The muscle cars wars are back in full force, now that all three of the major American manufacturers are producing one. In most cases, it comes down to personal preference when deciding which one you like the best, and which one you want to own. Below we will discuss the Camaro from General Motors, the Challenger from Dodge, and the Mustang from Ford.
When you start a debate on muscle cars, many enthusiasts believe that all discussions should start and end with the Mustang. After all, it has been around for a very long time, and it is certainly the most popular model in this highly distinguished class of cars that has ever been produced.
Ford, recently was very proud to announce that its new 2011 model is selling at a record pace. It first months orders exceeded over 11,000 units from the previous year. They attribute this to its new V6 engine which substantially improved its performance, while at the same time vastly increasing it gas mileage. In fact, they are stating it is now getting 25% more miles to the gallon, as compared to the 2010 model, which is no small achievement.
When Dodge brought back the Challenger in 2008, there were many fans all over the county that were extremely happy that this iconic model was finally going to be available again. For the first year, it was only available in the SRT8 Trim style, which produced a tremendous amount of horsepower, but at the expense of gas mileage.
In 2009 they made a few small adjustments to their line and introduced the V6 and R/T engine options. They also realized that to get more consumers to purchase the car, a manual transmissions option would help in the process.
In April of 2009 the Camaro got back into the competition with the 2010MY car. It had a pair of excellent engine options, which were the V8 that could produce as much as 422 horsepower. The other option was the V6, which generated a very respectable 304 horsepower, while allowing drivers to achieve a staggering 29 miles per gallon while driving it on the highway.
It appears that both Ford and General Motors are so happy with their efforts that they are going to see how these exceptional cars will do in the international markets. Both companies plan on releasing them in Europe. It remains to be seen how well they will be accepted though. Europeans are notoriously finicky when it comes to their cars, and are known to value performance over speed. In addition, gas prices in Europe can be two to three times as much as America, which certainly could put a damper on their sales.
Most if not all muscle admirers are extremely pleased that the Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger are all back in action testing each other once again. Only time will tell with gas prices increasing seemingly daily, if the producers will be able to continue to sell enough of them to make a profit, and justify their long-term existence.