Got mine because it's a comfortable daily driver, and good on gas... And wicked fun to drive.... The lower payments than my 2011 Denali Dually are nice, too.

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Grew up in a Chevy family. My first vehicle was a 72 Chevy truck. Fast forward I always wanted a wrx. When the opportunity to own one came up I bought my first new car a 17 wrx and i really liked that car. I had two big issues with it.
1. Big heavy car small engine, when you drove it in daily stop go traffic it was horrible. On the flip side when you could drive it hard and stay in boost it was sooo much fun.
2. It got zero respect or recognition with friends family or even strangers. Not really a fault of the car or how great it drove or how quick but it hurt my ego quite a bit

Found a 2ss that was one owner used for a pretty great price and traded the WRX in after only owning it for about 2 years. Being a Chevy guy I knew the alpha chassis was a leap towards a sports car not just a muscle car. I'm very happy with the Camaro. On a side note the dumb bowtie tattoo I got on my arm when I turned 18 matches the Camaro better too. :facepalm:

Being raised in a big city in Central Europe, I never was a car guy after a bit of drooling over Lamborghinis in elementary school, and thought public transport was just fine. When the need for a family car finally arose, I struggled a bit learning to drive stick back there, being packed in the driving school together with those 17-year olds that appeared to master everything in five minutes. Passed the (unthinkably tough for US standards) road test at first try, unlike said 17-year olds, and finally got my first driver's licence at the tender age of 39. Then got ourselves a boring used sedan and drove it with zero pleasure, disgruntled after every service visit.

Soon afterwards, already over here in the US, I bought an el cheapo 2000 Grand Am from a junk car dealer and considered our "car business" handled for a few years. Then, when I backed out of the garage one night and sheared the passenger side mirror clear off on a lurking black garbage can, I thought to myself, man, it's time to finally grow up, embrace the car culture and ditch that car hate. Bought a new mirror and fixed it myself, then, drunk with my newfound success, replaced the old headlights and broken turn signal stalk, which meant having to remove the air bag, all fearful moves I used to dread. But most importantly, after this I slowly began noticing cars.

One day, taking a walk with my daughters, something caught my eye in a parking lot, went over to see it and marveled. It was a 5th gen black Camaro SS, a beautiful work of art. Saw it once every week afterwards and I'm not sure how to express this properly, but it simply started to speak to me at a deep level, unlike any car before. By the time the 6th gen came out, family purposes had been amply served with a big SUV, and after finding a few videos online, fate finally caught up with me, I fell thoroughly in love with the looks, the sound, the interior, everything seemed amazing and an upgrade from the 5th gen. Researched all the muscle and sports car choices, looked at Dodges, Fords and imports, even drove some, but none of them called out to me the way the Camaro did.

Finally I went to a dealership and ordered a new 2018 2LT without test driving anything they had (wanted to totally surprise myself), which was a mistake in hindsight, the torque was simply not there in the V6 despite the sublime handling, so eventually I decided to switch to a 2SS (and make someone else happy by sponsoring first year depreciation for them---live and learn). Now here I am with this absolute dream car, even the shortest drives in which are exhilarating and put a wide grin on my face.

If there ever was a late, even last minute, bloomer, haha :headbang:

- Great car first and foremost

- Was a good time for me financially

- 1/4 life crisis i hate to admit

- Wanted something fun to drive

Court Order

In 1975 just before turning 20, I bought a 1974 Z28 4-speed with 3000 miles on it. Not only was the car the envy of all my friends, it started my love affair with American V8 manual transmission cars. Followed that with a 1971 Olds 4-4-2 W-30, then a 1965 Corvette 396 roadster. Then back to Camaro when I bought a new 1980 Z28 and 4 years later a new 1984 Z28 with the L69 H.O. engine option. Switched to Mustang GTs a few years later and owned a 1987, a 1995, and then a new 2005 S197.

In 2015 I made a mistake and bought a new BMW M235i 6-speed. Felt like I needed a change and was always curious about the "ultimate driving machine." Nice car for sure. Higher quality by far than anything I had ever experienced. Capable on the track too. And the first car I ever owned that combined sports car handling with a luxury ride. The car was no slouch, but it wasn't a V8, and it just didn't have the raw visceral feel I got used to over 40 years. I got bored with it and started looking at Mustangs and Camaros again.

Once the 6th Gen 1LE package was introduced in 2017, I knew I had to have one. Even though I never tracked my previous Camaros, nothing but the Z28 would do in those days. I do take my cars to the track now, but only once a year. But track or no track, only a 1LE fit the bill for me. And coming from the BMW, I didn't want to downgrade on the creature comforts that I had already experienced, so I waited until the 1LE was available on the 2SS.

I can't imagine doing any better in the $50K range. :hail:

I've always been into cars but went the import FWD route for many years. Also a subscriber to Road&Track for just as long. After reading about the ZL1 1LE in the 2018 Performance Car of the Year edition and it being the first runner-up to McLaren I just could not get it out of my head. Ended up approaching my local Chevy dealer where two good friends of mine work in sales, and after a long search and wait I finally took possession of it in April. Love it and no looking back! (Except in the rear view mirror at the cars eating my dust!)

