[matt fe2o3]

Originally Posted by yankee

Did your first test drive put you in a bit of a doubt before getting the car?
I do like the car, maybe too much, but the field of view takes a portion of my excitement away. If you say that this will pass, I will buy it.

Going to the dealer tomorrow (I got a great offer, $9000 off MSRP for a 2.0 LT RS), which is pretty far from me so I don’t have time for extended test drives.

I only owned a Fiat Panda and a Mazda 3 to which I got very comfortable in 15 min. The Camaro seems like a space ship compared to those

My test drive did not, pretty opposite - when I gassed it - but I'm a 2SS.

Why don't you rent one for a week? There are some great car rental deals out there - I got a rate from COSTCO for 90 bucks tax included for 7 days - and was super nice to the lady at the airport (yea airport) counter and she gave me whatever I wanted.

Even if you paid 3x that - it would give you an idea if you could live with it. I was more concerned with headroom than visibility.

On the flip side wife has an 18' Outback 3.6 Ltd and you can see everything - everywhere. Power is meh.. - even for a v6, mileage sucks (far worse than the 2SS) but AWD is bulletproof in rain and such.

Take your time. You have to live with it and the deals around today will likely be around tomorrow.

[Fatty1707]

My drive home was at night and it was my first drive ever. It was not to bad but the next day it was way better after proper seat height adjustment etc... No issues

[Marty31]

Took about 15 minutes to get a feel for the size and visibility.

[SteevK]

Originally Posted by Mr_Jones

Coming from a VW CC I still dont feel confident enough to back in as I did with the VW in my single car garage. Overall the length is about the same but the Camaro is 2" wider and I cant quite judge all that junk in the trunk I'm carrying now, LOL. Its been a week... Maybe I'll man up and try it this weekend.

Having a VERY narrow garage**, I don't think I'll ever back into it.
I came from a G37, and it took me about 5 days to get used to the visibility.
THEN, I had an internal problem resulting in a 6 week coma. I lost ~50lbs - mostly from my butt & thighs. Also, I became aware in my early 60s that I lost 4.5" in height - went from 5'6.5" to 5'2". Now I need a gel seat cushion. Looking for an upholstery shop that can raise the back of the seat mount 1.5-2 inches. The one shop I went to wanted to re-stuff the seat with denser foam - but I would lose the heating/cooling and the seams, making it not match the passenger seat.
The reason I'm having to go through this is that the Camaro seat has a weird height adjuster - when I raise the seat all the way up, it pushes me forward so far that it leaves about a foot between my chest and the (already telescoped in) wheel and my legs are bent too much to drive. Then, when I try to slide back so my legs can straighten out and I can steer, the seat goes back DOWN - it's exasperating! I never had this problem with my G37...

** I am at a loss as to why my garage is so narrow. The house was built in 1954 (the year I was born) when cars were mostly bulge-mobiles. As it is, I had to remove the bottom 4' of quarter molding, just to give me 1-2 inches on either side of the mirrors. Then I have to pull to the right, once I'm in, so I have room to open my door. My G37 fit better in garage, AND it had folding mirrors, just in case...

[yankee]

Originally Posted by matt fe2o3

My test drive did not, pretty opposite - when I gassed it - but I'm a 2SS.

Why don't you rent one for a week? There are some great car rental deals out there - I got a rate from COSTCO for 90 bucks tax included for 7 days - and was super nice to the lady at the airport (yea airport) counter and she gave me whatever I wanted.

Even if you paid 3x that - it would give you an idea if you could live with it. I was more concerned with headroom than visibility.

On the flip side wife has an 18' Outback 3.6 Ltd and you can see everything - everywhere. Power is meh.. - even for a v6, mileage sucks (far worse than the 2SS) but AWD is bulletproof in rain and such.

Take your time. You have to live with it and the deals around today will likely be around tomorrow.

Yes, it’s better not to rush. I will go and ask for a test drive alone, maybe the dealer being with me in the car didn’t help either.

I was way more intimidated by the car than I expected because of the size and the visibility.

No rental has given me this feeling ever. In 2 minutes the car felt like owned for months. But wasn’t the case now with the Camaro. I will try it again tomorrow.

[Deputy Dog]

15min.

[Captain J]

Coming from a GMC Sierra double cab 4x4 pick up, it took me quite a while to get used to the Camaro. I've had it about a year now but didn't drive it during the northern Indiana winter. So now, I have to get used to it all over again.

If I raise the seat up, then I can't see the gauges or overhead traffic lights.

[camaroJD]

Originally Posted by ItsChristianInHD

Took me a day or two. I came from a Cruze.

Haha me too, one hell of an upgrade!

[Camaro_QC]

Always drove a Hyundai Tiburon so the kinda lack of visibility is something that I get used to pretty quickly.

I just can get used to the aquarium style on all other cars... Haha

[protovack]

Originally Posted by HCI2000SS

In most situations I don't find the visibility nearly as bad as the general masses would have you believe. The hardest parts for me are when having to turn on a steep incline or decline. When pulling into a parking spot I always error on the conservative side by parking back a bit. That long hood and low chin will creep up on a curb before you know it. Other than that I feel the car has fine visibility where it counts. Having the mirrors adjusted just right really help too

Exactly.

The real issue, as with all cars with long hoods, is knowing how far to go when parking nose in. It's just hard in this car. What you have to do is just mentally stop a foot or two before you think you actually need to, and, since the camaros nose is a "foot or two" longer than you're used to, you'll end up perfect every time.

That's the only difficulty I have with the car and its dimensions. I've never had a problem seeing out of it, never felt uncomfortable merging onto the highway or changing lanes, or judging where cars are around me. And before I bought the car, that's what I thought was going to be the biggest problem, and it turns out that it isn't.

What saves it is the B pillar is so far back. Your side windows are panoramic. Thin, yes, but panoramic, and so there really is no issue at all.

It took me a couple weeks to really internalize the dimensions of the car to where I could drive around a busy parking lot and pull into a space without a second thought. Not that I LIKE doing that, in fact most times I'll intentionally park in the back of a lot near other empty spaces just to avoid getting dented or scraped. But that's just because I really like my car

[jred2255]

Originally Posted by yankee

It seems huge for what I am used to

You’ll get used to it.

[thrashergrant]

I've had mine for about 6 months now and still turn pretty wide(especially in parking lots) to avoid curbs. The base of the windows are so high I can't truly see where the curb is, but better safe than sorry.

[455/455]

Didn’t take long. Use my mirrors. Daily driver is a Ford Explorer. Had a 71 Buick GS Stage 1 and 84 Mustang GT back in the day. Love every chance I get to drive my SS!

[PnCRedJwl2SS]

Only a day or two. The car is MUCH easier to see out of than most people think. With proper setting of side-view mirrors, there really aren't any blind spots. I never turn my head to switch lanes...just use my mirrors.

The front bumper and splitter sit pretty low, so I only park nose-first if I can't back in. Backing into a parking spot is dead simple with the camera.

You'll definitely get used to it.