ace72ace

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/...fortune/3.html

I see the point the author is making, but performance will still be available in some form or fashion. We could be living 'the good old days' right now.

Overboost

No doubt about it, we're in the second coming of the horsepower wars. Just like the late '60s and early '70s, but with more technology this time around. I think we'll see another malaise era with neutered cars, all thanks to CAFE. Fortunately, cars like the Mustang are a drop in the bucket, and have a little more wiggle room. That's not to say that they won't push for better economy and performance out of them.

Joe_in_Naples

I can see the good ol days of having a high reving V8 and great torque numbers coming to an end. Thanks to high gas prices and ever more demanding CAFE standards.

houtex

Well, we can always look forward to a resto-styling of a Mustang II, right?



/What? Just sayin', it's been done before...

stupidgenius36

Yeah yeah yeah, and we'll all be flying around in solar powered cars in the next 20 years. The author makes it sound imminent, like we should all hurry and jump into a smaller foreign car. A smaller, high-revving engine does not replace everything a muscle car is.

cdynaco

What a stupid so called "article". Typical phony "journalism" today.

825LTRGT

If the CNN enviro ***** get their way, we'll all be wearing gray uniforms and riding bicycles like during the Chinese Mao era.

Guess who will drive the big horse musclecars then.

phiggs54

The new world order can pry my Boss key out of my hand. It will be beside the handle of my Colt 38-40, another "dinosaur".

kn7671

What a single narrow-minded point of view.

5 DOT 0

Since the 80's increased hp and fuel economy have gone hand in hand and our Mustangs are a perfect example of it. My wife's car has 272 hp and she consistently gets 28 mpg in it. The 100 hp per liter mark has already been achieved and it will continue to go up. While I doubt I'll ever see 26 mpg in my Boss the fact that it's rated that high is amazing.

MRGTX

Gas going up to $5 a gallon might indeed convince the bean counters to kill the affordable V8 performance cars off...

...my guess is that they won't die off all at once, rather we will see them continue to slide up-scale as the masses (us "working slobs") have a smaller and smaller slice of the American pie and get priced out at the pump....but the rich will still be able to drive whatever they want..and who doesn't want a powerful ride?

BlueBeast

Sorry, but I disagree with that whole propaganda filled article. I traded in a smaller, higher-revving Asian model (2010 370Z) for my Mustang. It all comes down to how a car stirs your emotion when you see it, hear it, and drive it. As long as there is a demand, there will be muscle cars.

For example, a new Genesis looks really cool and gets great gas mileage, but at the end of the day, it's still just a Hyundai.

jacostang

It's CNN what do you think they want everyone to believe.... Its not journalism, I agree with Andy its just a bunch of propaganda... Again.... What ever happened to a NEWS agency...

ace72ace

The thought occurred to me that they could have got more of a reaction/backlash had they posted a picture of a Corvette instead of a Mustang.

Rather B.Blown

I guess I'll just have to keep fixing and driving my dinosaurs.

vmilax2007

Couldn't agree more!

SD CALSPCL

Why our landlords, the Chinese....Perhaps Biden was just over there making a deal to buy bikes for the great unwashed to ride so his limo doesn't have to put up with traffic.

MKPony

Pony cars like the Mustang are an entirely different beast. While smaller high revving engines have their place (I enjoy my Audi A4 quattro in the winter). I also sold my Civic Hybrid to get the Mustang and haven't looked back even with the increasing gas prices. I think there will always be a niche for V8s and the company that keeps making them. With the CAFE requirements they will most likely leave the mainstream, but that doesn't make it a good thing.

Clino

There is still tons of room for V8 muscle cars to grown and develop. They are hardly on the brink of extinction. Actually I would say they are continuing to flourish. Engines only get more efficient, with both mileage and power going up. It's not like we're driving around big block V8s getting 8-10 mpg. I also think there is a lot of room for modern cars to drop weight which will improve efficiency as well. Imagine the mpg possible if the modern 5.0 Mustang weighed closer to what the Fox did.

This holier than thou, environmentalist BS attitude is getting so old it's pathetic. How long has the sky been falling for now? Thankfully a car is and always will be more than simple transportation for a lot of us, and some of us will always be willing to spend a bit more to fulfil our passion. Have you ever driven a Prius? It is absolutely soul crushing it is so boring and flacid and devoid of enjoyment. If we were all driving cars like that, we'd have bigger problems as a society than gas prices to worry about.

RandyW

The author doesn't seem very well informed. It would be one thing if he were backing up his arguments with numbers, but I think he's simply polled his friends and found that they all prefer Asian cars, therefore nobody likes Camaros, Mustangs, and Challengers anymore. The Chrysler 200 he gives as an example of a car that's been left moldering for far too long. It only came out a year ago.

It's interesting reading the comments there from readers. Many of them believe that if a car has a foreign brand name on it, it automatically gets better fuel economy and is more reliable. I had this discussion with a cousin a couple of years ago. If a Japanese or German car comes out with improvements every year or two, it's called "continuous improvement." If an American company does the same thing, it's called "planned obsolescence." Some people are mentally trapped in the 1970's.