Preview: Muscle car showdown

As the economy takes its toll on Detroit, some look back to the good old days when rear-wheel drive V8 coupes were king. For a time in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the muscle car wars heated up with cheap horsepower and cheaper gas. That created cutthroat competition among the Big 3 (and smaller AMC), with essentially no foreign competition.

In a way, those good old days are back. Chevrolet, Dodge, and Ford each have a redesigned or extensively freshened muscle-car for 2010, and they are better than ever. For a preview, we borrowed a Chevrolet Camaro SS and Ford Mustang GT (we’re shopping for our test cars now) and brought our Dodge Challenger R/T test car to our track.

I hope you have as much fun watching this video as we had filming it!

You can check out this video and more Consumer Reports videos on our YouTube channel.
 
—Jake Fisher

Comments

[david]

Nice drifting Jake.

I would have to guess the Camaro SS will come out on top of this test. In the Corvette forum, I have seen some contemplating getting a base Corvette versus a load Camaro SS.

[ole skool]

Sounds cool and the lighter stang with the awesome drift was cool.......However,my first insinct to say is:Big Deal. Bad comparison test. I've seen these 3 comparing and testing in other articles around the net. First off the 300hp camaro(even if it is a 6cyl) should have been compared to the 315 mustang gt and the challenger r/t. And then the "top model SS 420+ hp camaro" should have been tested,(especially with z28 being cancelled) against the top models of challenger (srt-8) and the shelby GT500.Results = camaro ss left crying in its soup along with the challenger srt-8. 2010 Shelby GT500 wins hands down......game....set...match....Done.

[Wolverine]

I'm testing a Genesis Coupe right now, and I think it's a much better choice than these retros (fun though they may be). Cheaper to purchase, much better fuel economy, and looks to the future rather than back at the past. But then again, I was never into pony cars when I was growing up, either. I must not have the gene.

[decim8r]

The z/28 isn't dead. They're waiting to release it. So the SS camaro is comparable to the R/T and GT since they're all the middle of the road classes for the cars

[Cletus8269]

"2010 Shelby GT500 wins hands down" until you look at the payments. take the difference and slap some boost on the camaro.

[Steve Bier]

Rough idea as to when this issue will be published? I'm assuming that the Nissan Z and the Genesis coupe will also be tested in this issue?

[PJ]

And/or until you look between the rear tires.