Some may remember my last post blasting ford for their previous choice in the 4.6 for 2010.
ANyhow, just got back from the LA autoshow and got to see all three cars in person.
Initial assesment?? Ford has the corner on marketing hands down. WHile you COULD sit in a new challenger, there was no big hooplah surrounding it....it was just sitting out there. Mean while, Ford had a monster display, they had a lot of 2010 models to look at, verts, gt's etc. they had one on it's side so you could see under it, they had a supercharged model...they even had the Ford racing team there who did a 5 minute marketing blitz by bolting on wheels and wings and scoops onto it to make it look like the hotwheel car. Brilliant, simply brilliant. Huge display, lots of support.
chevy, on the other hand only had two units, and they were behind ropes and you couldn't sit in it. Stupid chevy...they've been developing it longer and they didn't even have a half way decent display.
Final verdicts??
1. On looks alone the challenger is just the sexiest car on the planet. Win to the challenger. Having said that, though the mustang is as badass for 2010 as it gets, and it was love at first site. The camaro too is badass. It's sexy as hell. On looks, it's challenger followed by a near tie between camaro and the mustang
2. Interior, Ford mustang wins hands down. Ford interiors have come a long long long way. It's clean and well excecuted. The camaro interior is pretty bad. It looks like an extremely retro version of the 60's camaro interior, and it just doesn't work well. The challenger had nice seats, but the rest of the interior is pure charger. It's super boring, and not a lot of thought went into it. The challenger is severly lacking in the interior area.
3. The powerplant options between the cars are interesting. For brute power alone I've got to give it to the old fashioned pushrod muscle of chevy. 425 horse on their standard v8. Impressive and n/a. Second place I'll give to the hemi...again pushrod power and 390 horse for the 5.7 or 425ish for the 6.1 hemi. The mustang with 315 horse and overhead cams easily comes in third. HOWEVER, the supercharger option is confirmed with two superchargers....400 level and 500 level superchargers. I was told the 400 level SC ads $3500, and the 500 level supercharger ads about $4500. THIS IS CHEAP...especially with the base price of the mustang. As well, he told me, but I"ll believe more when I see it, that all the bottom ends on their 4.6 blocks are the same, and they just add a supercharger. If this is the case, can you say boost boost boost to any stock 2010+
...this puts the mustang powerplant in #1 now in my opinion (boosted version)
4. Misc. The challenger is huge, huge, really ****ing huge. It's so big, that it's a major turnoff. Literally it feels like a family car missing two doors. It's so big, that I'd put the car in an entirely different class than the mustang and camaro. Simply put, I'd never buy a challenger just because of it's size and weight. The camaro weighs in at 3700 pounds for the v8...that's within mustang territory... +1 for the camaro and mustang. Price wise, the mustang has them licked every which way till tuesday. $24 base for the v8...with the supercharged models coming in at or less than the base v8 camaro price. (base v8 camaro at just over $30k) I'll take a 500 horse 2010 mustang over a 425 horse camaro. Also worthy of mentioning, is that the Mustang is a solid axle 8.8, while the camaro has independent rear suspension.... +1 for the mustang.
Final reviews?? The challenger is the sexiest car ever built, period. However it's size worries me that it may scare off a lot of people and just not survive more than a few years. the camaro is a fine car that looks mean as hell, and I think it's good enough to survive for a number of years. The v6 bases cheap enough, $22k...but I think chevy is counting on people to buy the v6 base instead of buying a base v8 mustang...isn't gonna happen. the v8 camaro is just too much $$$, and that could be trouble for chevy.
I think the camaro and mustang wars are back with a vengence, and we have some seriously fine vehicles. Overall in my opinion the win goes to the 2010 mustang. It seems to have more factory support, already an aftermarket support, as well as ford racing parts support, more options and a cheaper price tag.
ANyhow, just got back from the LA autoshow and got to see all three cars in person.
Initial assesment?? Ford has the corner on marketing hands down. WHile you COULD sit in a new challenger, there was no big hooplah surrounding it....it was just sitting out there. Mean while, Ford had a monster display, they had a lot of 2010 models to look at, verts, gt's etc. they had one on it's side so you could see under it, they had a supercharged model...they even had the Ford racing team there who did a 5 minute marketing blitz by bolting on wheels and wings and scoops onto it to make it look like the hotwheel car. Brilliant, simply brilliant. Huge display, lots of support.
chevy, on the other hand only had two units, and they were behind ropes and you couldn't sit in it. Stupid chevy...they've been developing it longer and they didn't even have a half way decent display.
Final verdicts??
1. On looks alone the challenger is just the sexiest car on the planet. Win to the challenger. Having said that, though the mustang is as badass for 2010 as it gets, and it was love at first site. The camaro too is badass. It's sexy as hell. On looks, it's challenger followed by a near tie between camaro and the mustang
2. Interior, Ford mustang wins hands down. Ford interiors have come a long long long way. It's clean and well excecuted. The camaro interior is pretty bad. It looks like an extremely retro version of the 60's camaro interior, and it just doesn't work well. The challenger had nice seats, but the rest of the interior is pure charger. It's super boring, and not a lot of thought went into it. The challenger is severly lacking in the interior area.
3. The powerplant options between the cars are interesting. For brute power alone I've got to give it to the old fashioned pushrod muscle of chevy. 425 horse on their standard v8. Impressive and n/a. Second place I'll give to the hemi...again pushrod power and 390 horse for the 5.7 or 425ish for the 6.1 hemi. The mustang with 315 horse and overhead cams easily comes in third. HOWEVER, the supercharger option is confirmed with two superchargers....400 level and 500 level superchargers. I was told the 400 level SC ads $3500, and the 500 level supercharger ads about $4500. THIS IS CHEAP...especially with the base price of the mustang. As well, he told me, but I"ll believe more when I see it, that all the bottom ends on their 4.6 blocks are the same, and they just add a supercharger. If this is the case, can you say boost boost boost to any stock 2010+
...this puts the mustang powerplant in #1 now in my opinion (boosted version)4. Misc. The challenger is huge, huge, really ****ing huge. It's so big, that it's a major turnoff. Literally it feels like a family car missing two doors. It's so big, that I'd put the car in an entirely different class than the mustang and camaro. Simply put, I'd never buy a challenger just because of it's size and weight. The camaro weighs in at 3700 pounds for the v8...that's within mustang territory... +1 for the camaro and mustang. Price wise, the mustang has them licked every which way till tuesday. $24 base for the v8...with the supercharged models coming in at or less than the base v8 camaro price. (base v8 camaro at just over $30k) I'll take a 500 horse 2010 mustang over a 425 horse camaro. Also worthy of mentioning, is that the Mustang is a solid axle 8.8, while the camaro has independent rear suspension.... +1 for the mustang.
Final reviews?? The challenger is the sexiest car ever built, period. However it's size worries me that it may scare off a lot of people and just not survive more than a few years. the camaro is a fine car that looks mean as hell, and I think it's good enough to survive for a number of years. The v6 bases cheap enough, $22k...but I think chevy is counting on people to buy the v6 base instead of buying a base v8 mustang...isn't gonna happen. the v8 camaro is just too much $$$, and that could be trouble for chevy.
I think the camaro and mustang wars are back with a vengence, and we have some seriously fine vehicles. Overall in my opinion the win goes to the 2010 mustang. It seems to have more factory support, already an aftermarket support, as well as ford racing parts support, more options and a cheaper price tag.
I do like the fact that the batteries are in the trunk.. 
