M/T Ranks "Pony" Cars
#23
I think the Mustang V6 is easily demonstrating it's street credibility.
#24
I'm far from a Camaro basher, I think they're pretty sweet cars, but I have to admit that I agree with everyone who says the styling is getting old. When the Camaro first came out I thought it looked great! Now that it's been around for a year or so, I've gotten used to the lines and they haven't settled well with me. Very interesting results from all of the editors.
#25
"Camaro has all the right bits and pieces but the packaging is wrong. Styling has grown old quickly -- the car looks cartoonish. Interior looks cheap, and it has by far one of the worst steering wheels and shift ***** I have ever held; both feel terrible in your hands."
- Scott Mortara
- Scott Mortara
(sorry burningman... )
Last edited by cdynaco; 5/3/10 at 12:58 PM.
#27
#29
#35
No, it is not. I am baffled as to why MT continues to insist that it is. It's not a "muscle car" either. Not without a V8. That's kind of the definition of a muscle car. That's why the Mustang II is not a muscle car. Just sayin'.
I would consider it a tuner car.
I would consider it a tuner car.
#36
If they could have just built it to 90% its current size it would be quite a car. I love the way it looks, other than it just looks too big. It's a shame that they had to put it on another cars platform instead of making its own, but for the limited numbers it sells in, there is no way it could have carried its own new platform too.
I still think its an incredibly good looking car though. Just a little over weight.
Kind of like a plus size model. If only she'd drop a few pounds.
#37
Sure, why not? Just because it doesn't have the heritage of the others? Or maybe because it's an import? I think everyone has a different definition of "pony car". We already know Ford considers the 370Z direct competition - and the Genesis is quite similar to that.
#38
Eh, you can sorta call a Genesis a pony car, though it has no V8 option. Genesis has 4 cylinder and 6 cylinders where Mustangs/Camaros/Challengers have 6 cylinders and 8 cylinders. The Hyundai just has some likable track stats and sporty handling, plus some nice interior options, which seems to make Motortrend add it for flavor/comparison/telling-the-big-three-they've-got-competition. It seems pretty good for a V6.
#39
Aside from a few option updates and standardizing though and maybe engine tweaks, I don't expect there to be much for the 2012 Mustang, or the 2013 Mustang, but if the grapevine has it, there could be a whole new body coming soon. Personally I think they should put off the 50th anniversary until halfway through the 2014 model year when they suddenly release the 2015 Mustangs in a new body in a limited production run: "2014 1/2 50th Anniversary Special Edition", with 2015 VINs and everything, lasting from start of production to say, April 17, 2014. Then continue with 2015s as normal.
#40
Eh, you can sorta call a Genesis a pony car, though it has no V8 option. Genesis has 4 cylinder and 6 cylinders where Mustangs/Camaros/Challengers have 6 cylinders and 8 cylinders. The Hyundai just has some likable track stats and sporty handling, plus some nice interior options, which seems to make Motortrend add it for flavor/comparison/telling-the-big-three-they've-got-competition. It seems pretty good for a V6.
The genesis can certainly hold its own against the pony cars (*sigh* V6 Challenger... lol my SHO gets better times on a strip than that!), and it is a pretty trick car, but it's just not in the same... spirit as the muscle cars.
I think part of the problem is that the term "pony car" engenders innately patriotic feelings; it's as American as apple pie, right? And the Hyundai is... well, a Hyundai. Sure, more of it might be built in America than the other three (don't know, won't say for sure), but it's still not an American car. Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet, these are names that the American automotive empire were built upon, and it will always be that way. Toyotas and Hondas and Hyundays and Subarus might be 100% built in the USA with USA parts and USA labor... but they're still foreign car companies. It's the collective ethos, and no amount of marketing or manufacturing is going to change that; it's built right into their names.
So, that having been said, it shall always be in my mind, "Three American Pony cars and a fresh-faced, spritely Korean competitor that is a nice car but isn't a pony car".