2010 Camaro, Challenger or Mustang?

[Chad]

A 400hp Mustang with proper tires(not all season radials) will outrun the 422hp Camaro, the Camaro is a pig so is the Challenger. The Challenger needs wider tires and stiffer suspension and a diet to handle better. The Camaro pretty much just needs a diet, the RS V6 will out handle the SS V8.
If you plan on modding the car then the Mustang is the best deal as it's lighter off the showroom floor, its drawback is that it has a live axle rearend.

Me, i'd go with the Challenger SRT cause its cool or Mustang Cobra cause its got 540hp off showroom floor.

 

[hwirt]

The Mustang GT tested by C&D only had 315hp.

Correct; see post #19 " The 2011 Mustang GT is getting a 5.0 32 valve V8 with 400+ HP as standard equipment."

Next Years Model....

 

[klama2006]

Thanks for the link.

I'm surprised as well! The "tale of the tape" would suggest that the Camaro would be the winner here.

I think I could live with any of the 3.

No doubt that all 3 will probably go faster, handle better and get better mileage than the 1966 GTO in my garage!

Now if I had 30-35 grand to blow...... That GTO would tempt me.

In my perspective, I view all these cars as garage material. If I bought one, there is no way that it would ever see a drop of rain. It would just sit in my garage for the next 25-30 years, accumulating value..

 

[twitch54]

I'd guess the SR-71

Well......you're close.....you have the correct "vehicle", but the wrong bird !

 

[pmsummer]

 

[70salesguy]

Will that be cash?

One thing I always wonder about with these guys that do the comparisons and tests for new cars........

What did they spend their own money on?

I think in some ways that we be the ultimate review, when people plunk down their own cold cash for a vehicle and have to live with it daily for a long time.

I do have one Ford in my garage and could live with the Mustang as easily as the other 2. It was mentioned earlier that they are a lot more common and they certainly are a lot of them out there. Of course, they are nice-looking!

 

[klama2006]

Ive had Ford (mustang), Dodge (Swinger), Toyota's, and now own 2 Pontiac's, one is a GTP, the other is 42 years old. I don't have any brand loyalty, I just eye, what suits my fancy.

There are few new cars out there, that I like...... but you managed to gather them all up, in this one thread. You should also look at late 90's vets. They can now be picked up in near mint condition, with less than 25,000 miles at around 15 grand. Thats a steal that should also be considered. A 90's vett, is defiantly going to be my next vehicle purchase.

 

[gearhead]

The Camaro for me... Hands down. It's (in my opinion) the very best retro attempt to date, by any manufacturer. It isn't a scaled-down, modernized, greened-up contraption like the PT Cruiser or the miniature Challenger, or the totally toy-looking Prowler with a little Japanese V-6 in it. As far as the engine goes, I do admire the new Chrysler V8 with the electronic valve control, but I'm annoyed that they're still making a big deal and selling point out of the "HEMI" engine. In '52, a hemispherical combustion chamber was a new, interesting thing. Not in 2009. My '79 Toyota pickup has the same hemi combustion chambers, as do most engines made after about 1970. Wow.

The Camaro is a great-looking muscle car that really is one. Now if they add a chrome bumber, that would cause me to go to the dealer!

Charles

There is so much wrong information in this post, it's ridiculous.

 

[gearhead]

I'll take the Challenger.
For some reason, Chrysler's cars just feel right to me.

 

[twitch54]

There is so much wrong information in this post, it's ridiculous.

Well actually I think the lad got a little caught up in some of Mopars marketing Hype ! , LOL !, granted Chrysler didn't invent the 'hemi', it actually dates back to the early years of the internal combustion engine. But think it is pretty much acknowledged that they were the so called 'mass market' leaders, if that moniker even applys !

 

[loopy]

I would take the Dodge,a good friend took me for a ride in one today, all I can say is holey crap, snaps your head back in every gear, and stuffs you back in the seat.I'm no kid and have driven and ridden in some quick cars but this car is nasty.SRT8 426 hp, orange with black stripe.

 

[nasadowsk]

Actually, the new Hemi isn't even a hemi anyway. You can't get a true hemi past the EPA. Not that the hemi's the end all and be all anyway, IIRC, the current generation pent roof designs are better in very regard.

What's really interesting is, despite the hype, the Mustang's overhead cam engine's not materially better than the pushrod engines from GM and Chrysler specwise.

IMHO, they're all too freaking heavy. Cars today simply weigh too much. I'd pay a thousand more for a 500 or so less pounds - you'd make it back in better mileage and better performance. IMHO, even the Mustang's obscenely heavy - 3600 lbs for a pretty small car? Think of the fun it'd be if it was 3,000 lbs. And it'd be really fast with that 'tiny' 315hp motor. Oh, and you'd get really nice highway numbers then, too...

