-eyed reputations of the Z28 and the IROC and the SS.

They'll want a sports car that doesn't cost a lot to buy and maintain, offers value for money, and which returns horsepower and confident handling.

They want modern looks with practical comfort, and they want great gas mileage. They want guilt-free driving. The new Camaro has all this.

And if, while they're driving it, they can shout out loud the Camaro's overwhelming message, "I SUPPORT GM AND ITS WORKERS IN OSHAWA" – well, that's a bonus, isn't it?