Like the topic says, I'm just wondering which handles better. I figured the 3rd handles better than 1-2 Gens, but I would think with technology 4th Gens would handle better, but I thought people on here said 3rd Gens handle better.

What about other cars in the same price range, how do our cars compare?

 

I personally think that 4th gens. are the best handlers - nodz -

 

I had a 68 Camaro and my 86 Camaro outhandles it, hands down.

 

I'm going to have to disagree. If the cars have new bushings, equal shocks, a 3rd gen will out handle a 4th gen. the 4th gens were designed to ride better than the 3rd's, this compromised their handling. An example of this is the SCCA Solo2 Nationals where in F Stock class (Camaro, Firebird, Mustang) 3rd gen F-bodies always take most of the 10 spots.

But it's all comes down to what shape the suspension is in and how it is tuned.

 

3rd gen.

I've driven a few 4th gens, they dont handle worth a damn IMO. The 99 SS I drove was downright scary to drive fast, it spent too much time thinking what it wanted to do after you turned the wheel.

 

3rd gens handle the best..all parts being in similar shape and not worn out.

4th gens are just set up WAY too soft.

 

I agree, 4th gens don't fell like a "sports" car.

 

My father has a 67 camaro, and that thing handles terribly. Its really scary when he unleashes the 454 on the road with his 6 clyinder springs he left in it. I have actually asked him to slow down. 3rd gen will definetly outhandle that, and my third gens have felt more stable then the 4th gens I've rode in. Never been in a 2nd, they are pretty heavy, I doubt they handle well. My trans am handles almost as well as my mother's 69 vette, which handles very well and feels like its glued to the road. Of course, my car will outrun the vette, but thats another story...

 

I've owned and drove daily at least one each of all 4 generations and my opinion is that the 3rd is the best by far.

My 68 with stock suspension was no handler, and even after I put new springs/shocks/all frontend components including poly bushings and a swaybar, and 16" iroc wheels, it still wasn't as good as a stock 3rd gen Z

My 76 was the worst handling camaro I've ever owned.

My first 3rdgen (85 Z-28, lg4, 5 speed) was good, better than the 95 Z-28, 6-spd I replaced it with

and my Iroc out handles my friends 85 vette and did so even when they were both stock.

Add a few hundred dollars in suspension pieces and the Iroc is just amazing

 

I have never drove a first gen. but I dont imagen they handle very well, but I have driven my share of second, third and fourth generation camaros, the second generations are heavy and have lots of body roll. It is close between the third and fourth generation, but I would have say IMO the 4th generations handle a little better at high speeds than the third gen.

 

Axoid is right, 3rd gens. will out handle 4th. gens. I have a Camaro performance book that goes into the details of it, but it says the redesigned front suspension on the 4th gens. isn't as good for handling. My car will turn circles around my friends 99 SS, but I don't have a chance once the road straightens out.

 

My brother has had two decently modded (suspension-wise) 4th gens, and he says that my iroc handles much better.

 

third gens handle the best, but first gens are far more fun.

 

I dont think there is any contest. The third gen f-body is the best handler of the lot. That is the reason I chose to restore a third gen over buying a new 4th gen.

As for other cars in the price range. No front wheel drive car can out handle a rear wheel drive car. Look at the setups on race cars and not the production version. Everything is rear wheel drive.


Ronald

 

I had a WS6 2nd gen (79) TA that handled just as good as my 3rd gen with suspension mods and poly bushings + new shocks and struts. The only thing holding my 88 back is the lame tires. But to say the 4th gens are not as good is a joke. My 93 outhandles any F body I ever owned, ( and there's been a few)and it's completely stock, right down to the shocks and bushings. It has 88K miles on it to boot. You cant beat the rack and pinion with a recirculating ball setup. The wheel offset plays a part in it as well. I have the WS6 36/24 mm bars and springs, gr2's in the front, and 4th gen Z28 shocks in the rear of my 3rd gen, and a full set of poly bushings and boxed suspension pieces, and it handles good, don't get me wrong, but it rides like a goddamned buckboard wagon. It may be close to my stock 93 but the 93 rides a helluva lot better. If you take each, stock for stock. I know the 4th gen will win.

