Mazda CX-80 vs Chevrolet Camaro

What's the difference?

The Mazda CX-80 Touring G40e will do everything you ask of it and outside of pricey ongoing costs, there’s not much to annoy. It’s too large for my small family of three and if it’s kid stowage that you’re looking for, a people mover might offer better practicality and comfort than what this does. Would it be a model that you jump through hoops to get? Maybe not, but it still has a place as family hauler and is easy to drive.

The Camaro 2SS is a real-life Hot Wheels car. This beast looks amazing, sounds incredible and is not overpowered, making it usable as a daily driver.

Now about that score. The Camaro 2SS lost big marks for not having AEB, lost more marks for the short warranty and no capped-price servicing and also some for its price, because compared to the Mustang it’s expensive. It’s also impractical (space and storage could be better) and uncomfortable to drive at times, but this is a muscle car, and a great one at that. It's not for everybody, but  truly perfect for some.

I've said it before but Mazda SUVs all look like scaled versions of each other to me and the CX-80 looks ridiculously similar to every other larger SUV model in the Mazda stable with the long pronounced nose that features sharp LED lighting and its general robust size.

The rear is where it differs with the proportions becoming a little bulbous but it’s practically shaped and overall is a nice-looking family SUV at the kerb side.

Head inside and the interior is pleasant with its high-quality trims and heavy-handed styling that matches the exterior dimensions with big panelling and air-vents up front to balance out the long width of this dashboard.

However, the whole car tends to lack personality for a model that’s a part of Mazda’s ‘premium SUV’ range. It's nice but doesn't add anything new.

As was the case with Ford’s Mustang, something seemed to go bizarrely weird in the styling of the Camaro in the early 2000s, but by 2005 the arrival of the fifth generation saw a design that re-imagined the original (and I reckon the best) 1967 Camaro. Now this sixth-generation car is a sharper resolution of that, yet not without causing a bit of controversy.

Along with styling changes, such as redesigned LED headlights and taillights, the front fascia was also given a tweak, which involved repositioning the Chevy ‘bow-tie’ badge from the upper grille to the black-painted cross bar that separates the top and bottom sections. The reaction from fans was enough for Chevrolet to quickly redesign the front and move the badge back.

Our test car was the version with the ‘unpopular’ face, but I reckon it gets away with the look, thanks to the body colour being black, which means your eye isn’t drawn to that cross bar.

Here’s some pub ammo for you – Chevy calls the ‘bow tie’ on this Camaro a ‘Flow Tie’ because its hollow construction means air can pass through it to the radiator.

Big on the outside but small inside, the Camaro’s dimensions show it to be 4784mm long, 1897mm wide (not including mirrors) and 1349mm tall.

Ford’s Mustang is elegant, but Chevy’s Camaro is more macho. Big haunches, long bonnet, flared guards, nostrils. This is one mean-looking monster. Those high sides and ‘chopped’ roof design may also make you assume the cabin is more cockpit than lounge room.

That assumption would be right and in the practicality section further down I’ll tell you just how cozy the interior is, but for now we're just talking about looks.

I’m not sure what David Hasselhoff’s apartment looks like, but at a guess I reckon it would have a hell of a lot in common with the interior design of the Camaro 2SS’s cabin.

Soft, black leather seats with SS badging, giant metal air vents, door handles that look like chrome exhaust tips and a display screen that is oddly tilted towards the floor.

There’s also an ambient LED lighting system that lets you choose from 1980s-neon colour palettes, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Ken Done’s outstanding depiction of a Koala family sitting down to a barbecue lunch.

I’m not knocking it, I love it, and even though the guys in the office thought it would be hilarious to set the lighting to hot pink, I kept it that way because it looks awesome.

