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2014 Chevrolet SS First Test
The Bowtie's Sports Sedan Keeps Its Power, But Gains In Refinement
In its star turn as the Pontiac G8, the Holde Commodore was all falsie hood scoops and diffusers, fat tires and wheelspin, with an interior as foreign and hard to operate as a boomerang. Its revival/reboot as the Chevrolet SS really demonstrates the range of these Down Under-developed Zeta bones.
As mid-cycle enhancements go, the transition from VE to VF-generation Commodore was a doozy. The major hard points, doors, roof, and glass carry over, but expensive things such as the aluminum lower control arms, hood, and trunk are new, and an all-new vehicle electrical architecture supports standard features including MyLink infotainment and telematics, collision and lane-departure warnings, self-parking, and a full-color head-up display that remains visible viewed through polarized glasses(!).
The aluminum bits, plus a switch to composite material for the trunk floor/spare-tire well, and other trimmings more than offset the car's added features and increased sound deadening, particularly on the firewall, allowing this SS to weigh in 69 pounds lighter than our last similarly spec'd G8 GXP. The lightening efforts at the rear result in a 53/47 front/rear weight bias, while all G8 test cars carried 48 or 49 percent on the tail.
That GXP spec is now the only way you can get an SS—with a 415-hp, 415-lb-ft LS3 V-8 bolted to a paddle-shifted 6L80 automatic (sorry, no more row-your-own option), four-piston Brembo front brakes, performance shocks, and rack-mounted electric power steering. There's no engineering reason the SS should be any slower than our GXP automatic—it's lighter, and has the same power, torque, and gearing.
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