 

[dread31]

Actually, the new Hemi isn't even a hemi anyway. You can't get a true hemi past the EPA. Not that the hemi's the end all and be all anyway, IIRC, the current generation pent roof designs are better in very regard.

What's really interesting is, despite the hype, the Mustang's overhead cam engine's not materially better than the pushrod engines from GM and Chrysler specwise.

IMHO, they're all too freaking heavy. Cars today simply weigh too much. I'd pay a thousand more for a 500 or so less pounds - you'd make it back in better mileage and better performance. IMHO, even the Mustang's obscenely heavy - 3600 lbs for a pretty small car? Think of the fun it'd be if it was 3,000 lbs. And it'd be really fast with that 'tiny' 315hp motor. Oh, and you'd get really nice highway numbers then, too...

If you could order a truly "Stripped down" version, with no a/c, no power windows, door locks, cruise control, etc., etc. It would be quite a bit lighter.
(Didn't Detroit do that once upon a time, in an America long ago and far away?:scratch2

Anyhow, I saw an SRT8 Challenger on the highway on my way to work this morning. Sat right next to him in a traffic jam for about 10 minutes, OMG did that thing sound sweet!:thmbsp:

Dave

 

[twitch54]

Ok...now for a triva question for you Dodge guys..... do you know from where the design inspiration came from for the T/A's scooped hood ??

Oh well....so much for "The Dodge Boys" on this forum, I guess you kids are all too young........lucky bastards !

Anyways the answers is.........Mustang P-51D, the underbellied scoop on the fuselage.

 

[MAXZ28]

At this point in my life, I'd be happy to have any of the three in my garage. Being a life long Chevy dude, my instinctive answer to choose just one would be the Camaro. But after sitting in one at the New York Auto Show in April, I honestly am disappointed in the interior quality - it just screamed cheap to me. My father-in-law owned an '06 GTO that had a beautiful interior with a quality feel to it. Now slap that into the Camaro and I'm all there, but 'til then....the Mustang wins hands down for interior, IMHO. The 2010 redo eliminated alot of that shiney black, textureless plastic that Ford likes to slap in all their products that gave me the impression of 'el cheapo rodeo.

The Challenger wins the attention-grabber category but when I sat in an R/T this winter, I felt like I was sitting in a Chrysler 300C....where was the pizzaz that matched those exterior good looks?!? I always find myself doing double takes everytime I see one rolling down the road, though.

The new fascia and rump on the Mustang give it a little more distinction amongst the eleventy gazillion Mustang's out there - I still rarely notice the new GT's. The Cobra's / GT-500's / Shelby's still catch my eye though. Maybe because they actually slap some meat under the wheelwells.

I'll keep my '95 'til the hype dies down in a few years and then I'll consider getting a new one. I doubt I will but who knows. :scratch2:

 

[Switchblade]

Great cars! Now where do I take it to be serviced now that most of the dealers are closed up thanks to ....well I won't go into that story. :sigh:
At least Ford is alive and well.

 

[usedto]

At least Ford is alive and well.

So is herpes.

 

[Switchblade]

I wouldn't put Ford in that category. I've owned 3 Mustangs and a Lightning and had almost no problems, barring a belt rubbing on a hose and a rattle.

 

[epifanatic]

They are all beautiful cars, they are also everything that's wrong with the domestic auto industry. GM needs to change thier thinking on stuff like this or they'll never get out of the hole they're in......or build more Suburbans for soccer mom's who never haul anything or go off road.......was that a can of worms I just heard being opened??

 

[pmsummer]

They are all beautiful cars, they are also everything that's wrong with the domestic auto industry.

I'm unsure of the reasoning here. These are all vehicles for which there is great demand, and create a bit of a halo-effect for other models of the same brand. Every successful automaker produces "sports coupes". It's part of a full product mix.

Interestingly, the Camaro and the Challenger are both based on foreign platforms; the Challenger on a German Mercedes and the Camaro on an Australian Holden. GM has a pretty good vehicle mix, and one that is getting better. The Chevy Malibu (German Opel based) is a fine mid-sized car. That platform has spawned other sedans and small SUVs for the US market.

Chrysler has the weakest product mix, and simply made a good effort with the pieces they had.

Oddly perhaps, I'd say all three cars actually represent what the American automakers can do right. If all of their products over the last two decades were as well designed and constructed, and offered as much real performance (start, stop, turn, even good fuel economy considering the vehicle type), as these do, Detroit might be in much better shape than they are now.