Can you build a better Mustang?

[wwgkd]

cause it costs more to produce plus, for drag racing its better...for everything else in life its worse. Maybe ford saw the complaints people had about the GTO's IRS and decided against it? who knows.

Yeah, the cost is why I din't mind it too much when it came out in 05 with live axle for $25,000. But once you start getting into the more expensive models, I don't see why not.

Is the sole negative quality of IRS heavier weight or what?

wwgkd you should feel lucky to even be considering buying one or the other.

Well, with a solid axle it's a lot easier to swap out the axle and other operations while you're at the dragstrip. There's arguable benefits to keeping the tires on the asphault, but I've never really been convinced of that.

Well, I'm not going to be getting a new car until I get out of college and get a real job, and even then I'm more likely to get another Jeep (which will probably end up costing more than the mustang GT by the time I'm through.) But it's still fun to dream. If my own Jeep wasn't over 230,000 miles a mustang to go along with it would be more likely, but I'd really prefer to wait until I'm older and more established to get my Lotus Elise as a daily driver (believe it or not they're more comfortable than my current ride.)

[Rasmus]

To be honest I don't really mind the live rear axle all that much. When I was looking at cars I decided against a track day car as a daily driver so I got a heavier convertible with sub-par handling on a track but with satisfactory everyday handling. At least to me. If I wanted a track day car I would do it properly; find an E36 M3, strip it down, and try to learn more about setting up a suspension. To me, it's all about horses for courses. Yes, the Mustang handles a bit like a Chinese barge in high seas with an unusually strong crosswind, but only when pushed. With the roads being so bloody wide and straight in the US I find it less of a hassle. In Europe I would most likely feel differently, and I definitely enjoyed the handling of my old BMW back in Denmark. Anyway, as mentioned, the primitive live rear in the Mustang is cheaper to manufacture, and it makes the lives of drag racers much easier, which I guess is why Ford chose it. That said, slap the $1500'ish Roush kit on any Mustang, and you're looking at decent handling even by European standards. Heck, even Clarkson liked it. Why Ford didn't do a better job on the GT500's suspension is beyond me though.

The Camaro did have me interested for a while but the performance of the base V6 - 300bhp as it may have - seems to be somewhat lacking. 0-100km/h in the 6's, and a high 14 quarter. In comparison the 300bhp in the Mustang GT seems to fare better. Even the manual Challenger R/T with 375bhp and more torque is slower; its 0-100 time is just under 6 secs, and its quarter is in the 14's. Even the SRT8 is a bit slow off the line all things considered; 5.5 secs 0-100. Then again, the Challengers weigh +1800kg. In comparison the Bullit/Shelby GT Mustangs - a CAI and conservative tune adds about 15bhp - does a high 13 quarter and a low 5 0-100.

The numbers quoted are from Edmunds' tests but having tried all of the above mentioned, sans Camaro, I can certainly vouch for the Challengers feeling slow. They are nice with a build quality much better than that of the S197 - but they feel sluggish. More show than go in my opinion. Whether or not the 'go' is fast enough is up to the individual. As for the Camaro, I'm looking forward to taking one out for a test drive as soon as possible.

[wwgkd]

Couple years ago I took the mustang for a test drive and I've actually kind of liked them ever since. Relatively cheap, I liked the looks, liked the sound, handled decent and had decent performance. Not an M3, but doesn't cost like an M3, either. And the back seat was plenty big enough for anything I'd ever want. Plus there are so many things you can do to customize it. I'd probably avoid doing anything as radical as my jeep (different missions though,) probably just intake and exhaust, but that does add an element of fun on some cars. Plus the mid range stereo with 500 watts was great.

[kingofthering]

I'd build a Mustang out of epic win and lulz. Top that.

[Rockefella]

I'd build a Mustang out of epic win and lulz. Top that.

Build it with a 1.8t

[kingofthering]

Build it with a 1.8t

Or a RB26DETT and get MAD DORIFTOZ status.

[cmcpokey]

mmm i love doritos

[clutch-monkey]

Maybe ford saw the complaints people had about the GTO's IRS and decided against it? who knows.

lol
dear GM
am very disappointed in your reincarnation of the GTO, as it holds it's shit together through corners
regards
retrotrash community

[roosterjuicer]

im sure a lot of people liked the handling of the GTO. I personally love the GTO, when it comes time to replace my camaro I might get the GTO over the new camaro cause i love the look of them.

but the thing is that most people dont ever take their muscle cars racing anywhere that involves corners (and neither do most bimmer/ricer/ect... owners in America), nobody bought a GTO wanting to go autocrossing or whatever, they bought them to drag race and they were getting beat by ls1 camaros with 80 less horsepower and live rear axles. Those independent suspensions probably slowed the GTO down off the line by a car length or two.

[cmcpokey]

i have seen GTOs autoxing. its rather entertaining to watch. almost as fun as watching live axle mustangs. live axles suck for autox.

[Kitdy]

rj, why does the lsd slow the car down at the start?

[wwgkd]

rj, why does the lsd slow the car down at the start?

Because the driver is hallucinating watching the pretty lights.

[roosterjuicer]

by LSD do you mean limited slip differential? if so i dunno why, i never mentioned it. LSD does nothing but help you have better launches.

the IRS (independant rear suspension) hurts drag racing because its difficult to produce one that doesn't cost a fortune that doesn't cause axle hop at launches. If you watch a launch of a ls1 camaro z28 they just dig in and pound the pavement cause the torsion bar basically shoves the rear axle down into the ground on a launch. whereas IRS cars just kinda squat and bounce around, a lot of times instead of a nice clean straight rubber burn from a hard launch, on those GTO's you'll see a bunch of little dashes (like morse code) from the axle hop.

[wwgkd]

That's really only a problem if you want dirt cheap, though. Corvettes do pretty well, and they're not exactly super cars.

[roosterjuicer]

That's really only a problem if you want dirt cheap, though. Corvettes do pretty well, and they're not exactly super cars.

agreed but 40 grand is a lot more expensive than the high 20's grand especially considering that a GTO had the same motor as the vette, and comparable interiors, they had to loose the the 10 grand somewhere I suppose.