The Pony Express

NVH · Sep 14, 2009

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=10&article_id=8313

Mustang wins overall.

Crone · Sep 14, 2009

lol, hell yea, because ford > chevy allday, everyday. :icon_rr: jk seriosuly though. the challengers are cool, but not impressive. camaro's made their seating, even worse than it used to be, and they need 6.2l to make up for their short comings everywhere else, and they fall apart...already. The mustang handles better with a solid rear axle. How did chevy manage that? :tard: Now I am a little biased, but there isn't really much competition. :dontknow:

NVH · Sep 14, 2009

I finally got around to reading Mustang 2005: A New Breed of Pony Car. Now I'm reading Camaro: A Legend Reborn, which is about the new Camaro. Man, what a contrast!

It's just amazing the stupid things Chevy did with that car. It's no wonder GM is bankrupt. As I read the book, I'm constantly thinking, "What?!" when it talks about some compromise or out-of-the-way thing they had to do to make the car. First of all, the engineering was done in Michigan and Australia, so they had all sorts of time zone problems. They built the concept as a pure concept with no real plans for production (conversely, Ford designed the new Mustang and then built the concept as an afterthought). It was built on the Cadillac Sigma chassis.

Once they decided to go to production, the Sigma chassis was deemed too costly, so they went with the Holden chassis. They wanted to keep the proportions of the concept car, so they had to do all kinds of ridiculous mods to the Holden chassis. They moved the front axle 2 inches forward, and the rear axle 7 inches forward! They wanted to offer 20-inch wheels (2 or 3 inches bigger than the biggest Holden wheels) and have a low hood, so they had to do a complete redesign on the front suspension, and move the steering rack in front of the axle. Once again they have a car with ridiculously long doors (wanna bet they'll sag afer a few years?).

They were also dead set on keeping the "reverse Mohawk" indentation in the roof, but they wanted a sunroof option as well, so they had to design another flat roof just for the sunroof option.

And the car doesn't even offer a spare tire!

Here's a funny quote from J. Mays in the Mustang book, talking about why they didn't put a side scoop on the car and just left that chiseled indentation:

As Mays puts it, many of these details were like "putting a pastiche of crap on the car.. Oh, by the way, a pastiche of crap will end up on the car because people are out there feverishly working away to come up with some ill-fitting scoop for the thing. But that's okay, let them have fun."

mxsuprastang · Sep 14, 2009

well in all fairness, the guy that wrote the article and tested the cars owns a 2009 mustang. I like reading articles on people who aren't biased. Obviously I'm a mustang fan, but the new camaro and challengers I love as well. It feels like the muscle cars are finally making full circle. The styles are right and I like them. But ya, it seemed a little biased that the reviewer had an 09 bullit in his garage lol

NVH · Sep 14, 2009

Three guys drove the different cars for the Road & Track article. Egan wasn't the only one who rated the Mustang highest.

Read the specs and the performance data?Camaro is faster in a straight line and that's it. Mustang beats it in every other category. The Camaro and Challenger are just way too freakin' heavy for their own good.

mxsuprastang · Sep 14, 2009

Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree at all. I prefer a mustang always (hence the forum). I just don't like reading reviews when someone comes into work already knowing what they are gonna choose. I race MX too and when riders pick a certain new bike over all the others, it's interesting to see that 90% of the time, it's the same bike they've been riding. This isn't me complaining about this one article, it's about lots of biased articles that seem to be out there. That's why I like watching Top Gear. Friggin brits driving muscle cars...they can at least attest to which is better cause they drive friggin audi and mercedes all day lol.

NVH · Sep 14, 2009

Like I said, only one of the guys involved has a Mustang. And it's Road & Track, fer chrissakes, not MM&FF.

Don't get me started on Top Gear?they are clearly prejudiced against American cars.