Spinning tires and making smoke to show off your lack of launch control and the inability of your tires to transfer the power you're generating to the ground, obviously.

Honestly, it's basically rice imo.

 

agreed on all of this, here's my take on modern muscle cars, having owned 3 Evos, an FD, an STi, CTS-v, Lexus LS, Skyline, etc, etc, a handful of classic rods, etc

New Camaros: boats. awkward. I rented one for a few weeks and it drives like a bathtub. interior is almost useless. Mechanically unimpressive.

New Mustang: too much impractical for not enough hot rod. Does that make sense? If my car is going to have two, too big doors, a back shelf instead of a seat, and get 15 mpg, it better run 11's stock. So for me, I would rock a Mustang if it were a Cobra or GT500. Otherwise, not interested. In all of them, the interior looks like a woman's bathroom wrapped in fake leather.

New Corvette: king of the hill-still. If only it had a back seat, I would own one. Mechanically excellent with the good ol' fashioned small block Chevrolet V8 at its core. Looks good, handles good, quick even stock. Interior sucks.

 

Just because you can't go WOT from a stop doesn't mean that the power is useless! You have to feed in the throttle to the limits of the tires. That takes some skill and practice, versus just flooring an AWD car.

My CTS-V, for example, came stock with about 450 whp. I added 190 whp to that through mods. The car accelerates way faster now, even below the speed limit. Of course, if you just floor the accelerator then it would spin in either stock or modded form. But that's not the point.

Enough power to fully utilize the grip that your tires have.

 

FWIW, Car and Driver has tested various Evos, Camaros and Mustangs over the years at VIR in connection with their Lightning Lap series of articles. Here are the lap times:

2006 Evo IX MR 3:13.5
2008 Evo X MR: 3:13.3
2011 Evo X SE 3:10.6
2009 Camaro SS 3:09.5
2011 Mustang GT: 3:08.6

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...o-2013-page-10

 

The horsepower deficit is clear in those lap times, especially since I've driven all of those cars. Would be a much more fair comparison to at least tune and put an exhaust on the evo's. Or compare them on an autocross course where power is not as important. The Camaro is a pig. I would like to see in car to see how much the driver was fighting the mustang and Camaro around the track, vs how smooth the evo's probably were..

 

How would it be more fair to compare a modded car to a stock one? And comparing on an autocross course doesn't give a real world comparison. The real world where people actually drive has curves and straights, and generally speaking, a lot more straights.

As far as wanting to see the 2011 Mustang GT go around the track, here you go (looks pretty smooth to me):


To me, it looks like they left time on the table. And, keep in mind, that this is a solid-axle Mustang. The 2015 has an independent rear suspension.

 

Re-read the thread and see why those times were posted, and then give the evo the mods and lets say the Evo beats the mustang by 5 seconds. According to a poster the Mustang and Camaro can't handle but those times are great ignore who is beating what the out come says the Mustang and Camaro CAN handle and that they excell at it for their price range.

You admit the Mustang/Camaro are pigs but want to mod the Evo? They weigh 400lbs more minimum.

Maxing out a Mustang takes some skill yes but the Camaro is well composed, I know we're on an Evo forum but no need to bash another car.

 

I've driven both cars. My dads 2013 Camaro ZL1 on Michelin PSS's, and my cousins 2014 Mustang GT on Michelin PSS's. They are not well composed cars. The Camaro pushes until the back end snaps around, far from composed. The mustang GT has far better front grip (probably because of square tires sizes instead of staggered), but it is still pushy and then tail happy. The Camaro is not confidence inspiring, and the while the mustang is better, its still not great. Bashing is not what I'm doing. I'm simply making statements from my real world observations.

Also, is less than $1k, and a mod most evo owners do. A mod that will make the car faster around a track. And also something that doesn't improve the Camaro and mustang as much. Also, in other country's, evo's were available with 400hp at the crank, over 100 more than any U.S. models, so its not completely unfair.

