Cars.com: Mustang GT Better Choice Over ‘One-trick’ Challenger
Despite falling to Dodge’s drag-strip special, Mustang GT offers more to buyers beyond the quarter-mile.
Mustangs can do nearly anything, from conquering the drag strip and the race circuit, to carving canyon corners and cruising down Main Street. The versatility found in our beloved pony continues to be outstanding, and all the more reason to bring new fans into the herd.
Sometimes, though, life tends to throw a challenge or two at the Mustang. For Cars.com‘s Joe Bruzek and Aaron Bragman, that challenge comes in the form of a specialized Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320, a name as long as the car itself is big.
Quarter-mile Time
“We are here at Great Lakes Dragway in Union Grove, Wisconsin with two very special vehicles,” Bragman said. “One of them is new for 2019, the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320, and the other one is the Ford Mustang GT Performance Pack 1.”
The 1320, so named for the length in feet in a quarter-mile, is a relative to the equally specialized Demon, powered by a naturally aspirated mill making 485 horses to the rear pair of drag radials. According to Bruzek, the behemoth can cross the line of a given quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 115 mph.
More Than Just Times
“We’ve had some pretty good luck in the 2018 Mustang,” said Bruzek. “We ran 11.9 seconds in that car, and we brought that exact car back to see– Do you really need to get a single-seater, drag special, limited edition Challenger to go 11 seconds in the quarter-mile in one of these things.”
Bragman notes the matchup as interesting because “the Mustang is lighter than the Challenger” — the understatement of the year — but also has 20 less horses than the big brute. Yet, both cars are ready to throw down thanks to their respective track modes and adaptive dampers in the suspension. Who will come out on top?
The 1320 completed its namesake run in 11.8 seconds at 115 mph, while the Mustang GT made it to the end in 12.2 seconds at 117 mph. The factors in this minor setback include muggy air and warmer weather overall, which did affect the other car to a lesser extent. Yet, the Mustang’s Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires were as effective in hooking up as the 1320’s drag radials, and that’s not all.
“I like the Mustang, though. I do,” said Bruzek. “The fact that you can [take it to a quarter-mile] and go to a track with corners in the same car.”
“The Mustang is definitely a circuit track vehicle,” adds Bragman, “especially with [the] Performance Pack 1. We’ve tested those before… it’s just a stellar sports car.”
So while there are those who prefer to live life one quarter-mile at a time in a one-seater single-tasker, we’ll take our friends in our Mustang multi-tools everywhere.
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