[Darkczar]

Good day to all. I'm new to the forums but I have been delving into past posts. I've read where some people have complained about the visibility in the Camaro. People used to complain about the visibility in the BRZ/FRS/86 as well.

Anyway, I have a BRZ and was considering getting a car with more power. Has anyone made the switch from the 86 platform to the Camaro? What was the experience like? How does the visibility compare?

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Dark

[455/455]

I just purchased a 2016 1SS about 2 weeks ago. My daily driver is a Ford Explorer and I sold my Buick GS a few years ago. I can honestly say the visibility complaints are a little overblown. I don’t have any issues, and that’s going from an SUV to the Camaro. Love my SS.

[camaroras]

I recently switched from a BRZ to a Camaro 1SS 1LE. Experience has been amazing. The BRZ got old pretty quick, as it was just too tame. I was considering going forced induction, however I didnt want to pour a bunch of money into it, just to then always be afraid of blowing the motor. So now I have a track ready car with plenty of power and just the way I want, no mods needed, and have a warranty. The handling on the BRZ is typically its selling point, but I was really impressed with this camaro, it feels great. I haven't been able to not take the long way home since I got it haha. As far as the visibility goes, yeah its not great, but its not as bad as people make it out to be. With properly adjusted mirrors, I dont have blind spots on the sides. Rear window is pretty small though, and the hood is tall, so seeing parking lines can be challenging unless you're pulling in from afar, but all in all, I havent had any real complaints with visibility.

[Rayfield]

I can help, just traded in my 2013 BRZ Limited for a Camaro 2SS, almost a month ago.

I loved my BRZ, it was the epitome of the "classic sports car", light, RWD, a great manual transmission, tail-happy. I used to love to hang the rear end of it out on some favorite low-speed corners. With the Limited, it had a nice luxury or two, such as heated seats...but after 4-1/2 years of ownership, the car enthusiast in me started to want a more "complete" sports car. I've had cars with decent power (the one before the BRZ was a 2002 WRX, modified with an STI block, big turbo, etc, for around 350 hp at the crank), and I began to miss that part of the equation.

I've been intrigued with the Alpha-chassis Camaro since it came out in 2016. I'm a moderator at a Subaru forum, and a couple of my good friends there migrated to the SS, and sang its praises. Also, my first car back in the '80's was a Chevy small block, and I've missed the singular sounds and sensations that that kind of an engine can provide. Hey, the things that happen to you when you're 15-16 are special!

So I drove the BRZ to my closest Chevy dealer to have a look at the 6th Gen Camaro...and they seemed uninterested in talking to me. I live in an area where there are a lot of wealthy people, and I think that they've become used to people walking up and handing them cash. (I'm doing ok, but I'm not "wealthy")

So I was patient, and finally, one day, I saw that another dealer, closer into town (Charlotte, NC) was offering "competitive rebates" for people in foreign cars. I drove down, and disccovered that they had a 2SS trim model on the lot, with the NPP (dual mode) exhaust, and the 6 speed manual...and they seemed willing to talk to me about the rebates, for the BRZ and for the Mazda that my wife currently drives. So..I took a test drive...and was shocked at how good this car is in corners.

No, it's not as "nimble" in corners as you may be used to, and it doesn't want to "drift", the way my BRZ did. That car just begged to be abused around corners, and you know that it will fall right back into line. But..the SS is s great handler in it's own right, with fantastic grip, and you have great confidence as you push it around corners. (In fairness, I'm still learning to drive this thing around tight corners, correctly, others can help with this). So I did the deal.

My BRZ will probably go down in my car history as the most pure, balanced sports car that I've owned (2nd is probably my '91 MR2 Turbo), and I'll miss it on that account, but I adore the dynamics, power, sounds, and experience that goes with my new SS. It's a brilliant car. In short, go test drive one. Car selection is so subjective; you'll need to go sample it for yourself to see if it's the right fit. No one can decide that for you!

Good luck deciding!

--Ray



..

[Darkczar]

Thanks camaroras - you experience pretty much mirrors my experience with the BRZ, love the car and the handling, but it needs more power. And 4K for a blower for the BRZ to net 60-80 hp didn't seem worth it.

How does the visibility compare directly between the Camaro and the BRZ? Was the visibility better, same, or worse? Do they have an option for convex mirrors on the Camaro like they do in the BRZ aftermarket?

Thanks again,

Dark

[Darkczar]

Originally Posted by Rayfield

I can help, just traded in my 2013 BRZ Limited for a Camaro 2SS, almost a month ago.

I loved my BRZ, it was the epitome of the "classic sports car", light, RWD, a great manual transmission, tail-happy. I used to love to hang the rear end of it out on some favorite low-speed corners. With the Limited, it had a nice luxury or two, such as heated seats...but after 4-1/2 years of ownership, the car enthusiast in me started to want a more "complete" sports car. I've had cars with decent power (the one before the BRZ was a 2002 WRX, modified with an STI block, big turbo, etc, for around 350 hp at the crank), and I began to miss that part of the equation.

I've been intrigued with the Alpha-chassis Camaro since it came out in 2016. I'm a moderator at a Subaru forum, and a couple of my good friends there migrated to the SS, and sang its praises. Also, my first car back in the '80's was a Chevy small block, and I've missed the singular sounds and sensations that that kind of an engine can provide. Hey, the things that happen to you when you're 15-16 are special!

