[jalajprakash]

At the end of the Michigan to San Francisco road trip I undertook with my mom after completing my graduation, where I drove through the most scenic parts of US during 7 days, I reached San Francisco on Saturday afternoon with my flight due on the coming Monday.

Now I was unsure how long the lease return process would take on my leased 2015 Ford Fusion so I set up an appointment in advance for Saturday evening itself to return my lease with the Ford dealership closest to the Airport. It was surprisingly quick and we were home in a total of 2 hours. With another day to spend in the San Francisco area, we were scratching our heads on what to do since we've been to the area before and covered all the touristy spots. Mom wanted to go meet 2 of her childhood friends who lived close to SF but that would take 2 hours at most nevertheless we would still require a vehicle.

Rental Tips

Now I must thank Team-BHPian saishivaj for the tip he shared in his own travelogue regarding USAA members receiving discounted rates at Car Rentals as I signed up with USAA immediately after reading his thread in anticipation of a time that I would have to rent a car. A simple google search showed me that Avis had the best discounts for USAA members and I made an account with them as well. Being a USAA members not only waived the young renter's fee but also unlocked the rest of the Avis fleet that people under 25 are not allowed to rent.


The Rental Rollercoaster


*UP*

I did not start the booking process until after returning my lease because there was a good chance that the Ford dealership could refuse to accept my lease return due to lack of space. After returning from the Ford dealership, I opened the Avis website and saw some good discounts (Presumably like a one day before discount). The Camaro was available for around $65/day but for some reason, before putting down the deposit online, I wanted to call the Avis phone number and check what exact car was available since it says "Camaro or similar vehicle" on the website.

*DOWN*

The person online to start off with, was not very friendly and after a initial few questions, asked me for my age. I informed him straight and true that I was 21 years of age. At this point he tells me that even though I am a USAA member, I will not be allowed to rent any cars other than a Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze or a Ford Fusion and he was not sure why the system was allowing me to do so online (even after entering my age).

Now I was very confused and saddened by this information. I tried again to check the website for any information regarding what the Avis spokesperson had just told me and to my shock the prices had more than doubled . Apparently, it was barely a minute after 9pm and bookings after 9pm are considered very last-minute. A Ford Fusion was now $65 and a Camaro now over $100. I was pretty bummed out by the fact that now I would be paying nearly $120 (including taxes) to rent the same car that I had just driven across the country and could've just kept my own car to drive for free. Nonetheless my mom still wanted to go meet her friends who lived in the area nearby so I booked a Ford Fusion from 8am Sunday till 6am on Monday and went to sleep all sad. :(

*UP*

The next morning, I was so tired and unmotivated to drive that I reached the Avis office at the SFO airport at around 11am instead of 8. I went and stood in the line but then a super nice lady who was just starting her shift at work asked me to come up to her desk so she could review my reservation. As a one last beacon of hope, I asked the lady what was the reason I was unable to book the Camaro. She took a couple seconds to look at the screen and told me "Hmm. It says here that you're an AvisPreferred Member as well as a USAA member. You are absolutely eligible to drive the Camaro SS. We have a 2017 Camaro SS here in our garage. Let me check if it's available" And available it was. The difference between booking a Camaro and a Ford Fusion was $30 so it was an absolute no-brainer for me. Now, a regular Camaro SS booking is also limited to 300 miles/day but for being a AvisPreferred Customer, that limit was removed for me too! And that is the story of how my date with the Camaro SS started.

Chevrolet Camaro SS Quick Review

• Steering - The car featured 3 different modes aka Tour, Sport and Track but they did not seem to affect anything other than the turning resistance of the steering wheel. (They might affect other things with Performance pack) Now when it comes to steering feel itself, the modes were actually quite counter-intuitive. You would think that the Track or Sport mode would be fun for the twisty mountain roads but it made the wheel so heavy that you were fighting the car to make it turn and it wouldn't unwind itself when you let go. Tour mode was actually perfect for twisting roads with enough resistance and feel to allow you to drive with confidence but light enough that you could chuck the car around. Track mode actually came in handy on the super straight highway drive where the heavy steering wouldn't budge and veer the car on the smallest undulations on the road. The car wouldn't budge out of it's lane and the small corrections I usually need to make to keep it in the lane were reduced to a great extent.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Engine - The Engine featured in the Camaro SS is the 6.2L 455hp LT1 V8 motor that pulls like a freaking freight train as it revs to it's 7,000 rpm limit. Every time I pinned down the throttle it was like a time warp sensation for me. The car would start accelerating at a furious pace and would not let up until you let go of the gas pedal. Overtaking other cars was a breeze and the steps were simply, point and shoot. The torque down low starting at 1,200 rpm is very strong which I'm assuming is thanks to 6.2L size of the engine. The sensation can also be described as being launched from a catapult although you do have brakes to slow yourself down.
  
