Introduced in the 1961 Impala in the guise of a $53.30 performance package, the Super Sport became its own thing in the 1970s in South Africa with underpinnings from Holden. The VF Commodore gave us a modern interpretation of the Chevrolet SS for the 2014 model year, a four-door sedan with LS3 small-block V8 power and a manual tranny.
Originally priced at $44,470, the family-sized Corvette sold rather poorly due to many factors, ranging from the surging demand for crossovers to the substandard marketing campaign. Alas, the Chevrolet SS was discontinued at the end of the 2017 model year with just under 13,000 units to its name.
One of them accepted the quarter-mile challenge of a tuned Jaguar XE with 380 horsepower and 332 pound-feet (450 Nm) of torque from a 3.0-liter V6 engine with a honkin’ supercharger throning over it. What’s more, the British interloper is all-wheel drive compared to the RWD Chevrolet SS.
On the upside for American muscle fans, the Super Sport develops more horsepower (415) and more torque (415 pound-feet). It also costs a fraction of the suggested retail price of the Jaguar XE in bone-stock guise. But on the other hand, the Aussie underpinnings translate to more curb weight, as in 3,906 versus 3,795 pounds (make that 1,772 versus 1,721 kilograms).
It's also worth mentioning the compact executive sedan is rocking the ZF 8HP eight-speed automatic that BMW uses in M cars and Dodge uses in Hellcat models. The Chevy in the featured video, meanwhile, relies on the 6L80-E six-speed automatic that General Motors introduced back in 2005.
Given this information, many would be tempted to bet on the Jaguar XE from a dig or a roll. But as it happens, the Chevrolet SS is the quicker car in both scenarios. Even with traction control turned off, that 6.2-liter V8 has the legs on the AJ126 supercharged V6 based on the AJ-V8 engine family.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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