Seven-seat SUVs tend to really be a 5+2 combo, where the rear two seats are for kid- or emergency-use only. You'll be pleased to find that all passengers enjoy a decent amount of space in each row in the CX-80. The third row is still a little cosy for an adult but my 6ft2 brother managed to get back there without too many grumbles. However, we all giggled as he sort of fell in due to the lack of handholds (sorry, Mack).

Otherwise, the 170mm ground clearance and wide door apertures make it an easy SUV to get in and out of. The doors are heavy and sometimes miss their 'hold' position if you open them too quickly, making them swing back. My eight-year-old got whacked a few times because of it!

Amenities and storage are best in the first and second rows with front occupants enjoying those heated seats, two USB-C ports, a 12-volt socket and wireless charging pad. You also get dual-zone climate control, and powered seats with adjustable lumbar support. The seats are well-padded but fairly narrow and short in the base, making it easy to fatigue on longer journeys.

Storage includes a large glovebox that can hold a manual and a fair bit more, a shallow but handy middle console because of its dual-opening lid and a total of four drink holders. There's a sunglasses holder but not much else for smaller loose items.

In the second row you get two map pockets, a small storage bin in each door and a total of six drink holders. There's also individual reading lights, two USB-C ports, climate control, directional air vents, a fold-down armrest and retractable sunblinds (always a winning feature in my house).

The third row gets four drink holders, two USB-C ports and two directional air vents.

Feedback from my passengers (kids and adults alike) hasn't been great for the air-conditioning system with all complaining how long it took for the rear two rows to cool down. The low and awkward positioning of the air vents also prevents direct air flow to passengers. The third row is impacted by this as the passenger's legs cover them.

The rest of the technology is solid with the multimedia system offering a rotary dial operation. The system hasn't seen any recent updates, so if you're familiar with the Mazda system, you'll get along just fine.

The built-in satellite navigation is simple enough to use and the wireless Apple CarPlay is easy to connect to. There's also wireless Android Auto. Call connections remained consistent but feedback was that there seemed to be a fair bit of background noise on my end during calls.

Rounding out the interior is the boot space which offers a level loading space, retractable cargo blind and underfloor storage which houses the tyre repair kit. There's also a 12-volt socket and 220-volt/150W AC socket housed on a side panel.

With all three rows up, you get 258L of capacity and that figure jumps up to 566L when the third row is stowed. The CX-8 offered more boot space but the CX-80 is still respectable for the annual family road trip. Plus you get a powered tailgate function in the Touring model, which is always appreciated.

The Camaro 2SS’s cabin is cozy for me at 191cm tall, but even with a similarly proportioned photographer riding shotgun it wasn’t too cramped. Believe it or not, we were able to carry all his equipment and lights, plus batteries for our night shoot (have you seen the video above – it’s very good). I’ll get to the boot size in a moment.

The Camaro 2SS is a four-seater, but those rear seats are only going to suit small children. I was able to fit my four year old’s car seat into place with a bit of gentle persuasion, and while he could sit behind my wife, there was zero space behind me when I was driving. As for visibility, we’ll get to that in the driving section below, but I can tell you he couldn’t see much from his tiny porthole.

Cargo capacity of the boot is small, as you’d expect, at 257 litres, but the space is deep and long. The problem is not the volume, however, it’s the size of the opening, which means you’ll have to cleverly angle larger items to get them in, like pushing a couch through your front door. You know, houses are big, but their openings aren’t. I know, profound.

Cabin storage is also limited, the door pockets were so thin my wallet couldn’t even slide into it (no, it’s not the wads of cash), but there was just enough room in the centre console storage bin for it. There are two cupholders, which are more like elbow holders, (because this part wasn’t swapped over in the conversion and that’s where your arm lands while driving) and a glove box. Rear-seat passengers have a large tray to fight over in the back.

The 2SS doesn’t have a wireless-charging pad like the ZL1, but it does have one USB port and a 12V outlet.

You know how people talk about cars not always being a rational purchase? This is the type of vehicle they’re talking about. The Camaro 2SS lists at $86,990 and the total tested price of our car was $89,190, because it was fitted with the optional 10-speed auto for $2200.

