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2010 Ford Mustang GT - Comparison Tests - Ford Mustang Takes First place
By
AARON ROBINSON
2010 Ford Mustang GT Wins The 2010 Muscle Car War
This Mustang rules, Suprised Muscle Car test Results.
Why the low expectations? Look at the stats. Just 315 horsepower.
Simple struts up front and a log axle out back. A five-speed pitted
against two bolt-action sixes.
But look at the facts: At 3580 pounds, the Mustang is lightest
by 300. A lively throttle reels in 60 mph nearly as quickly as the
Camaro (the Mustang did have 6700 break-in miles, which may have
helped), and the car pulls the highest skidpad g (0.92) by a wide
margin. The Ford stops in the same distance as the megabraked Camaro
(162 feet), and it returned the best fuel economy (17 mpg) despite
having the shortest gear ratios of the three cars.
Explanations? Perhaps it’s because the Mustang stayed in
production while the others took long sabbaticals. Ford used the
intervening years well. This Mustang is the most beguiling yet.
In this company, the steering trumps—it’s fast, direct, and,
though still a bit isolated, far more naturally weighted than that of
the other two. Body control with the Track pack is astounding. It
doesn’t pogo, doesn’t shimmy, doesn’t slump to the outside and clop its
way through a corner. The ride may be firm, but nothing throws it off
the slot-like path you cut through turns. And somehow that live axle
deals with pitching and pocked pavement with much of the sure-footed
poise of an independent setup. A Track-pack Mustang used only at the
drag strip is a Mustang wasted.
The Ford is also the right size. It doesn’t devour a driveway
or need to be greased into a parking space. The dash and shoulder lines
are low, and the 360-degree view out is mostly unhindered. And we admit
to being total suckers for the retro, sequential turn indicators.
It’s the shortest and narrowest, with a wheelbase more than
five inches shorter than the Camaro’s, yet the interior measurements
match or beat the Chevy’s. The back seat, which splits 50/50 and folds
(all three cars have folding rear seats, though the Camaro’s don’t
split), is adult-usable and even comfortable for riders up to six feet
tall.
At the moment, no muscle car sounds more muscular, the
“little” 4.6 firing up an 18-ounce center-cut hhrrumpph! of juicy
protein. For 2010, Ford installs a “sound induction tube” to pipe more
resonant intake noise into the cabin. If that’s all it takes, every
vehicle including the neighborhood garbage truck should have one.
As the tach hovered close to 3000 rpm on extended freeway
lopes, we longed for the sixth gear offered only in the Shelby GT500.
The mind races with the fuel-economy possibilities.
A slightly heavy clutch is compensated for by pedals residing
in close formation for heel-and-toe artistry. The cabin trim is now
less gulag-like, with stitched inserts on the doors and classy panels
of low-luster aluminum finish across the dash. Everything inside fits
tightly, is grabbed easily, displays clearly, and works seamlessly,
though the door pockets are too small to hold anything but a few
baseball cards.
If the world is shrinking, so, too, perhaps, should our muscle
cars. The Mustang makes it stick with less—less tonnage, less
stare-at-the-dancing-bear flamboyance. We wish it was that much less
expensive, too, but as with a Mini Cooper, it somehow doesn’t feel
overpriced. If you’re searching for clues as to why Ford is suddenly on
the pole in Motown, we found one.
In This Story
* Third: 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T * Second: 2010 Chevy Camaro SS * Modern Muscle Car Battle
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