Car Throttle

That's right, muscle car fans, Ford's seminal brawny coupé is abandoning its 1960's tribute act styling and going back to the future. It's a brave move, given that the recent 'Stangs have been such an overwhelming success, and that the car now faces its toughest competition since its birth, alongside the reborn Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger. So, why are Ford fixing the decidedly unbroken formula for the next car? Design boss J Mays, champion of 'retro-futurism' and he who penned the 2005 model going strong today, says it's time for a new car "to win all of the Mustang faithful yet bring the brand forward as well." Basically, it's got to walk the tightrope of hinting it's a Mustang, but "signal the Mustang has another 50

Ford's new 5.0L "Coyote" V8 is a potent motor. My short time behind the wheel of a 2012 Mustang GT left me with surprisingly little negative to say about the Mustang itself, and a mix of shock and admiration for the new 32v quad-cam V8.  It's such a quantum leap forward for Ford's pony car that you're left sort of wondering what planet it came from. An engine this good does a 3,600lb Mustang wonders.  So there's no doubt shoehorning it into other places will work wonders, too.  How about under the hood of a brand-new Ford Ranger pickup truck? This 2011 Ranger was brought to Blow-By Racing in Delray, FL for an infusion of a little more power.  Out went the old 4.0L Cologne V6,

I always make it out to Raleigh's Cars & Coffee event the first Saturday of every month. It's always worth it, even though I abhor waking up early, because there's always awesome stuff to see.  A lot of the same cars show up, so I won't show pictures of stuff you've already seen - for those you can check previous Cars & Coffee coverage here, here, and here. For starters, here is one of 337 Porsche 959's ever built, which was Porsche's rolling technical showcase that blew everything else out of the water in the 1980's, and set the standard for supercar performance.  None were ever imported to the US; it's likely this one has been fitted with the Canepa Design engine

Ford's iconic Mustang musclecar got a significant revamp for 2010, and a pair of new engines for 2011. While the 2005+ Mustangs have always been pretty nice cars with a decent amount of punch, for a while they were playing for customers without any real competition.  With the introduction of the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger, Ford needed to up the ante: the 315bhp GT just didn't have much to say against the 426-bhp Camaro SS. The battle-tested 4.6L "modular" V8, which powered Mustang GT's from 1996-2010 has finally been retired, and replaced by a thoroughly modern V8.  The return of those oh-so-familiar 5.0 badges to the flanks of the Mustangs mean a nearly 100-horsepower bump over last year's model, but don't be fooled into thinking

A sales race that CarThrottle has consistently covered is the one between the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. The Mustang, with its universal appeal and wide model range, has historically outsold its cross-town rival the Camaro. When the Camaro first launched, it was speculated that it would surpass Mustang sales, at least in the first year. That didn't work out though due to its late start. Last year, was the first full year of sales between the two. Despite Ford fielding the improved 2011 Mustang, the Camaro managed to outsell the Mustang by 7,655 units. This year, the Chevrolet Camaro gets a convertible variant as well as a high-performance ZL1 model to stir interest. Camaro Convertible sales haven't managed to kick in yet in a

We are primarily a performance-oriented website here at CarThrottle. The amount of people interested enough in minivans to go on the web and read about them is pretty small, so performance cars it is.  What does get a little old after a while, though, is the constant one-upmanship of performance manufacturers with each other.  Look at Nissan and Porsche and their fight over Nurburgring lap times, which is about as relevant as comparing car's fuel injector rates as a measure of performance.  Or the whole Camaro vs Mustang V6 power wars - GM re-rated the Camaro's V6 after the Mustang got a new V6 so it would have 7 more horsepower.  Who cares about 7 horsepower?  Couldn't they have spent that money on making it

We're in the last month before 2010 is over, heading into 2011. Earlier in the month we reported on a sales race between the Camaro and Mustang that looks to have already been called for the Camaro. The Mustang is close behind however. With 2011 just around the corner, manufacturers will start introducing their 2012 models and the various option packages, tweaks and price changes that inevitably comes with a model changeover. The 2011 Mustang was a significant update. For 2011 the Mustang received a new 3.7-liter V-6 making 305 horsepower and 280 pound feet of torque. The engine stunned with its 30 miles per gallon on the highway figure. Perhaps most importantly to enthusiasts though, the Mustang 5.0 was brought back, with an

Let's talk about the Caterham 7.  When the dealership took over production rights to the original minimalist Lotus sports car in 1973, I doubt they knew how many people would still be making copies and derivatives of it today.  Heck, I doubt they knew they'd still be making it today.  Wikipedia lists a few brands that make Lotus/Cateram 7 clones, copies, and spin-offs.  Here's their (surely incomplete) listing: Almac, Alpha Sports, Aries Motorsports, Barnard, Birkin, Boes, Brunton, BWE, Chevron, Chinkara, Cobra, Dala7, Daytona, Dax Rush, Diardi, Donkervoort, Elfin, Esther, Fraser Clubman, Gillett, Gregory, HKT, Irmscher 7, Leitch Super Sprint, Locust, Luego, Mac #1, Martin, Mitsuoka, MNRacing, MK, Nota, Pegasus 7, PRB, Quantum, RaceTech, Raw, Robin Hood(!), Shawspeed, Superformance (S1 Roadster), Sylva, Tiger, Tornado, Vindicator, WCM

Last year, we extensively covered a sales race that was developing between the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang.

Historically, the Mustang has nearly always outsold the Camaro. That has carried through from the very beginning in the 1960's - the Mustang was the first on the market and its leadership position stuck.

The new Camaro went on sale in April 2009 amid a sagging economy and poor public perception of General Motors. However, with a high amount of pent up demand and public hype, the Camaro handily outsold the Mustang.

Many figured this would be a short-term trend and that the car's sales would be very front-loaded. When the final numbers were tallied for 2009, the race was close but the Mustang eked out a

Let me pose two questions to you all, dear readers. First of all: how much power is too much? And second of all, what is it that makes a car a sleeper? Well, I'd venture that a Shelby GT500 has too much power.  550 horsepower from a huge supercharged V8 is excessive.  It's enough power to light the tires up clear through third gear.  It's enough power that if you buy one, you should automatically have a pending felony conviction for gross display of horsepower.  Or wreckless driving.  Or attempted manslaughter. Now, what's a sleeper?  Well, a sleeper is a car that looks stock, but is a lot faster than stock.  So is it possible for a car like a Shelby GT500, which has 550 horsepower, to