Chazman

Nope. Gen IV.

The Gen V will come in two displacements, 6.2L and probably a 5.3L. And yes, DOHC versions are being developed.

Yeah, you're right. I think I edited the V6 part, just as you were quoting me. I also agree, that Alpha won't be 1 series sized. Probably more like 3 series sized or so. 3,200 -3,300 pounds would be awesome.

I personally share your feeling on that. BTW, nice 3rd gen in your sig!

Okay, here's a possible 6th gen engine line up: -Four cylinder Ecotec. Displacement depends on if it would be normally aspirated or turbocharged. -3.6L/2.8L DI V6. -2.9L turbo diesel V6. (really, I think this one could be a performance monster in a Camaro). -Gen V smallblock V8. (Is wanting a 6.2L outrageous?)

Hopefully, an Alpha Camaro wouldn't need to incorporate the high cowl that Zeta cars have.

Me three. I remember when I was little kid, and saw my first brand new, 70 1/2, split bumper, Z/28.....my jaw dropped. I couldn't have imagined a more beautiful car on planet Earth.

How do we feel about a diesel Camaro? The 4.5 V8 would be abit much, but the 2.9 V6 with 250 hp/406 ftlbs might be interesting.

Who's to say what we might find acceptable in a few years. With that said, it's unknown if Alpha can support a V8 or not. Up until now, Alpha was going to share the scene with Zeta, so there was no reason for it to be package protected for a V8. With CAFE, Alpha takes on a more central role, so we'll see. Oh, and I'm not sure I buy into those rumors that Kappa and Y-car will merge either.

It's amazing how GM created Kappa literally out of thin air, so quickly, with off the shelf parts. But I think alot of people were shocked at it's final weight after hanging all of those parts off the frame rails. All in all, GM did a nice job with Kappa, considering it's time and cost restraints. But the Miata was always the weight goal. And on that it missed in a big way.

This one will have to do, until I find the one I mentioned. Mazda's "gram strategy":

I read an interesting article a couple of years ago, on how Mazda thought about weight every step of the way when designing the Miata. The Miata of course, is several hundred pounds lighter than the Solstice. It was just a bunch of common sense stuff, which had nothing to do with super expensive, exotic materials. I'll try to find it later....

That there is a given. And that sort of fits in with Lutz's comments about cars costing more. You can bet the ranch, that future cars will incorporate LOTS of high strength steel, aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber. Expect every automaker to be trying to drop 200-300 pounds on their next gen cars. You can also design in weight loss -that is - once it become a prime priority. And perhaps someone with more familiarity than me on this, this can jump in and help me. Engine cradles for example. Engine cradles aid in ease of assembly on the factory line. My understand however, is that they add weight. Look at the Corvette. It's not light by accident. Anyway, for my money...I'd rather have a 400 hp, 3,400 lbs Camaro, than a 525 hp, 4,100 Camaro.

I'm not sure about "exactly". But even before Zeta was canceled the first time, weight was always a big problem. Everything on Zeta was going over it's weight targets. I've heard the structure was needlessly heavy as well. And, let's face it, it's a large sedan architecture. That won't save any poundage.

You know, as much as I REALLY want to love it, I'm just not digging the Camaro's interior. I know that they wanted to push the evelope with it - but to my eyes, it's just bizarre looking. Sorry, hope no one here has an infantile meltdown, because I said that. I've had enough of those for one week.

Yeah, I'll say! I had an interesting conversation with someone about this. The description I got when suggesting an Alpha, 6th gen Camaro, was - "feasible". Re-engineering to accept a V8 is also feasible, although that's not where the program is at, currently. But getting back to a family of Alphas. I see them as a family of smaller premium cars, fun to drive, nicely equipped. An opportunity for GM to literally seize a whole segment. I don't see Chrysler coming up with something like this. Ford either, unless the"Huntsman" global RWD program is smaller than we think.

Is it too early to talk about a 6th gen Camaro? Might as well, between CAFE and Zeta production decisions, I have a feeling the 5th gen may not be with us for very long. I'll start. The 6th gen (if there even is one), would need to be smaller and lighter than the 5th. It will need to be in order to help GM with their CAFE goals, plus a tidier package would be a good thing for a pony car. It will also need to share it's architecture with a family of CAFE friendly vehicles, in order to make it economically viable. Alpha is the only architecture which comes to mind. Although a next gen Camaro would need to be heavily invested in I4, turbo I4, and V6 powertrains, I sure hope a V8 is at least available.

Who's saying he should be banned? I find his posts pretty interesting. I don't always agree with him, and I can see how he can upset people, but I read his posts with interest. Lookit, on most sites I go to, 80% of the posts are simply mindless background noise. No substance. No thought, (let alone spelling and sentence structure). I simply skip over them. Banning someone because they are provocative is silly. The whole purpose of boards like this is to discuss, debate and yes, - even argue.

I can also add that when Holden did the Torana concept, it got the attention of alot of people at the very top of GM. Not so much for the car itself, but more for it's conceptual architecture. Those may have been the seeds of what will become Alpha. There were people within GM though, such as I believe Lori Queen, who adamantly opposed any sort of premium small/medium sized car for NA. This sort of thinking figured that Americans will either buy a cheap little, FWD, sh!tbox, or a large premium car. Funny, since the US is BMW's largest market for the 3. Anyway, this conceptual platform was killed dead. Regarding the Camaro. There was VERY serious consideration in basing Camaro off of this smaller architecture, as well as other vehicles. In the end, Zeta seemed like the cheaper choice for Camaro - at the time, that is. I think alot of these people might be rethinking their decisions right now, if they could go back in time. We'd probably be ready to see the launch of a a whole family of cool and fun to drive, CAFE friendly, RWD cars right now, rather than the implosion of RWD which we're seeing with Zeta.

Honestly, Zeta is not as flexible as people think. The Camaro, which will be GTO sized and probably out weigh it (perhaps by a LARGE margin), is about as small as Zeta can go. Zeta is a large car architecture and even a clean sheet wouldn't give many gains regarding decreased weight or smaller vehicle dimensions. Alpha hopefully will.

Agreed. The Impala would have been pretty sweet.

The Camaro and the Impala are considered Zeta II, internally. Weight has always been a problem with Zeta.

I'm looking forward to Alpha as well. Currently, it's not engineered to take a V8. We'll see what may happen in the future. As far as Zeta, there may be all sorts of reasons for it's demise, but weight has got to be one of them. Several hundred thousand 2 ton sedans just don't help GM's CAFE efforts. In fact a two ton Camaro won't help much either. I sure hope we'll get a smaller, lighter one off of Alpha, because I just can't see the 5th gen lasting too long with CAFE and no platform-mates to share costs with.

I wonder what their strategy might be for meeting these standards - other than the obvious, jumping on the electric car bandwagon?

I'm not sure why you're directing that at my post, I was serious. It would have been a sweet car.