  
• Gearbox - The gearbox in the SS was 8-speed unit which is average at best. In automatic mode, it works well to keep you in the right rev range according to the speed of the car and the throttle position. In manual mode, there is still a delay between the paddle and the actual shift to the point where sometimes when I tried dropping multiple gears, I didn't know how many gears the car has already dropped and if it was ready to go. Quite disappointed that the character of the gearbox doesn't change with different modes. One would assume it would hold lower gears with Track mode but it still is in a hurry to find the 8th gear and settle down.
  
  
• Handling - Handling of the Camaro was very neat. It took all the corners I threw at it in the back roads of Lake Tahoe very well. I wasn't ballsy enough to turn off traction control yet but with the power on tap, rear wheel slides through every corner would not be very hard.
  
  
• Braking - The brakes on the Camaro were the standard 13.9 inch rotors, 4-piston calipers on both the front and back. They shed speed very well without drama on the highway but I would still recommend the upgraded 6-piston from the Performance pack if you want to do some track time because the pedal feel was soft and bite not sharp enough. Maybe that's because its a rental car and was driven like crazy but maybe it's just the brakes since that car had only 1500 miles when I picked it up.
  
  
• Seating - The seats were average and not much to speak of. My mom had actually sat in the 2016 Mustang 5.0 the day before when we were at a Ford dealership and the standard seats in the V8 Mustangs were much more supportive according to my mother and I share the sentiment. (not the Recaro seats which are available as an option)
  
  
• Sound - I had a tough time enjoying the note when I was focusing on making sure I don't crash but I did enjoy the sound it made in upper rev ranges. Otherwise the car was much too quiet. You can hear the V8 rumble to life at startup but that's about it under 4,000 rpm. I'm sure a Performance exhaust can fix that for you but this being a rental, it's just a base SS without any options. Something I must mention is that the tire noise was so loud that it must have been the culprit at hiding the engine note that was missing. I'm not sure if it was the roads or the GoodYear tires on the car but damn I had to crank up the stereo on the highway just so I wouldn't have to listen to the annoying tire noise.
  
  
  Attached below is a clip showing start up and an in gear acceleration. You can almost hear the tire noise after the car starts up and begins to roll. I would expect a V8 muscle car to be a little louder than that. The delay in the paddle shift click and the gears actually dropping can also be heard.
  
  
  

  https://youtu.be/pDKTrQZFWRk

  
  
  
• Ride - The ride and refinement of the car overall was a little harsh when compared to the Ford Fusion I had driven for the thousands of mile before this, joints on the freeway and potholes actually hurt your behind and you should probably slow down for both. But at the end of the day, it's sports coupe not a family sedan and firmer suspension is to be expected.
  
  
• Kitna deti hai? - On a round trip of a little over 500 miles, with 400 miles of highway and 100 miles of spirited driving, I was able to get 23.7 MPG aka 10 kmpl which is not bad considering I was revving the engine just to enjoy the sound quite often.
  
  
• Entertainment - Since on a 500 mile road trip, I can't just enjoy the engine note the whole time or I'll be breaking land speed records and jail time records at the same time, ICE was quite important. The OE system that was installed in the car was functional but not very intuitive. The car did feature CarPlay but I had trouble opening up Waze (GPS) and Spotify at the same time while my iPhone was connected to CarPlay which got frustrating after a while and I just switched over to streaming music over Bluetooth. The Ford SYNC (ver 2 and 3) are much easier to figure out and use. The screen for the ICE was also tilted downwards for some reason unknown to me, and as a tall person, it made it harder for me to control.
  
  
• Space - As a roadtrip car, space to carry luggage is also important. The trunk might be spacious and easily fit a full size suitcase but the entry to trunk was so small, I had to legit squeeze my suitcase hard to push it in there. Thank my lucky stars that it wasn't a hard case suitcase because then there would be no chance it would go in. No joke, I had 4 full size suitcases in total and had to make 2 trips between the hotel and the airport just to bring all the luggage over. 2 Suitcases can fit in the rear seats but why not reduce the rear seat space (zero leg space anyways) and give a better, bigger boot opening. Suitcases in the rear seats are just tough to put in and block rear visibility.
  
