I Love this Car
 

Been wanting to write this post for a while.

I've had my 1LE now since April of 2014. I've put 45K miles on it in that time, and they were truly awesome miles. The car continues to tickle all the right receptors. The sound when I start it up every morning is still intoxicating. Power continues to be more than plentiful and despite the fact that I'm long out of warranty, I have no desire to modify the power-train in any way at all. Handling too, continues to be almost perfect for a street car. 4 years in and the car continues to handle mid-corner bumps in a single, well-controlled event. Since purchasing this car, I've driven a base C7, a base 991, a GT350, a Hellcat (garbage), and a Scat Pack (garbage with less horsepower) and nothing is as well-tuned out of the gate as my 1LE in the suspension department except the 911 and it had so many other shortcomings that it doesn't matter. The shocks are really what make this car as well-mannered as it is. Springs are a bit soft, which you can really feel under braking, but overall the package works so well that I can't justify the money to improve it (and if I was going to do something, it would be to swap in the full Z/28 suspension package).

The real key to the whole thing though is in the API. For those that don't write software, API stands for Application Program Interface. It is the way you interact with someone's software program and Al and the rest of the crew at Chevy really did an amazing job on the driver's interface with this car.

I've been auto-crossing for two years now and I work very well with one off the club's instructors and often let him drive my car as he's a better driver than instructor. Like me, he's a purist. He cares very little about how much power a car makes, or how fast it shifts, he just wants a fantastic driving experience. Every time he gets in the driver's seat he comments on the lever between the seats. The shifter in my 1LE, which still feels brand new, is just so divine. An almost perfect throw, soft-touch surface, evenly-spaced gates, no annoying vibrations at idle or under load (ever drive an E30 M3?), it sits in the perfect spot relative to the wheel, and there's no slack at all. There are very few cars in the world that have a shifter that feels as good as this one. I love the Alcantara on the steering wheel as well, it's a special little touch that doesn't cost much to Chevy, but makes a world of a difference to me. The pedals are far enough away to satisfy the lawyers, but close enough to be able to heel-n-toe easily.

A driver engineered and built this car. When you watch the video of the ZL1/1LE on the Nurburgring, and you realize that that isn't some paid hot-shoe driver, but one of the Camaro team's chassis engineers doing the driving, you realize the kind of team that Al put together and why this car is so capable despite being so heavy. That's another thing. Cars this heavy don't handle like this. They just don't. It's very hard finding a car that weighs 500lbs LESS than my 1LE that handles as good as it does. And now that I'm two seasons in to racing it around the little orange things, I'm much more comfortable with it sideways and even then its amazing. It's November in two days and I still have the G2s on. Not out of laziness, but out of enjoying the 40-60 degree days where I can drive like Chris Harris for 5 or so minutes before the tires get warm, while staying entirely under the 25mph speed limit.

When I bought this car I was given the green light on an agreement my wife and I had made many years earlier. If I passed a certain income level I could buy a 911 GT3. Two things happened, the GT3s got more expensive, and more critically, they dropped the third pedal (yes, I know the third pedal came back this year but that didn't help me back in 2014). So I looked at used GT3s instead and during the research, I happened upon a Car & Driver lightning lap issue and read for the first time about the 1LE. Within two days, I had seen just about every piece of content on the car that YouTube had to offer and had read just about every publication's articles. I was nervous when I ordered this car; afraid I was going to regret not getting the GT3. That never happened.

I love this car.

Nice take on the 1le. I don't have a road course nearby and I've only had mine for a couple of months. With that said I believe I posted in one of my threads right after I got mine how special these car truly feel even on just a causal commute. I can feel the racing dna that was tested and built into these cars no question. Definitely not the fastest but for myself it was the well thought out package setup that did it for me. :thumb:

:headbang:

:first:

Glad to see you happy! These cars are truly intoxicating.

Very well said Billy !!

Only thing that "I" feel improves this car is a higher duration, lower LSA cam/headers/tune.
That's what I have done and the difference on the track and street is amazing.
The second and third gear pulls on a large track put a huge SSMY1LE on my face every time :w00t:

Great piece! Agree 100%!

I've been working weekends lately to meet a deadline for a project I'm working on. I was leaving work two Sunday's ago, after sundown, and it was pretty chilly. By the time I ran through town over to the highway, the tires had warmed up a bit, not fully, but a bit.

I make a left onto the on-ramp; the on-ramp is wide, I'm in 2nd, we got nicely sideways. I intended this and stay on the throttle as I get the car straight, I hit the top of 2nd, shift into 3rd, and put my foot back in it. This on-ramp goes uphill to meeting the highway (I had just driven under it), I'm cresting the top of the on-ramp shortly after I shift into 3rd, and as the car unloads at the top of the hill, we get sideways again ... this time at around 80mph.

Power, is the LAST thing this car needs. :)

Very cool, glad you are enjoying the car! They are a lot of fun.

