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2018 Ford Mustang Driven And It Levels The Playing Field Between The Chevrolet Camaro

Our sister publication, Ford Authority, recently drove both the 2018 Ford Expedition and Ford’s thoroughly revised 2018 Mustang. Following the drive, our own Aaron Brzozowski walked away with one impression: the Mustang levels the playing field between the Chevrolet Camaro.

The sixth-generation Camaro, although not a hot seller in recent years, has often outgunned the Mustang in every respect. Ford clearly took it to heart and rolled out major changes to the 5.0-liter V8 engine, six-speed manual transmission and gave the sheet metal a nip/tuck for good measure.

Per Brzozowski on the Mustang GT equipped with the Performance Pack 1:

On tight mountain passes with little margin for error, the hefty 2018 Ford Mustang GT PP1 inspires confidence, tackling hairpins with the sort of speed that would make earlier iterations of the grand tourer need to back down. It gobbles up corners like no 3,700-pound car ever should, powering out with all eight torquey cylinders howling. You’d have to have a death wish to ever exhaust all its cornering ability on dry pavement.

And the additional performance bumps give the Mustang GT a five horsepower advantage over the Camaro SS to issue a sub-four-second 0-60 time. That’s on par with the Camaro SS.

You can read the entire review at the link above, but it’s clear Ford gunned for the Camaro with the latest updates. Now, it’s Chevrolet turn to respond, and judging by spy photos, we’ll see the refreshed car sooner rather than later.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. LOL !

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  2. Both are the best “pony cars” against many expensive imports. Both deserve more sales!

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  3. The new Mustang is putting considerable pressure on Chevy to up the ante with their 2019 Camaro refresh. Merely tweaking the front and rear cosmetically won’t cut it.

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  4. Reg; “the hefty 2018 Ford Mustang ” That says a lot. It may have increased capability, but how does it feel. The Camaro has exquisite road/handling feel, and road manners/ride etc are quite nice.

    At 3,700-lbs. Ford apparently didn’t address weight issues, and the car just feels big, sedan like, compared to the Camaro, but, I love its retro styling.

    Do like the exterior styling changes, but not so sure about the electronic gauge cluster/screen redesign and as a pilot, I liked the now missing ‘Ground Speed’ label.

    Will give the new Mustang a run through the canyons and hills to see how it feels at the wheel.

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  5. But good god did they make it ugly. I finally got used to the “Fusion Coupe” styling, to where I found it acceptable, if not appealing in certain color combinations – then they bring this out.

    Sad Mustang is Sad.

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  6. Welcome to the continued game of leap frog that has gone on for fifty years.

    Both are great cars but are both cars in trouble with an ever changing market.

    It is sad both these cars are as good as they have ever been but the market changes have hurt them in several ways.

    Both are true GT coupes and no longer just big engines in low cost econo chassis.

    Both are in a market that has show a distaste of coupes and now even many sedans.

    Both need global sales to continue.

    Both need to maintain near or at 100K units to really see continued investment as today just making money is not enough it is about return on investment. The Bob Lutz story pointed this out in Road and Track.

    Nostalgia is fleeting as what is sentimental to one person changes as the next generation comes along. Right now the younger gens have no real ties to these cars and I am not sure how much longer they can hold on.

    I just hope both MFG can find a way to continue to support both these vehicles. We have lost them both one before. The Camaro was gone for a few years. Ford people like to not admit it but the Mustang was gone during the Mustang II years as it was just a warmed up Pinto.

    Both are treasured cars but both are not untouchable.

    The Future is tied to the more expensive platforms. Also it is tied to global sales as the NA market is not going to be enough moving forward. What will they do to make them appeal to younger buyers with money? I am not sure but I do know we will continue to see them improve as products but even being the best of their types that may not be enough.

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    1. Well stated, Scott, but the real threat to these bread and butter iconic American performance coupe/GT’s is the environment. That said, they may be the only coupes that survive the challenges to automobiles that is a head of us.

      To do so, they will have to become more like the GT-86 and diminish the iconic retro looks for better CD numbers. Motivation will be 4 & 6 cylinder engines of various configurations. Performance will survive along with the GT/Coupe envelope. Survival of the Manual trans is not guaranteed, but few of the newer generations will miss them. The RWD configuration will have to survive for my generation, but even that is up to reconsideration these days. The drifting enthusiasts market could help keep the RWD platform and manuals alive for a while, but, the viable production numbers you aptly stated are the key.

      Ford tried to give us a modern Pony with the Ford Probe back in the early nineties, but most enthusiasts weren’t on board and Ford quash it. It was powered by a 4-cyl., turbo 4-cyl. and a V6 and a lot of Boomers bought them and quite liked them.

      A friend bought a GT(V-6) and my Mustang SVO quickly showed it its tail lights. Nice car, but not a V-8 RWD Pony. I preferred the Mazda-MX-6 and rented one often. Eventual low production numbers killed the Probe.

      Eventually, if the Ponies survive, we will see an EV performance coupe/Pony. I would buy one now if it had a 350-mile range and half hour 80% recharge and RWD.

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  7. I hope both are successful. I am more of a GM gut but I am also an American guy and Ford is an American company so I am rooting for them too. Competing against each other makes the better but they need to combine their reasources when they can to make them better completion to the rest of the world.

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