Chevy Camaro & Colorado Motor Trend Car & Truck of the Year

Gorehamj · November 17, 2015

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
11/17/2015

GM's Chevrolet division has two new awards for the trophy case. First, the 2016 Chevy Colorado is the Motor Trend Truck of the Year. This is the second consecutive win for the Colorado. Reading over the very detailed Motor Trend story accompanying the award announcement, it is clear that it was the Duramax diesel engine option that pushed the Colorado to the win again this year. One Motor Trend Editor summed up the Duramax nicely, saying, “That it can tow 7,600 pounds and is averaging 24 mpg after two loops of mixed driving speaks volumes about this engine. Further, the diesel smooths out the shifts of the transmission and essentially gives it less work to do, as the gearbox doesn’t need to hunt to get the truck going—the massive torque curve has got that covered. Why you’d buy any other engine in this truck is beyond me.”

The 2016 Motor Trend Car of the Year is the all-new 2016 Chevy Camaro. In its testing Motor Trend drove both the RS and SS versions of the Camaro. Yes, the SS is the one most people dream about, but the RS impressed Motor Trend. “The performance you get out of this six-cylinder is amazing,” he said. “It might as well have an SS badge on it. I can already hear the fanboys: ‘My RS does 0-60 mph in 5.3 seconds, handles better than an ATS, and gets killer mileage.’”

Still, the V8 engine in the Camaro is what makes it an exceptional car for value and performance. Motor Trend pointed out that "...the new SS is nearly as quick in a straight line (0-60 mph in 4 seconds flat, quarter mile in 12.4 seconds) as the outgoing and more powerful Z/28. Lower weight plus the superlative Alpha bones make handling measurably mega; the SS runs our figure-eight track in 24.1 seconds, two-tenths off a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S."

The Camaro returned better fuel economy in Motor Trend's real-life testing than did the Mustang or the Challenger. Motor Trend also pointed out that the Camaro is a world-beating value, saying, "A 275-hp turbo for $27K, 335 horsepower for $28.5K, or 455 hp for $37K? This isn’t rocket science, people."

newdude · November 17, 2015

Wham bam thank you ma'am...

truckofwinandawesome · November 17, 2015

Today is a Red Letter Day for GM and the Chevrolet brand; it would have been sweet to sweep the whole kit and kaboodle, but you can't win them all! Perhaps this back to back win for the Colorado will light a fire under Ford and FCA to bring back the Ranger and Dakota: because as it stands now, the Tacoma and Frontier are still MILES behind the Colorado and Canyon!

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