I went out jet-skiing today on the Chesapeake with some friends of mine today, and one of them, who lives around my neighborhood, brought his newly acquired 2000 Chevy Camaro (V-6). We were of course talking smack to one another, and tonight we decided to run as we were driving home. We did about 5 rolling starts from about 35-40mph since we had a lot of road, and basicly, whoever got the jump on the other won because neither of us could pull on each other (we shut down around 100mph). 3 "wins" for me and 2 for him from those. We then did two runs from a stop. First time, his tires wouldn't hook-up, and spun a lot more than mine giving me about a car-length jump on him which I held until ~95mph when we shut-down. 2nd time, I was the one who lost traction on the start, and sat about 1/2 car behind him the whole way without being able to pull on him.
I noticed he could gain a tiny bit in his 2nd gear, but I would gain it back in 3rd, and think I could have overtaken him if we went past 100mph, but we didn't. So I guess w/ the one extra win on the rolling start, I could say I "won" this evening, but the cars were pretty much an even match for each other. He was quite upset that his "sports car" couldn't trounce my 4-door sedan like he thought he could, and was kicking himself for not getting the V-8.

 

Was his car a manual? Which V6 do the Camaros have?

 

the slow one

 

Well, none of the GM V6s are very powerful. I just wondered if it was the 3.1L or the 3.8L.

 

Camaro V6 use the 3.8L V6.

 

3.8L 200 HP...
Not slow like the older ones...
But not fast by any means...

I'm guessing your Maxima is Auto, cuz a stick should have won each race by at least a couple car lengths.

 

Too bad GM won't turbo the V6 like they did to the older Firebirds/Trans-Am back in the day.

That would be sweet, even if its a low-pressure turbo. The current revision of the 3.8L V6 is still a bulletproof workhorse right?

Or they could just take the supercharger from the Grand Prix's partsbin and put it on the Camaro.

 

Or they could put the LS1 V8 from the Vette in there. But, they'd have to de-tune it just a little...


...oh wait...

 

those v6's are slow..ive whooped them too many times..but the v-8s are not to mess with..they will just eat u..but for v-6s u can have lots of fun with them hehe

 

The Grand National had the turbo 6 in it.............

 

The Turbo Trans Am in 1989 had the same turbocharged V6 as the GN, they only made that car in 1989, and it was the fastest F-body of its day. Mid 13s stock.

 

Yes, I've got an autotragic, so did he. I don't know what size the engine was, I just know it was a 6cyl (one tailpipe & cheap looking wheel covers on steel wheels), and he was talking like it could run w/ the v-8 equivalent mustangs, trans-ams, and the like.
His car was stock, had a full tank of gas and a stereo system that took up most of his trunk.
I was loaded w/ a full tank of gas, two large coolers w/ about 50# of ice/food/drinks (non-alcoholic) in my back seat, and ~40 gallons of leftover fuel that we didn't use on the water stuffed in my trunk. (yes, in hindsight, I realize it wasn't that bright to run w/ that much fuel around, so no flames, please).

 

I was kinda wondering if you had something holding you down...I have a friend with a '97 Firebird V6 auto and I've thoroughly crushed him in every race we've ever had, including when I was stock. His is the 3.8L and has decent torque, but they weigh in around 3400 lbs. He does alright right off the line, but after 30 or so it's completely over. He wishes he had the V8 too...

 

Well, a 3.8L with a stick is supposed to do 0-60s in about 7.4, with an SC off of a Grand Prix GTP or Regal, they could probably get it down to 6.5 or so, maybe lower. It all depends if the tranny could take it and use the power efficiently.
GM V-6s are not weak, they are big and have low hp/liter but the newer ones are no slouches.

a Malibu with a 3.1L V6 can hang with auto maxs (0-60 in 7.8-8.0)
a Grand Prix with a 3.8 will do a little better (7.6-7.8)

and dont give me any of that OHV-vs DOHC BS it comes down to it that the OHVs are decent performers, look at the ZO6 400hp 5.7L projected sub 4.0 sec 0-60s