The sleeper sedan. It’s an interesting formula. Unlike showy, well-known performance icons, sleepers tend to fly under the radar. Ideally, a sleeper won’t opt for flash and panache. No ostentatious spoilers, polished carbon treatments, or wide-hipped fender flares. It’s all about subtle styling and unexpected antics. And a few true greats have existed in the sleeper space, some of which are straight-up Corvette fast.
But one defiantly old-school, low-volume four-door sleeper took something with it when it left production back in 2017. It can be none other than the Chevrolet SS, GM’s muscle-bound Australian immigrant with power to spare. Gobs of power courtesy of an LS3 V8, but styling so downplayed, you might just look right past it. Though you’re not going to want to challenge one at the lights.
- Base Trim Engine
-
6.2L V8 Gas
- Base Trim Transmission
-
6-Speed Automatic
- Base Trim Drivetrain
-
Rear-Wheel Drive
- Base Trim Horsepower
-
415 hp
- Base Trim Torque
-
415 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm
- Fuel Economy
-
14/21 MPG
- Make
-
Chevrolet
- Model
-
SS
- Segment
-
Midsize Sedan
The Chevy SS: A Heavyweight Hitter In Sensible Clothing
Chevrolet debuted the SS back in 2014 using some of the same bones as General Motors’ then-already-discontinued Pontiac G8 GXP, another serious sleeper car. And the formula wasn’t too distant from that of the dearly departed G8: four doors, a usable trunk, and an explosive eight-cylinder engine up front. But, unlike the G8, the SS was born on the other side of the great GM bailout-and-shakeup. A welcome, if also less-than-grandstanding, addition to the in-progress horsepower wars being waged by Detroit’s surviving automakers. After all, the SS arrived on the scene the same year you could get a 662-horsepower Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 or a Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 with a massive 7.0-liter V8.
Back in 2014, the Chevrolet SS started at $44,470. Of course, the Chevy sedan’s gluttonous appetite for high-octane fuel labels it a gas guzzler by the EPA. So, buying one brand new back in 2014 would have meant dealing with a $1,300 gas guzzler tax on top of the starting price. That price rose over the sleeper’s four years in production, culminating with a $48,920 sticker for the 2017 model. Today, the Chevy SS does a pretty decent job of clinging to its value. Last year, the average sales price for a used SS was $39,094. But that’s just the average. An example with 2,952 miles on the clock sold at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee, Florida, for $55,000, $6,080 more than its sales price when new. Not too shabby.
Subtle Looks, Shouty Everything Else
To the uninitiated, the Chevrolet SS looks like a family-hauling sedan. Four doors? Check. Understated aesthetics? Check. In a grayscale color, those unfamiliar with the SS might mistake it for some other grocery-getting, school-sports-drop-off-performing sedan. Toss in a lack of gaudy aero treatments and even a workaday bow tie badge, and the Chevrolet sedan‘s looks are sedate enough to lull higher-priced luxury sedans and sports cars into a false sense of security. The reality, however, is very different. Instead of packing something like the 196-horsepower 2.5-liter I4 or the 305-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 available in the 2014 Chevrolet Impala, the SS gets a V8. Not just any V8, either. The Chevy sedan packs a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8. But it’s the pushrod LS3 V8, not the then-new LT1 V8 you’d find under the hood of the C7 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
As a result, the LS3 keeps things comparably old-school in comparison to the Corvette’s smart heart. No direct fuel injection, variable camshaft timing, or cylinder shutdown to stop half the bank of cylinders and promote fuel economy. What it does do, however, is turn gasoline into power, noise, and smiles. The LS3 is good for 415 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque. Better yet, it’s enough thrust to blast the SS from a standstill to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds when equipped with the six-speed automatic. Also, as you might imagine, it means the SS is thirsty. Really thirsty. For the debut model year of the Chevy SS, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated fuel economy figures at 14 MPG city and 21 MPG highway. Efficiency who?
2017 Chevrolet SS Specs
|
Engine |
Naturally Aspirated 6.2-Liter LS3 V8 |
|
Transmission |
TREMEC TR-6060 6-Speed Manual, 6-Speed GL80 Automatic |
|
Horsepower |
415 HP At 5,900 RPM |
|
Torque |
415 LB-FT At 4,600 RPM |
|
Drivetrain |
Rear-Wheel Drive |
|
Curb Weight |
3,946 LBS |
The Sleeper Sports Car That Everyone’s Overlooking
Subtle looks, a throaty V-8, and movie heritage set this understated sports coupe apart.
