Kudos to the Chevy guys, they dismally beat the Mustang across the board. It had to happen as the Mustang was always suspension and tire limited. I came to my Boss from a series of BMWs and while it is fun to drive and faster on paper it was pretty easy to tell it was at the limit of what could be done on the suspension front. The Ford engineers are brilliant chassis tuners, so I look forward to seeing what less weight, wider tires, a lower ride height and IRS can do for the Mustang. Hate 'em or not, the ZL1 and 1LE are **** impressive.

 

Totally agree. Credit where credit is due.

 

Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen this. The competition is good. I say this as a life long Chevy lover who now drives a GT. Magazine articles sell pony cars and this was GMs turn. I love my GT more every day. I had no interest in a camaro when I went out to buy last year and some of these mag articles sold me. What really sold me was the 5.0 power plant. All said, there was one thing in this article that I am envious of. The Camaro has a 19 gallon fuel tank.

 

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Kudos to the Chevy guys, they dismally beat the Mustang across the board. It had to happen as the Mustang was always suspension and tire limited. I came to my Boss from a series of BMWs and while it is fun to drive and faster on paper it was pretty easy to tell it was at the limit of what could be done on the suspension front. The Ford engineers are brilliant chassis tuners, so I look forward to seeing what less weight, wider tires, a lower ride height and IRS can do for the Mustang. Hate 'em or not, the ZL1 and 1LE are **** impressive.

Totally agree. Credit where credit is due.

Agreed. Good on Chevy. Now if only Dodge could step it up.

 

Agreed when shopping between the gt500 and ZL1 it was kinda sad that Dodge had nothing to compare with them. The SRT8 is nowhere close. Hell give me a base gt mustang over the srt8. However the next gen Srt Cuda they seem to be planning might be a mean beast. Talking about a sc 6.4L.

 

ok. i was mistaken its 285 not 275. but the argument is still the same. the zl1's front tires are the same as the gt500's rears.

 

I lost all faith in Motor Trend years ago. Their reviews are always Bias.
After all this is the magazine that named the Chevy Vega the 1971 car of the year.

 

get used to the 1LE out accelerating and outhandling the track pack/brembo GT. if it has dual mode exhaust it has 10 extra hp. needless to say it outhandles the boss and GT.

Ford has never responded to a chevy challenge. expect no changes to 'compete' with the camaro. Whatever plan ford has for the GT, chevy has NEVER changed that.


this history goes all the way back to 1955.

thunderbird/corvette
biscayne-galaxie-chevelle396
mustang390-camaro396/427

1998-2002 camaro ls1- mustang gt 215hp-300hp 1997-2010



ford introduces models and chevy competes. ford never answers.

 

I thought the 2013 gt500 was quite an answer to the ZL1.

 

So, I guess what you are trying to say is that Ford is an originator... starts a segment and Chevy follows on their coat-tails? That maybe the case.

And is it just me or is there evidence that '11-'13 Mustang GT's are putting more horsepower to the ground than an SS/1LE? It could be the weight difference, but after all the 1LE improvements/advantages in wheel/tire size and exhaust modification they crossed the 1/4 mile mark in the same time.

 

This. Besides, in a little over a year, Ford will introduce their game changer. Of course, a few years after the introduction of the next-generation Mustang, Chevrolet will counter with their all-new Camaro. Then, a year or two after that, Ford will counter with a package aimed at countering Chevy's counter. It's a never-ending cycle. In my opinion, since 2011, Ford has proven that they aren't content with playing second fiddle to anyone, as is evident with the 2013 MY refresh -- especially with an all-new car coming in 2015 -- and subsequent bumps in power for both the GT and GT500 models (though the GT500 may have too much power for its chassis and puny tires). It's pretty obvious we aren't dealing with the same old Ford.

 

This x 1000 - they are great for bench racing and thats about it.

Way to easy to coerce either due to advertising dollars or content accessability.

 

You would be wrong about that. The "Terminator" moniker wasn't just happy coincidence. The 03-04 Cobras were built to beat the snot out of F-cars.

It was unlucky coincidence though that GM pulled the plug on the 3rd gen cars before the Terminator hit the show room.

As were the 2010+ Mustangs, had the Camaro sold in low numbers I doubt you would have seen significant change in the Mustang before the next model.

The one car in that time that wasn't probably response to GM's efforts is the 2013+ GT500 which was more or less a result of the Boss 302 getting uncomfortably close to the GT500's numbers.

Really its GM responding to Ford's efforts - GM takes a wait and see approach and then tries to out gun Mustang.

Ultimately GM or Ford, we really benefit from this factory rivalry.

 

FYI, the Terminator name had nothing to do with beating other cars. it was about being the ultimate SN-95. the SN comes from Schwarzenegger. the 1994 prototypes were called the "Bruce Jenner" the "Rambo" and the "Arnold Schwarzenegger". the Schwarzenegger won so that is why they are called SN cars.

 

According to what's in "Iron Fist, Lead Foot", the name Terminator came about because it was indeed to settle the Mustang-Camaro performance question.

"Credit for naming the program "Terminator" goes to Tom Bochenek, the Cobra program manager. It came during a discussion about any possible competition for the car. Although there had been rumors around Detroit that GM was going to drop the F-body, we wanted to be prepared if they kept the car in production. We knew that a supercharged Cobra would "terminate" the Camaro-Mustang war once and for all. So "Terminator" it was."

This was from John Colletti, SVT Engineering Manager.

So while there was a reference to "Schwarzeneggar" for the styling of the first iteration of the SN-95, it appears to be coincidence that there would be any relationship between him and his Terminator character being used to name the Cobra.

 

Fair enough. It was SVT engineers at a SVTOA event at VIR when i had my 03 that told me it was about being the best of the SN cars. Of course there are quite offen many road the lead to same destination. I heard of "Iorn Fist, Lead Foot" but never read it. ill have to hit up amazon tonight.

 

It certainly was that, although I'd argue that 2000 Cobra R would be in the running for that title

It's a very good book for the inside scoop. Also, many people who work on these programs, I believe, have different recollections, based on their particular involvement, their memories, etc., etc.

 

Actually the name "SN-95" comes from Ford's naming convention for the programs that bring the cars to market. SN-95 was "Speciality" market segment, "North American" market, 95th program sequence number.

This is according to "Mustang, the Next Generation" by Bob McClurg.

 

Biased, yes.

The Chevy Vega was certainly my Car of the Year in 1971.

 

lol. so what you are saying is that the 2004 cobra is a response to the 1998 SS camaro?

Ford has always led segments and chevy competes/responds with HP/performance.

It's a business philosophy. investment and return. Constantly responding to a competitor will ruin a company.


Ford used the small block without changes from 1962-1995. same heads, same block, etc. then ford replaced it with a low torque 215hp 4.6.


The one year wonders are for internetz folks to point out how bad-a## mustangs were from 1994-2010. 2004 cobra being the only year that is true.


ive HAD to build mustangs to beat camaros.....camaro owners got their from the showroom.

i have owned a few.

1980 302 stang, 1983 notch 302 roller/nitrous, 1996 big turbo 4v, 2011 gt.