Why the 2016 Camaro "changes" make sense

"WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe" (wesbarton89) 05/30/2015 at 10:36 • Filed to: None

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The Camaro has been on the market since 1967, and was made up through 2002, and then again starting in 2009. The first run led to four generations of the iconic car. Arguably, the biggest change in body style came from the fourth gen to the fifth. The first four generations changed gradually over time, but never anything shockingly different. They always kind of kept the same shape, so it makes sense that the sixth generation carries that tradition, moving from the fifth.

Let’s break this down.

First, the 1967 Camaro.

You see the general shape right there. It’s got some angles in the grille, and is a true pillarless coupe, with no B pillar between the main window and rear quarter window. (One of the features I miss on today’s American cars.)

Here’s a ‘69. (Giggity) More angled grille, comes out more to a point in the center, but still follows the same shape in general. The headlights changed a bit too, but not much. It’s got mostly different sheetmetal, but they clearly didn’t mess with much of the design.

This one is a 1970. The ‘69 bodystyle, above this, was kept for only one year. The 1970, being the first year of the second generation of the Camaro, presented a larger change, but again, it kept the same general shape. Chevy did away with the rear quarter window, a styling cue that would not change until the revival of the Camaro. There’s a larger, still pointed grille, and a different rear end, but it’s still unmistakeably a Camaro.

In 1974, they changed the looks again, just a bit. The grille was narrower, and the headlamps were more inset. You also had those ugly bumpers sticking out, like it’s doing some sort of T-Rex forklift impression. The hood is different as well. I’m actually pretty fond of this body style, despite some opinions on it. It doesn’t really look that bad. Again, still the single side windows with no quarters. Still follows the basic Camaro guidelines though.

The looks stayed fairly unchanged, with some minor differences, up through 1981. In 1982, they debuted the third generation Camaro.

The design, while being a bit different, still carried that famous Camaro silhouette. Again, no quarter windows. This body style still had inset headlights, but styled a bit differently. A much more 80s look here. Still has a long hood, short deck, but with sharper angles than the first two generations. It’s a polarizing design, but it’s not traditionally ugly. The convertible was the high mark for the third generation I believe. The design didn’t change much at all over the next decade or so, until 1993 when the fourth-gen debuted.

This is the 1993 Camaro. It’s much more 90s than its predecessor, and rightly so. But, it also keeps the same general design elements. However, instead of being so squared off, it’s much more rounded now. It still has the traditional quarterless window, inset headlights, and long/short configuration that it’s had for over twenty years by this point. There was a refresh in 1998.

This refresh did away with the inset square lights, and though they weren’t set in as far as before, they still weren’t totally flush with the front of the car. Beyond that, the styling didn’t see much change with the refresh. This car soldiered on until 2002, when GM ceased production. At least until 2009, with the debut of the fifth gen.

This one is a 2010, and man, what a change. It took some styling cues from the Camaros of old, with the V shaped, pointed grille, and round lamps. This car is much larger, with a higher beltline, and smaller rear window. Visibility is one of the largest detractors on this car. For the first time since 1969, it has a rear quarter window, but now, it’s fixed, so it’s no longer truly a pillarless coupe. It’s big, bulky, and to be fair, it’s not a bad design, but it is indeed the biggest departure in style. However, it still follows some of the same general design guidelines of the older models. Namely, that long hood and short deck. They’ve never done away with that, and it’s a common design for pony cars in general, not just the Camaro.

In 2014, there was a mild refresh of the Camaro, with a redesigned front and rear fascia. The lower grille was taller, while the upper grille was more narrow, with redesigned headlamps. The dual lamps on the rear were now one unit on each side. Not a big change, but enough to keep it fresh.

The sixth generation (2016) was unveiled just two weeks ago, and it didn’t present a major change for the body style, though there are some differences.

The front is changed, with the addition of LEDS, and a redesigned fascia. The body carries the same shape generally as the 5th generation, though it’s less blocky, more sculpted, and more streamlined, with more body lines and creases. It’s on a new platform, which helps shave weight off. It’s still got the short deck and long hood, however, as the fifth and sixth gens were wider, it isn’t as pronounced. From the side, the car bears more than a passing resemblance to a 2015 Mustang. The change is certainly more evolutionary than revolutionary.

That last statement though, is par for the course for the Camaro. It’s almost always followed that same formula. The biggest change was from the second to third generation, on a smaller scale, though it retained its shape, and from the fourth and fifth, with a larger, wider, lower appearance, and a totally different shape, but with the same basic cues. A Camaro is a Camaro, always was a Camaro, always will be a Camaro. It always seems to follow an evolution, without drastically changing the looks. Not saying GM plays it safe with the design of the Camaro. I think it’s more of, “well, if it works, change only what is necessary to keep it fresh.”

