the Stang will prevail, after the gearheads celebrate a power advantage over the stang (2008/2009), stang counteres in 2010 and kicks their crotch in.....

 

$50K...no thanks, i'd buy a GT500 drop pulleys in and throw a beatdown...

 

I knew there were alot of of "Bowtie guys" on this site the brought Mustangs. If you switch, I will always have respect for you because you did buy a Mustang ( which is hard to do for a Bowtie guy )

 

Rhumb- I definitely see your points and agree with you on most of them. I would love to see IRS an option on the GT's, but I don't see that as a practical reality. It would be cost prohibitive to do I believe. If possible, go for it Ford, but I doubt that would be feasable.

I also look forward to the added competition from the Camaro and Challenger, I think it will only make all 3 cars better. I'll be first in line to drive a new Camaro and see if I still like the old solid axle feel. I'm open to change...but I'll always love this car just the way it is.

 

you really think its gonna cost that much? i highly doubt it. maybe with a dealer markup. im thinking below 40

 

An IRS / SRA choice would indeed be optimal, each niche able to get the best axle for their needs. And such options on a platform have occured before, as when the earlier Toyota Supras and Celicas shared a platform with the Supra getting an IRS and the Celica a live axle. Supposedly the D2C platform was engineered just with such a flexible capacity, and that an IRS was to be part of the GT500, if not an option on the GT too, but that got quashed late in the game by penny pinchers. There were even some photos of GT500 development cars that seemed to have the IRS installed, so apparently they were fairly well along before it they lost control of the costs and it got slashed.

Just for the record, the Stang's live axle is VERY good for the type, probably as good as an inexpensive live axle could hope to be and even the best solution for some specific applications and areas such as drag racing, trailer pulling and penny pinching (the first and last being not insignificant concerns for many Stang owners, the middle one...). But still, the best overall solution for top dynamic performance across the broad spectrum of driving conditions and situations, especially off track/strip, is a good IRS.

 

Agreed!!

 

Now if we can only convince Ford of our sublime wisdom and have them offer both rear suspensions!

 

First, Chrysler didn't announce anything like that. There have been hints from insiders on the Mopar boards that the FIRST YEAR'S PRODUCTION would be Hemi-only, but the insider gossip lately seems to indicate V6s after the first production run.

Second, the V6 Chargers aren't bad, get-up-and-go-wise. They're not high performance cars, but they're not much worse than a V6 'Stang. And figure that a Challenger will weigh a couple hundred pounds less than a current Charger with comparable drivetrain... the V6 will be adequate for secretarial use.

 

If that's true and it gets people to switch from "secretaries' SUV's" then I'm all for it!