Mustang S550! Is it a pony car or a sports car

[2019fordmustang]

In my mind I always think of sports cars as two seater roadsters which are agile and fast like my 350z. My mustang GT is fast no doubt but I don't know if I can call it a true sports car. It's not as agile as a roadster and ofcourse very heavy and big giving it a true GT character. I love the ride on it. It's more comfortable than most sedans I have driven.

What do you think? What is your definition of a true sports car vs a GT car?

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[Kennysum1]

I think it is more of how it is being used rather than just a blanket statement for the entire line up. A stock GT is a Pony/GT car to me. But throw a twin turbo kit on it and another 10k in upgrades and a tune and now its a drag car.

Take a stock BRZ. To me that is not a Sports car or anything other than a cheap 4 banger made for fun and not to break the bank. But drop 25k into it and you could have a actual track car or a (terrible investment) decent fun and safe drag car.

That is just how I look at it.

 

[Sivi70980]

4 wheels = car
Literal pony emblem = ponycar
Literal GT badge = GTponycar
Sporty = sportsGTponycar
Edit: Strong = musclesportsGTponycar
Lots of fun to drive = superfunmusclesportsGTponycar

 

[NoVaGT]

It's a Pony Car.

It invented the market segment.

What you want to make of your own car, is entirely up to you.

 

[Jimmy Dean]

lots of room for debate here. I think the bigger question is, muscle car or pony car though, right?

imho, the mustang, from ecoboost to GT350 are pony cars. The GT500 is a muscle car, although it is more than capable of corner carving than any other muscle car in history.

The challenger is probably more boderline muscle than pony given the size, and the design principle of 'how big of a motor can we stick into it?'

in the original pony car/muscle car days, most mustangs/camaros and a number of others would be pony cars, while galaxies, chargers, etc would be muscle cars (but where would 'cudas fit in....hmmm...') but then you had cross overs, Boss '9s. drag pack 429 Mach 1s, GT500s, Yenkos, etc.

You could even count the rear seat delete cars as sports cars, but that kind of muddies the water as the platforms are not really designed around being a 2 seater. and while pony and muscle cars can certainly be faster and more nimble than some sports cars, there's still a feel about a sports car vs a stronger/faster pony/muscle car. Take the 2002 firebird for example. not the quickest or best handling car around, and gets put to shame by alot these days, wasn't ahead of the mustang in it's time either, but it still had a feel about it that was different than mustangs of the day, even the faster better handling IRS mustangs like the 2003 Cobra)

 

[Ewheels]

It is quite literally the above definition exactly.

Personally "pony car" sounds completely ridiculous and silly. My nearly 500hp car is a PONY?? No thanks, I'll leave that term for children.

Now GT cruiser vs sportscar...I think you could make either into either one. Take a two door and give it comfy seats and soft suspension = GT cruiser
Two door with stiff and responsive suspension that holds you in = sports car

 

[Norm Peterson]

In my mind I always think of sports cars as two seater roadsters which are agile and fast like my 350z. My mustang GT is fast no doubt but I don't know if I can call it a true sports car. It's not as agile as a roadster and ofcourse very heavy and big giving it a true GT character. I love the ride on it. It's more comfortable than most sedans I have driven.

What do you think? What is your definition of a true sports car vs a GT car?

True sports cars were much smaller and much lighter than a 350Z. The 350Z is closer in those ways to today's Mustang GT, and the difference in agility is more likely tied to suspension tuning (bushing selection in particular) with about a 3" shorter wheelbase still counting for something. Even the static weight distributions between these two cars isn't much different.

The truth is that heavier cars will nearly always handle more "deliberately" than lighter cars that inherently feature lower values of something called 'polar moment of inertia" and something tied to how hard the yaw moment generated by the front tires when initially steered has to work to get that PMOI rotating.


Norm

 

[NoVaGT]

.....throw a twin turbo kit on it and another 10k in upgrades and a tune and now its a drag car.

Take a stock BRZ....... decent fun and safe drag car.

Mind me asking how old you are?

This post is like you're stuck in 1968 on Woodward Ave. Everything is a drag car, and Mustangs are fast cars in a straight line.

 

[NoVaGT]

lots of room for debate here. I think the bigger question is, muscle car or pony car though, right?

imho, the mustang, from ecoboost to GT350 are pony cars. The GT500 is a muscle car, although it is more than capable of corner carving than any other muscle car in history.

The challenger is probably more boderline muscle than pony given the size, and the design principle of 'how big of a motor can we stick into it?'

in the original pony car/muscle car days, most mustangs/camaros and a number of others would be pony cars, while galaxies, chargers, etc would be muscle cars (but where would 'cudas fit in....hmmm...') but then you had cross overs, Boss '9s. drag pack 429 Mach 1s, GT500s, Yenkos, etc.

