Mustangs, then and now

[low_delta]

2003 Mustangs
3.6L V6, 193 hp, 19/27 mpg
4.6L V8, 260 hp, 18/24 mpg
4.6L V8, 390 hp, 16/22 mpg

2011 Mustangs
3.7L V6, 305 hp, 19/30 mpg
5.0L V8, 412 hp, 18/25 mpg
5.4L supercharged V8, 550 hp, 15/23 mpg

First... 300 horsepower and 30 miles per gallon. That's pretty damn cool.

Second, I love the comparison of the 2003 GT model with the V8, and the 2011 V6. That's 20% less displacement, and 15% more horsepower. And better mileage.

What was that, the carmakers were telling us about not having the technology to make more efficient cars?

Comments

[ghostofzuul.livejournal.com]

i think formula one is back to using v8's and v12's but a few years ago some teams (including porsche) were running 1.5L 4cyl turbo engines that ran at about 18,000 rpm... :0

you could probably get a laptop off craigslist to dedicate to tuning software and get that and the cable you need to interface w/ your car off a mustang tuner site and do the computer stuff yourself... and save a bunch of $... might be fun weekend project... as i believe your technically advanced like that... if you did that and put on a cold air intake and did a stainless cat back exhaust with a flowmasters (you already have dual exhaust on your gt no?) and see about 30-40 hp more on the dyno... you could do the cold air intake yourself also and i believe there are several kits available... i don't know how handy you are with a torch but you could expect to pay around 400 or 500 for the exahust done right... it would sound so SICK also... depending on the size of the muffler you get you can make it so it only gets really loud past 4000 rpm or get smaller muffler so it shakes the block but is still legal ....

if you wanted to go sick you could explore the saleen catalog... get a hotter cam and different headers supercharger etc. it's limitless for those cars...

you should see what the hippies do to their volvo's around here... running 13's at the track on 1/4 mile day... lol.