Although the splash at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show has been the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro 1LE, the sixth-generation Camaro will be seeing plenty of variants throughout its lifecycle.
Speaking to lead Camaro engineer, Al Oppenheiser, we asked if the upcoming Camaro turbo will see its own performance package, possibly inspired by the 1LE. The answer shouldn’t surprise you.
“I’ll give you that answer by saying a surprising number of components are shared between the V6 and turbo-four, so the opportunity is there. And, to be honest with you, I would much rather have our four-cylinder customers buying performance parts out of our performance catalog or even buy something straight from the factory versus buying aftermarket parts. You need the aftermarket, but if you want to really get the lap times that we’re able to stand behind, it’s always best, in my opinion, to get it straight from the factory.”
Oppenheiser also expanded on the customer his team intends to court with the 2.0-liter LTG turbocharged four-cylinder.
“I call them the ‘Fast and the Furious crowd.’ They’re the ones who went to see Transformers and saw Bumblebee. Now, these men and women are older, and they can afford a turbo-four Camaro. There were actually people who had blogs that said, ‘Man I love the Camaro, but they don’t offer it with a four-cylinder turbo, and there would be so much I could do from a stage-kit perspective, so I’m just not buying it until they do one'”, he stated.
So, the future is bright for the turbo-four buyer, and we can’t wait to sample the not-so-base-model engine.
Comments
Instead of not offering magna-ride, the turbo-four will now come stock with an FE0 suspension. The 1LE will let you step up to FE2.
Seriously, offer all the suspensions with all the engines. Making the two connected somehow is how Detroit lost to the Germans in performance. German auto makers showed people want a sporty, comfortable ride with slower engines. And they made bank on that.
Or, even better, lobby against overbearing CAFE standards harder so we can *afford* the V8, rather than it being push-priced into unobtainium.
Hopefully if we get the right person into the White House after Obama leaves, these ridiculous CAFE standards will be addressed.
im old but this is just wrong
Offering the 1LE for the base Camaro with the 2.0-liter LTG turbocharged four-cylinder engine makes sense because while it doesn’t make as much horsepower as the LGX 3.6L V6, the turbo 2.0L 4-cyl does make more torque and is about 200 lbs lighter which means the Camaro is balanced car and could be a lot of fun.
I see this simply as an effort to keep a few of the “fast and furious” crowd around? GM has ZERO other affordable performance cars available, so they have to try and make the Camaro work for everyone? Hence,the 2.0 turbo Camaro.
The Sonic and/or the Cruze would have been easy to make into affordable performance cars, but neither is going to happen. So it’s either a Camaro or move on to something else?
No other affordable performance cars available. I know LFX, I shake my head evertime I look at Chevy’s line up.
Who would have thought that GM would be like this in the 2010’s??