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<\/p>\n<\/div>I usually review a sexy coupe each May to celebrate the first muscle car of spring. Like a\u00a0Mustang convertible galloping across a green landscape. A colorful Dodge Challenger on Woodward. Or a\u00a0drop-top Camaro with its V-8 singing like a\u00a0robin.<\/p>\n
But spring never came this year. Michigan\u00a0went straight from winter to summer.<\/p>\n
April was a cruel, cold, wintry mistress,\u00a0the coldest in 140 years<\/a>. As May tentatively stuck its head out the front door, temps jumped from 40 to 80. One day the branches were barren, the next they were covered in leaves.<\/p>\n In part that\u2019s because May brought more rain across the middle states than Noah\u2019s worst nightmare. A\u00a0weekend race\u00a0of mine was\u00a0canceled at Summit Point, West Virginia (old slogan: Take me home country roads. New slogan: Take me home swollen rivers.) due to flooding. Never seen that before.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m still a little shy about the convertible thing. A hard-top Camaro SS 1LE will do, thank you very much.<\/p>\n In fact, its brooding, black hood \u2014 the 1LE\u2019s signature \u2014 suits my mood.<\/p>\n Once inside this beast, my outlook brightened. Which is odd since the Camaro is an ergonomic nightmare. I can\u2019t see out of it, the infotainment screen is cantilevered down\u00a0and the front door pockets are in the back seat. Speaking of the back seat, there isn\u2019t one \u2014 unless you take your legs off, because there is zero room. Think of the seats as shelf storage.<\/p>\n Then I push the starter button and all is forgiven.<\/p>\n The 6.2-liter eight comes to life like a bear out of hibernation. GRRRUMBUMBUMBUM. The earth shakes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d a friend exclaimed as he drove tentatively into my driveway \u2014 the black-hooded, musclebound Camaro guarding it like a 3,700-pound Doberman.<\/p>\n But the real thrills begin when the 1LE hits the road.<\/p>\n Chevy introduced the 1LE package\u00a0<\/a>back in the third-generation\u00a01988 car to make it more competitive in showroom stock racing. By the fifth-generation, the package had matured to a bona fide \u201ctrack package\u201d complete with that matte-black hood fronting a big V-8, stiffened suspension\u00a0and fat (10-inch front, 11-inch rear) tires.<\/p>\n The sixth-generation\u00a0$37,000 V8-powered Camaro SS options the $7,000 1LE package with magnetic dampers, Brembo brakes, electronic limited-slip differential, Recaro seats, and 11-inch front and 12-inch rear Goodyear gummies.<\/p>\n But the 2018 1LE\u2019s secret sauce is GM\u2019s Alpha architecture,\u00a0the same bones that make the Cadillac ATS the best-handling compact premium sedan.<\/p>\n The car is simply a joy to drive hard. Only the deliberate, manual\u00a0six-speed transmission\u00a0seems out of step with the car\u2019s athleticism.<\/p>\n My week with this toned athlete was enormously unproductive as every trip turned into an excuse to find interesting roads where I could stretch the 1LE\u2019s legs. Trip to the grocery store? Tack on a half hour while I detoured through lake country in search of side-Gs. A trip to the art supply store? Tack on a half-hour while I cruise Woodward, lay rubber at stoplights, and acknowledge the muscle brotherhood.<\/p>\n With rear-wheel drive and a wheelbase just an inch longer than the Cadillac ATS, the SS 1LE is always composed. Always nimble. Always easy to control around corners. In short, it\u2019s more in the competitive class with a BMW M4\u00a0than the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t take it to M1 Concourse for test laps, but Car and Driver did track it at their Virginia International Raceway Lightning Lap. The numbers tell the story. The loaded,\u00a0$46,295 SS 1LE threw down lap times around the epic\u00a04.1-mile \u201cAmerican N\u00fcrburgring\u201d comparable to a $97,000\u00a0Porsche Cayman GT4 and $194,000\u00a0Audi R8 V-10.\u00a0I\u2019m not making this up.