LOL!! And so is your GT!

We will all be beat every now and then, if we go around town lookin for trouble..

 

Befire 197s, the M3s and M5s were my dream cars

 

Do you have those Tires on stock rims? Fanblades maybe. If so post some pics.

 

i've had my F150 aka gt500 to speeds to excessive to post

 

Im tired of everyone comparing two different cars like this. The BMW's are designed to be nice and luxurious, esp at higher speeds, the Autobahn is in Germany after all. But more different than that, BMW 330's start at 30k+, most of them being around 40k, if you spend 40k on a Mustang (including purchase), you could toast a bimmer.

 

The S197 Stang did sacrifice a not insignificant bit of aerodynamic function against stylistic form. Whether this was a fair trade is, of course, debatable on many counts, but that trade does nonetheless take some toll on performance (mostly top end), efficiency/mileage (it does take extra energy to push that blunt prow through the atmosphere) and perhaps stability (the forward cant of the nose would tend to push air under the car, causing lift, than over it).


The M3, with 33 more hp, an extra cog in the tranny, similar weight but better aerodynamics is, on average probably about .2-.3 seconds quicker in the quarter mile and perhaps 2-3 mph faster. Top end acceleration and speed (Stang GT=150 or so, M3= 155 limited or 165+ unlimited) would be signifantly higher due to more hp and less drag, if perhaps more an academic or track benefit than real world.

M3s are very fast with an engine that is a veritable compendium of go-fast engineering. It does have a rather different powerband than a Stang with torque peaking a 5900 rpm and power at 7900 -- though with an otherwise surprisingly broad and linear powerband for a highly-tuned 3.2 liter -- whereas the Stang, by dint of its bigger motor, has it's lesser peak power available at more easily accessible rpm ranges.

In real life, this means the M3 has slightly higher potential straight line performance in the hands of a competent driver paying attention whereas the Stang would be easier to drive fast and could take a poorly or inattentively driven M3, in short, pretty much a driver's race in typical real-world scenarios.

In terms of modded performance, well, the M3 pretty much has just about every go-fast techology and technique applied to it out of the box, so there's not a whole lot of extra horses to beat out of a naturally aspirated motor without a big money-green club. As for unnaturally aspirated, well, the sky and budget are pretty much the limit, read-1,000+ hp. The Stang does have a lot more growing room for not much money and getting 400+ ponies into your corral for not a lot of oats is pretty easy to do, what with that extra liter and a half to leverage.

In the other 359 degrees of the performance compass, the M3 does really start to shine.

Braking, especially repeated braking, is simply no contest. The Stang does alright on its first stop, if with a fair degree of nose dive that Mustang designers can't seem to shake. But after that, well, how much does a set of Brembos cost? The M3, despite having decent, though hardly exotic brakes -- just single-piston cast iron calipers clamping healthy vented disks not much different than a Stang, exorcises the devil in the details through impeccable development, tuning and refinement with short, straight stops time after time under a firm and communicative pedal.

Handling, too, is where the M3's more sophisticated and brilliantly tuned suspension will really put the distance on a Stang down a winding mountain road.

The S197 has a very respectable front suspension design, rather similar to an M3's if rendered in steel rather than forged beer cans, but seems to suffer from mediocre tuning and refinement. The same could be said for the steering: good but again (for the good news) with a lot of potential unrealized from the factory. Ford engineers really ought to reserve some tuning time at Nurburgring to really get it right and get its real-world capabilities up to par with its test track numbers.

The rear suspension, well, no contest really. The M3 has a very well developed and capable IRS that excels in all performance areas, even drag racing, and maintains its competence even as the road gets rough. The Stang? Hello last-century engineering at its best. The live(ly) axle is cheap, simply and pretty rugged, but those are traits better used to recommend a splitting awl than the rear suspension on a 21st -century high performance car. It does a fairly reasonble job handling smooth roads, as does a go-cart's suspension, and a very good job on rather undemanding tests of a suspension's capabilities such as drag racing. But Stang handling performance comes at a much steeper compromise in ride degradation than an M3's IRS and its smooth road performance quickly deteriorates when the going gets tough, getting bucked off bumpy roads when all that unsprung mass starts flailing about.

Of course, there's a lot of apples against oranges here, not the least of which was the price with the M3 maybe $20K more than a Stang GT. But the gist of this thread was simply objective performance and they are both RWD 2+2 hi-po coupes of roughly equal size and weight, so it's not an invalid comparison. And that says nothing about the difference in character and other highly subjective aspects that can easily and understandably sway somebody to one car or the other, or cause great quandry in deciding for the more open minded.

Of course, comparing a discontinued E46 M3 to the Stang might be a bit moot given that it is being replaced by the V8 E92 M3 with 420 hp. And perhaps, at least price-wise, the GT500 ought to be seen as a closer competitor in the market place. Perhaps with the upcoming E92 M3, Infiniti and Lexus players in the 400-500hp field along with the existing GT500, Audi RS4 and Mercedes CLK AMG, a good comparison test or two are inevitable in the car rags.

 

dont say were supposed to compare it with the 400 hp camaro, but then what do we compare it with?

 

Dude, you should write for a car magazine or blog or something... I always enjoy reading your posts.