by Colin Mathews

Last Tuesday night, we gaped at the ripped-up, muscular silhouette of a hot guy in New York’s West Village. Even from outside the windows, it was clear he’d moved beyond the Chelsea muscle boy phase, looking svelte and serious among the sophisticated milieu at Cooper Classics gallery. The view was so great from outside that we couldn’t resist ducking in for a closer inspection…
With the re-introduction of its Chevrolet Camaro muscle car, GM again has a weapon for duty in the pony car wars. You’ve probably read about it, you’ve most definitely seen shots of it, and we finally got up close and personal with the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro during a hip, family-focused gathering in a West Village art gallery. Two Camaros resided inside; a black, 2010 6.2-liter V-8 Camaro SS and a pristine 1968 Camaro convertible.

With each successive new product, GM proves that it can design fresh, compelling, quality products. Still, they have oddities like the Chevy Colorado and the Hummer H3T lurking in the ranks, so we arrived at the event full of curiosity. Had GM yet again trolled its parts bin too deeply, fitting a dynamite chassis and engine with a sea of dreary details and mediocre pieces?

We scored a weekend date with the 2010 Camaro, so follow our tweets as we give you up-to-the-minute details. Until then, here’s our impression after some serious cruising and a few cocktails:
Closer inspection of the Camaro’s physique reveals nothing but hard work and good design. No silicone, no tricks. We think this thing’s hot from far and near. You can judge for yourself, but here are a few details that became more apparent on Wednesday:

• This car has wonderfully short front and rear overhangs. Just like a German sports sedan, this connotes athleticism and control.
• The treatment below the rear bumper is great, from the huge dual exhaust pipes to the five vertical strakes that enticingly mimic exotic-car aerodynamic underbody fairings. Not to mention the killer ribbed rectangular stainless-steel mufflers underneath (yeah, ok, I got on my back and looked).
• Surrounding the optional Xenon HID headlights are arresting, cool blue LED surrounds (more intense and mechanical-looking than BMW’s units).
• A deep, highly detailed front grille adds lots of swagger.
• Extremely precise panel fits from nose to tail, speaking to great quality control and tight manufacturing tolerances.
• The tight, bulging posterior of someone who does squats religiously.
The good story continues on the interior. Actually, it gets even better from behind the wheel:

• Tilt/telescope wheel FINALLY as good as a German brand. Rejoice.
• USB port in center console for your iPod: check. Oh, and the radio that it connects to is quite the bespoke unit. It looks like nothing that ever lived in a GM parts bin, with its beveled panel and cool backlit blue LED screen. The only awkward moment I had with the radio was the “Tone” button, an amusing throwback to old GM-speak. You have to hit that if you want to adjust the EQ or fade/balance equilibrium.
• On the subject of dash…damn. GM finally got the interface right from a tactile standpoint. The fan-speed isn’t a fussy undersized toggle, but rather a nice big dial that clicks elegantly through about 19 soft detents for your preferred airflow volume.
• Alas, the two housed analog gauges, speedo and tach, are just small in diameter and have needles that look just a bit more than an inch long.
• The cruise control function, residing within the left spoke of the meaty steering wheel, is light years beyond the old broken chicken wing multi-function stalk that lived in the last Camaro.
• A small ergonomic puzzler can be found in the paddle shifters for the 6-speed auto; the paddles are merely symbols alerting the driver to the buttons on the back of the wheel that actually perform up- and down-shifting duty.
• Central dash-mounted door lock: very BMW. Not to mention the door pulls/doorlock interplay, which again is very Germanic. With the doors locked, operate the door pull once and the lock opens. Pull again, and the door swings open. Mechanical, precise, simple, and elegant.
• The rear seatback folds down, a testament to the solidity of the Zeta platform and a great convenience for owners with big or bulky items to tote. However, the trunk opening is quite small in order to make way for those wide, stylish haunches, and the trunk itself is wide but shallow.
The fetching Brian Fichtner, design critic from site Coolhunting.com, gave me a quick interior critique. He found plenty to admire inside, and made special note of the cloth swoosh that runs from door to door and across the dash. He also liked that the central HVAC and radio controls that are pushed forward, not set flush with the dash as in most vehicles. But he felt that the rectangular center vents were rather plain and didn’t fit with the rest of the design. A trip over to the 1968 Camaro revealed that central vents simply didn’t exist on that model.
Other family reactions ran the gamut from erotic to nonplussed. Vanity Fair had one of their Stick Shift gay car blog ladies there, and she was nearly vibrating while caressing the Camaro’s meaty auto trans shift lever. Flaunt magazine’s sophisticated New York bureau seemed put off by the Camaro’s overt masculinity and considerable size, but once I explained to them just what a muscle car is, and the Camaro’s historic role in the segment, they became more positive. Nonetheless, one Flaunt editor finds the Mustang tidier, more appealing package, likely due to its more upright windshield and taller stance.

Photos courtesy of GM: