This truck swivels heads, especially when painted bright yellow. Stuffed full of Corvette motor, the Chevrolet SSR is a retro-ride styled inside and out to look like a mid-1950s Chevy pick-‘em-up. It functions like a pickup truck, too. A hard-shell tonneau comes standard, creating a giant weatherproof trunk, but it can be removed to tote larger items in the SSR’s shallow bed. Like any regular cab pickup, the Chevy SSR is a two seater, but unlike any regular cab pickup since the short-lived Dodge Dakota Shelby, the SSR is also a convertible. The retractable hardtop stacks behind the well-bolstered front bucket seats to let the sun shine in. Mixing Chevrolets past with Chevrolets present, the SSR’s interior blends modern conveniences with historical design cues. Check out that font on the gauges, the painted plastic door trim, and the swirl-topped door locks – takes you back to more innocent times, when girls stuffed bras with Kleenex and not silicone.

The Chevy SSR is fast in a straight line, and is lots of fun to drive around town, but get it onto a twisty, lumpy road and the truck stumbles over its meaty Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires. Because the SSR is built on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer SUV platform, you sit up high, and there’s plenty of weight sloshing from side to side in corners. The steering is slow and numb, taking commands as suggestions rather than directives. Bad pavement induces plenty of suspension bob and float, and with that convertible top the SSR’s structure wiggles and jiggles more than J. Lo in a jello-filled wrestling ring. The clutch is heavy, the transmission notchy, and forget about heel-and-toeing for downshifts. The best part of hammering the SSR down a favorite back road are the brakes, which never hinted at fade, remained smooth no matter how hot they got, and were connected to a pedal that knew how to enunciate clearly.
– Christian J. Wardlaw

What a waste of a Corvette engine.

In this day and age, when cars are as good as they’ve ever been, how the modern relic known as the Chevrolet SSR made it to production, let alone with its $40,000+ price tag, is a question without a reasonable answer. Poor sales are the result.

True, with its Trailblazer platform, ‘Vette motor cranking out 390 horsepower, and countless bits and pieces sourced from the bottomless General Motors bin-o-generic parts, there probably wasn’t a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into the SSR’s development. Aside from the styling, which definitely wins points for originality, at least in comparison to what’s currently on the road. But Slingshot Yellow paint? Isn’t there enough “SEE ME!!” “HEAR ME” “PLEASE, PLEASE, THINK I’M COOL!!” built into the 2005 Chevrolet SSR already? For a slightly toned-down look there’s Smokin Asphalt (um, that’d be black), Redline Red, Aqua Blur (also known as blue), and Ricochet Silver. Ugh. Obviously, making a cheesy car even more so involves simply tacking on a silly color name.

But, I’ll be damned if this wasn’t the only car that my neighbor, with whom I share a garage, has ever asked about taking for a ride. Not the Corvette, not the Mustang, and not the Mercedes-Benz CLS. And what a ride it can be, depending on the road and how the steering wheel is positioned. Provided that both of those are straight, the Chevy SSR is a blast in a way that makes old people shake their fingers in disapproval and makes your wife cover her face in embarrassment. Those large, dual exhaust pipes put out some crazy noise, especially when running to redline before searching for the next gear in the five-speed manual transmission. It’s that historic V8 rumble, somewhat reminiscent of the glass-pack days of old. Coming in a close second is the tortured scream of 20-inch rear tires being subjected to the demands of 405 lb.-ft. of torque.

That the SSR’s Corvette engine is outstanding should be of little surprise. However, there’s more to the SSR and little of it is impressive. The one standout is the power convertible top that is easy to use and lets the driver become even more intimate with that sweet exhaust note. But the pickup bed is too shallow; there’s no rear step-up bumper or side steps, so even with the tonneau cover removed access to the bed is compromised; the interior lacks storage; and the interior rattles excessively thanks to generous use of cheap plastics. Top that off with handling and steering that are overmatched by most every corner. Even in a straight line, the steering is uncomfortably vague at higher speeds.
- Thom Blackett