It’s not every day someone purchases a new car, especially when it comes to me; I have peculiar taste. My palette does love the 2016 Chevrolet SS, though. So, I bought one.
Many of you may remember I owned a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT, swapped to a VE Holden Commodore SSV. I loved that car, I never thought I would rid myself of that car. It’s an amazing machine, and it provided me with an outlet to tell Holden’s story at every fuel pump and stop light.
But, as you and I are aware, Holden manufacturing will cease in about a year. It wasn’t that I no longer cared for my G8 GT, it was a matter of owning a slice of history.
Through the month of May, just over 7,000 Chevrolet SS sedans have been sold. 7,000 lucky buyers get it: this is a special, special car. Sure, there’s more performance to be had in a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS, and the Zeta platform’s old bones are heavy.
But, I don’t care. If you ever have the opportunity to slide behind the wheel of an SS sedan, seize the opportunity. The steering is crisp, and weighted perfectly. The manual gearbox plays like it and the 6.2-liter LS3 V8 have been BFFs since elementary school, and the clutch is surprisingly light and forgiving. The SS is sublime, and it’s not the first time I’ve said it. Not to mention there are more ammenities than I know what to do with; the G8 GT didn’t even arrive with Bluetooth. (But you G8 faithful will note the 2009.5 G8s did receive Bluetooth, just as the brand expired.)
I was one of two individuals to have ever purchased a Chevrolet SS from my particular dealership, leaving the sales force crowded around the Some Like It Hot Red Metallic sheetmetal I was taking delivery of. I didn’t feel self-centered, and I didn’t flaunt it. The roaring lion brings no badge ego. I simply conversed with them, shared its humble, Holden beginnings and was on my way to start logging miles of smiles.
It’s what a few industry friends and myself have dubbed Zeta Journal, and I wanted you all to have a look at the first page, and first chapter of this journey. And since the car gets utterly no exposure outside of NASCAR, consider this one giant advertisement to go buy one of the best damn sport sedans you’ll ever drive.
All thanks to some blokes down under.
Comments
Nice! Hope you enjoy it. They’re sure under-appreciated cars.
#Jealous
I’m glad you liked your Pontiac G8 GT, and I really hope you seize the new Chevy SS to the maximum. This car is currently not available in Mexico, so I’m jealous AF. haha
Congrats and enjoy.
Now lets just hope or dream they move to make the next one on the Alpha as an Impala SS. I would like to see them keep the RWD sedan in the mix here.
scott3,
We can only hope… Thanks for being such a loyal reader here, and for the kind words!
Cheers,
-Sean
Any planned mods?
Congrats Sean! I’ve been following G8 GT’s and GXP models for the last couple of years after seeing a Blacked-out & lowered G8 GT on the road. When it jumped onto the freeway in front of me and I heard the V8 roar, I was like, what is that? Looked a bit like a 5-series BMW, but I knew it was’nt. I had to work a little to catch-up to it and saw the Pontiac emblem. It was crazy to me that after being a Pontiac fan (1st car was a ’69 GTO), that I had not learned of the car sooner!
I had the oppoutunity to drive a 2015 Perfect Blue metalic manual SS within the last couple weeks. I really was impressed. It’s definitly on the short-list for my next car. The manual transmission was a ton of fun, and the power and sound of the LS3- Music! Enjoy!
Congratulations Sean! Wishing you years of entertainment with your new wheels.
Congratulations! I joined the SS club with a ’16 Slipstream Blue M6 5 weeks ago. Great car. So much fun to drive. I hope you have years of enjoyment. I’ll look forward to your Zeta Journal.
ThorSS,
Thank you for the kind words! You’ll see more of this car here in the future, and the #zetajournal hashtag lives on Instagram. You’ll find more of it there. (Also jealous you found a Slipstream Blue SS, ha!)
Cheers,
-Sean
congrats on the new car! Got more pics coming?
vic1212,
Thank you for the well wishes! Not trying to be *that* guy, but you’ll find everything on my Instagram should that interest you: @helloimseann. That’s where the #zetajournal hashtag lives.
Cheers,
-Sean
I was not a big fan of this car until I saw one in silver at a parking lot near my home. What a beauty!
I look forward to your experiences with your new car. I am one of those new owners for the Month of May. And I have the same color as yours. It isn’t my daily driver but more of a weekend/backup car but I love it as it met most of my check boxes for my first enthusiast car.
PepSS,
Thank you, and I return the congrats to you, too! This is also not a daily driver, but maybe my retirement one day, ha!
Cheers,
-Sean
You, sir, just picked up exactly what I would love to have! Supremely jealous. Enjoy this car and let us know how it goes down the road!
Overlordspock,
Thank you, sir! You’ll catch more of it here in the future. In the meantime, thanks for reading!
Cheers,
-Sean
Wise decision my friend! Truly a future collectible! There’s honestly not a better priced performance package than the SS Sedan!
All G8’s can get GM Bluetooth with an OnStar module swap – $225 and an hour of your time. But I recommend going with a Holden iQ swap as the G8’s lack Stereo Bluetooth.
Personally, I’m miffed at Holden on the infotainment. The Holden Spark gets Android Auto and CarPlay, but Commodore VF – a car that costs 4x as much, will get neither.
