[My96z]

Since being deployed over here I was pretty excited about the new camaro coming out. I hadnt really been following too much about its release.

Recently my wife said :"If you sell or part out your van and camaro you can get a new Camaro." She is tired of me dumping in money to my cars as I have had bad luck in the past couple of years with the camaro, and the van. So I said I would consider it as it would be nice to drive somthing new for a change, as much as I hate to get rid of them.

So I started doing research on the new camaro and hitting all the 5th gen forums and the like and being reasonably impressed.

Then I happened to see somwhere where guys are making insane power by strapping on a whipple kit sold by Ford on a GT500 and making insane horsepower, getting big gains from bolt ons... and I believe it still had a warranty... ect. Then I started to look into the GT500 more. The more I looked the more I liked. Solid axle, killer styling, price is a bit more but I would go slightly used. I have seen them with 4K miles on them go for 35K-ish I have always thought highly of the fact that the guys who built the engine signed the plate on the engine, I think thats pretty classy.

I have always been a GM guy but I think Ford has hit it on the head with GT500, it will take to mods better than the new camaro will, I am not a autocrosser/road racer so I dont care for the IRS in the camaro. I can get in a new camaro cheaper since I can get the GM family/employee discount bit I think I might be willing to pay a bit more for the Shelby.

How does the warranty work with the supercharger kit from Ford? Does it alter the factory warranty in any way? Do pulley swaps on stock blowers? Or does it all depend on the dealership?

Undecided... but leaning toward the shelby.

I asked the same question on the camaro boards and all I got seemed like it was biased BS "they arent that fast for 500hp cars" "My buddy pulled one on the highway in his turbo fiero" "For 35K there are better cars out there" " I could barely beat my firends 01 vette in the Gt500" bla bla

I just want some good info from guys who own the car as unbiased as possible so I can make an informed decision. My budget will be about 30K-35K ish.

I plan on getting a used one from a dealer so I can still get a warranty and mod it as I can while trying my best to keep the warranty. What are you guys with minimal mods running at the strip?

Thanks for your help. Any info or insight you guys could provide would be appreciated.

Jeff

 

[Vapor]

Well from what I have been told if the dealer does the install you are good with the warranty ford can not reject a claim unless they can prove that the mod are the reason for the failure. I may have been steered in the wrong direction or got the wrong interpretation but check the forum I think there is a link to warranty stuff

 

[cobramach1]

Well first off, and I'm sure I can speak for virtually everyone, thank you for serving our great country. It is greatly appreciated.

I'll let some other people chime in on this, but if they don't I'll try to write a concise response that addresses some of your q's. I'm a Ford guy through and through, but one thing I will say is it's hard to compare these two cars based on hp because one is naturally aspirated and the other is supercharged. And you have to ask yourself if you want a new car or a used car because you won't be able to find a used Camaro right now so there isn't the depreciation advantage there. As of right now your better buy is definitely the GT500.

 

[My96z]

Royal Oak. My aunt used to live in Royal Oak, I used to visit here there. I am originally from Melvindale (SW side of Detroit).

Thanks for the replies. I was also directed to look at the 03-04 cobras as well. I can get one of those 10-15K less but I am sure they are going to be without a warranty. How long does Ford offer warranties for? They are also looking pretty attractive.

I am a Chevy guy, but I think the supercharged cobras/GT500's are better for what I want to do over a new camaro. If I got a 02 Z28 they are 14-16K and I would rather have a 04 cobra for a bit more, and its going to respond to mods a hell of alot better.

Thanks for the help guys!

Jeff

 

[ODGreen]

I recommend that you speak to a couple of dealerships via e-mail to see how the warranty works. What I can say, that if you want to keep the vehicle warranty worthy, you'll have to go with Ford Racing parts and they have to be installed by the dealer...that's what the parts manager told me at my dealership where I bought my car. Parts from Ford racing and sold at the dealership are NOT cheap...neither is the labor.

