Something has been bothering me lately about the new Camaro, besides the fact that I barely fit inside of one comfortably: when did Chevrolet decide that being a muscular coupe just wasn’t enough? When did GM, in their infinite wisdom, decide that the Camaro had to become a sports car to appeal to the masses? Doesn’t GM already have a sports car that appeals to the masses? Oh, yeah, they do, and I’m reminded of it anytime I’m driving around Bowling Green: the Corvette, the fiberglass wonder, the plastic fantastic, the one car that GM has fought tooth-and-nail to protect from not only other competitors from the outside, but from within the organization itself. General Motors has gone after any car that poses a threat to Corvette sales with aggression. Not even John Z. DeLorean could override this protectionism…his XP-833 concept cars (better known as Banshee I) were not only barred from production after the suits thought them threats to the Corvette, but Bill Mitchell raided the design for the C3 Corvette. So why then, in 2016, is GM allowing the Camaro to play in the same arena as the Corvette?

To try to get an answer, I drove two cars back-to-back: a Chevrolet Camaro SS convertible and a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Both cars pack the 6.2L LT-1 V8, both cars are right about 455-465 horsepower (both cars had the dual-mode exhaust), both were automatics (damn…) and both were well-optioned. How did one do over the other? Let’s take a look…

1. Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible

This is not going to be a full-on review, because I’ve experienced just about every other possible thing the sixth-gen Camaro has to offer between the V6 version and the turbo-four version that I’ve already driven. Honestly, the only thing I haven’t experienced yet is the six-speed manual, and the only way I’ll get a shot at banging gears in one is if I buy one. Guess what’s not happening any time soon? That’s right. But enough of that…let’s get down to how this Camaro is to drive. My one biggest bitch, above all others, is the height of the roofline. But being a convertible, that problem goes away with the press of a button. The convertible roof is fully automatic and takes about fifteen seconds to go down. As soon as the readout screen tells you everything is done, go. With the roof off, the LT-1 can sing you it’s siren’s song all day long through the exhaust. Leave it in Drive and the car quiets down and you can hear the air rushing, the traffic flowing by, and the birds. Put the car in Manual and shift for yourself with the paddles, and the pops and cackles from the pipes will leave you giggling like an idiot. The roof is still stupidly low…the top of the windshield frame is dead-center of my vision when I’m sitting perfectly upright…but the open-air motoring is worth it. As for the power of the LT-1…well, let’s just say that the kid in the Honda Civic who was three feet off of the rear bumper for miles didn’t have a prayer when I pointed the nose at I-65 and laid into it hard. Oooh, mother, that noise is intoxicating, and the wind does not beat you up at speed.

The strange thing about the Camaro, though, was the response everybody gave. Looks, honks, thumbs-up…I haven’t gotten this much attention in a car in quite some time. I could get used to that, but there is one huge obstacle in the way: the price. Straight from the Maroney sticker for this pretty well loaded 2SS: $53,090. YOWZA. Moving on…

2. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51

I’ve been wanting a crack at a C7 Corvette since the moment I rode around in one during the grand opening of NCM Motorsports Park. The Corvette might be the butt of gold-chainer jokes, bought by people enjoying their midlife crisis, but to be fair, if you’re going to shell out money for a fast and impractical car, this isn’t a bad way to go. The Stingray might be the most base and pedestrian Corvette, but that’s like saying the jalapeño pepper is one of the more mild peppers you can eat…if you aren’t fully prepared for it, your mouth is still gonna burn, and if you aren’t fully ready for a car that is more than capable of turning 455 horsepower into lateral-G’s and tire smoke, you might find yourself scrubbing the driver’s seat clean…if you are lucky. General Motors uses the Corvette unabashedly as their halo car, their best foot forward to the world, and in that regard, I fully understand why. It is a sports car. It has always been a sports car. Even in the Disco Vette era, it was a sports car. So, what did I think of it?

First, the bad news: somehow, this freaking thing is even smaller inside than the Camaro. I should have expected it, but I wasn’t expecting to pop the rear hatch just by getting into the car (my left knee sits right where the switch is.) In the Camaro I can find a compromise of a seating position that would allow me to drive the car for maybe a couple of hours before I’d need to get out and stretch…in the Corvette, that time would be limited. Popping the targa roof panel out would help, but as you can see from the photos, the weather was going from a decent day to crap in a hurry. Which brings us to the good: if you can fit in the Corvette without a shoehorn, know that it’s reputation as an everyday exotic is on-point. Want to know how I can vouch for that?

Unlike the Camaro (and pretty much every other vehicle I’ve test-driven from the dealership), the Corvette required J.T. to come along as a chaperone. That’s fair enough. Which meant that when the sky freaking unloaded on us on the way back from the National Corvette museum, he was able to reach back to the neat little package tray behind the seats and snap pictures proving that I drove a C7 Corvette during one of the many flood-inducing deluges that have hit Kentucky recently. Yes, the speedometer is reading 55 miles per hour. I’m brave, but I’m not stupid…this isn’t my car, and pretty much all traffic on the Natcher Parkway had slowed down. But the Corvette didn’t flinch. No hydroplaning, no acting up while making turns, and it didn’t immediately try to blow the tires off from a stoplight. If you have an ounce of sense when it comes to driving, you could pilot this no problem in most weather.

So, there you have each car individually. But let’s go back to the question from the beginning: is the Camaro impeding on the Corvette’s territory? I say that it is. Yes, I know all about the Corvette’s transaxle and so on and so forth, and yes, there are better options of both cars that are much more capable. But this isn’t like comparing an IROC-Z to a ZR-1. Outside of the drivetrain layout, the biggest difference between these two is body shape. Maybe when you’re driving at 9/10ths of the limit, you might notice a difference, but even in moderately spirited driving, you will be hard-pressed to find a measurable difference. Brand-new, it’s within a couple thousand dollars of the droptop Camaro. Used? Expect to start around $50,000, though you might find base-model 2014s under that mark. We aren’t value speculators, we aren’t collectors. Both of these cars will make you laugh like an idiot when you hit the long pedal on the right and will quicken your pulse. Neither qualify as practical, but both can be used as drivers with no problem. With the Camaro’s rear seats being all but useless, these two cars couldn’t be more alike. What do you think? Honestly, there was one car on the lot that combined the best of both worlds into one package, and we’d probably go for it first:

Thanks to J.T. and the team at Campbell Chevrolet in Bowling Green, Kentucky for letting us test these two cars and their continued support!