In comparison, the V8 Ford Mustang GT with the 10-speed auto is about $66K. Why the big price difference? Well, unlike the Mustang, which is built as a right-hand-drive car in the factory for places such as Australia and the UK, the Camaro is only built as a left-hand drive. HSV puts about 100 hours into converting the Camaro from left to right-hand drive. That’s a big job and involves gutting the interior, taking out the engine, swapping the steering rack and putting it all back together again.

If you still think $89K is a lot to spend on a Camaro, then think again because the top-of-the-range hardcore race-car-for-the-road ZL1 Camaro lists for about $160K.

Those are only the two grades of Camaro in Australia – the ZL1 and 2SS. The 2SS is a higher-specified version of the 1SS sold in the US.

Standard features in the 2SS include an eight-inch screen, which uses Chevrolet’s Infotainment 3 system, a nine-speaker Bose stereo, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, head-up display, rear-view camera and rear camera mirror, dual-zone climate control, leather seats (heated and ventilated, plus power adjustable in the front), remote start, proximity key and 20-inch alloys.

That’s a decent amount of kit and I’m particularly impressed by the head-up display, which you don’t get in the Mustang, and also with the rear-vision-mirror camera, which turns the entire mirror into an image of what’s behind the car.

 The CX-80 Touring G40e model has an eight-speed auto transmission and all-wheel drive via a 3.3L turbo-petrol in-line six-cylinder engine coupled with a 48-volt mild hybrid system that produces up to 209kW of power and 450Nm of torque.

It’s not ridiculously powerful but pick up is great and there's more than enough to move the CX-80's big body around and support a 2500kg braked towing capacity.

Sure, the 2SS doesn’t produce the mammoth 477kW of the ZL1, but I’m not complaining about the 339kW and 617Nm it does make from its 6.2-litre V8. Besides, 455 horsepower from the 2SS’s naturally aspirated LT1 small block is plenty of fun and the sound on start-up through the bi-modal exhaust is apocalyptic - and that’s good.

Our car was fitted with the optional 10-speed auto ($2200), with paddle shifters. The automatic transmission was developed as a joint venture between General Motors and Ford and a version of this 10-speed is also found in the Mustang.

This traditional torque-converter automatic isn’t the quickest shifting thing, but it suits the big, powerful and slightly lethargic personality of the Camaro 2SS.

The Touring G40e model has a 74-litre fuel tank and an official combined fuel cycle usage of 8.4L/100km, which gives you a theoretical driving range of up to 880km.

The mild-hybrid system works well enough that I didn’t hit double digits for fuel usage despite not being shy on using the power while hauling cargo and people on a mix of open road and urban trips.

My real-world use popped out at 9.3L/100km and while the diesel variant has much more efficient outputs and range, this result is pretty good for such a massive SUV.

Okay, brace yourself. During my fuel test I traveled 358.5km and used 60.44L of premium unleaded, which comes out to be 16.9L/100km. That sounds awfully high, but actually it's not as bad as it looks, considering the Camaro 2SS has a 6.2-litre V8 and I wasn't driving it in a way that would conserve fuel, if you get my drift. Half of those kilometres were on motorways at 110km/h, the other half would have been in bumper-to-bumper city traffic, which would have driven up the fuel usage, too. 

The official fuel consumption after a combination of open and urban roads is 13L/100km.

The Touring G40e model is pleasant, if a little boring, to bum around in. Boring may be too strong a word but there's not much that gets you excited about the driving experience. The Touring performs and has decent power through most situations but it lacks a certain edge. It's not particularly sporty, nor does it sound mean when you put your foot down.

It's nice and does what you expect it to do.

The ride comfort is good with cushioned suspension with enough road feedback but people in the back will jostle a bit over the worst of the bumps.