In the future, we may see a more radical departure in the style of the Camaro, but for 35 years, it followed a pretty simple formula. And for the last 7 years, it’s doing that again. Therefore, I don’t see why people are complaining that it’s barely changing, because it’s almost always been barely changing.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 10:44

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Just internet people being internet people...smh. I mean it’s not like there’s any other car that hasn’t been changed in an evolutionary fashion over many decades right?

RIGHT?? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

EVOLUTIONARY DESIGN, IT SELLS PEOPLE!!

AthomSfere > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 10:45

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Ranked, up through 5th gen:

1st

5th

2nd

3rd

4th

(This is looks/ size only)

I don’t really care for the 6th gen though. The Mustang I think did its redesign right. The Camaro is too much of the 5th gen, but a little uglier (I also think the 5th gen looked better before the refresh).

I really would have liked the camaro to go the cleaner meaner route and borrow some of the 5th gen elements and mix them with what Nissan was doing with the IDX concept:

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/30/2015 at 10:53

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I’ve seen three 911s in the past week, all of different generations. One was like the white one there behind the red one in your picture, one had the fried egg headlights, and one was a current gen silver Carrera 4S. Definitely a similar thought process. I would own any and all of them though.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 10:58

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So you saw a 964, 996, and 991 respectively. All of which are fantastic cars in their own way! The 991, not so much for me, it hasn’t changed so much on the inside; on the inside though and other places where it counts for me, more than I’d like.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/30/2015 at 10:59

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Yeah, those are the ones! I don’t follow the codes that close, because I’m not as big a Porsche nut as I am for other cars. I’m more of an American car guy, but I definitely would not say no to one. I can appreciate them!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 11:00

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Like the 2015 Mustang, this 2016 Camaro has me leaning more towards American sports cars than ever!

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/30/2015 at 11:13

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That’s not a bad thing. I got to sit in a 2015 Mustang GT with the manual, Recaros and performance package when they first came out. Definitely not a bad place to be. Though as far as comfort, I’d have to give that to the 2015 Challenger.

I’ve always been a Dodge guy first and foremost, so maybe that’s bias speaking, but it is a nice place to be. I also like Japanese luxury cars. They’re generally less expensive than their German counterparts, and offer almost all the same features. I’ve owned, driven, and been in a handful of those, and they’re pretty good generally.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 11:44

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I’ve sat in all the pony cars, the Challenger is by far the most comfortable to be in! and I love that 8 Speed they’re using as well! They’re more so Luxury before Performance though in my eyes. Chevy is all Performance, and Ford is somewhere in the middle. If I could have a Mustang or Camaro with that 8 speed I’d be all set.

Toyota Sucks Lots Of Sausages > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/30/2015 at 12:04

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But the Boxster-headlights 996 isn’t there, and even they might think that gen (saved the GT3) is the bastard child of the 911 family.

Birddog > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 12:08

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The 2009+ Camaro is evolutionary in it’s own generation but not evolutionary over the life of the Camaro itself.

It was more like a re-boot in 1970, evolving to the end in 2002. Then another re-boot in 2009.

The people that are griping don’t understand the car industry. (Opinion time!) GM went with a cautious redesign because Camaro is selling at or above expectations. If they went with a radical change on the new platform they stood to lose a lot if it didn’t pay off.

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > Birddog 05/30/2015 at 12:12

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That’s a really good way to put it. That’s kind of what I was trying to say, but you put it in better words than I.

However, I still think it would’ve sold, just because of the name. There’s a lot of people that will buy just because of the name. Even if Leonardo DiCaprio gained 400 lbs and lost all of his hair, and got a face transplant, people would still flock to his movies because he’s Leonardo DiCaprio.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Toyota Sucks Lots Of Sausages 05/30/2015 at 12:14

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There are 7 generations of the 911. The 996 is the black one behind the 964; albeit in it’s 996.2 incarnation, because everyone bitched about the racecar-derived early headlapms that are the same as a Boxster(God forbid insecure 911 owners and internet circle jerkers have another Porsche that looks like theirs), they got the 996 Turbo-style headlamps in 2002.

I much prefer the early headlights. They were a tribute to the epic GT1 race car!!

Toyota Sucks Lots Of Sausages > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/30/2015 at 12:26

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The 996 Turbo headlights looked much better, and I always liked the Boxster-headlights, but only on the Boxster, and also the GT1.

I much prefer the racing 911s, even the way they look. Especially the Jagermeister Kremer K3, because so fucking badassery!

shop-teacher > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe 05/30/2015 at 12:40

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I love Camaros, all of them, but I’m going to respectfully disagree that the design of Camaros didn’t change much over the years. The difference between the 1st and 2nd gens was radical. To my eyes, there is nothing visually that connect the two.

From the 2nd through 4th gens, the silhouette remained more or less the same, but they still look completely different. There is no mistaking one for another.

The 5th gen is certainly inspired by the 1st, but without being overly retro. The 6th gen will be the first Camaro that is not distinguishable from its previous gen at the quickest of side glances. I think it looks good, but I’m still disappointed in how similar it looks to the 5th gen (even though I like the 5th gen).