The Camaro is back, which is good news for old-school muscle car fans. Except this version is simply light years ahead of the older Camaros that gave the nameplate such a strong and loyal following. In 1969, for example, who ever thought that a Camaro would have six air bags, antilock brakes and stability control? Inconceivable. How about 25 mpg on the highway? Ha.

We went to great lengths to get our “Rally Yellow” SS model – all the way to North Carolina. Mike Leung had the privilege of flying down and driving back, putting nearly 1,000 miles on one of the hottest cars on the road. Throughout the trip back to Connecticut, Mike said that people kept speeding up to the car, slowing down and whipping out their cameras/cell phones to take a quick picture. Rock star treatment, indeed. Perhaps they thought it was a star car from the new “Transformers 2” movie.

We shelled out $37,690 for our car, which included the RS Package and few other assorted extras. In keeping with its mission to restore pony car tradition, our Camaro has the 426-horsepower, 6.2-liter V8 and six-speed manual transmission.

How does it compete with the new Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger? Stay tuned for an extensive road test. Until then, check out our muscle car showdown preview, complete with video. Highlights from that tire-shredding experience can be seen in the video embedded here.

—Mike Quincy