[stovt001]

Hey everyone! Man its been a long time since I've been on here. My absence is partly due to starting a new job and putting in long hours there, and partly because I felt that now that the car is released, 90% of the speculation is over, and my plans to get a Camaro (or any new car) have been pushed way back for economic reasons, there just hasn't been much for me here.

I saw the pics of the new Mustang engine on Jalopnik, and it just blew me away. Before my hiatus, I did a bit of griping about the Camaro's engine bay. GM just seems to be getting a little lazy in the engine bay design, putting a big bland plastic cover over everything. It might as well be a second hood! I posted pics of the Audi S5 engine bay as an example of doing it right, but on a big big budget. Well I have to say, the Mustang's engine bay comes close to the S5 standard, and in a much better price range. I gotta say, between the near-equivalent power, much better weight, and much better interior, I'm strongly considering the Mustang now. The only thing that bugs me is that the Mustang is so ubiquitous - everyone and their mom has one and there is nothing really stand-out about the design.

I want to put a disclaimer here promising I'm not just coming back to pick on the Camaro and praise the Mustang. I still love the Camaro. I'm seeing more and more on the road and yet every time I see one it just creates a special feeling that the Mustang doesn't. It is a very special, very cool car. I just can't help but feel that the Mustang disproves the excuses made for some of the compromises we have to deal with, like the idea you can't have a really nice interior on a car that performs this well at this price, or that the car had to be 4000 lbs to handle the big V8 power. Other than styling, the only real objective advantage the Camaro retains over the Mustang is IRS. It kinda bums me out GM dropped the ball like this and makes me kinda worried they're slipping back into the old complacency. On the other hand, if they haven't gone back to the bad old ways, then maybe we can hope that the respond with improvements that leapfrog the new Mustang. That idea gets me excited.