Having an evo, and being able to put a decent amount of miles on the other cars, I can easily say I would not replace my evo with either of them.

 

I have a 2008 evo X. MY absolute baby, i drive it all the time, everytime, wherever i go. I have about 83xxx miles on it. Point is, i have driven it a lot, rain or snow, taken it to the track, been there done that. But then, somehow the murican red neck in me has been eying the mustang GT, the v8, the grunt, looks wicked. I was seriously thinking about getting one.
I managed to get a black 2015 gt premium with performance pack, no recaro seats for a week. A week to evaluate and see what it is.
I picked it up on a monday morning, first thing you notice is how awesome the interior is. Lets face it, honestly evo x has a very mediocre interior for 2015. Mustang blows it straight out. Things are functional, the touch screen is mehhhh but its functional. I loved the toggle switches, they are cheap but functional, nice to have a toggle switch in a car. makes you feel like tad bit cooler
The seats were heated and cooled, regular leather. descent lateral support, no where close to an evo recaros. But it was cooled on a mid summer day. I couldnt complain. Remember you cannot get the recaro seats on a mustang heated or cooled. Sucks if you live in a cold state.
Well, after admiring the interior and hooking up my phone to the bluetooth system( im a sucker for this since my 08 gsr has no bluetooth), i fired it up. GOD! the v8 grunt. nothing compares to a naturally aspirated linear reving V8. Sounded great, loved it. Amazing! Just wanted to sit there and listen to the burrble... it goes ggrr grr bblle grrrr. loved it. Its got a little back flow to it. sweet.
I just drove it back to my workplace, short drive, parked it and finished up my work early to head back home.
Come evening, i leave work early and head out in the stang. Man, first things first the clutch is sweet. In fact it was a little too soft for my taste. I have a act hdss which is hard, heavy and annoying to drive in stop n go traffic. Mustang clutch(of course i understand this is a 7 yr later developed OEM clutch) is great for daily driving. its got the right engagement point, not too tall nor too short. Just right. Dont get it me wrong, its no honda civic clutch. you can get some real quick shifts when you pair it right with the short throw on the gt. its good.
The biggest improvement which a lot of magazines and reviews understated in the 2015 gt is the refinement. The whole car is so refined... smooth, jerk free, great nvh, suspension has the right compliance, its much much softer than my evo but does not compromise cornering at all. I took the same ramp back home, at the very same speed as my evo. Body remained stiff, confidence inspiring, no jumpy rear end(like 2014 gt, thanks to irs). I loved it, my only complaint is that the steering didnt have enough feedback. in sport mode it stiffens up and all, but does not tell you what the road is doing. its numb. kinda lifeless. well its a perfect gt steering but as an evo drives its so dead.
During cornering and general driving i noticed that the mustang reminds you that you are driving a 3800lb car. it reminds you that you are chugging all that mass. this is in sharp contrast to my evo. my evo, with me comes in around 37xx pounds, but drives like a go kart. its literally a riot to drive. its so nimble, agile, i can point and shoot. I didnt feel too comfortable doing it on the gt. well maybe because i only had it for a week, but nevertheless from an evo perspective, the bulky gt remind me thats its heavy
Apart from the steering and feel, the mustang gt was a great car to drive. highway cruise was great, borderline luxurious, power was plenty(any gear, any rpm), no waiting for my turbo to spool, great car.
After 5 days, i absolutely fell in love with the stang. a great overall car. you can dd it, tour with it, track it, it will do anything you ask of it with no hassle. i wanted it so bad. i was headed back on friday to return the gt. I had made up my mind to get the gt, i calculated all my payments and all. i wanted a ruby red , base gt with performance package and recaro seats. The premium is not worth it imo. I returned it with a heavy heart.
When i returned the car and drove back home in my evo X, it put a big smile on my face. Something the gt didnt. the stupid turbo spooling music, my cobb bov, the intoxicating boost and above all the steering feel and handling. Take my word, there is nothing, no car i have ever driven which handles like an evo. the feel offered by the evo is sheer bliss. I didnt have the heart to sell my evo and buy the gt. In an ideal world, where the genie out of the lamp grants me a wish, i wanna keep the evo as my special fun ride and have the gt as my dd. But till i find the lamp, i will keep my baby. My mitsubishi lancer evolution X. for the pure joy of driving.