<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s what marrying a premium sports chassis to a 455-horse, push-rod V-8 gets you. Take a bow, Chevy. But also take a look at lil brother Camaro V-6 1LE.<\/p>\n Offered for the first time in 1LE track trim, the V-6 wowed Car and Driver\u2019s Lightning Lap, blowing away other $40,000-something competitors like the Nissan 370Z NISMO, VW Golf R, and, ahem, Mustang.<\/p>\n \u201c(The Camaro V-6 1LE) absolutely stomps its current Blue Oval rival, the Mustang EcoBoost equipped with the Performance package,\u201d thrilled the buff mag. \u201cAnd it gets worse for Mustang acolytes: Despite a 100-hp deficit, the 1LE laps VIR faster than the eight-cylinder Mustang GT.\u201d<\/p>\n Ouch. Camaro has taken muscle-car performance to a new level, but \u2014 now that it\u2019s dicing with the elites \u2014 it also begs the question: Is it a better value than a Caddy?<\/p>\n My SS 1LE certainly answers the question: What would an ATS coupe be like with a V-8? Around Lightning Lap the $46,000\u00a0Camaro bests the $65,000, twin-turbo V6-powered Cadillac ATS-V, the best driver\u2019s car Cadillac has made.<\/p>\n But all things considered, the V-6 1LE would be my choice as a daily driver.<\/p>\n While the SS 1LE puts up the gaudier track numbers,\u00a0the V-6 is much more balanced<\/a>without the V-8 boat anchor up front. Its manners are like the V-6 Cadillac, and though it\u00a0gives up 100 horsepower to the ATS-V<\/a>\u00a0(335 vs. 446), that\u2019s still a lot of grunt for the street \u2014 or a weekend track day.<\/p>\n Not only is the V-6 1LE $20,000 cheaper than the ATS-V (that\u2019ll buy you a Chevy Trax ute for the 16-year-old), it\u2019s also well shy of a comparably equipped, $53,000\u00a0ATS coupe with performance suspension and the same\u00a0335-horse engine. Apples to apples, it\u2019ll also save you $4,700 over the V-8 while offering the same wicked\u00a0matte-black wardrobe.<\/p>\n Of course, there\u2019s more to sport coupes than performance numbers. Like interior comfort.<\/p>\n The Cadillac ATS somehow manages four more inches of rear legroom than the Camaro despite its shorter wheelbase. But I am also a fan of the Camaro\u2019s unique console \u2014 aviation-style temperature vents and tablet touchscreen. And this being GM, the Camaro shares a head-up display and 4G Wi-Fi and smartphone connectivity found on the Cadillac.<\/p>\n Ooooh, I\u2019m feeling warmer already. Spring \u2014 er, summer \u2014 is finally here and the Chevy Camaro SS and V-6 1LE track editions are here to play.<\/p>\n Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne. Catch \u201cCar Radio with Henry Payne\u201d from noon-2 p.m. Saturdays on 910 AM Superstation.<\/p>\n 2018 Chevy Camaro 1LE\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive, four-passenger sports coupe<\/p>\n Price: $40,590 V6 1LE base ($46,295 SS 1LE as tested)<\/p>\n Powerplant:\u00a03.6-liter, V-6; 6.2-liter V-8<\/p>\n Power: 335 horsepower, 284\u00a0pound-feet\u00a0torque (V-6);\u00a0455 horsepower, 455 pound-feet\u00a0torque (V-8)<\/p>\n Transmission: 6-speed manual<\/p>\n Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.2 seconds (V-6 1LE, Car and Driver), 4.1 seconds (SS 1LE, Car and Driver); Top speed, 155 mph (V-6), 165 mph (SS)<\/p>\n Weight: 3,532 pounds (V-6); 3,747 pounds (SS)<\/p>\n Fuel economy: EPA fuel economy:\u00a016 city\/28\u00a0highway\/20\u00a0combined (V-6);\u00a016 city\/25\u00a0highway\/19 combined (V-8)<\/p>\n Report card<\/strong><\/p>\n Highs: Affordably wicked; athletic V-6 1LE balance<\/p>\n Lows: Can’t see out of it; can’t fit in rear seat without removing legs<\/p>\n Overall: 4\u00a0stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I usually review a sexy coupe each May to celebrate the first muscle car of spring. Like a\u00a0Mustang convertible galloping across a green landscape. A colorful Dodge Challenger on Woodward. Or a\u00a0drop-top Camaro with its V-8 singing like a\u00a0robin. But spring never came this year. Michigan\u00a0went straight from winter to summer. April was a cruel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}