Dave's 2017 Camaro Fifty SS

[DaveSTi]

I spent months researching 997 911S cars and to get a great one, it kept me looking in the $55-60k price range. That's fine and dandy, but not when you're also carrying a GTI payment and you can't truly DD a 911 unless you don't care about it getting banged up a bit.

I decided to take a step back and really look at owning 2 cars and my lifestyle. I decided that 1 car would be so much easier to manage as well as free up a metric **** ton of cash a month that I could use to buy a house with a garage.

Enter in the 2016 Chevy 20% off sticker event with $5k cash down on the hood in the DC area. It got me looking at the Camaro, but finding a 2SS model with the Bose stereo, navigation, heated and cooled seats, blind spot tech, etc etc was hard. I found ONE, but it was sold before I could get to the dealer. That lucky bastard. (nothing like buying a brand new car at Black Book values).

After test driving one without mag ride or the NPP, I liked it but didn't want to settle on ANY options. If I was going to take a step back from a 911, it needed to have EVERY SINGLE OPTION I WANTED.

Enter a 2017 2SS Fifty Year Anniversary edition.

Pros:
Its loaded with creature comforts for my daily commute in DC traffic.
It's as fast as a 997.1 GT3
It has selectable drive modes that control the adjustable mag ride and exhaust system
No IMS bearing, RMS leaks, lifter issues, bore scoring or D-Chunks.
Latest and greatest in-car tech (4G LTE WIFI, Apple/Android/etc)
It's cheap to fix/upgrade
It has a warranty
It's "cheap"
It's a Corvette/ATS with a backseat and trunk
It's the fastest new car for the money

Cons:
It's big
It's 3700lbs
The standard seats aren't great with lateral support
It comes with the mullet history attached to the brand name


6.2 liters, 455hp, 455 torque, 0-60 in 4.1 seconds, 115mph-118mph in the quartermile, big Brembo brakes and magnetic shocks with a TR6060 manual transmission.

I liken it to the last gen AMG C63 with the 6.3liter with bad seats. The Mustang is the E92 M3 with bad shocks.

Drives smaller than it is the more seat time I have, the steering is the best of the electrics i've had, the blind spots aren't as bad as the magazines say, fuel economy is as good as the 911, and I can either go Chevy Malibu mode while sitting in traffic, or Track mode and bang gears out with the exhaust wide open.

Pics incoming.



Mods Planned:

- 1LE Wheels and Tires
- GM Performance 6-Piston Front Brake Kit
- Ported heads and custom cam
- Kooks 2" Longtube headers with high flow cats/x-pipe
- DSX Flex Fuel kit
- Custom Tune

Mod List:


Engine:
- GM Performance Cold Air Intake (tune included)
- Katech ported throttle body
- PRAY ported intake manifold
- HPTuners changes to a few tables

Transmission:
- 1LE Short Throw Shifter

Brakes:

Suspension:
- 1LE F/R Swaybars
- 1LE Springs
- 1LE MRC Valving
- 1LE Rear Trailing Arms
- GM Performance Strut Tower Bar

Wheels:


Interior:
- GM Sport Pedal Kit
- GM Cargo Net
- GM Fifty Floormats
- ZL1 Start Button

Exterior:
- Black Bow Ties
- GM Dark Tail lights
- ZL1 1LE Dark 3rd Brake Light
- Diode Dynamics LED smoked side markers
- Big Worm Graphix smoked vinyl rear light kit
- GM Rear Splash Guards