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Ford Mustang (2005) vs. 2005 Pontiac GTO
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Mustang GT 0-60mph - 5.6, 0-100mph 13.7, 1/4 mile 14.2 @ 103 mph, Top speed 148
GTO (0-60 time - 5.1) - (0-100mph - 11.8) (1/4 mile 13.6mph) (Top speed 158)
And still the winner based on exactly preference and not the bottom line (THE NUMBERS) is the Mustang GT. This comparos have too much "feeling" and not a lot of substance. Like my Boss used to say: "THE TRUTH IS IN THE NUMBERS" and not the number of vehicles sold but the performance numbers. By the time the Charger and the GT get to 100mph I would be waiting at the finish line after having a conversation on my cellphone. 2.1 seconds of difference from 0-100 mph...that in the world of street rancing means loosing a bet and somebody has to wash my car.
As you seen, when wetalk about Muscle Cars, we are not about slalom and skid pad so much as someone with an EVo or a WRX STi. A muscle car is about the way it growls at high revs, is about the burn-out $220 a tire and about prescence. We love to hate in America and the minute someone said that the style was bland, all the sheep followed the herd. It is funny that when the car came out it was JD Powers sports car of the year, the car was compared to a Mercedes AMG SLK, and has shared the track of an SRT8 300 and a CSV. In the comparo with the caddy and the 300 they used a 6 speed tranny instead of the automatic like the other two cars...I wonder why did that happened...? Of course! Car and Driver wasn't going to put down the Caddy from 0-60 and 1/4 mile since the auto tranny from the GTO would have made exactly the same numbers. GM will not allow a flagship model being out down by a $22K less vehicle.
I will admit, that the drawback of the GTO has been the slalom and the Skidpad...let's think about that too: I bought my Phantom black/black leather 18" alloys and I have tried GTO's with the 17" alloys and for those of you GTO owners out there: MAKE THE CHANGE. I changed the tires to Continental Sport Contact 2 (used by Ferrari on its F430) the tire is about $255 each and the difference is incredible on everyday driving and road grip. No, I dont work with continental, I happen to have an Audi 1.8T that had them. (My Audi is chiptunned, Diverter valve changed and KN filter - Dyno test @ 240 HP 0-60 in 6.4 sec 1/4 mile in 14.9 - I can almost race with the R/T...my wife drives that car now and I get to drive my GreaTOne.
Consider this: I got my Goat for $29,285 ( $1000.00 Hot Buttons, $500.00 Military discount, Employee discount - I am a though buyer. Barely a $500.00 difference from the Mustang...
Umm... The CTS-V comes only with a 6-speed manual transmission.
I have gotten many thumbs up, "Hey, Nice Car" people following me into the parking lot to ask me questions about it, etc. At the car shows I go to with it, many people are interested etc. Just on the highway today, many cars slowed down and to look at my GTO, checking it out. For a supposedly dull car, everyone seems to notice it !!
All I have to say is sense I bought my 2005 GTO I have seen more heads turn than ever before. Even my 15 year old daughter say she feels like a movie star in my GTO cause everyone looks as we pass. My wife is getting tired of all the people noticing my GTO. When I drive down the road people pull up next to me to say how nice it looks. It might be the red with chrome wheels and smoked glass. Even the guy in the new 350zx nissan giving me the thumbs up. Everywhere you look you see the mustang. It's the price. But they don't mess with me. They know when they see that 6.0 on the back. The mustang does have the looks, but I want power. So I went with the GTO, and I am a GM person, not a ford person.
I know what you are saying. The same here. Every day someone is telling me how nice my GTO is, If not 5 people. I can't wait to get up in the morning to drive it.
before i took delivery i asked the dealer if they would remove all the GTO/6.0 badges. they said they couldn't do it because they were "pinned" onto the body. the car is in the body shop now for about $600 of rear damage (bumper cover). it may be futile but i might pay them to do the body work necessary to remove all the badges, and also might ask them to put on the holden bumper cover which is smooth and does not say GTO .
btw, it's tough to keep up with this thread, so many postings
I bought 3D vinyl letters for the GTO symbol at the bottom of the plastic fascia on the rear to fill it in. To me it looks better. Some of the Mustang guys do that with the Cobra letters imprint on their rear fascia, buy vinyl letters so you can see it better. I got vanity plates as well.
one mustang guy (previous-gen) rolled up next to me at a light, saying that he wished we were first in line. i told him i would be happy to blow his doors off even though my car wasn't broken in yet. when he realized it was a 2005, he said "never mind, i don't have a chancet". i told him, hey, i can't see if if you have a blower or something under your hood, but if you do, you'd have a chance. he said no way.
be safe out there folks. keep the racing on the track, and keep the other drivers in mind when you are on the street - make your driving moves to increase their safety ! this is the responsibility especially of us more skilled drivers, to make moves that increase the safety of the less skilled drivers. ok, all that said, i'll probably get mowed down by a dump truck tomorrow but hey at least i'll go out with the right attitude, maybe saving the life of some clueless geo metro driver who will never realize it, as i get flattened by the dump truck. ok then, on that positive note, TTFN !!!!
STOP TAILGATING! AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS NOT TO DO SO.