 

A lot of people confuse 'handle better' with 'rides better'

The 4thGen is a much more comfortable car to spend highway time in, especially compared to a 3rdGen IROC or WS6. It's very difficult to make a heavy car ride well and handle well. A heavy car can be made to handle, but at the expense of very stiff shocks and springs. Because the 3rd Gen uses a Macpherson strut front suspension, it is very sensitive to the properties of the shocks installed. The fourth Gen cars use a short-long-arm setup that's kind of a bastard of a macpherson strut and a real 'double wishbone' (upper and lower a-arms) to take the front shock/strut out of the wheel deflection equations. During brief stints in a couple of V6 fourthgens, I felt like I wasn't really sure what the front wheels were doing, especially in transitional moves on bumpy pavement.

Verdict: Thirdgen is less comfy, but turns flatter, better feedback, better looking.

 

My car has so far been the best handling car ive ever driven. Outhandles my dads mustang (17x8, STB, good suspension) and a couple v6 f bodys (4th gens)...i thought it handled good then my struts and shocks took a crap and it handles so bad i put KYB GR-2s in the front and back and the difference is night and day handles very well right now even tho i have 15x7 with crappy tires (firehawk 210, 235/60/15s right side bald) i have a set of 16x8 TT IIs coming and some goo z rated tires going on...after that then im sure it will handle much better and look much better. next is springs, better sway bars, SFC, bushings and LCAs then it should handle very very well

 

Just about everyone on ls1.com that has had a thirdgen agrees that while they weren't fast, they handled so well, much better than the fourth gens.

Also there was an article in the new issue of some magazine (I forget which) in which a guy has a first gen that he built for handling. Once he got the spring rates "correct," he said that the car out handles his fourth gen. I thought that was kind of interesting.

 

True, but anyone can build a car to out handle another. Lets be realistic, stock vs. stock. I dont have any true numbers, but I've heard of stock IROC's pulling .89 to .90 Lateral G's. I think that might be better than any stock 4th gen. Anyone who has a recent C&D back me up here.

All I know is this, (not wearing a seat belt) I can throw myself out of the seat making a real sharp left hand turn, without even screeching a single tire. I dunno.

 

I would agree. I owned a 79 T/A and it handled the canyons around Ogden, Utah at 100+ MPH with ease. The thing I like in the 3rd gens handling the most is the high effort power steering, no matter how fast the car is going it takes the same amount of force to turn the wheel. The T/A's steering was a bit too easy for my likeing.


~M~

 

the 79-81 formulas and t/a's with WS6 really do have some amazing handling, concitering this was basically the first attempt to get something out of a performance car outside of just 1/4 mile power, but i would really say its a toss up with the 3nd and 4th gens, but i'd have to give it to the 4th gens

 

Secret service uses 3rd gen camaro's to train their agents on how to handle cars, so thats got to mean somthing. I like the way mine handles, I know exactally when the tires are going to start sliding and when to break (and when not to break ), but it varries from car to car I had a beater car(if you can call it that) that was a '84 Trans Am HO with all the same suspension options mine has, the only diffrence was that it diden't have T-tops and it handeled totally diffrently. just my .02

 

Between the 3rd and the 4th gen, the 3rdgen takes the win. It handles better stock, and modding both only opens up the gap. My 84 is probably the best handling car I've ever driven, but it rides ROUGH compared to my Hawk.

I've not ever driven a 1stgen or performance 2ndgen, so I will have to defer to others there.

 

I have to say 3rd gens, at least mine. I've owned 2 4th gens and they drive pretty darn good. My 96 Camaro was bone stock V6 5 speed and my 96 Trans Am V8 6 speed was modded with almost all the bolt ons and identical suspension parts as my 3rd gen. handling was close, but my 3rd gen handled better.

 

Yeah, but isn't that kind of cool? You don't really think of the first gens as handlers. Although the guy relocated the mounting points on the front control arms, he kept the leaf spring rear setup (using monoleaf springs).

 

Kinda.

 

i would most definately go with the 3rd gens, ive ridden many a 4th gen and driven a few, they are nice but you just can't feel the road, it feels like your riding in a car with "pillow" suspension, i think that being able to feel the road through the steering wheel and your butt is important, and lets not even get started on the mile long dash board , the 4th gen cars are nice, but i'd take my IROC over one anyday. (just wish it was faster)

 

I second that. I test drove a 4th gen and it felt like it had commuter car handling properties. I love the way my '89 IROC handles. I need to rebuild the front end, but even with worn out parts it felt better than the 4th gen I test drove. It was cheaper too.