You know, there is another car out there that has a major flaw in design, its called a Porsche 911. What idiot puts an engine in the rear? Yet, with proper refining, the thing works great. That is what we are seeing in the mustang, the refinement of flawed design that does, in the end, produce a great car.

The HP thing is moot. Chevy has 100 more horses, AT THE CRANK, yet looses many of them through the craptastic IRS they were peer pressured into designing. And then, the camaro is 500 pounds more than the mustang, so… its something of a wash. The Camaro is a bit faster stock, but thats what the aftermarket is for. And when the new 5.0 comes out, even this will no longer be an issue.

The only decent Honda I’ve driven was the last model Prelude Si with the four wheel steer. Sweet ride. Other than that, Honda’s to me are like driving an empty Pepsi can around, especially the Fit (was the Honda Spasm or Seizure already taken??). For Japanese cars, give me a Mazda. Love the new Miata – just wish I could fit my tall ass in one comfortably – and the Mazdaspeed line.

Back to subject. There’s a lot of balloon juice going round bout Ford’s use of the “ox-cart” rear axle vs. IRS. Having a Mustang for years now, I have to say I like the ox-cart axle. Yeah you have to put up with a little axle hop and the handling suffers some (helps if you change out the lower control arms and replace the rubber bushings with urethane). However, my little Cobra gets 98% of its horsepower and nearly all of its torque to the rear wheels because of the solid rear. Also, a Stang can’t be beat for straight line launches, again for what it was originally intended to do.

Because drag racing is important(and legal?) somehow?
Only speed= fun?
How old are you?

i love these cars. I am also plenty afraid of mileage in the teens. That was one of my complaints about this car. The other was the wal-mart interior. One down, one to go.

About the camaro and chalenger: No ragtop, or even a cool as ice glass roof.

About the new Z car: Beautiful rocket. The ragtop looks great. However, no back seat, little cargo room. I actually use my car as daily transportation. A modicum of utility is necessary.
About FWD hondas: these care are fun to drive! The SI’s are great, so is the Fit. Shoppers who like mustangs should drive one of them – totally different driving experience, but grins all over the place. There’s a reason all the 20 somethings like them.

But I agree that the mustang is the only one that matters. They are stunning.

The best place for Honda Fits is second place in just about any race they get it. It is pretty sad when FWD family cars and minivans can beat them in a drag race. Where is the fun I have to ask?

Doesn’t the 370Z render all of these cars irrelevant?

Your kidding surely. Not only is the 370 ugly as sin, it’s interior is even smaller and suffers from rock hard “sitting on stone slab” seats, it has a V6 that sounds like a V6 even it is has good performance and it’s quite pricey to boot. That and Nissan’s less than steller reliability make this a limited taste car for the ricer sports car driver that will never buy an American car.

The body is less fussy and the chrome ring black steels look awesome.

Too bad they do not give you the LS3 option because that would be massively good. A basic V8 coupe without all the frills you don’t need in a pony car.

I assume it’s the same 5.0L DOHC engine you have been able to buy from Ford Racing for a couple years now. That engine is a bored 4.6 block.

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=6787

to me this comes down to a few pertinent facts

challenger = 4,000lb
camaro = 3,750lb
mustang = 3,550lb

clearly these cars show where their roots come from… the challenger is all mercedes benz with the weight and footbrake

the camaro is all VE commodore with the Alloytec v6 and LS3

the mustang is all mustang… live axle and all

i wonder about this all new 5.0 litre DOHC v8… is it a destroked 5.4 litre V8 like in the Australian Falcon?

be that as it may I think the track pack mustang is a wonderful thing… they need to make the ‘new’ Bullitt in the dark green again

Do like your taste in music!

But this review really got me thinking. Living down here I’ll never be able to buy any of these dream machines but…

I loved the Challenger’s design. Thought nothing could beat it. But the interior…

The Mustang has got the interior bit down so…

The Camaro. Never been a GM guy. To me it’s ugly. So…

I’d get the Challenger (in orange no less, yes call me weird) and call it a day (though I’d always have lingering second thoughts that I shouldva got that Stang!!).

The GTO is technically not a Pony car, but a muscle car. It did begin the HP wars and opened the door for low budget sleepers with huge displacement. As I understand it, a Pony car is defined as a highly stylized coupe that in its lesser form, is bought primarily for its looks and fits a “secretary’s budget”. Low power ratings, high mileage and low maintenance was key selling points. In higher forms, thanks to Carrol Shelby, it becomes a street racer with enough mods to take it from its original form. The GTO was in essence, a Tempist with a large engine and was never considered a Pony car.

And to all, the Clash was the only band that mattered, after the Pistols, before the Smiths and Dinosaur Jr.

The first pony car went on sale in late 1963 – a half a year before the Barracuda. It was… Pontiac GTO.

Nah, not buying. Not the ‘Cuda angle, either. Ponycar and sedan types don’t cross-shop, despite the arguable overratedness of the former and the proliferation of highly entertaining examples of the latter.

The first-gen 200SX was a Celica-alike; the second-gen, which I had, was a sharply-styled wedge; the third-gen was a hidden-headlight car available with a turbo and later, a VG30 (I think) six-cylinder.

The fourth-gen 200SX because the 240SX, leaving the 200SX name open for use on a two-door Sentra.

@punkviper: You’re talking to a guy who listens to the Pat Metheny Group on a daily basis. If the Clash hadn’t been on MTV I’d have never heard of ‘em. :)

wasnt the GTO a muscle car rather then a pony car?

The first pony car went on sale in late 1963 – a half a year before the Barracuda. It was…

Pontiac GTO.

A 389 with a 6-pack stuffed in a small car. Brought to you by the very man who, decades later, would design, release, and ultimately fail at making, the Back to the Future car, DMC-12.

I enjoy my 2005 Mustang V6 with 210 horses and 240lbs of torque thrown against rear wheels with a manual—if thats makes me a poser—so be it.

All I know is the cars is just as fast as my ‘89 Mustang 5.0…and saved me thousands of dollars (compared to the GT) that I have thrown into brake, suspension, wheel, and interior mods.

Of course not—the author of this comment cannot think of one good think Ford has done. Clearly, Ford is not perfect—-but Mulally continues to do much more good than bad….and according to Jack’s review—the 2010 Mustang is one of the good things.

I look forward to driving one when they get to my dealer in a few weeks !

Starting in the ’80s, Ford knew that they couldn’t do big block power anymore and still maintain fuel economy and powertrain longevity. The first HO 5.0Ls were rated at 225 HP, not much except you actually got nearly all that HP at the rear wheels, unlike the competition. Add to that the massive amounts of torque and the Mustang was deceptively quick off the line, where the majority of races at the stoplight are won.

I can’t wait for the blown six and the new 5.0L to be available. Imagine being able to sing, “Rollin’, in my 5-point-Oh”, again.