Car and Driver - USA (2019-10)

“I OWN A

2017 CAMARO

SS 1LE, AND

PRETTY MUCH

ALL YOUR

COMMENTS

ARE SPOT ON.

VISIBILITY

TO THE FRONT

AND SIDES

IS FINE; TO

THE REAR,

WHO CARES?”

Camaro by one point
if you take away the
most subjective score
one can imagine, fun
to drive. Your tests will
have more credibility
if you stick to objec-
tive data and leave the
subjective scoring to
the amateurs.
—Steve Williams
Cumming, GA
All of this seems
very familiar. Have I
run your letters
before?—Ed.

I love Ford’s iconic
muscle car as much
as the next fireworks-
shootin’, burger-eatin’,
tire-smoke-sniffin’
American; after all, I
just bought my first
minty pre-owned
V-6 coupe for my
“quarter-life crisis”
after ogling C/D pages
for years. But, with
covering both the GT
PPL2 and the GT
in the same issue,
does it all grow just a
bit stale?
—Sean Arthur
North Syracuse, NY
No—Ed.

I own a 2017 Camaro
SS 1LE, and pretty
much all your
comments are spot
on (e.g., the USB port
is almost unreachable
from any angle). Visi-
bility to the front and
sides is fine; to the

rear, who cares? I’m

too busy grinning to

notice the interior.

—Tom Dierken

Green Valley, AZ

I’m still distressed,

disheartened, and

demoralized that you

didn’t include the six-

speed Dodge Chal-

lenger R/T Scat Pack

Widebody. MSRP

is $44,740. Heck,

I’ll even throw in an

Alpine audio system

with a subwoofer for

that price and get the

car for you in White

Knuckle so you can

have an even more

patriotic cover. “Well,

it lost a comparison

test to the Mustang

and Camaro the last

time, ya know.” You

mean the one from

December 2014?

Things have changed

in the last five years,

my friend. “It’s

bouncy.” Huh? What

instrument did you

use to ascertain that?

One can get a stick-

shift Accord, and

Chevy makes a stick-

shift-only submodel.

What is flippin’ wrong

with BMW?

—Matt Ebner

Northbrook, IL

TEST QUESTIONS

I enjoyed your article

in the July issue

titled “Should You Be

Buying Premium?”

but confusion

remains. I have a

2.0-liter Equinox,

and Chevy recom-

mends I use premium.

Chevy also says the

performance and

mileage will improve

if I use premium. The

question is: How does

one determine the

benefit?

—Dave Toll

Gravenhurst, ON

Tr y it?—Ed.

You mention that cars

constantly test and

calculate an inferred

octane. Do any cars

give drivers a way

to see this inferred

octane? It would be

useful for owners to

actually compare their

fuel choices.

—Dan Kelmenson

San Jose, CA

Not to our

knowledge—Ed.

Your article on octane

will save me some

cash. I have a Dodge

Durango with the 5.

Hemi V-8. I’m an old

guy and I don’t drive it

all that hard. But I do

like to press the Sport

button on the sly and

kick it down pulling

onto the interstate or

passing on a two-lane.

The assurance that

the bellicose roar is

unchanged means I

will pump top-tier

87 octane.

—J i m b o B y r n

Selma, IN

smooth and sounds

special, not to

mention it’s easy to

package one

underhood—Ed.

Ye s , yo ur inte n se

negativity of the

“damn” Camaro

interior and calling

for GM to change it

are indeed getting

old. As my 11-year-old

son put it, you guys

must be getting old

but Car and Driver

magazine shouldn’t.

I drive a fifth-gener-

ation Camaro RS to

work, which means

I spend seven hours

a week minimum in

the car. Don’t feel

sorry for me, as the

Camaro is anything

but mundane in a

monotonous job. It’s

been 124,000 miles,

and I’m not tired of

the interior yet and it’s

holding up perfectly.

Ease up a little on the

bashing. A Camaro

should always be a tad

more interesting than

merely practical.

—J a c k Wo o d

Port Orford, OR

Sometimes the C/D

comparison tests are

too much of a contest

and less of a compar-

ison. There’s always

got to be a winner. I

think you could make

an exception every

now and then.

In regards to your

recent Mustang-

versus-Camaro

contest: Yes, the

Dodge Challenger

likely would have

placed last again. But

reading how the new

wide-track, wide-tire

option on the Dodge

compares here would

have been interesting,

maybe even surpris-

ing. Oh well.

—Mac Miller

Lincoln City, OR

Letter of

the Month:

—

The Letter of

the Month is R.

So there.

—Ryan Owens, Greenville, SC

Your fanny pack?

I don’t remember

seeing that stat on

any of your hiero-

glyphic schemas.

—G.R.R.

Houston, TX

We’ve driven the

Challenger

Widebody, and while

it’s a better handler

than the predeces-

sor that lost the

comparison test, it’s

still not as special-

ized or as track-

focused as the

Camaro SS 1LE and

the Mustang GT

PPL2—Ed.

Guys, I like cars.

But I don’t get the

undying love for V-

engines. There was

a time when the only

way to get significant

power in a car was

to buy a V-8. These

days, it seems that

every manufacturer

has a turbo 2.0-liter

four-cylinder with

about 250 horse-

power and a six-cylin-

der engine with even

more power. Since

you can get significant

power without a V-8,

what’s the big deal?

If your only answer is

“engine noise,” then

your target demo

must be teenagers

who want to annoy

their neighbors.

—J i m D e tr y

Plymouth, MN

As you point out,

power is completely

independent of the

engine configura-

tion. Someone could

make a one-cylinder

engine with as much

power as a Chiron’s

W-16, but it would be

so rough that

nobody would want

it. Generally, the

more cylinders, the

smoother the

engine. So the V-

remains because it’s

8. CAR AND DRIVER. OCT/