Instrumented Test
It’s not easy to see out of a Chevy Camaro. That’s just an inescapable consequence of forcing 1967 design cues onto modern, safety-compliant hardware shared with the Chevrolet SS and the late, lamented Pontiac G8. You’ll have to live with this poor visibility if you buy any Camaro. But opt for a Camaro SS equipped with the 1LE package, and you might not care.
For $3500, the 1LE option transforms the Camaro SS into a finely tuned handling instrument, a track-ready performer on the order of the Porsche 911 GT3. Even if you never take your Camaro to a road course, 1LE is a must-have option for the driving enthusiast. It’s telling that the order form won’t let you pair an automatic transmission and 1LE—presumably, that’s Chevy’s way of saying, “Serious Inquiries Only.”
Chassis changes are extensive and bring the 1LE closely in line with the handling, if not the ultimate prowess, of the 580-hp ZL1. Compared with the standard SS, the front and rear anti-roll bars are enlarged, a strut-tower brace is bolted in place, monotube rear shocks replace the SS’s twin-tube units, and black 20-inch wheels—10-inches wide in front and 11-inches wide in back—are furnished with 285/35R-20 Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar G:2 rubber borrowed from the ZL1’s front end. To help keep it all working under duress, the ZL1’s wheel bearings, rear shock mounts, and larger fuel pump are used.
In addition to the black wheels, the exterior is dressed up with a hood wrapped in black vinyl, as well as larger front and rear spoilers. Interior changes include the microfiber-wrapped steering wheel and shifter from the ZL1. That shifter has shorter throws and churns a close-ratio six-speed gearbox with a shorter (numerically higher) final-drive ratio.
Those are the goods. But what makes the 1LE remarkable is how these parts combine to change how the Camaro feels. Even though the steering is electrically boosted, it’s full of information. Tiny vibrations and kicks come through, delivering communiqués from the road. Turn the Camaro toward its 1.01-g’s of grip and the steering heft increases as the front tires bite into the tarmac. Ride quality is on the harsh side and may be a bit too rough for some, but impacts are immediately dissipated by the taut structure. This also explains why Chevy won’t give you the 1LE kit on a convertible. Tiny window openings and thick A- and C-pillars might be terrible for visibility, but they’re great for structural rigidity.
There’s a directness that pervades the 1LE. Chevy removes every bit of imprecision. Any slack that’s in a regular Camaro SS is gone; every part of the car is pulled tight. Steering and throttle inputs produce an immediate reaction, but that immediacy treads the fine line between nervousness and feeling right. Like all great-handling cars, the Camaro seems to shed some of its 3884 pounds the harder you drive it. And the harder you pound it into corners, the happier it becomes. We did notice a dab of slop in the brakes when you first touch the pedal, but they’re otherwise great and produced stops from 70 mph in a Corvette-like 145 feet.
What the 1LE code doesn’t change is the engine. Like all manual Camaro SS models the 1LE spins its rear wheels with a 426-hp 6.2-liter LS3 V-8. Our test car’s V-8 plays through an $895 two-mode exhaust system that opens valves to allow for more noise under hard acceleration and at high rpm. Acceleration times fall in line with like-priced versions of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger. The quarter-mile passes in 12.9 seconds at 111 mph, and the run to 60 takes only 4.5 seconds. The shifter slots into gear as if pulled by magnets, and your hands will think that the fake-suede wrapping on the knob could’ve come from Stuttgart.
With the exception of the $1995 Recaro seats and the material covering the steering wheel and shifter, the rest of the Camaro interior reminds us of the General Motors that went bankrupt. If it weren’t for the interior, nothing about the 1LE would feel cheap.
And yet, we’d be willing to overlook the interior and the lack of outward visibility to park a Camaro SS 1LE in the garage. It’s definitely on the hard-core side of the performance spectrum, but so is a Porsche GT3. The suspension might be a bit too hard and its reflexes too quick for some, but those people will likely be buying an automatic Camaro anyway. Or waiting for the lighter, smaller all-new Camaro coming for 2016—and hoping it brings a classier interior and better visibility.
