[Number 3]

Ahhhhh, might as well weigh in.

First, kudos to FoMoCo. The new 5.0 is a pretty sweet engine. Very little to base any disrespect on.

First of all, OHC vs OHV. That is the big reason for both the FE and the HP of the 5.0. Lay the HP and torque curves over the top of one another and I'm sure you'll see the difference. HP is nothing more than the speed at which an engine can deliver torque. It's why diesels make great torque and low HP. On the flip side, it's why a little 4 cylinder can make nice HP but no torque. Larger (heavier) pistons and an OHV don't make for high revs. What is the red line of the 5.0 anyway? Anyone know? I thought it was 7,000 RPM or higher. And assuming the 5.0 does it, you can use VVT on both the intake and exhaust while the single cam on the OHV doesn't allow quite as much flexibility even with VVT for improved FE.

For a push rod engine, the LS3 is about as high tech as you can get.

And as for performance flexibility, do you want to put a cam in an LS3 or 4 in a 5.0? $$$$

Again, mad proper respect to FoMoCo for the effort. They deserve a lot of credit. But Ford has been putting OHC engines in trucks for some time now so putting that technology in the Mustang is only surprising that it took so long. They were dragging along with some old school powertrains.

And to the drag strip comments..............still boils down to the Mustang being a much smaller car.

So can I get better FE numbers with a smaller and lighter car with the same engine? Yes, absolutely. Mass is huge for City numbers and the smaller car is huge for the highway. And although a lot of threads have been devoted to it, the Camaro is based on a large sedan architecture. It's just simply a bigger, heavier car.