F-Body Europe

Okay folks, let us forget about that LPG stuff for a moment!
Why can you not recommend the Camaro Z28 for everyday use, especially during winter, Sergio?
I live in an area, it is even flatter than the Netherlands, snow you may find for 1 week during winter, but for sure it will be wet for 200 days a year. I will not try to cross the Alps in wintertime!
Being used to front wheel driven cars only I am also a bit concerned about tail-happy cars. I do not want to judge about Camaros rear axle, but most sports car manufacturers changed to independent rear suspension about 20 years ago.
Mercs and BMW are all rearwheel driven cars with everyday capabilities. What does the Camaro lack?

In anticipation of lots of response
Gunnar

An independant rear would price the F body to far away from its target buyer (probably already is), but, if the road is smooth it offers advantages over the independent setup. Hit a bump in the middle of a corner, however and you will notice the shortcomings of it .

They are not the best of cars in poor weather, but with common sense, and good tire choice it is liveable until the sun comes back out. You just have to swallow your pride at stoplights when its raining and that VW golf is revving at you.

You can drive it in the winter for everday use. I would reccomend winter tires Z rated tires are slippery when cold& wet. I would also reduce speed during the winter months because winter tires are not z-rated. I live in Bayeren alot of hills and snow I only had to take the wifes car 5 times last winter when we got over 1 foot of snow. I drive mine in the winter, however you must know what you are dealing with and drive defensive because 300+ hp can be tricky. I never rode with you and I do not know how you drive so you would know best if you can keep your foot out of it.

About my driving style: All of my friends agree that I am driving like a maniac. An average fuel consumption of 9,7l/100km for a 1.6l engine tells enough.
But in winter time its a different story: two times the ride ended in a ditch, when blackice was giving the ride a surprisingly different direction than expected. Now I am a bit overcautious.
As a matter of fact I am always using winter tires from November to March.
Back to the Camaro:
The traction control should help, does it?
What about other Camaro capabilities like heating, defrosting & demisting windows, headlight performance?

I also thought of keeping my old car for winter time, but it is a money pit. I should get rid of it, because it spends too much time in the garage for repairs.

Cheers,
Gunnar

Not sure about the heater, but headlights are one of the weak spot ... even though the european version has been improved slightly when compared to the US version, they are not as bright as they could be ... there are kits/bulbs with higher light output, I think I've even seen Xenon lights, which you will most likely not get through TÃœV ...

It's the combination of the rear suspension, RWD, torque, road clearance and weight that make this car far from enjoyable in winter time.
Sure you can drive around in winter time but what's the use when you can use a 1.6L car aswell that will be faster under those conditions and A LOT more practical !
Especially the rear of the car needs some extra weight for extra traction and some people use big bags of sand.
Also winter tires are needed and i'd suggest a different set of winter rims aswell as the roadsalt will kill your nice alloy rims let alone polished or chrome rims.
Curbs are easily hit in winter time and do think about the cars finish with all that roadsalt.
The car was never meant for these conditions and I personally will not try to make it that way either.

Traction control is better than nothing but was never meant for hardcore winter driving. It's not connected to a Gyroscope that will calculate G forces and wheel traction and accelerate/deaccelerate spefic wheels in order to obtain maximum traction like some of the Luxury cars do.

I think of my camaro like most HD bikers think of their bike, it's not always functional, it has it flaws and drawbacks and at times you'll curse it.... This gives it that specific character and that's exactly what i like about it

I personally wouldn't worry about wintertime at all as there is 1 thing i know for sure !
If you CAN afford a V8 4th Gen F-body in Europe then you CAN also afford a beater car on the side !
It's as simple as that
I have this '89 Volkswagen Golf 1.6 on the side and cars like that should cost around the 2000DM nowadays. It will bring you anywhere you wanna go and is so damn easy to maintain, not too mention the functionality.

P.s. Flatter than Holland ?? I gotta see that !

I drove my 95 Firebird Formula A4 with a shift kit from Babenhausen to Hanau (25 miles each way) 5 day per week. I never had a problem with it EVEN in the snow. You just can't drive it like you normally would (duh).

In the parking lot at work going 25 mph in the snow, I tried to get it to slide sideways by cranking the wheel. The only way it would slide was by giving it some gas to force the back end around.

I was really surprised by how well it did. The rain was NEVER a problem, I just slowed down to under 85 MPH on the autobahn. Never even a hint of hydroplaning.

FWIW, the tires were Firestone Firehawk SZ-50's.

That is the biggest key. When I switched from GSC's to SZ-50ep's it was like switching from plastic tires to rubber tires. They aren't magic, but they're damn close.

And now,there is possibly a new kind of magic tires in our size, out now.
I think I will copy you again Jamey;)

I am REALLY happy with them so far, their bite off the line is incredible!!!

I drove back from the car show last weekend in a complete downpour and at 75MPH it was like it was completely dry outside. Another really impressive tire