#2017ChevroletSs

I love the idea of the Chevrolet SS -- a big, rear-drive sedan with V8 power and a manual -- though the one time I drove one, I was a bit letdown.

Still, I sometimes browse for one on the used-car market. This one caught my eye.

I'll admit it -- the one chance I got to drive a Chevrolet SS, I was a bit disappointed, mostly because the manual transmission felt a bit too rubbery for me. That said, I still love the idea of this car -- a full-size performance sedan with a manual transmission and a big honkin' V8.

Maybe I should drive on over to Michigan and give this 2017 Chevrolet SS a shot. Maybe the car is better than I remember.

The Chevrolet SS is not what you’d call common. Since launching more than three years ago, only around 9,000 SSs had been sold through the end of February 2017.

There’s always been a righteous hankering for the Chevrolet SS among those in the know. Sure, the bland styling does it no favours. And at nearly $50,000, it lacks any semblance of a premium badge. But there’s a stonking great 415-horsepower 6.2-liter V8, rear-wheel drive, and manual transmission availability. It’s a BMW M5 at half the price.

Yet the Chevrolet SS has never managed to enter the public consciousness, and even in its best-ever month (April 2016) the Chevrolet SS was outsold by low-volume cars such as the Lexus GS, Volvo S60, BMW i3, Lexus RC, Nissan Leaf, Scion FR-S, and yes, even the Lincoln MKS.

Now, however, the Chevrolet SS has come to the end of its run. The chance to snap up an SS is fleeting. Naturally then, U.S. sales of the Chevrolet SS exploded in March 2017.