Quote:
Originally Posted by rodimus prime
If I were to race the mustang at a drag strip...stock for stock with a camaro and beat it pretty badly, then go to an autocross track and beat it again, how does the mustang win?.
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Actually, this leads me to believe that you either didn't read the article or you didn't understand what the results convey. If you race any SS Camaro against a Track Pack equipped Mustang GT on an autocross course, assuming both drivers are decent, your chances of winning roughly equate to the chances of a snowball surviving any meaningful length of time in hell. In Car and Driver's road course evaluation they tested these two vehicles on a circuit with some meaningful straightaways, and Car and Driver made it very clear that this is where the Camaro made up for the handling deficit that car suffers relative to the Mustang. On an Autocross course you typically have the exact opposite with next to nothing in the way of a straight, negating the Camaro's acceleration advantage altogether. Run into a Track Pack Mustang GT on an Autocross course and he is going to hand you your ass every time.
In that respect the Camaro reminds me a lot of the Corvette's from the 1960's, relatively one dimensional cars that were only fair in the corners but which put down serious speed on the straights depending upon the engines used. It's why we see a history where the 289 Cobra consistently trounced the Grand Sport Vette at virtually every venue but Nassau, where the long straights gave the Chevy the opportunity to use that big hp from the larger V8's the GS typically employed and where Shelby typically broke his cars trying to match the Vette in terms of hp.
As for the Camaro itself, if GM wants this car to be remembered as a great performance car they will have to fix the handling issues, no plainer way to state it. As for right now the Camaro is, in a way, a much less expensive take on the same ideology that produced the Buick Grand National in the 1980's. Put simply, a good looking, comfortable, fast car will sell well whether it handles well or not.