New Mustang V-6 Makes 305 Horsepower and 30 MPG (!)

Ford has been on a string of good news lately - the Fusion winning Car of the Year (COTY) and even profitability for the last quarter reached.

The Mustang, on the other hand, has been slipping a bit with recent news about the Camaro outselling it for the past few months. Ford aims to change that with announcement of a new engine for the Mustang at this week's Los Angeles International Auto Show.

The V-8 powertrains have always been where the action is at on muscle cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger. Particularly with the new Camaro, people looking for a good value are considering the V-6 equation more than ever before.

The V-6 in the Camaro is GM's 3.6-liter unit, and a quite good engine at that - CarThrottle recently posted our First Impressions article on the V-6 Camaro.

Ford's engine in the Mustang works to leapfrogs the Camaro's standard engine for 2011, offering an all-aluminum Duratec® 3.7-liter DOHC with Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT) V-6. Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president for Global Product Development says that the "Mustang is completely transformed with this new engine."

The 3.7-liter six revs to a 7,000 rpm redline, making 305 horsepower and 280 pound feet of torque. Perhaps most impressively, it delivers an expected 30 miles per gallon on the highway when equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission.

That figure amounts to a 25% increase over the 2010 model, and is achieved in part by changing over from a standard power steering system to an Electric Power Assist Steering (EPAS) system instead.

So what do you think, will Ford's bid to make the Mustang a more attractive package help it in the sales race against the Camaro? Tell us what you think in the comments section!