Repair-It

No this wasn't the same article. Two articles.

Mustang:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/mu ... ve-review/

Paraphrasing:

The movie car! It's like that movie car from that movie that is so old no one even cares but it's still cool anyway.

As is, the Bullitt gets nervous and twitchy when you push it past 75 percent of its capability. The stiff springs and limited travel of the suspension, particularly in the rear, results in a lot of instances of the tire losing contact with the pavement. Any kind of bump in the road is enough to make it skip, and if the bump is in a turn, it'll skip to the side a bit, too. You couldn't be blamed for thinking Ford maybe put a live axle back in to make this tribute car the real deal.

Movie accuracy aside, it really could stand to ride softer, as even with the optional adaptive magnetic shocks it's quite stiff over the bumps and in the holes. No need for that if it isn't going to corner like a GT350R anyway.

So it doesn't handle that well nor does it ride well. But it's cool and that's all that matters, because this is high school and it's just a hollow popularity contest. FFS.

Challenger:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/dodge/c ... ve-review/

I'm going to cut the Challenger more slack because it serves a function as a full-size coupe (I hate coupes) by being as usable as it can be with 2 doors. And it isn't really pretending to be anything other than a big, loud muscle car. But while the SRT 392 trim is attainable, none of the Hellcat stuff is, even as I roll my eyes at sequel after sequel.

My overall reaction is, surprise, one of annoyance. I am frustrated because GM is pulling off this amazing sports car/muscle car thing with the Camaro that is basically untouchable this side of a Corvette (which itself does the same thing to vehicles in its class), yet all the excitement (and I guess sales) are with these flawed vehicles (unless it drives well AND has a Shelby badge, then it is cool). There was a time when an American car company would have been roasted for this. Now it's cool because they are imperfect. I guess GM has not nailed the current trend which is boisterousness over lap times and finesse. And I kind of automatically bristle at current trends...

Bill might say part of the issue is the naming. The 1LE trim. Camaro marketing is really pretty weak. Actually, the brand itself seems quite weak to me, among regular people. It's a shame. But maybe some of the blame lies with GM. I guess I never cared for pomp and circumstance to make something popular and kind of rebel automatically against that. The Camaro is the kid in the corner who gets good grades. Possibly the unpopular nerd. Uh oh...now I need a shrink.

I like the Camaro, obviously, but it is a kind of in an identity crisis right now.

The Gen 5 was muscular looking and generally looked good. The interior wasn't great, but exterior wise, I think it was a win.

The Gen 6 is more sporty than Muscle, which is ok, but there isn't as much "character". You could probably say the same going from the Gen 2 Trans Am to the Gen 3 Trans Am. The gen 3 was better at everything, but style wise, much more understated.

The Gen 3 was still very successful sales wise as opposed to the Gen 6, and they just made the gen 6 look worse... The Challenger has character. The Mustang has character, at least in that it has rabid fans. The Camaro seems to not know what it is doing. Performance wise it is probably the best, and has been proven equal performance to the M4. Problem is, I don't think Camaro fans want an M4 with a Chevy badge. I am not sure what the solution is. I don't want them to make the Camaro perform worse, but a starting price of 40K for a V8 is too high.

Maybe the Mustang is a 2 person GT car (except in much higher trims), the Challenger is a 4 person GT car, and the Camaro is the track car?

Also, with how good the ZL1 is, is there going to be a Z/28, and what is that purpose over the ZL1 1LE? Also, for how long the GT500 and Z/28 are taking, are they only going to be around for 1 or 2 years?