The 29 MPG 2010 Chevrolet Camaro
© GM Corp
Yes, you are on The Green Motorist website and yes, the headline has the words “Chevrolet Camaro†in it. I do not know a single person that would list the Camaro as a “green†car, including myself. However, I was surprised to see that the official EPA highway rating for the new 2010 V6 Chevy Camaro is 29 miles per gallon. It is nowhere near that of a Prius or the new Ford Fusion Hybrid, but 29 mpg is significantly higher than I would have guessed.
“The Camaro’s 304-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 is the most advanced base engine ever used in a domestic muscle car. Its fuel-saving technologies feature direct injection and variable valve timing. The V-8 Camaro adds a cylinder cutoff system.†(Source: Automotive News)
I am not an automotive engineering expert but I am curious what type of fuel efficiency we will see in the coming years if a 304 base horsepower Camaro is rated at 29 miles per gallon on the highway. For comparison, the six-cylinder Toyota Camry (non-hybrid) only gets 28 miles per gallon on the highway.
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For that matter, compare it to the Nissan Altima, Honda Accord, and BMW 128i and 328i. Highway is better than all four, and within 1mpg on the City.
The big advance in this engine, is running very high compression while being able to use regular gas instead of premium. If it’s applied to smaller engines, yeah, you’ll see an efficiency gain. But it’s largely because there’s a lot of horsepower that they can run an extreme overdrive transmission, so maybe it won’t work on significantly less powerful engines.
If they ran the two-mode hybrid system (which is basically a bolt-on transmission plus a battery), their city mileage would increase to nearly the highway mileage. But of course, it would increase the cost about $10,000 or more.
I think there are a lot of people who won’t buy a hybrid because 1. They’re ugly, and 2. They’re slow. But GM, Chrysler, and BMW already have a technology they can put on cars people like without taking away what they like about them and offer at least an incremental improvement.
I think there will always be a demand for fast cars. What we’re waiting for is the arrival of the first hybrid muscle/sports car. That would be a car with a big storage system (battery, super capacitor), a powerful electric motor and a small gas engine (until there’s sufficient infrastructure to really support all-electrics). Say a 100 hp gas or diesel engine and 250 horsepower electric motor.
You don’t need to go fast all the time, you just need the power for acceleration for nearly any street use. Continuous power for racing would make that solution unacceptable though.
With the power and mileage on the Camaro, I do think a lot of people will opt for the 6 who might have leaned toward the V-8, which still gets respectable mileage for a V-8.
Thanks for your very thought out response Frankenbike. I am a “go fast” lover myself - I previously owned a Firebird and just this last year sold my modified Infiniti G35 Coupe.
I would love a Fisker Karma or Tesla Roadster but the price point is out of reach for me, and many others out there.
It is exciting to think about what will be available once my kids are able to drive (the oldest is 7).