Mustangs aren't Mustangs Anymore!

There's no denying it, when most people think muscle cars it's likely the first image they think of is a Mustang.  That is, if they're under 40 and don't know any better.  

Oh yeah, the hallowed names of GTO, Chevelle and Challenger eventually show up in there somewhere but Ford's marketing department has done a bang up job of obscuring history with the Mustang. 

So is today's car the best engineered example of the breed in its 50+ year history?  Of course it is.  

The question is, can it really be called a Mustang?  In Ford's rush to globalize its offerings it seems the Mustang is destined to join the ranks of other fine examples of Ford's "world cars." [sic]  An "honor" bestowed on such legendary models like the Escort and Fiesta.  [even more sic-kening]

So is it any surprise that the 2015 redesign was so "sophisticated?"

It saw the first appearance of an independent rear suspension as standard equipment in a Mustang (except for 99-04 Cobras) which until now was a feature left to those "copycats" over at GM and Chrysler.  Coincidentally, both the Camaro and Challenger owe much of their engineering to "them civilized" folk in Australia and Europe.  European tastes won't tolerate a car with a live axle unless it's 100 years old and requires a crank handle to start it.

Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against IRS ( the suspension not the tax guys) but if your buyers don't care about carving corners at the Nürburgring then who are you really trying to impress with an American coupe?

Let's not forget such "must-haves" like that center mounted touch display with GPS and smart phone integration.  A feature no self-respecting BMW or Mercedes owner would be caught dead without.

Or the price.  This one's a sin all 3 current pony cars suffer from.  Instead of being within reach of "Joe Six Pack" the entry point of these cars is more in the realm of "Joe Six Figures."  Considering the average price of a pony car with a decent V8 hovered around 3 grand in 1969, you'd come up about 10 grand short (around 25%) in today's money when you adjust for inflation.    

I'm not even going to get into the very "euro" trend of sticking a damned turbocharged 4 banger in everything.  An option now available on the Mustang!  Yeah, Ford's done it before but nobody looks on those days with nostalgia.

Finally the look. 

Sorry, but the new Mustang isn't a Mustang at all.  It's a squished ripoff of an Aston Martin Vanquish.  Think I'm nuts?  Forget the goofy stripes or hood scoops and take a close look at the two photos below then tell me who the Mustang is really being aimed at.  It sure as hell isn't the traditional pony car buyer!

Nobody should be buying a Mustang thinking they're getting a cheap Aston Martin!

I've been screaming this from the rooftops since the first photos of the redesign leaked and nobody was listening.

I'm sure it has something to do with most buyers not getting past the engine compartment and 7" touch screen in the dash.

Ford is trying to upscale Mustang's market which is a mistake for a car as iconic to middle-class America as the VW Golf is to Europe.  

Get real, nobody looking at a Bimmer is going to consider a Mustang folks.  America's population is aging meaning the people with the cash to afford the gouging won't want it for much longer.  They'll go buy a 5 series BMW sporting big puffy seats with built in butt massagers.

That leaves the target demographic populated by debt-burdened millennials enamored more with smart phones and public transportation than an overpriced European wannabe.  

Offering up a 4 banger won't help either, especially when it costs 2 grand more than the base V6! 

The idiocy of it is stunning.

In short, the 2015 Mustang is all wrong.  It's only tenuous link to the mark's heritage is a throaty sounding powerplant wrapped in the bodywork of a cheap European knockoff.  It's more Ford Focus than Ford Mustang.  In fact, side by side it's hard to tell which one's styling is influencing the other.  My money is on the Focus...

Bottom line...It's a sellout with no redeeming features outside of its power train.

Not that it's all bad.  Take that power train and stick it in an '08 Mustang GT and you might have something!  Even the 2010-2014's retained more heritage than this car.  Those were cars I wasn't wild about either but at least they weren't trying to be a Ford Ka!  

Hopefully the Camaro and Challenger will stay true to their heritage and their market.

Why your Hyundai is NOT a muscle car...

We need to set the record straight...

I don't know if it's just that people are too lazy to look stuff up or they just like being annoying but lately I've seen the term, "Muscle Car" applied to everything from trucks to 4 door sedans. 

And it's wrong...

What's most annoying, however, is to have a Camaro Z28 or a Mustang GT lumped in with the likes of a Hyundai anything.

Living in an ever more connected world has spread more than just American political ideology.  American culture itself has exuded influence over nations to whom the concept of an "American Culture" would have been an oxymoron a generation ago. 

Perhaps that's why people think a Hyundai is a Muscle car.  

Those people are confused...

The term "Muscle Car" is and forever will be a uniquely American idea exclusively applied to 2 door coupes with at least a V8 engine, rear wheel drive and manufactured in North America.  That's not arrogance, it's in the dictionary. 

Webster's says this about Muscle Cars:

 "any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving"

I know that definition doesn't say anything about which set of wheels provides movement but trust me, no American "high performance", "Muscle Car" was ever propelled by anything but the rear wheels.

To be fair, however, I'll stick to Webster's precise definition of what a "Muscle Car" is for my little comparison.

Now, let's apply the 3 rules ( 2-door, American made, Powerful) to a pair of vehicles commonly (and often erroneously) labeled "Muscle Cars" by the  automotive press and see if they fit.  For illustration we'll use a Chevrolet Camaro and a Hyundai Genesis coupe. 