Well written and absolutely true. I'm in my second year of ownership on my 2015 and I couldn't be happier. I've taken it drag racing, to several road course tracks and many times autocrossing . The car never fails to be fun.

Ive gotten that tickle to look at something with more power like a ZL1 or Z28, but in all honesty, I don't have the skills to drive my 1LE to the limit yet. More power is not the solution to being a better driver. This car has plenty of power for fun, but isn't the kind that spins you out on a 45 degree day or with a badly timed blip to the pedal.

:thumbup: Feel the same way!

Was going to say you've owned the car for forever. :laugh: I still love mine too. :D

I really enjoy mine as well. Bought it new in 2015 after a pretty exhaustive narrowing down of several other vehicles I was looking into. 22k miles later, I still really enjoy driving it, and have had far more fun in this vehicle than in any other one I've owned.

Can't say I'll never ever get rid of it (there's a local 6th gen Z06 that is tempting me), but I'm certainly happy with it.

Love mine too. Like someone said, I don't need more power. The handling makes my old 4th Gen feel like a Buick.

I love my 1LE but completely disagree on not needing more power. These cars are heavy and imho it could use another 100-150hp.

Yep, I am about 100 rwhp more than factory and its much more fun! Also about 130 lbs lighter that stock at 3730 lbs (1/8 tank of gas)

Nice!! I’m looking forward to adding power. My only screw up was agreeing to wait until the power train warranty was up. March of 2020. Ugh... lol what was I thinking.

I've got two boys and listening to them go, "The G's daddy! The G's!!" as they fight to stay vertical in their seats puts far too much of a grin on my face to trade in for a two-seater.

We've also used this car a number of times for family road trips. This summer we did a 4-day weekend in Kennebunkport Maine and used the 1LE. Getting a Vette would mean having to do that trip in our B9 Tribeca or the Ascent my wife wants to replace the Tribeca with.

No thank you. But the Z06 is a wonderful car. The Gen6 anyway. I'm not a fan of the C7 in any flavor except the Grand Sport.

Have you taken your car to a track yet (not a drag strip, a track)? I've gotten sideways in 4th. In 4th.

A little poo came out. Okay, okay. Not just a little.

My fastest car before this had 190HP and it was divine at the track. If you took 50 HP out of this car, I wouldn't care much.

I sure have and it need more power. Lol

I'm sure that's a blast. No kids here, but the additional impracticality does bother me a bit with the C6. Road trips are easy as pie in the Camaro.

I'm at about 420 to the wheels with bolt ons and a tune. To me, the car has more potential than I have skill at this point. And on a track, more hp isn't going to make me apex any better or brake any later :)

More power is always fun, the problem is that you tend to acclimate to it pretty quickly, and then it simply becomes typical.

I agree on all points. I can not drive the car to 100% of it’s potential on track. That being said I spend far less time on any track than I do on the twisty roads here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Or the highway...etc and in those instances the car is “dare I say it” kind of a dog. Putting my flame suite on!!!

Who
 

Who did you agree with?

Not following your question. Every post I’ve made has had a quote. So I was responding to the quote in my post.

I agree with 100% with your assessment. I recently did a rather sporty trip up a canyon road. The car was so composed. I hit a bump land pull foot out for a second then keep going. I could feel the backend want to move around a little with lots of throttle but not get out of shape and into a wall or off a cliff. The ride is a little stiff but the payback when canyon carving is well worth it.
People are amazed when I tell them it is 100% stock.
A friend says not stock but factory tuned. I am like 'what ever' just try to hang with me in the twisties.
John

Love your write up! I haven’t been here for a while and it’s nice to see you again and read this. I love my 1LE so much I’m seriously thinking about putting the Chevy performance LS7 and heads in it. Comes with an ecu tune from Chevy and is not CARB legal in 50 states.


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Don't have the 1LE, but have all of the parts, save the transmission. Just love it. The looks and purist nature of the car are what I like.

Engine still stock and on a big track like COTA the GT3s are easily faster. I feel even Caymans, more of a driver's race, assuming both cars on street tires.

54K on car and runs new. BTW I have Goodyear G3s on Gen6 wheels (same specs as Gen5) and they are amazing. This could be the biggest reason for the better Gen6 track times.

I had a 2011 Camaro 2LT RS which I loved to drive but wasn’t happy with not having a V8 so I searched the local dealers constantly and I just happened to come across my 1LE. I couldn’t get to the dealer fast enough. I never drove my 2011 in the rain but I drove it to the dealer in a downpour that day. That was the only time my 1LE ever saw the rain as well, at least while I’ve owned it.

was my first time driving a 1LE last weekend and as soon as the salesman pulled up the car I fell in love. When I drove it the salesman said he's never seen someone so happy driving something for a test drive. Sadly I did not go home with the car but I am forsure buying one at the end of march.