Road noise can creep in at higher speeds and third rowers will struggle to be a part of the conversation but overall the cabin is refined for longer journeys.  

Visibility is mostly good because of the big windows but the wider pillars mean I check my blind spots very carefully, as the side mirrors seem a tad too small for the bulk of the car.

The CX-80 has a small turning circle of 11.6m and most of the time it never feels like it lumbers, but when you’re manoeuvring it in a tight car park the steering can feel heavy and a three-point turn starts to feel clumsy.

A saving grace is the excellent quality of the 360-degree camera system which takes out some of the puff from parking it. The CX-80 fills a space and it’s one you'd be careful to park so you don't get crowded.

Exactly how an American muscle car should be – loud, a bit uncomfortable, not all that easy, but a hell of a lot of fun. Those first three attributes may sound like negatives, but take it from somebody who owns and loves hot rods - it’s part of the appeal. If an SUV is not easy to drive or comfortable there's a problem, but in a muscle car it can enhance the engagement and connection factors.

That said, there will be many who think the ride is too firm, the steering heavy and that it feels like you’re staring out a letterbox slot through the windscreen. It’s all true, and there are other performance cars out there which make as much horsepower, handle better and are so easy to drive they can almost (and some do) pilot themselves, but they all lack the feeling of connection the Camaro offers.

Wide and low-profile Goodyear Eagles (245/40 ZR20 at the front and 275/35 ZR20 at the rear) provide good grip, but also feel every blemish in the road, while four-piston Brembo brakes all round pull the Camaro 2SS up well.

Acceleration from 0-100km/h isn’t disclosed by HSV or Chevrolet, but the official line is that it’ll nail it in under five seconds. Ford reckons its Mustang GT can do the same in 4.3 seconds.

If you were wondering if you could live with the Camaro daily, the answer is yes but, much like wearing leather pants, you’ll have to suffer a bit to look this rock and roll. I put 650km on the clock of our 2SS during my week with it, using it daily in peak-hour traffic into the city, in supermarket car parks, and for daycare drop offs, with country road and motorway drives on the weekend.

The seats can get uncomfortable over long distances and those low-profile ‘run-flat’ tyres and firm dampers don’t make life any comfier. You’ll also find that wherever you go people will want to race you. But don’t get sucked in; you’re slower than you look - another muscle-car trait.

Sure, it’s not the quickest performance car I’ve steered and on winding roads its handling capability is not up there with many sports cars, but that V8 is responsive and angry in Sport mode and smooth in its delivery of grunt. The exhaust note is sensational and the steering, while heavy, offers great feel and feedback. The sound isn’t electronically enhanced but it uses bi-modal valves, which open and close at different engine and exhaust loads to produce its addictive bark.

The Chevrolet Camaro 2SS doesn’t have an ANCAP rating, but it’s certain that it wouldn’t achieve the maximum five stars because it doesn’t have AEB. There is forward-collision alert which warns you of an impending impact, there’s also blind-spot warning, rear cross traffic alert and eight airbags.

For child seats (and I did put my own four-year-old in the back) there are two top-tether points and two ISOFIX mounts in the second row.

There's no spare wheel here, so you’ll have to hope you’re within 80km of home or a repair shop, because that’s how far the Goodyear ‘run-flat’ tyres will get you.

The low (ish) score is for the lack of AEB. If the Mustang can be fitted with autonomous emergency braking, then the Camaro should be, too.

The CX-80 is let down a bit by its ongoing costs.

Mazda offers the CX-80 with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty which is fairly standard. A number of its rivals are offered with up to seven-year terms these days.

You get a five-year servicing program with services averaging $694, which makes it on the more expensive side, but servicing intervals are reasonable at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

The Camaro 2SS is covered by HSV’s three-year/100,000km warranty. Servicing is recommended at nine-month/12,000km intervals, with a complimentary inspection at the end of the first month. There is no capped-price-servicing program.