Note: The whole reason i write this is because, i have spent many sleepless nights contemplating on buying the 2015 mustang. It was a million dollar question which was answered in that one friday evening. Maybe your priorities are different, maybe you like the v8 or grunt or the raw 435 horses. I understand. But as a fellow evo lover, i thought i had to share this experience. Hope it helps

 

I know tons of people with mustangs. Know how many modded for performance? Zero. It's a muscle car. Most people that get them leave them alone, except for maybe the exhaust. Maybe 5% of owners mod for significant gains. Now, how many evo owners mod for performance? Exactly. So it's totally fair to throw on an exhaust and tune.

Really I feel like it's gonna come down to where you live/drive. If we're talking dd + stick all the way... in a city or somewhere with mostly straight roads, mustang is gonna take that. If we are talking country roads, mostly curves, evo is gonna take that.

 

Ford currently sells more Mustangs than Mitsubishi sells cars in the US. 5% of mustang sales is probably equivalent to yearly Evo sales. There was only a single year in the last 20 years where they didn't sell 70k+ and many of those years pre 2008 crash were well over 100k units.

Based on the popularity of various muscle car forums and the extensive aftermarket for cars like the mustang or Camaro, there are probably MORE people that modify their muscle cars when compared to people who modify their Evos. Granted, if you go by % of the respective car owning population, the Evo community would definitely produce much higher percentage of people modding their cars. The fact is if you show up at the track you probably aren't going to come across the soccer mom in her v6 mustang. You are much more likely to meet up with those that are into cars/performance and are modifying their cars.

 

I had a 2013 mustang gt 5.0, I traded it in on a 2014 evo x. I miss the mustang a lot but I really love the evo.

Only issue I had. First trip I took, 3hr drive. Car had less than 3k miles and the engine light was flashing. No drivability issues but I took it in, they flashed the PCM and I still had the issue.

A guy I work with bought a 2013 mustang I was going to get but passed on to get mine. He has less than 12k right now. When he 1st bought it, some kind of line was plugged on the 5 spd tranny and fluid was spraying out of it. That was 1k miles on the car. Since then, he had a new tranny put in, something went wrong with the power steering where it would shutoff while driving and that needed fixed. Now he came over 2days ago to tell me that the rear end is leaking. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't buy that one.

Mods I had on mine was an outlaw series catback exhaust. Amazingly loud!!! People thought I had long tube headers and off road x pipe. I also had a Barton short throw shifter. But all being said, I will own another coyote, but I'll get one in a few years when I could just pick one up for 10k and make a track car.

 

I think VIR is a good substitute for a country road. The Mustang was completely dominant over the Evo there. And if you are going to say that it's just about the horsepower of the Coyote V8, then how do you explain the V6 Mustang also beating the Evo? The 2011 V6 ran a 3:12.5 while riding the speed limiter down the straights, beating even the light Evo IX.

 

I find it odd that you found a Camaro to be less composed than a Mustang.

Most Mustang owners put exhaust/intake/tune on their cars just like with Evos, they're Mustangs available with 600+ HP so listing the max available for the Evo only makes it worse. They're both in the same price range with the mustang being cheaper so a stock vs stock race is more than fair.

Fact is starting in 2011 the Mustang became a contender in the modern world of handling.

 

I totally agree. I was very impressed at how well my mustang handled. Was also very easy to drift corners in. My evo x handles very very well, but it feels so slow compared to the mustang all around.

I also had the sight and sound package with headed seats. Blew the evo x interior out of the water. The sync system is so much more sophisticated than fuse