Also, just because Ford racing makes the parts and the dealership installs it, does not mean that it is warranted. Only certain parts or kits are warranted and again, from what my dealer told me, they have to be installed by the dealership.

I've modified my vehicle and looked at the costs of what ford offered and what other shops offered and went with the other shops option, because of the initial costs.

Here's a link to Ford racing parts ... http://www.fordracingparts.com/mustang/customize.asp

it will give you info on what ford racing offers and what is warranted.

If you buy used, have the car checked out thoroughly before you purchase it. Some folks will buy one of these, drive the shit out of it, and then trade it in. Also note that the 2007 and some 2008 models have had transmission problems. Search the forumns for that. From what I've read, most dealerships will fix the problem, but there are cases where people have had trouble.

The car is awesome. Average car will put out about 430 rear wheel horsepower and around the same for rear wheel torque. Lots of power....the most I've ever driven. It puts my 69 Camaro SS w/396 BB and turbo 400 (w/ slight mods) to shame (still wish I had that car though). No comparison. But I would think the new Camaro SS and the Challenger SRT would do that as well. The car handles well, but can be squirrely if your gassing it around curves or if you go over a bump in the road.

I've modified mine w/a stage II kit from evolution performance http://www.evoperform.com/shop/

They advertise "up to" 145 additional rear wheel horsepower with this kit, but I only made about 100 additional rwhp. The tune is safe, but canned. The shop I took mine to said they could probably get 30 more rwhp, but it would have cost another 250-300. I should have just bought the parts from them and had the shop I took my car to tune it...Evo was great on the phone and e-mail when i was talking to them about purchasing from them, but got rid of me on the phone and did not answer my e-mail when I called them after the purchase on the tune...so be careful. Again the kit was great, the tune was good and safe, but the after sales help was shoddy. Look through the forums...you'll hear good and bad. Jon Lund and another, VMP seem to be good after sales.

Try this forum, as they offer lots of info as well.

http://www.teamshelby.com

Good luck and thanks for your service.

 

[cobramach1]

I think ODG said it very well in their post. Bottom line is it sounds like you wanted the car because of the warranty and then to upgrade it and still maintain the warranty. Now you're talking about backing down to the 03/04 Cobras which not too many will still have a warranty on them unless someone bought an extra long warranty and even then there's probably less than a year left on it. If you're budget is 30-35k and you want instant hp and a warranty then the GT500 is your only option right now because you won't be able to find a Camaro SS for that price right now since they are all new and you'll still be able to get a great used GT500 for under 35k with plenty of warranty left on it. Enjoy the hp for now and when the warranty is up start playing with aftermarket parts that aren't waranteed if that is your desire. If you have to have a car right now then get the GT500, if you can wait a year or two, then maybe the Camaro SS will be the better choice for you as you should be able to purchase one reasonably used in a few years.

 

[milezperhour]

i've always been chevy..and have a camaro..but the GT500 is a better buy in the long run. I love my GT500. Awesome car to drive and work on. There are way to many issues with the camaro. And its future support is uncertain.

 

[My96z]

Thanks for the info.

I guess its going to come down to wether I want a higher car payment and newer car with warranty or older car with less car payment and no warranty. I am thinking the difference in the payment will be considerable and the money thats left over could go towards mods or other things.

I know the terminator cobras are respected cars and can be downright nasty, I expect the GT 500 to follow in its footsteps. As for the Camaro SS, I think once the buzz goes away the cost of the car will come down, from doing my research about the best deal you can get on them is maybe 1K less than MSRP ($35-36K -ish) with most dealers jacking up the price. I know the LS3 has a good aftermarket and am reasonably certain that the aftermarket will support them well into the future. Seems they are puttting down 380-ish to the wheels through a M6 stock. Tune, exhaust and $1700 headers will easily put them over 400 rwhp.