Row Your Own Gears
When Chevrolet rolled out the SS back in 2014, a six-speed automatic was the only transmission option. Before you start cursing General Motors under your breath, it wasn’t a poor pairing. With the manually-shiftable auto box doing its thing, the SS was capable of a 4.5-second sprint to 60 mph on its way to a 12.9-second quarter mile at 111 mph. However, the SS didn’t remain an auto-only affair for long. For 2015, the Chevy SS was available with, that’s right, a notchy TREMEC six-speed manual gearbox. Go ahead and put a car seat there. But after you drop junior off at school, grab a gear. Better yet, in testing, the manual-equipped 2017 Chevrolet SS managed the same 4.5-second sprint to 60 mph as the earlier auto model. While not quite up to Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack speeds, that’s pretty brisk. Especially for a sedan that looks perfectly at home in the school drop-off line.
This ’90s American Sedan Had More Power Than Some Supercars Of Its Time
This raucous 1990s American sedan can make mincemeat of some of the 90s supercars that it had no right going up against – it is a true sleeper icon.
Thunder From Down Under
Here’s the thing. We love our ridiculous, V8-powered street weapons from coast to coast, sea to shining sea. There’s little debate there. As long as there are roads, there will be American car enthusiasts who want to smoke the tires. What better way to obliterate those tires than a great, lumpy V8? But the Chevrolet SS isn’t a Detroit native. No, the SS finds its routes nearly 10,000 miles away from the avenues and boulevards of Detroit. Every one of the approximately 13,000 units that Chevrolet produced over its four-year run was assembled at GM’s Holden plant in Elizabeth, Australia. Specifically, it’s the VF Commodore that lent its platform to the short-lived SS for the American market. In Australia, the Holden VF Commodore ran from 2013 to 2017. And, like the Chevy SS, the Commodore was available with a Herculean, 415-horsepower LS3 V8. In short, the SS is essentially a rebadged twin of the Australian-market Holden sedan. Some American owners will even go as far as to swap a set of Holden lion badges in place of the Chevrolet bow tie badges.
Not The Only Aussie Transplant
If you find the Australian origins of the Chevrolet SS shocking, settle in. This is far from the first time that General Motors took a Holden platform and adapted it for the good ol’ US of A. Remember the Pontiac GTO from the mid 2000s? Well, Pontiac based the 2004-2006 GTO on none other than the Holden Monaro. Don’t believe us? Take a look at the GM twinsies side by side. The aforementioned Pontiac G8 was also a Holden-based package, building on the Aussie brand’s VE Commodore platform. Heck, even the 2011-2017 Chevrolet Caprice was exported from Australia to the U.S. on the long-wheelbase version of the General Motors Zeta platform.
A Swan Song Sleeper In The Chevy SS
Chevrolet took a gamble on the low-volume SS sedan. At a glance, and to those not in the know, the letters “SS” stood for “sedate sedan.” But the reality of the Commodore-based performance sedan is less suburban grocery getter and more of a freak on a leash. Before Chevrolet pulled the plug on the SS after the 2017 model year, sleeper car fans could get a subtle-looking sedan with a big, boisterous V8 up front, Brembo brakes at all four corners, multilink rear suspension, track mode, and a tail-happy rear-wheel drive platform. For four short model years, Chevrolet had something special on its hands. And now, thanks to some healthy value retention, it’s something of a collector’s car.
What Exactly Makes A Sleeper Car A Sleeper?
A sleeper car is more than just a fast car in plain clothes—it’s a mindset.
Don’t Sleep On The Chevy SS
The argument can be made that the sleeper car isn’t dead. There are a handful of Porsche-challenging sleepers still out there. But nothing quite like the now-discontinued Chevy SS. Granted, V8-toting Dodge Chargers are dead, though they weren’t great at the “subtle” part to begin with. Certainly not as understated-looking as the SS. But the Chevrolet SS was a unique chapter in the modern sleeper sedan segment. In a time when the Bow Tie was dabbling with the direct-injected LT1 V8 with the ability to shut down half its cylinders and do an I4 impression, the SS was an unapologetic dinosaur of a sleeper sedan. MotorTrend went as far as to call it “one of the greatest sleeper sedans of all time.” Better yet, later models got a no-upcharge six-speed manual gearbox option. One thing’s for sure: owners will be glad they get to wake the SS from its sleeper car slumber.
Sources: Chevrolet, EPA, CarBuzz, Classic.com