2014 z28 & gt500

[Evan Smith]

The Z/28 will be the halo Camaro with over 500 hp and Chevy said it will be 300 lbs lighter than the ZL-1. Expect pricing to be about $60,000, which is disappointing for obvious reasons. I can say it looks awesome in person and the one Chevy rolled out at the show sounded amazing. These are great times for performance enthusiasts.

The Boss 302 was a $42,000 car with 444 hp, so no question which would be faster. The Z will be more than Ford's GT500 ($54,200), which has 662 hp and can run well into the 11s at 128 mph.

As for weight on new cars (vs old cars), yes they are heavy, but it doesn't seem to hurt performance or economy. The new ones must be built to strict government standards and as a result are about a million times safer with much more rigid chassis' (with crumple zones), multiple air bags, ABS, traction control, computer enhanced handling, computers for engine management (plus the wiring). All these systems add weight.

Even with navigation, better stereos with multiple speakers, seats with air bags, bigger brakes, etc., new cars will out accelerate, out handle, out brake early cars. They get double or triple the mpg and last twice as long as the old cars did.

Mind you, I love classic muscle cars and you can argue the styling aspect all day long, but there is no question which are better in terms of performance, safety, reliability, and overall driveability.

Evan