  
• Visibility - Visibility in the car is not very good thanks to the thick B pillars. There is no convex part in the mirror either to fill in the blind spots, something even my Ford Fusion had, due to which each lane change involves shaking your head left to right to try and check the mirror for cars behind you. Turning your head and looking is useless due to the width of the body. Your best bet is to accelerate fast and change lanes so that you're only having to account for cars that were already in front of you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Ergonomics - As far as ergonomics go, I only had trouble with placement of the A/C vents. They were under the screen and blew air directly at the gear lever. This was also the only place that I could put my phone (for navigation) and that did not bode well with the phone. Maybe switching the position of the ICE screen and the air vents would be better? Gotta give props to Chevrolet for the great design in incorporating the temperature and air flow dials into the vents though.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Route

The route included taking the state highway all the way to Lake Tahoe which includes mostly 4 lane super straight roads all the way to the Lake. On the way back, we drove along the edge of the lake and took some twisty mountain roads that were mostly 2 lane highways. On multi-lane highways, the Camaro commands a presence where most people will move out of your lane when they see the Camaro headlights in their rear-view mirrors or try to get into a race with you. On a two lane highway, most people will also let you through during the 2-mile passing zones that are scattered throughout the route, but for me it got a little annoying when a Chevrolet Impala who was unable to overtake the SUV in front of him during these passing zones, would still block the left (passing) lane in an attempt to do so, when it is proper canyon etiquette to let someone pass when they are obviously more capable and right behind you, even the law says that "slower traffic please stay to the right". I was never breaking the law since the speed limit was 65 mph but most vehicles were moving much slower since it is unnerving for them to take a fast twisty corner at that speed and I am still a civil driver and will never overtake someone while crossing a double yellow line (not meant to be crossed). Finally after 4 instances of the Impala blocking the left lane and passing no one, I downshifted to the right gear, gave the lane change signal as the passing lane was about to start and drove right to front of the line. The Impala as usual pulled out into the passing lane behind me and barely overtook one vehicle before falling back in line without overtaking anyone.

I guess the lesson here is that, please drive safely when you're on twisting mountain roads, don't push yourself or your car more than you're comfortable with and let cars that are more capable through instead of blocking their path.

Reflection

After coming back to the hotel at around midnight, we packed up and then drove to the airport at around 6am, making 2 trips back and forth just because all the luggage wouldn't fit in the car, although being able to drive the Camaro SS was absolutely worth making the extra trip. The return process was as easy as driving the car back into the Avis garage and telling them that the fuel tank was full. Now that I'm back in India and driving my Skoda Laura TSi, driving the Camaro SS for a whole day has kind of spoiled the fun I had in my Laura since my receptors for acceleration have been reset. (Remap definitely on the cards now). Overall, next time I'm back in the US for business or pleasure, you'll definitely see me in the Camaro SS. Booking in advance can cut the price upto 50% so you can bet that I'll do that as well.

Let me know if you guys have any questions about the car or the trip that I can answer and I'd be more than happy to do that!



Other Pictures

Clear Skies and an Empty Highway



San Francisco!



Mom meeting a friend from High School after 25 some years!



Road towards Lake Tahoe



Ayy Ayy



Driving along Lake Tahoe



Gotta keep the Speed Limit in mind



Road back from Lake Tahoe



Sun is shining!



Snow at Lake Tahoe!



Multi-colored Skies in the evening

Credit to my mom for taking most of the videos and photos for the travelogue.

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[jalajprakash]

Found a picture in my phone that shows why we traveled to Lake Tahoe in the first place.

[embee]

Originally Posted by jalajprakash

Attachment 1642885

Now I must thank Team-BHPian saishivaj for the tip he shared in his own travelogue regarding USAA members receiving discounted rates at Car Rentals as I signed up with USAA immediately after reading his thread in anticipation of a time that I would have to rent a car. A simple google search showed me that Avis had the best discounts for USAA members and I made an account with them as well. Being a USAA members not only waived the young renter's fee but also unlocked the rest of the Avis fleet that people under 25 are not allowed to rent..

Please can you post the link for the travelogue regarding "USAA Members" shared by Team-BHPian saishivaj. Would be of great help. Thanks.

[jalajprakash]

Originally Posted by embee

Please can you post the link for the travelogue regarding "USAA Members" shared by Team-BHPian saishivaj. Would be of great help. Thanks.

