Chevy Camaro SS vs. Nissan 370Z, the unlikely face-off: Motoramic Drives

Back in 1990s, Volkswagen had an advertising campaign built around German word “fahrvergnügen,” which loosely means “driving pleasure.” Apparently the whimsical ads worked on me, because I keep hearing it every time I get into a new car.

We recently had the pleasure of driving two cars loaded with fahrvergnügen, the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro SS with the 1LE track package, and the Nissan 370Z Touring coupe with the Sport Package. The Camaro SS and the 370Z don’t often get matched side-by-side; Camaros are forever measured against the Ford Mustang, while the 370Z usually ends up against light-footed imports such as the BMW 1 Series. But both of the cars we had were priced at around $40,000, could hustle from 0-60 mph in a little over 4.5 seconds, and get through the quarter mile just slightly north of 13 seconds. Which makes for the better sports car?

Our Camaro SS with the 1LE package came to us in Rally Yellow, with a matte black hood and black 20-inch wheels. It oozed testosterone, and the goosebump-inducing exhaust note gave a satisfying burble when down-revving from high RPMs. Packed with an assortment of handling hardware including suspension bits from the ZL1, and riding on super sticky Goodyear Eagle tires, the Chevy zipped around corners and up/down freeway on ramps with reckless abandon, thanks to the confidence-inspiring grip. It’s almost too much car to fully appreciate on the open road, though; I felt that unless I was willing to do something really stupid (which I wasn’t), then I was not going to find out this car’s handling limits on city streets.

But going fast or slow, the Camaro SS got noticed. I picked up my 12-year-old son and two of his friends from their soccer practice, and after a few hard launches and fast corners I had three young lifelong Camaro fans. Dropping my daughter off at her elementary school also elicited a ton of stares from the boy students. Of course, not everyone was a fan. One of the more conservative moms at the school pointedly asked me if I knew what kind of, ahem, women I would attract if I was single and was driving this car. My response – “I don’t know, I guess women who love fun cars.”