Great thread. Especially in this time where GM hating is fashionable, its nice to see all these stories that are all so genuine and mostly resulted in people getting an awesome car they truly enjoy driving. If I worked for GM I would take great pride reading these stories.

Me, pretty simple story. I had a 1978 when I was 20--a big bad bruiser of a car in blue with white racing stripes, with little to no muffling, that set car alarms off driving down the street. I had to sell it to fund community college. Promised myself I'd get another Camaro one day. As soon as I could afford it, I did. I bought my SS1LE because I wanted to go "all in" and was open to trying out the track, which I have done twice since purchase and I had a blast both times. My car is a "3rd car" in addition to my truck and wife's crossover. But since I like to save my truck for actual truck stuff, I just daily drive my SS a lot. I drove it to work and back in the pouring rain today, for example. I keep it garaged, but I do not baby it. I got an extra set of wheels and put all season tires on them. Unless its snowing or icy, I will drive it anywhere.

Like you, OP, I was worried that I'd regret buying a "fun" car as it is a major cost for something I don't really "need". Honestly, sometimes I do question the decision, but never while I'm driving it. My justification is, you only live once, anything could happen to end your life at any time. So you may as well enjoy today and drive a fun car, even if that means giving up some other luxuries. In my case, I waited until I could safely buy the car without really having to give up anything significant. I'd say, if you can buy the car AND maintain your lifestyle and still have enough to save money for a rainy day, do it. And whether that is an SS or not, depends really on what you would like to use it for and how much disposable income you're willing to part with.

If you do end up getting your fun car--drive it. Every second that it sits in your garage doing nothing, you'll be wondering "Hmm, why did I get this...."
The solution to that problem, I've found, is to just drive it more. That way, you are getting your money's worth. And the more you drive it, the more you save mileage from going on your other cars, making their life much longer as well. I've put 4000 miles on my SS in the last 6 months, and not all of that was just driving for joy. It's a short work commute a few times a week, going to the store, a road trip here and there. It adds up. All those miles would've gone on my truck!

Just a side note--i'd assume that as an enthusiast you'd be looking at the SS, however, don't assume you wouldn't get just as much fun out of a V6 or 2.0T. I totally would've been happy with the V6 too. I use only like 30% of the cars power on a regular basis. The only reason I got the SS is because I wanted to track it. Even still, people are tracking V6 and 2.0 1LEs and having a blast. I've found that I likely don't NEED all the power to have fun. I thought I did, because my old Camaro had a V8. But with the modern chassis, really, all three engines are a blast to drive.

I regretted selling my 2001 Camaro SS and always wanted to buy a new Camaro. When I saw the 50th Anniversary Camaro I knew this is the Camaro I want to buy.

When I was very young, particularly in the early to late 80’s, I wanted a Bandit style Trans Am. That is what I set out to find at age 17 in 1992. I could not find a decent one anywhere for fair money. I then decided to look into late 80’s GTA’s, Formula Firebirds and IROC-Z’s. I went to a dealer with my dad to look at a Formula Firebird that they had advertised in an Auto Hunter magazine as a V8.

When the salesman started showing me the car, I instantly realized that it was a V6. Just as I was about to walk away, the salesman said, “I think I have a car you will want. We just took it in on a trade.” He brought me out back and showed me a maroon and gold 5.7L T-Top IROC-Z. It was an ‘88 with 64k miles. Needless to say, that car became my first car.

Just after paying off that car after 3 years, and a pile of modifications done to her, she was totaled while sitting still. I then went and bought a one year old 1995 Z28 and later a 1998 Z28. Years later I bought a 2010 SS and I currently own a 2017 SS. In the middle of owning all of these Camaros, I have owned other cars that I tried to live with. They just bored me or didn’t feel like me. I’m only truly happy when there’s a Camaro in my garage. One of my buddies used to call me Joe Camaro due to my love of them back in the 90’s. I decided recently, that no matter what I drive daily, there will always be a Camaro in my garage as well. I’m just not happy without one. You need a Camaro to be “Joe Camaro.”

Had a 67 RS/SS Clone in my teens. Always dreamed of having a convertible. Choice was easy after reading the reviews on the 6th gen and then test driving. Ordered mine the way i wanted it. I would suggest thinking about the Zl1. More HP!

Who'da thunk it that we'd ever be talking about Camaros and "good on gas" in the same sentence - with a 455 HP V8?

In my early 20's I remember being in love with the WS6 Trans Am and tried hard to get one but wasn't able to. I tried with a Camaro back then too, no luck. So I always said "one day", which was rough knowing they were killing both of them off. The 5th Gen came out and I liked it but for whatever reason, I wasn't really into it enough to just have to have one. I knew the 6th Gen was coming out and I guess something in me just had to have one, even though I know it's not a terribly practical car, for me it's just something to drive on nice days.



I knew what I wanted, I wanted the 1SS trim with the M6 transmission, but I was heavily torn on color. I attempted to ask several dealerships about ordering one, but most were not not interested at all or wanted you to buy something on their lot instead. So I narrowed it down and almost bought a blue one in Louisville but it didn't have the wheels I like but this yellow one popped up and it had every feature I wanted, so I got it. I enjoy the car a lot, I don't drive it tons but overall, I'm satisfied with it.