[Sindri]

Oh, I've got some news for you all. The car went back in the shop AGAIN. That seems to be it's natural habitat.

To recap, had original issue, dealer ended up replacing clutch and flywheel (no fix) and then entire engine. New engine had the valve spring issue. Happened right before I left for a month long work trip. After repairs were complete they dropped the car off at my house because I was out of town.

I got back 2 weeks ago, we had an ice storm and lots of other crappy weather, so I didn't go over the car immediately like I should have. But I did notice the following things:

A little oil on my driveway (likely some spillage from when they had the valve covers off)
A phone paired to the car that wasn't mine
NPP exhaust was set to "Race" mode (I leave it in Auto)
Gas tank was completely empty.

We finally had some nice weather on Saturday afternoon and I popped the hood to investigate the oil leak, and here are some things I found:

GMPP strut tower brace (dealer installed option) was completely gone along with mounting bolts (which also hold in the strut-firewall braces)
Engine cover was chipped, scratched, and covered in greasy hand prints
Oil all down the drives side of the block
Hoses were mis-routed, not clipped in where they were supposed to be, etc.

At this point I'm furious. I drove the car back to the dealer, left it in the service lane, handed the keys to the service advisor and told him "finish putting it back together" and left before I lost my cool. That evening I recovered a bit and sent and e-mail to him and the service manager outlining all the above issues. I had previously sent an e-mail to GM to document my previous issues. I followed that up with another e-mail to schedule a phone meeting with them (which is happening this afternoon) to discuss my options.

To be honest, I love the car but am so disappointed by both GM and my dealership. We'll see how things go, maybe I'll end up with another Camaro (I hope I do, just one without all these issues), or maybe I'll buy a Mustang. Or maybe be smart and save my money and put some new shocks and bushings on my Cruze and try to get another 155k miles out of it. Who knows?

[Pupilbone]

My reactions in reading thru your saga...

Wow

Then - Wow! (With jaw drop)

Then - Are you f&$#ing serious?!

What’s happening now?

[Sindri]

I've parked the car and am not driving it while I explore my options.

[Sindri]

I kind of dropped the ball here, so I guess I should update you all on this.

After the last trip to the dealership, I go to pick the car up and get handed a service ticket with only 2 of my multiple complaints listed and the response to both was basically "Could not locate problem". BUT, when I looked the car over, all the items were addressed/repaired. Weird, huh?

I call up the service manager at the dealership and demand a new service ticket that addresses exactly what they did and what they touched on my car. Of course all still didn't feel right with the car, so I continued to not drive it while I pursued the Lemon Law.

When I invoked the Lemon Law, GM wanted the car back for a final inspection, which is their right by law in my state, so I dutifully took it in and a factory engineer came out to inspect it. I got the car back the next day and was told it was 100% perfect, nothing was wrong with it. Something still seemed off when I was driving it home, so I decided to dig a little bit. After rolling around on my driveway for a bit I found 2 potential causes issues - some of the exhaust manifold bolts were missing at the cylinder head and the undertray was missing most of the hardware that attaches it to the car.

At that point I was so tired of constantly having to take this thing back and forth to the dealer that I called my contact at GM, told them about the additional problems and said they'd had their final inspection chance, they flubbed it, and they had better take this car off my hands. It took a couple weeks to process but I dropped the car off at the dealership in July and got 100% of my money back.

It's really a shame, this was a dream car for me, I've always wanted a Camaro since I was a little kid and have held out until I could afford exactly what I wanted, no compromises. For the first ~2 weeks I owned it I really enjoyed it, but after that it was a nightmare. I'm so glad I didn't trade my Cruze in, I threw some new shocks & struts under it and I guess it's good to go for another 155k miles.

I initially asked for GM to trade out the car under the Lemon Law and provide me with a new Camaro. I liked the car that much that I was willing to give them another chance. I think the original issue (engine disintegrating at 500 miles) is atypical of Camaros, and that the rest of the problems were caused by incompetent service and customer service on the dealers part. I think they chose to buy me out instead due to the current inventory shortages which is a bit of a shame as I think I got a good deal on the car. There's no way I'm going to find something like that with in the current car market. It's CRAZY!

I'm not buying anything until it calms down, so it may be a while, but there's still a chance I could end up with another Camaro. But when I am ready, I know which dealership is not going to be getting a sale or service work from me ever again.