redlines

2013 Hot Wheels Edition Chevrolet Camaro

When I was a little boy, I remember thinking to myself, “Gee, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could shrink down in size so I could fit inside my Hot Wheels cars so I could drive them around and do the loop!” Well, since that is pretty much impossible, Chevrolet and Hot Wheels teamed up to bring us something us adults can actually fit into. For many, this is a dream come true, for others, its just another way to make some money from some suckers. While at first I was a little skeptical of this appearance only package upgrade, after driving around for a day, it brought me back to my childhood days. Now, you can get the package on any version of the Camaro, but if you want to have the most fun, I’d advise you to get it on the SS. For some pretext, I drove the original 2010 Camaro SS when it first reappeared back in 2009.
chevy-camaro-ss-2010While it was a vast improvement over the previous generation of Camaro, I felt a bunch of things lacking. The steering felt numb, the shifter was clunky, and you just felt generally unconnected to the ground and the car. While the car was plenty quick, I got bored of driving it just as quickly. It just didn’t feel like a driver’s car.

Fast forward to 2013, and with the addition of some new updated parts, I can say that the steering feel, shifter feel, and connectedness on this 2013 Hot Wheels Edition Camaro SS is much better. Overall feel for the road has increased, as well as responsiveness. Rather than feeling like I was just floating on the road, I can feel what lies beneath, and can get a better connection to the car. A nice added feature to 2013 is the dual-mode exhaust, which basically lets the Camaro be nice and quiet, until you really get on the gas, and what a wonderful sound does that make! It’s no wonder why people get into so much trouble in these types of cars, it begs to be opened up, and listened to.

One must be careful, however, as the rear end likes to break loose with any kind of overzealous right foot, even with traction control on. But if you want to leave a nice double solid black line, traction control can be defeated, and the burning of rubber can commence.

Now back to the dream as a kid driving a Hot Wheels car. Being in this car, and seeing the kind of attention it got surely felt good. The Kinetic Blue Metallic paint when properly polished up looks beautiful, and while its not Spectraflame, it sure does get the job done of standing out. This Hot Wheels car has their logo emblazoned all over the car. There are embroidered seats, aluminum door sills, and emblems everywhere to let you, and everyone else around you, know that you’re driving around in a Hot Wheels branded car. To make it even more complete, they gave this edition a nice classic Hot Wheels feature, Redline wheels, albeit subtle Redlines, that really only true Hot Wheels fans will notice and appreciate. Oh, and there’s one more thing, Hot Wheels even put into production a 1/64th scale mainline diecast car replicating the real life sized Hot Wheels Camaro, which you see in the photos.

So, is this a car for the masses? No. Will it appeal to everyone? No. Would I buy one with my own money? Sure, if I had plenty of it. It could be a great heirloom to pass onto future generations of Hot Wheels collectors. But beyond that special feeling that you are driving a true to life Hot Wheels, this is nothing more than a gussied up Camaro, which I’m sure one day, maybe, will become a collectible.