Here you go.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...mazda-6-a.html

[mustang_shelby]

What an iconic American muscle car ! One could admire it for hours and not get bored. There is something about the raw experience of the American muscle car that appeals viscerally to the senses.
Your post brought back memories of the time I had a rental Camaro for 3 days in US. Sadly, it wasn't the the V8. But considering I had booked a Camry, I was lucky to get a Camaro. I spotted one in the lot when picking up the Camry and asked if the Camaro was available. Presto, I was upgraded FOC. The 3 days with it were memorable. Although I followed speed limits strictly, I still took every opportunity to floor the throttle, like when exiting a toll booth. Pure delight. The only issue was to be careful not to be in anyone's blind spot. We were almost run over by a pickup truck that decided to suddenly take an exit from the middle lane. Low slung sports card do suffer due to not being visible from big vehicles.
Thanks for sharing and bringing back memories. Sharing a pic.

[Rhik94]

During the Memorial weekend of 2020, being on the road in the US has been a very different experience. In the last few long weekends that I have been on the road, I have realized that long weekends are a bad time to expect a relaxed drive and the issue becomes worse if it is the Memorial Day weekend.

Memorial Day in the US is celebrated to mark the sacrifices of each individual who have sacrificed their life during the World Wars that our world had experienced in the 20th century.
Since my commencement ceremony turned virtual due to the ongoing pandemic crisis, I have been holed up at home starting mid of March. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, the itch to get out was growing everyday.

May 20,2020
On a bright sunny Wednesday morning in Buffalo, NY (a rare combination), I get a call from my uncle who resides in Maryland. There were a couple of personal items that he needed help with and suggested me to come over and spend the long weekend with the family. All the lethargy that had built up in me during my days in quarantine seemed to vanish instantaneously with the prospect of a fine 400 mile drive to Columbia, Maryland.

So the plan was set. I was to reach Columbia by Friday evening and the idea was for me to stay till at least Monday evening. I quickly got into my road trip planning mode and first thing first, I fired up my laptop to check out rental deals. In order to minimize exposure to the public, Air Travel, Bus Travel and Rail were struck off the potential Transportation How? list.

Due to the Covid-19 situation, for a limited time, Car rental agencies have waived drop off charges which one incurs if they drop off the car in a different location than their pick up location. With this sorted out, I decided to pick up the car from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) and drop it off at Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI).

The idea was to book the cheapest car possible apart from the economy hatchbacks. The first site i hit up was Enterprise Rental, since I am a member and I have had excellent experiences with them previously . The shocker came when I saw that the difference between renting out an economy segment vehicle (Mitsubishi Mirage etc) and premium vehicle (Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon, Chrysler 300 etc) was just $10. This offer seemed too good to be true and I genuinely thought the website may be acting up. Hence I started scouting the other rental companies and the rates were consistent all through. Finally I decided to book a premium car through Alamo since they were offering the lowest rates.

May 22, 2020
The day was finally here. The day that I finally get to drive a car after over 2 months (During the Spring Break, I drove Buffalo-New Orleans- Buffalo). The pick up location was the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and I was not to keen to hitch a rife in an Uber/Lyft. Luckily, a friend agreed to drop me off at the airport so that I can collect the car, drive back home, put the luggage in and start the drive by 2 in the afternoon.
I reach the Alamo counter where strict social distancing protocols were being followed. The person on the other side of the counter greeted me cordially and once pleasantries had been exchanged, I asked him about the cars that are available as options.
Now I had made a mental note about each of the cars beforehand and secretly knew exactly which one I would pounce on, subject to availability .

Nissan Maxima: A friend of mine owns a 2018 Maxima. I have driven his car multiple times and loved the luxury on offer. It comes with a ~300 hp V6 engine which feels sprightly. The only fly in the ointment being the X-Tronic CVT gearbox which feels like a dud.

Toyota Avalon: The Big Daddy of Camry has an amazing road presence. I have always involuntarily glanced at an Avalon more than once when I see one on the road. Similar to the Maxima, it comes with a ~300 hp engine which drives the front wheels. Just like the Maxima, this too comes with a CVT gearbox.

Chrysler 300: The Chrysler is armed with the Pentastar V6 which it shares with the Dodge Charger. Las summer I had driven the Dodge during my trip to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan and loved it to bits. To give you a perspective of how much fun I had with the car, let me just say that I was amazed to not have been awarded a ticket during the entire trip. The Chrysler comes with an 8 speed transmission which is way better than the CVTs of the other two aforementioned cars.