Yes, I know the Commodore is on borrowed time, but all that effort to retrofit Zeta with Global A electrics was meant for CarPlay/AndroidAuto/CUE. To put none in, was a huge mistake.
It’s literally a key reason I went with a much cheaper car – I can at least add Android Auto to that car with a simple $500 head unit swap, courtesy Mopar.
I think you’re missing the point mate. Who cares about all of the carplay android auto crap. The SS is a drivers car first and foremost, and it makes no apologies about that
People said the same thing about sports cars that didn’t add CD drives initially – who cares, you’ve got cassette and radio!
Android Auto and CarPlay make the driving experience better. They give you instant traffic notifications (with automatic re-routing) at no cost, and integrate OBD2 performance data into your touchscreen.
So there are very clear racing/performance use cases, as well as existing daily driver uses.
Some the racing applications (with CarPlay/Android Auto) will take the next few years to play out, but I think four years from now a lot of people are going to be a lot more frustrated about it.
And probably give a great gateway to hack your car. That’s why I’ll never get rid of my ’63 Impala or my ’08 VE SS-V Holden Ute. No connectivity whatsoever and if I can’t read a map properly I can still have the same stuff running on my iphone
The more I research the more I like this car.
I think GM failed this car by not marketing it better.
Maybe should have been sold as an Impala SS?
Good choice and have fun with a great car.
Great choice. Congrats. I had a 2008 G8 GT and loved it. Great time to buy one with the 20% discount. This car will NOT got down in value.
Congrats on the purchase of your new toy and the color is very cool .
Part of the buying experience is getting something you think ” you ” will enjoy and the fact it’s something not alot of people own .
I was always told by my friends , anytime you buy a new car and trade in your old friend don’t look back at it when you drive away in your new car . Just think of all the fun you will have with the new one .
Congrats on the new car. It makes me sort of jealous in a way. Owning one of these has been a “some day” dream of mine for a long time.
To quote a one-time Ford performance group executive, “Technology has killed the driving experience”. Driver’s car first. Everything else should be an option.
Sean, did you get a manual? Did it have a sunroof? Does anyone know if the dealers got any with manual and without sunroof (+MN6 -CF5)
I love this car so congrats Sean! As others mentioned, this would have been a sales hit if it were tied into the Impala line as the Impala SS. With AWD as an option it would have been insane and a great year round car for those of us with snow/ice half the year. I love the livability and practicality of this car. And when you want to have fun, it’s right there on tap. Though it’s a Holden, It has nice clean lines like Chevrolet’s of old too.. I appreciate that as I’m not into the overly busy designs of the last decade. Great great choice!
Love that car. V8 power an rear wheel drive-the way a sport sedan is supposed to be.
Congratulations Sean! You certainly do get it! They can talk, analyze & criticize, but.. The only way to appreciate one of these things is to get your backside in the driver’s seat and take it for a blast!! And then.. and only then will you get it! Enjoy Sean, Enjoy!!
Congratulations!
I love those cars.
The only reason I didn’t buy one is because I’m too young to drive an Impala.
I’m too flashy of a guy.
I LOVE those so much though. I literally was filling out an order with my dealer for an SS, and I just couldn’t stomach paying that much for an impala SS. (Now I have a ferrari, a Porsche, and a Cadillac so its not that I couldn’t afford it- I couldn’t stomach it though). I talked to the salesman about GMPP Body kids or something to make it LOOK like a sports sedan, but there’s NOTHING they offered.
We used to have a G8 and I didn’t think it LOOKED indistinguishable to the typical person like another car.
So I hold out, hoping with all goodness that the SS’s replacement DOES actually show up, and it retains its manual gearbox, but looks like something someone under 50 could drive without being embarassed to show up at a meeting with. If it does, I’ll be right there with you!
In the mean time, congrats and I look forward to seeing more about your experiences with it!
I have been driving Audi for 15 years and still drive an ’05 Allroad 4.2L which I will keep for my winter car. But when my local dealer put the current Chevy 20% off sale tag on a black SS with all 2 options it was a no-brainer to drop the signature on the paper.
I bought a PBM 6MT during the 20% off sale. This car checks all of the boxes. What a fun ride!
July 16 I posted above about dropping a deposit on an SS. It is now Sept. 7 and they can’t tell me when the current recall hold will end. I am pretty pissed off at GM right now. They have held my cash for 6 weeks and can’t provide a firm date for delivery. The car is sitting at the dealer. The value of this car will continue to decline monthly as it is a 2016. I was initially told it would be 3 weeks when I placed a deposit. I am in Alaska and winter is fast approaching and this is a 3 season car here. If snow falls before the car is delivered I will buy another Audi and NEVER do business with GM ever again.
Did I say I was pissed at GM. Let me say it again. I am REALLY PISSED at Government Motors.
Finally in October after over 3 months wait they called to say the car was available. By that time there was snow on the ground and I had bought an Audi SQ5. I will never buy a GM vehicle now.
THE SS IS A NICE CAR, GOOD CAR, BUT CHEVROLET MOTOR DIV COULD CARE LESS, AS WE ALL COULD SEE FROM THE START.