So I drove the BRZ to my closest Chevy dealer to have a look at the 6th Gen Camaro...and they seemed uninterested in talking to me. I live in an area where there are a lot of wealthy people, and I think that they've become used to people walking up and handing them cash. (I'm doing ok, but I'm not "wealthy")

So I was patient, and finally, one day, I saw that another dealer, closer into town (Charlotte, NC) was offering "competitive rebates" for people in foreign cars. I drove down, and disccovered that they had a 2SS trim model on the lot, with the NPP (dual mode) exhaust, and the 6 speed manual...and they seemed willing to talk to me about the rebates, for the BRZ and for the Mazda that my wife currently drives. So..I took a test drive...and was shocked at how good this car is in corners.

No, it's not as "nimble" in corners as you may be used to, and it doesn't want to "drift", the way my BRZ did. That car just begged to be abused around corners, and you know that it will fall right back into line. But..the SS is s great handler in it's own right, with fantastic grip, and you have great confidence as you push it around corners. (In fairness, I'm still learning to drive this thing around tight corners, correctly, others can help with this). So I did the deal.

My BRZ will probably go down in my car history as the most pure, balanced sports car that I've owned (2nd is probably my '91 MR2 Turbo), and I'll miss it on that account, but I adore the dynamics, power, sounds, and experience that goes with my new SS. It's a brilliant car. In short, go test drive one. Car selection is so subjective; you'll need to go sample it for yourself to see if it's the right fit. No one can decide that for you!

Good luck deciding!

--Ray



..

Thanks for the response Ray. Love the color on the SS. I love my BRZ. The steering is so light and precise. I lost the tail-happiness of the car when I swapped the to the PSS from the primacy tires it came with. That's when I really realized how underpowered the car is. I had a V8 BMW prior, so I miss the torque. Thanks for your feed back.

Respectfully,

Dark

[Deputy Dog]

Whats a BRZ/FRS/86????

[JamesNoBrakes]

The visibility issues are real, but you can adapt to a large extent. Your general situational awareness will be a bit more compromised, so if you have to make an emergency maneuver you could get into more trouble. Generally, we are aware of and plan for the things we know about, it's when the unknown things come up, like a car ahead moves to reveal a huge pothole, can you swerve left? Maybe, but is there a car barreling down from further behind? You have to make a move quickly and have to act on your "mental picture" of what you know is around you. To this extent, the hill sills and lack of rearward visibility decreases your situational awareness and peripheral vision. This means you have to be more careful and vigilant, but it does increase the risk a bit. When parking, it's especially difficult to tell how far out a parking island extends if it's on your right hand side. You sit fairly low but more importantly, you have a long high hood, so parking and being around other cars becomes more delicate, to say it lightly. Lack of rearward visibility when in the parking situations is also an issue, even with a camera and properly adjusted mirrors, you are still looking through "tunnels" through the mirrors/camera-areas, pretty good tunnels, but tunnels all the same.

But out on the road, you can really rip around in the car and most of the above isn't an issue. You learn to adapt, you learn how large the car is, etc. None of those issues detracts from driving the car aggressively. All of those issues can be overcome. As a student of human factors, I take issue with the people saying that it's "not an issue" at all, it is an issue an the visibility is markedly poor compared to other vehicles, but it's also a sports car, it's worth the looks and driving position, and you can adapt. Few people are saying a Lamborghini is not worth it and we have vastly better rear visibility than that, but again, the issue is there.

The car is amazing though overall, very stiff chassis, very amazing through the turns and fun stuff, you don't notice the visibility issues when having fun with it and you (hopefully) become more careful at the other times.

[Booher]

I made the same swap, but I convinced my girlfriend to take over Payments, so I got to keep the frs �� Hopping into the camaro after the frs is a huuuuge difference. Feels like you are in a fish tank, can see so much, but honestly, the view in the camaro isn't bad. Only issue is looking over your shoulders which you can learn to not do. My frs is full bolt on and tune, and the power, used to feel fast to me, Haha. After driving the camaro then back to the frs again, the power difference is quite substantial, and it is much much slower. The lower center of gravity on the frs though, just cant be beat. Long story short, you won't regret trading up to the camaro, I garuntee. Btw, I have some frs parts for sale!

[Sev]

Test drive one to see how 'bad' the visibility is compared to the FRS/BRZ/86. That is your best bet

As for my experience, this was the first car I have owned with said visibility issues. Daunting at first, but over-came it within weeks.

Best of luck on your decision!

[Chevyman2]

Originally Posted by Deputy Dog

Whats a BRZ/FRS/86????

Joint venture between Subaru(BRz) and Toyota (FRS/86) building a 2 door RWD sports car powered by Subaru engine.

Sort of like what Chevy and ford did with 10 speed transmission seems to be harder for American car companies to pool knowledge and build such automobile.

[WhyUMad1LE]

Before test driving anything, I was certain I would get a BRZ. But the engine was just not enjoyable, and not only because of the torque deficit. You should check out the 2-series.

[redcoats1976]

car before the camaro was a pontiac solstice...there is no visibilty problem in the camaro until you try to park it,but thats what the rearview camera is for.

[Rayfield]

Originally Posted by redcoats1976

car before the camaro was a pontiac solstice...there is no visibilty problem in the camaro until you try to park it,but thats what the rearview camera is for.

Yeah, this is my feeling, after about a month of ownership. Parallel parking in the BRZ was a bit easier..but it's not like it had awesome visibility, either.
My 2002 WRX (owned prior to the BRZ) had a large greenhouse, great visibility for parking.