You could even count the rear seat delete cars as sports cars, but that kind of muddies the water as the platforms are not really designed around being a 2 seater. and while pony and muscle cars can certainly be faster and more nimble than some sports cars, there's still a feel about a sports car vs a stronger/faster pony/muscle car. Take the 2002 firebird for example. not the quickest or best handling car around, and gets put to shame by alot these days, wasn't ahead of the mustang in it's time either, but it still had a feel about it that was different than mustangs of the day, even the faster better handling IRS mustangs like the 2003 Cobra)

Nah....still Pony cars. Not muscle cars. No matter what trim/package.

Muscle cars were mod-sized sedans. Pony cars were much smaller.

Challenger/Charger = muscle car.

Mustang/Camaro= pony cars.

 

[Jimmy Dean]

Nah....still Pony cars. Not muscle cars. No matter what trim/package.

Muscle cars were mod-sized sedans. Pony cars were much smaller.

Challenger/Charger = muscle car.

Mustang/Camaro= pony cars.

See, I would disagree somewhat:

" This class of cars is very similar to pony cars, it is very hard to set the two apart. They are also American made, two-door coupes. But the difference is, muscle cars are more focused on raw power rather than handling. They are powered by big-block V8 engines and are very quick in a straight line but struggle in corners. They are basically the ultimate drag race car. "

For a pony car, you have to be smaller, and more focused on handling than raw power. For muscle car, simple needs to be focused on the power with handling on the back burner, size not a a qualifier.

You point out the challenger as being a muscle car, but it is only slightly longer and heavier than the mustang, and 1" wider nowhere near the 2-3 feet that traditional muscle cars had on pony cars, or the 500 pounds plus.

 

[Sivi70980]

Nah....still Pony cars. Not muscle cars. No matter what trim/package.

Muscle cars were mod-sized sedans. Pony cars were much smaller.

Challenger/Charger = muscle car.

Mustang/Camaro= pony cars.

But the Camaro doesn't have a horse anywhere on it... I'm a bit extra today.
Same logic, all of those cars currently have plenty of "muscle".

Ultimately, I don't think any of us deciding to buy our mustangs had our decision hinged on if it's a pony or muscle or sports or GT car. It's one of the most attainable fun things on 4 wheels that can be had, plain and simple.

 

[Norm Peterson]

It is quite literally the above definition exactly.

Personally "pony car" sounds completely ridiculous and silly. My nearly 500hp car is a PONY?? No thanks, I'll leave that term for children.

Now GT cruiser vs sportscar...I think you could make either into either one. Take a two door and give it comfy seats and soft suspension = GT cruiser
Two door with stiff and responsive suspension that hold you in = sports car

While the current Mustang has credibility as either a GT cruiser or a sports car (at least in terms of most measured statistics), it really isn't either one. Not quite. Subjective feel isn't the same as in a 2400-ish lb Miata.

We ended up with the 'ponycar' tag because at the time that best suited the description of a personal sporty car with somewhat more power and luxury than the traditional sports roadsters of the day but less power and better handling than the true muscle cars of the same era.

Personally I prefer to have other people underestimate what my car might be able to do based on its traditional category name than overestimate it in any way.


Norm

 

[Jimmy Dean]

While the current Mustang has credibility as either a GT cruiser or a sports car (at least in terms of most measured statistics), it really isn't either one. Not quite. Subjective feel isn't the same as in a 2400-ish lb Miata.

We ended up with the 'ponycar' tag because at the time that best suited the description of a personal sporty car with somewhat more power and luxury than the traditional sports roadsters of the day but less power and better handling than the true muscle cars of the same era.

Personally I prefer to have other people underestimate what my car might be able to do based on its traditional category name than overestimate it in any way.


Norm

yes, very true. there was such a delineation between a cars capabilities back then that simply does not exist now. Now a car can truly be VERY good at many things. It can be fast. It can cut corners. It can be relatively cheap. reliable, efficient. you used to be able to get only 1, maybe 2 of these things in a single package.

 

[Kennysum1]

Mind me asking how old you are?

This post is like you're stuck in 1968 on Woodward Ave. Everything is a drag car, and Mustangs are fast cars in a straight line.

I am 32 years old. 1 foot in the grave.

You missed my point. Almost any car can be whatever you want it to be. You can make a drag car out of a BRZ or a Mustang.

Mustangs do excel in a straight line. They are not track cars compared to other cars. Hell I got a 4 door sedan that will out track a 350R. Ford did not do a good job making a track ready Mustang. At least at the price point they made the 350 and 500 at. For that kind of money get a Porsche and run circles around a Mustang.

The Coyote engine is a beast. Love it. It takes more power and mods with ease and for cheap. But it is not going to win any races outside of the drag strip.

 

[Ewheels]

For that kind of money get a Porsche and run circles around a Mustang.

But it is not going to win any races outside of the drag strip.

For the same price as a 350, you could maybe afford a Cayman. A 350 will run circles around a Cayman every day of the week

The GT4 Mustang has won several races over the years.

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