I am guessing with a Terminator or a Gt500 I could gain 20 RWHP with a simple pulley swap - maybe less than $200?

I guess bang for the buck definatley goes to the Ford camp. I have seen some really low mile terminators, but hey are going for 25K and up, even a few with like 4K-10K miles.

Its kind of frustrating that I cant do any real shopping here. I will get some r&r leave in August so maybe I can look around my area and see whats out there. I will still have to part out the camaro when I get back in November.

Thanks again for the help guys,
Jeff

 

[Detroitboy]

Maybe I can help you out here. I use the same login on Camaro5 and Z28.com as here, and ordered my camaro over 2 years ago. It finally got built, went into quality hold so I cancelled the order and found my below described GT500 convertible the same night on EBay with only 580 miles on it...and it was only 45 minutes from home. I bought it for $41,000 and dont' regret it even though the camaro came in 4 weeks later. I cancelled the camaro because so many of them initially went into quality hold and disappeared there for nearly 3 month (area 51).
I did however get a chance to drive a SS manual car before mine came in, and I can tell you that they are two completely different animals. The camaro is quiet in every respect, and really does ride nice on these crummy Michigan roads. It was very comfortable, although you really did get the feeling of sitting deeper inside it than the Shelby. The clutch was about 30% easier to use than the Shelby...and my wife would've driven it, but she wont' drive the Shelby with the higher pedal resistance. The Camaro is probably a more refined feel across the board, but the Shelby is a beast and I love it. The Camaro did'nt come off the bottom as well as the Shelby, but pulled real hard and kept pulling as it started rolling. The Camaro felt more like a Charger SRT8 off the line....it needed time to get rolling. The Shelby is much more responsive at the starting line and up to about 90. But for driving around this high traffic area the Shelby again is the answer due to the aforementioned...theres no opportunity around here to run more than 90-95 unless you're going on a freeway ramp.
Suspension is another issue because mine is lowered so much...it might handle better and take the bumps better with not lowering 1 1/2". Some other people on this forum might have more experience at suggestions on that. I bottom out the rear suspension more than I care to, and only have 3" of clearance from the pipes to the ground (measured while on a hoist), but when I bottom I mean I am hitting the end of the rear suspension travel...the pipes have hit a few times with our great Michigan roads.
The Camaro would need a blower and a lower rear end ratio to compete with the Shelby in terms of being fun to drive. Many are putting blowers on them aftermarket....but they will be self destructing shortly. They are putting blowers on with stock compression and using the factory pistons which are not forged. A friend who works at a GM dealer has also told me that they are being instructed to "keep their eye out" for Camaros that come in with modified calibrations in the computers. GM is trying to keep their warranty costs down and will void drivetrain warranty's on these cars if a dealer brings it to their attention. They even has a special 800 number set up for the techs to download the tune to the techs at GM for evaluation to make a final determination on whether or not the tune specs have been changed and returned back to stock when a car comes in for questionable warranty repairs. If they start offering a "bounty" to the dealer techs for finding these changes its going to get ugly fast.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I'd rather be driving the Shelby GT500 with a blower and factory warranty. I'll install the factory CAI for the KR, and take it into the dealer and get ripped off on them doing the tune to keep my warranty. There is no doubt that a used Shelby will hold its value much better than a new Camaro. They want to make over 60,000 Camaros in the first year....so the value of used will drop very quickly (just as the value of new GT500 cars did after the initial introduction). Late this year they will add HUD and some other features too, and direct high pressue injection will show up in the next couple years, which will certainly make the value of the first year Camaros drop even more. The paint quality will probably get better too, and front bumper color will match better. I'm a GM guy too....but a used GT500 is a better investment right now and is probably a better hot rod with doing no (or minimal) mods. I might even stay with Fords if this car keeps working out as well as it is so far.
Good luck...and thanks for doing such a great job of keeping the American way of life the "gold standard" that it always has been and continues to be.