FenwickHockey65's Great Thread of GM Knowledge

[6spdhyperblue]

CAn anyone give a quick and dirty on ats vs ct4 and possible impacts to Camaro

[FenwickHockey65]

ATS/CTS/XTS are all being "replaced" by CT5. CT4 will be more of a 2-series competitor.

Both RWD, both with V-series models, both on A2XX, which will likely be shared with Camaro.

[6spdhyperblue]

So the Camaro will be bigger again? Any chance for 2019 on the Camaro?

[FenwickHockey65]

I wouldn't go off what Cadillac does to determine how Camaro ends up.

What do you mean about 2019?

[SpeedIsLife]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

I wouldn't go off what Cadillac does to determine how Camaro ends up.

What do you mean about 2019?

Probably wanting to know if there's a chance for a platform change for 2019 (lol) or getting the Cadi twin turbo V8 for 2019 (very lol)

[6spdhyperblue]

So they are gonna keep the alpha going just for the Camaro?

[ChevyRules]

Originally Posted by Nicul15

So they are gonna keep the alpha going just for the Camaro?

The 7th gen will join them on A2XX.

[Bhobbs]

Hopefully A2XX is bigger. I drove a 6th gen 1LE on Saturday and don’t fit the car. My head was rubbing the liner and my shoulder was up against the door.

[shaffe]

Originally Posted by Bhobbs

Hopefully A2XX is bigger. I drove a 6th gen 1LE on Saturday and don’t fit the car. My head was rubbing the liner and my shoulder was up against the door.

but all the 6'5" 300 pound guys on the forum fit just fine lol.

Last time I was in a 6thgen I felt cramped as well. Had the same feeling in an ATS

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Nicul15

So they are gonna keep the alpha going just for the Camaro?

ATS being replaced with the CT4 soon has zero impact on the Camaro for the next few years (ie, until the 6th gen is either replaced or killed off). Platform sharing only really matters when you're doing the design & engineering of a car. A lot of people get hung up on the idea that a cars platform is somehow a piece of hardware that the body gets bolted onto or something. And so if you have 2 cars that shared a plaform & one gets cancelled, he other one can no longer be built. That isn't the case at all.

Platforms are more of an idea, or set of ideas, than anything else. They're a set of design specs that can be shared amongst vehicles that have similar sizes, drivetrains & performance goals. The reason platforms are shared is because it is very, very expensive to engineer an all new car. Since its not all that different to engineer a compact rwd sporty car than it is to engineer a midsize rwd sport car, you can save yourself a lot of duplicated work by platform sharing. Once engineers solve what the suspension geometry is going to be like for one of them, they can use it again on the other (or make very minor tweaks). Same thing for the crash structures, the engine mounts, the transmission tunnel, etc. Even if its not exactly the same part, maybe the front suspension a-arms are 6mm longer, they were designed to hit the same targets (in the case of Alpha, it was probably something like 'agile, responsive handling' instead of say, 'cheap, but comfortable').

With modern manufacturing practices, you can have a plant building cars from 2 or 3 different platforms at once. They don't even have to be that similar in size. The Volt is built along side the Impala at Detroit-Hamtramck, for example.



The ATS & CTS merging back into a single 'tweener' raises the odds that the next Camaro will be slightly larger but its no guarantee. After all, the Camaro, ATS, and CTS are all different sizes as is. If the smaller CT4 also uses Alpha2 as a platform (which I think it does), then they would have quite a bit of leeway in terms how big they could make the next Camaro with that platform. From the size of the 5th gen on the upper end, with the minimum being even smaller than the ATS. My guess is that they'd probably keep it about the same size as the current car but sacrifice a little bit of style for better use of space. Pull the passenger compartment a couple inches forward & raise the roof by half an inch and you've gained a lot of extra space. But it doesn't look quite as cool either.


I should stop now ... I've written a couple hundred words more than I'd planned on.

[Martinjlm]

^^^ Good stuff.

[6spdhyperblue]

Yup the assembly line was what was making me wonder

[Bhobbs]

Originally Posted by shaffe

but all the 6'5" 300 pound guys on the forum fit just fine lol.

Last time I was in a 6thgen I felt cramped as well. Had the same feeling in an ATS

They may fit better than me. I’m about 6’1” but it’s mostly torso. I couldn’t drop the seat far enough to fit right. I also have pretty broad shoulders, so it just wasn’t comfortable.

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

... My guess is that they'd probably keep it about the same size as the current car but sacrifice a little bit of style for better use of space. Pull the passenger compartment a couple inches forward & raise the roof by half an inch and you've gained a lot of extra space. But it doesn't look quite as cool either...

I was going to say basically the same. If they can keep the same overall proportions, while adding maybe an inch or two of rear legroom (which may not actually matter) and a inch of headroom in the new design, we'll be right back to 5th gen like amounts of space, and I don't think anyone can really complain about that. We are talking Camaro here...not a sports sedan. Sure, Challenger offers lots of space, but I personally would hate for Camaro to grow that large. The car looks huge up close.

We all know the next Camaro would have the same long hood, pushed back cabin style that all Camaro's have had over the years. Otherwise it just isn't Camaro any longer.