Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!
Kenneth asks: I have not seen any articles of the Australian manufactured Chevrolet SS of any year. I have bought one, one of the last, and it is a 2017 year of manufacture. Have you done any articles on this vehicle and if so can you send me links?
My reply: The SS is a full-size/RWD high-performance sedan powered by essentially the same 6.2 V8 used in the same-year Corvette. It is based on the Australian Holden Commodore – and was sold here, briefly, from 2014-2017. But almost no one outside of the gearhead club even knew it existed because Chevy made almost no effort to market it.
Probably because GM was trying to divest itself of its Holden subsidiary and also because GM is headed by a virtue-signaling social justice warrior in a pants suit who thinks automated electric cars are “the future” and high-performance RWD IC cars are not.
It’s a got-damned shame.
Not only was the SS basically a four-door Corvette it was pretty much the only large sedan you could get with a manual transmission.
I can tell you that GM didn’t even put one in the press fleet – at least for the East Coast region – so journalists who write reviews of new cars never got to drive one and so never wrote about the SS, me among them.
GM didn’t even put much info about the car’s existing on their public web page. The car was not PC, you see.
So, instead of a car like the SS GM is concentrating on SJW-friendly stuff like the new electric Hummer.
Send Mary Barra a thank-you card.
. . .
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I managed to purchase one of the last 2017 models. I love it. Best performance car I’ve ever owned (better than a Corvette Z06 in most ways). It’s sort of a plain vanilla styling, but not ugly, just innocuous. It handles wonderfully, and was regularly named one of the best handling sedans in the world when it was still on sale. Add to that a 6.2L LS V8 and one of the best stock exhaust notes I’ve ever heard from a GM product, and you’ve got possibly the best sleepers you’ll ever find. On track, these are giant slayers. On the street, I’ve embarrassed quite a few Mustangs and rice rockets.
Flip the drive mode to Comfort and the dual-stage exhaust quiets down and the magnetic ride suspension softens up a bit and it becomes a full-size American sedan cruiser capable of many long and comfortable interstate miles.
Almost no one knows what it is, but real car guys will spot the Brembo brakes or hear the exhaust note and will come and ask what it is. Most folks just think it’s an Impala or a Malibu, and cops don’t give it a second glance. It’s old school American muscle car plus handling and made in Australia.
Hi SJ,
I’m also a big fan of what was arguably GM’s last interesting car. For all the reasons you’ve ticked off. If GM gave me a new Corvette I’d sell it and use the money to buy an SS – and gas for the next 15 years. The SS is smart, like carrying concealed vs. walking around in tactical kit with an AR strapped over your shoulder. I’d rather performance I can use than pose in. Plus the back seats.
About 3 years ago I was in the Home Depot parking lot and heard this really throaty sounding engine, one that immediately gets my attention. I looked around and couldn’t see anything so I started walking toward the sound. The parking lot was mainly pickups but when I found the vehicle that was making that sound it turned out to be a black SS that was so low slung I couldn’t identify it at first but finally saw the SS moniker. I almost went to speak with the driver, a young man but I was in a hurry. I later saw one(maybe the same one since it was black also)at Lowe’s. It had the same rumble and looked better than any new car I’d seen. There was no mistaking the sound of it. Since then I’ve heard some pickups with a nearly identical sound. They get your attention too.