As you might have gauged, I knew where my heart was. Just the fact that was heart was set on something doesn’t mean I will have it. This realization hit me like semi-truck when I was told that all that they have on offer is a Chevrolet Impala. Now my brain was not expecting this. It felt like I was being quizzed on Thermo dynamics for my ICSE Physics paper. This did not seem fair. As if my multiple queries would magically make the Chrysler appear in their inventory I kept asking the person to try and come up with a more favorable option. My heart sank. I had no intentions of driving an Impala after dreaming of Pentastar V6. I quietly requested the Alamo representatives to change my booking to a lower tiered option. These 45 seconds made me lose all hope and desire and the sadness was such that I no longer understood what I was saying out loud. In the midst of this confused ranting/complaining in a very quiet voice I muttered that only if they were nice enough to upgrade me to a Sports segment car. Guess, neither was I muttering nor was i speaking in a quiet tone. The representative had heard me loud and clear and the next few words that came out of his mouth was music to my ears. He said, "Sir, if it works for you, we have a Camaro ready downstairs. I can upgrade you for free". All i remember next is me rushing through the paper work and payment just to grab the keys. As if, if I reached too late, someone might snatch the car away from me.

I quickly make my way to the parking level, and there she stood in all her glory, a grey 2020 Chevrolet Camaro.



I start driving back to my apartment with excitement hitting its peak. Having dreamt of driving a Chrysler 30 minutes back, I had driven out with a Camaro instead. I gradually recalibrated myself thinking about all the pending work which had to be completed before I could set off for Columbia. Now, as I had mentioned earlier, I had some amount of luggage that I was to carry. The ‘some amount’ being a carry-on suitcase and a full size suitcase which is good for holding about 30 kgs of luggage. With a premium car I knew it would fit easily but with a Camaro, I had no idea. I did not want to think. For once I wanted to be happy with an impulsive decision. As it turns out, the trunk of the Camaro can gulp in a fair amount of luggage. I had no problems carrying all that I had intended to.

With everything loaded I was ready to set off. It was 2:35 pm in Buffalo and I had until 11:30 pm to return the car at BWI with a scheduled stop at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to say a quick Hi to a childhood friend.

The driving experience:
With the limited time available, I knew that it would be a fast drive and what better way to detail a Camaro drive if it isn’t a fast one.
My plans fell flat since the moment I entered Pennsylvania it started raining cats and dogs till I actually returned the car at BWI.

Let me list out my driving impressions:

i) The Camaro in the V6 guise is a hoot to drive. I can only wonder how the SS and ZL1 may be. It has enough grunt accompanied by the glorious exhaust note. The best thing is that it is a quiet car in the lower revs. Build the revs up and it starts howling. This is insanely addictive out on the highways.

ii) The car is RWD and makes you aware of it, especially in wet conditions. Even with the Traction Control switched on it was fairly easy to powerslide out of 90 degree turns. A little heavy dab on the accelerator mid corner through a wet exit ramp, and the car starts swaying but the computers quickly come to your aid. The car will bite you back if you are not too careful.

iii) Straight line stability is rock solid till the upper reaches of legal speeds. The exhaust note eggs you to push on and before you know it, you are on your way to getting a pretty hefty speeding ticket.

iv) The Camaro comes standard with 18" wheels. They transmit the noise from every road undulation into the cabin. I reckon that the 20 inchers in the higher variants will be worse. Expansion joints on bridges, changes in the road material you name it. You can understand every difference in the road condition as you drive along

v) The 8 speed automatic is decently quick in the 'Tour' mode. It gains a sense of urgency in the 'Sport' mode. I did not get a chance to test the 'Snow/Ice' mode.

vi) Rearward visibility is a joke. The ORVMs do their jobs adequately. Be careful when navigating through tight spaces. It has a pretty long hood. Takes some time to get used to.

vii) The infotainment system is slightly downward facing. Though it did not bother me much but it was an awkward design. The display quality was crisp and bluetooth pairing was easy.

viii) Overall interior build quality felt a notch lower than the Dodge Charger. The layout of controls and buttons too felt easier to get used to in the Charger

ix) The middle air vents are directly in front of the gear lever. Get ready to freeze your hands if you use the gear stick to shift gears in the M mode.

x) The steering wheel is a joy to hold. It comes equipped with paddle shifters. Though the quality of the switchgear feels out of place in a such a special car.

These are some very limited driving impressions that I intended to share. Would I want to rent a Camaro in future? You bet!!

Let me attach a couple of pictures for your visual pleasure:

The unmistakable modern muscle car front


Sleek looking Rear with Twin Exhaust pipes


245/50/R18 Goodyear Eagle Sports All Season Tires


The V6 heart of the sleeping beast


The limited view from the ORVMs. Admittedly its addictive to gaze at the visible rear haunches. Man was it distracting all through (in a good way)


Classy looking Air vents


The Dash view





Parting Shot