Given how tepid demand was for the Pontiac G8 – at least until the brand was discontinued and enthusiasts snapped them up at deep discounts – you’d think General Motors would be done with its Australian-built, rear-wheel-drive V8-powered performance sedan experiment.
But that’s the kind of thinking that GM used to do. Today, GM under North American-market chief Mark Reuss looks at things differently. The automaker has found a way to justify bringing about 4,000 2014 Chevrolet SS sedans onto our shores following almost exactly the same recipe of the G8.
The difference? Instead of shooting for volume with three powertrains, the SS offers just one honkin’ 2013 Corvette-sourced 415-horsepower V8 mated exclusively to a six-speed automatic transmission. We’d like to see a stick shift, but GM is probably right in assuming that the take rate wouldn’t justify the effort needed to slot such a gearbox into the SS for Americans.
After touring some of Southern California’s finest driving roads in the SS, we doubt GM will have a hard time finding around 350 SS buyers a month.
The American super sedan, imported from Australia
Like the G8, the SS is more or less the Australian-market Holden Commodore underneath. Heavily revised earlier this year, the Commodore and the SS continue to ride on GM’s rear-drive Zeta architecture (which also underpins the Camaro). The Chevrolet Caprice police cruiser uses a stretched version of the same platform, which helped GM reel in Econ 101′s “economies of scale” principles to help ensure the low volume SS isn’t a money loser for the bowtie brand.
Changes were made to make the car’s structure both lighter and stronger by way of more advanced materials. In profile, the SS is nearly a dead-ringer for the G8. From any other angle, it’s a little bland. If you want to ride under the radar, it’s just the ticket (to avoid receiving a ticket, that is). We think the G8 was a lot more interesting to look at, however.
Inside, the differences are far more notable. Compared to the G8, which used all sorts of switchgear foreign to GM devotees in the U.S., the SS is a hodge-podge of themes seen elsewhere in GM’s American portfolio. There’s a lot of Chevrolet Impala to the way the SS looks inside, although we contend that front-wheel-drive Impala generally coddles passengers with slightly nicer materials.
Some hard plastics can be found on the SS, which helps keep its price point at a reasonable $44,470 (plus a less appealing mandatory $1,300 gas guzzler tax). Given the generous equipment – standard features include navigation, heated and ventilated leather/synthetic suede seats, a lane departure warning system, a heads up display and even sensors that help the SS park itself into either a parallel or a perpendicular spot – the SS is actually something of a bargain. The Impala, admittedly a likeable sedan designed to be about as sporty as a bowl of Cheerio’s, tops out about $3,000 less. And, just for comparison’s sake, the 2009-era G8 GXP listed for a hair over $38,000, but that was five years ago and it lacked many of the SS’ niceties.
But nobody is likely to cross-shop the Impala and the SS for one simple reason: The SS is a performance sedan of the highest order.
Chevrolet’s fourth-generation LS3 V8 sits underhood, cranking out 415 horsepower and 415 lb-ft. of torque, figures a little shy of the outgoing Corvette that donated this motor as well as its six-speed automatic with paddle shifters. A limited-slip rear differential sends power to the rear wheels and, notably, the stability and traction control systems can be switched off entirely if you’re in the mood to destroy rubber.
Zero to 60 mph clicks off in a hair over 4.5 seconds, but perhaps the most impressive figure is the SS’ 118 foot 60-0 mph braking distance thanks to its 14-inch Brembo front brakes.
Electric power steering makes the most of this sedan’s taut suspension and conventional shock absorbers (GM’s trick magnetic struts were a little too spendy).
Stomp the throttle and the SS leaps forward, but not aggressively. Refined and relaxed, it is very clearly the next-generation G8. Not as big of a leap forward as the G8 was over any rear-wheel-drive GM sedan before it, the SS is a little more nimble, its steering responding more quickly to inputs. Communication from the road feels slightly less tactile in the SS, but the ride – compared to the G8 GXP, in particular – is firm without being punishing.
The SS makes the most of its long wheelbase on the highway, where it is a solid straight line cruiser. Moreover, it’s even very quiet – especially considering its 19-inch alloy wheels are shoed with wide Bridgestone summer tires.
But the SS isn’t really intended to be a highway cruiser. Certainly not when it sips fuel at a rate of 14/21 mpg (17 mpg combined), which earns it that aforementioned gas guzzler tax. Instead, it has been designed to be driven hard. And at this it excels, tromping its closest rivals – the SRT variants of the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 – at their own game. Those Mopars offer a more bellowing exhaust note, but they feel ponderous on winding roads.
No, the SS isn’t as nimble as a MINI Cooper, but it is direct, accurate and highly entertaining. Its only curvy road hinderance is a hefty A-pillar design, which can (and did) block a Freightliner in a tight switchback on California’s glassy-smooth Highway 74.
Still, it’s hard to imagine a more polished and genuinely enjoyable full-size performance sedan anywhere near this price point.
Leftlane’s bottom line
It may lack the styling punch of the soft Impala, but the new Chevrolet SS is a real winner for enthusiasts clamoring for what is essentially a four-door Camaro SS that’s a little lighter on swagger.
All hail the new American muscle sedan.
2014 Chevrolet SS base price, $44,470.
Photos by Andrew Ganz.
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