In the chart below, I'll put a check mark next to the 3 Primary factors if the car in question meets the criteria to be a true Muscle Car.

	2 Door Coupe	American Made	Powerful Engine Available
Camaro	X	X	X
Genesis	X

From the chart we can see that the Genesis does not meet the criteria for 2 major reasons.  Reason one, it's manufactured in Korea not the U.S.  Yes, Hyundai makes cars in Alabama but not the Genesis coupe.  Hyundai is also not technically an "American" auto maker since they're a foreign corporation. 

Second, the powerful engine bit.  While the base engine in the current Camaro makes 326 HP with its V6 to the Genesis 346 HP V6, these days under 400 HP is considered pedestrian in anything but a minivan or a hybrid. 

The next step up in the Camaro line is the SS with a standard 426HP naturally aspirated V8 with available options all the way up to 580HP.  That's another mark of a muscle car.  It's frequently defined more by its power output than it's model.

The Genesis Coupe, comparatively,  retains the same 346 HP V6 throughout its trim levels even though its Sedan sibling, the "5.0," offers a 420HP V8 option.   

Why is that important? 

One tenet that isn't covered by Webster's simple definition is something any Muscle Car enthusiast knows all too well.  Muscle cars aren't about slalom courses, fuel economy or practicality.  They're about slapping a ridiculously overpowered engine into an otherwise spartan coupe and holding on for dear life when you mash the Go pedal. 

I mean, c'mon guys.  Does anyone really see practicality in a 580HP vehicle than can only carry 2 occupants comfortably, has the ride quality of a buckboard and gets worse mileage than a full size pickup truck?

I used to own a 2008 Mustang GT and the thing I always found hysterical about it was the child seat hooks behind the back seats.  I never had a need for them but if you do I can guarantee you won't be using them for long because Muscle Cars aren't about baby seats. They're about stroking that part of our psyche where explosions, video games, and thrill rides exist. 

The only thing that compares with such madness is the world of supercars sporting names like Ferrari, Bugatti and Pagani.  They too are completely impractical with the added characteristic of being  astronomically expensive.  If they have a child seat hook it's sure to be somebody's idea of a joke.  It's a world where you could pay upwards of half a million dollars for a vehicle without air conditioning, a radio or the ability to roll down the windows.

Still, we dream about them don't we.

That's the point.  Nobody gets excited about a Chevy Cruze or a Hyundai Accent no matter how many racing stripes or turbochargers they put on them.  Cars like that just make too much sense for those of us for whom the lizard parts of our brains exude an influence.

Muscle cars are about the antithesis of American (or anyone else's) societal norms of family and practicality.  They were born out of a 60's youth culture bent on rejecting everything their parents held dear.  It's a unique expression of American excess, individualism and lunacy that rings hollow anywhere else on the planet except for maybe Australia. 

They came up with Mad Max you know...

I hope this clears it up but I know it won't.

The First annual pony car shootout!

This isn't Motor Trend, Car and Driver or Automobile Magazine....

Nobody is sending me the latest cars to thrash and hurl around the slalom course.  The closest I can do is a rental and with limited exception you're not going to get to experience the best of the breed.  

However, when it comes to pony cars I've got a good deal of experience.  Which means, at least for the purposes of this blog, that I have some degree of authority about comparing them.

For the uninitiated, a pony car follows a basic formula.  It's a  2 door coupe with sporty styling consisting of a long hood and a short deck (or trunk) and rear wheel drive.  That's right, you'll never see a front wheel drive pony car.  The only torque steer you'll experience is the rear of the car sliding sideways when you tromp on the go pedal.

While not as practical as your average minivan they aren't the gas slurping monsters they once were.  Modern engine technology has actually allowed pony cars to be more fuel efficient than their more pedestrian competition with their V6 (and some cases V8) engine options.  And yes, most of them can accommodate a child seat easily.

The term comes from the namesake of one of our competitors, the Ford Mustang.  First available in 1964 the basic design set the ground rules for all that came after.  The iconic silver Mustang emblem is where the "Pony" in Pony car comes from.

This comparison will have a few basic ground rules. Those being...

• They must follow the Pony Car formula
• They must have the same basic equipment (meaning no performance upgrades or extra options)
• They must have a V8 engine
• They must have a manual transmission.
• They have to be available at a dealer, no special orders

So this year's competitors come from Ford, Chevy and Dodge in the form of:

• Ford Mustang GT
• Dodge Challenger R/T
• Chevrolet Camaro SS (1SS package)

They all come in around the $32000 mark when equipped according to our rules.  Comparisons are primarily based on purchase and not leasing although lease options are still available on one of our contenders.  It's late in the model year so we're primarily looking at dealer inventories as automakers have moved on to their 2015 models.  

This is a bang for the buck shootout meaning we'll look at what a base model pony car with a V8 gets you at similar equipment levels for the same money.

In other words, we're looking for more Go than Show for as little money as possible.

Even with a basic level of equipment it's important to note that all our competitors are still considered "premium" options for their respective manufacturers .  Nobody would ever put a Camaro in the same class as an Aveo or a Focus as a contemporary of any Mustang.  Features like power windows, locks, and other creature comforts are a given.  

Upgrades above our base configuration usually consist of leather seating, performance upgrades, convenience electronic packages and special body kits and paint.  

So sit back and enjoy the video below while I walk you through the magical land of new pony car performance on the cheap.