personally i dislike mustangs. im down with camaros

 

The new Neon SRT4 is far from some kid putting a spoiler on it and thinking it's cool. It can bust high 13s bone stock at over 100mph. 153mph top speed stock. It also won it's class for One Lap Of America, beating out many many cars in classes above it, 8th overall of 84 entries.

http://www.onelapofamerica.com
http://www.onelapofamerica.com/Histo...ts/OVL_CUM.HTM

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...112_0306_3way/

 

stock cylindered banshee's with a little stroke can run into the 8's in the 1/4.

If you come to cali im sure beech can embarrass your fords.

 

there is no 400hp mustang. The cobra has 390 claimed by ford, although alot have been puting 380 to the rear wheels.

 

8s in the 1/8 you mean

 

freal jigga

 

Sometimes it seems that there are WAY too many people that forget that certain cars are built primarily to suit the needs of the daily driver individual. The Mustang is one of these cars. The Mustang's sales(and profit) success comes from the V6 models.
Ford has a really hard job with the Mustang in the fact that they need to serve their primary customer base,which is the buyer of the V6 for daily driving needs,as well as the enthusiasts,which buy the GT and Cobra to haul a$$.
So they need to keep the car civil and proper for the one customer while providing good performance and room to grow for the other.

IMO,The LS1 F-body catered too much to the enthusiast. The later camaro and firebird were amazing machines as far as performance/price goes. And the sales of the car suffered as a result. They weren't selling enough to the daily driver sect in order to turn profits.

Something esle needing consideration is the strict emission laws they have to meet as well.
NO car maker can just slap any motor of their choosing in any car anymore. Theres a reason they no longer use the 302. They cannot keep up with LEV and ULEV laws.

All this being said,anyone saying the 4.6 sucks in comparison to the 302 really should go have their head checked.
Yeah,the 96-98 models sucked,but the 99+ is a totally diff ballgame.
A new GT can easily and consistently run low 14's@100ish. Not many of the later 5.0's did that.
I've seen a bone stock(down to the tires and air filter) 99GT go 13.76@101 with an average skilled driver.
Yes,its NOT as easy to yank the heads and intake as it was with a 302,but the heads on the 99+ flow SO much better than the 302 heads did that 99% of "enthusiasts" won't even need to.
Lets run some vague numbers.
i spent 3500-4000 to properly supercharge my car(95GT/302). I say properly because that means fuel,spark,EEC system upgrades that have kept my car going for over 50k with a blower on it without breaking anything........ever.
For that same money you could supercharge a 99+GT and get a LOT more power than my car has.
The upgradability is there in the newer cars,just not as easy as the 302's.

The Cobra is a friggin monster. Ford should be seriously commended for making that car when it has no true competition anymore. instead of a carry over model they blew the thing.
And theres a bunch more power to be found in that car with intake and exhaust bolt on mods.

I don't think people are REALLY looking at the whole spectrum when they start bashing the 4.6.......

 

Stock 5.0's typically run mid to low 9's in the 1/8th and 99+ 4.6 GT's run low 9's to high 8's in the 1/8 depending on driver and weather conditions. The 93's had the same hp as older 5.0s but Ford changed their rating system thus the reason for the 205 hp rating. I would imagine a 41 hp Banshee could easily run in the high 8's in the 1/8th mile. I believe stock ones run mid to low 9's. IMO mustangs have gotten much better over the last few years. I know of three 03 Cobras making over 700 rwhp and capable of 9 sec 1/4 miles with stock long blocks. One even has the original IRS. I have run in the 11's with my 99 Cobra with only mild boltons (no power adders), stock engine from the mass air to the oil pan and on drag radials. Show me a 5.0 that can do that.

 

ford needs to step it up and since there nothing anymore to play with

 

I dont think they shoudl step it up...i think what they're doing (and what the sales show) works! They make decent power, the aftermarket is there for the person who wants more, and they sell like hotcakes!