Ask The Best And Brightest: How Did The Pony Car Wars Become All About The V6?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Back in the muscle car heyday, enthusiasts could likely have imagined that the 2011 Mustang and Camaro would make at least 300 horsepower. They might even have imagined that the pony cars would be equipped with optional flight modes, nuclear reactors, and autopilots. What they likely never imagined is that Ford and GM would revive the time-honored tradition of pony car one-upmanship for V6 models.

But sure enough, Chevy came out with a 304 horsepower V6 Camaro only to have Ford beat that number by a single horsepower with its new 2011 V6 Mustang. Chevy’s V6 got an EPA highway rating of 29 mpg? Ford’s 2011 V6 just barely beat it again with 31 MPG highway. And the V6 wars show no signs of stopping. GM has just announced that it got its Camaro V6 re-certified with (apparently) no modification, and the new V6 ponycar benchmark is now set at 312 horsepower. Why all the one-upmanship in a class of cars that not long ago were seen as secretary specials or rental queens? More importantly, where’s the SS-versus-GT animus in all this?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Rusted Source Rusted Source on Apr 08, 2010

    This is all well and good, but hasn't Nissan been producing 300+ horsepower for a while in utilitarian V6 vehicles?

  • Ate Up WIth Motor Ate Up WIth Motor on Apr 09, 2010

    Miscellaneous points: - A late-sixties Mustang did not weigh anything close to 2,200 lb. A sparsely equipped '69 hardtop with a small-block V8 would have a curb weight in the neighborhood of 3,000 lb. A Cobra Jet Mach 1 would be more like 3,500 lb, give or take. - If you're talking about power output, displacement is more important than number of cylinders. Neither 3.6 liters (about 220 cubic inches) nor 4.0 liters (245 cubic inches) is exactly dinky by modern standards; not too many years ago, both BMW and Lexus got by quite well with V8s no bigger than that. (Chevy's 87 hp/liter specific output is pretty good for a normally aspirated engine, though.) - The big enticement of the V6 over the straight six is packaging efficiency. It's just more compact, it's easier to squeeze into either longitudinal or transverse applications, and it allows more crush space. Straight sixes have some advantages in breathing and balance, but they take up more space, which is why they've become so rare.

  • Stingray Stingray on Apr 09, 2010

    These 2 are going to crush the Challenger V6. Any news on the Pentastar V6 going into the 2011 Challenger? Another thing about these 2 V6 pony cars is the following. Yeah, they have 300+HP, 30 MPG and stuff, but, how difficult will be to put a Turbo or Supercharger to one of these things, or naaaaawwwwzzzz or more power. AFAIK the V8 versions don't have direct injection. The small block in the Camaro is "easy" to modify and I bet the 5.0 will be in a couple of years.

    • Rudiger Rudiger on Apr 10, 2010

      Reports are the numbers for the Pentastar V6 are 280hp/260ft-lbs torque (significantly lagging behind both GM and Ford's new V6s). So even if the Pentastar V6 goes into the heavier 2011 Challenger, it's not going to help much. As the Challenger SE (base) doesn't have a manual option, it's pretty obvious it's really targeted to the low-performance, secretary crowd more so than even the base Mustang or Camaro, i.e., a market that doesn't really care all that much about speed. Frankly, I wouldn't look for the Pentastar in the base Challenger and imagine that Fiatsler well just let it ride off into the sunset after another couple years (about the same as the original 1970 E-body) with the same, low-performance, 250hp, 3.7L V6 it started with.

  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Apr 14, 2010

    When I bought my current 25 mpg vehicle in 1999 (new) gasoline was about $1.50. Now it nears $3 per gallon. I expect when I buy my next new car which I also expect to keep another decade that gasoline will double at least to $6 per gallon. What I would not be surprised by would be competition from Europe, Russia and newcomers India and China will drive up the price of gasoline to much more than that as we all push hard for an American middle class style life and habits (driving everywhere and vacationing by car or plane). -OR- our gov'ts spending habits (this Prez and the last one if not the next one too) will catch up with us causing massive taxation to payoff debts and new reoccurring expenses. So I'm not saying there needs to be anything like laws against V-8 powered Pony cars but I make my purchases with the future in mind. Always have. I can have plenty of fun with a well sorted out car that has a good suspension, good revving engine and good brakes.

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