I have seen accidents produced merely by some idiot that thought the person in front of them wasn't fast enough at 85mph. There is no road in America with a 85MPH speed limit. The person in front did not gave the approaching vehicle the right of way and the vehicle in the back pulled in front of the other vehicle and slammed the brakes. Road rage last 5 minutes, the sentence in Jail is a life due to reckless driving and homicide. 5 People died that day.Driving that fast should be left for the track. I don't want to sound dramatic, I just want to see that our roads are safer and that we can see our GTO's 20-30 years from now and enjoy the view-sound of a wonderful piece of machinery. :shades:
Funny you should mention that.
Avon Mountain Accident
This was like 2 miles from my girlfriend's house.
You can talk about what is gonna be. But lets talk about right now. I have a 2005 GTO and there is not a mustang made now that will keep up with me. Will there be a mustang? Let's wait and see. Talk is cheep. Mustang are allways slower.
Wake up. The 2005 mustang don't have a chance against my 2005 GTO. The mustang does have the looks but not the speed like my 2005 GTO. It my sell better than my GTO but maybe that's because it's $10,000 less than my GTO. My GTO has better times over the mustang. And as far as the looks of my GTO people love it. Everyone stop and looks. I would rather drive a 400 hp car that u don't see every time you turn around like the stang that everyone has cause it's cheep.
Sorry boy. what you read in magazine don't get the job done. There is not a stang out there that will stay up with my 2005 GTO :-). I love my GTO and everyone else does too.
lowflier from work
mustang_svt from home
Also, check out the August edition of MPH (Maximum Performance & Horsepower magazine. They did a comparo test of the '05 GTO vs. the Mustang GT and Charger R/T. GTO won in all the main categories.
Just watching the speed channel the other day the Gto owned the mustang in every 1on1 test they did
Here is my story: I had a 1985(225 hp) and a 1994 Mustang GT Cobra (245) and I have always been a Ford-Mustang guy. I recently decided to get a sportier car than the one I was driving, a 2000 Jetta 1.8T. I think I forgot the way a true muscle car feels and drives and the sense of power with the exhaust sound...
I was mad at the fact that they know they have a gold mine and pretend that Mustang aficionados like me will pay 2K over invoice and just be a Laydown deal. I like shopping for cars, I like making the sales personel work for their commision and I do understand that dealers have to make money but I will fight the very last penny I could on this one.
I saw the '04 GTO when it came out on the street. Bland. Said nothing. I have never had a GM car in my life and it was considered sacrilege in my family to do so. Then, I saw a movie called "The Last Ride" with one of my favorite actors, Dennis Hopper and I told my salef I should give it a try just to see it in a dealer nearby in "close caption" after the first glance at close distance and after seeing the interior I said "I gotta get me one of these!". The next day I went to the Buick,Pontiac dealer and had a test drive. Sorry for my family and Mustang fans. This car is something else. It put a smile on my face just starting it. The exhaust sound is incredible, the engine growls ans kind of tilt the car when you rev it. The interior was far superior than the new GT, at 70 MPH the car was doing way under 2000 RPM at 6 gear.
I cut a deal with the dealer paying $31700 for the car plus the military incentive ($500.00) so really $31,200 and even if I had to pay full MSRP on this one unlike the Mustang dealer there was no markup. I can't wait until Saturday. Is there a way to post pictures in this forum? Sorry if I sound way too excited but I guess you guys understand the newbies...
I had to wait a couple of weeks for this one but i will bet it will be all worth it. I am waiting to break in the engine...oh sweet!!!!!!! Rev it up guys!!!
Ford, like every manufacturer, has some dishonest and disreputable dealers. The Mustang is such a runaway hit some are definitely taking advantage of consumers. However, if the market will bear a higher than MSRP price, than that unfortunately is what many people will charge.....and pay.
I fell in love with the new Mustang's combination of modern and classic styling, great performance, and total package. I shopped around until I found a dealer who was honest and fair. I ended up having to wait 7 weeks for my order, but I got it $1,000.00 below MSRP (~$27,000.00). I didn't get the automatic or the overpriced Shaker 1000. For me, the 4 grand difference in price, thousands less in cost of ownership, larger trunk, and unique styling clinched the deal. No argument that a stock GTO beats a stock Mustang GT, but that 4 grand extra can even those odds with a little help from Vortech, Steeda, and Eibach.
The feel for each car is different but I am in no case a street racer, I just like the feel of a true muscle car here in the States with my GTO and back in the island with my GT. I will disagree with anybody either trying to put the Mustang GT or the GTO down. They are an American Tradition. The Mustang has won the 10 best cars in C&D, Won the opinion (Not the performance) of this months auto mobile mag comparo. I only wish that when they came up with the Saleen version, it wold have been in the mid 30's but they went way i the Mid 40's for one.
There you go. It's only a dream to know you are in a 400HP car...you either have to pay over 50 grand when the GT500 comes out or pay 48K for a Saleen, a Corvette for 47K or a CTS-v for 51K.
Why wait until saturday, I am going to the dealer today!!!!! :shades: :surprise:
The GTO's performance, sound, and interior are impressive. I just wish the styling was better. While the 2005 is way better than the 2004, I still find the styling (like the new Charger) to border on the bland. I know GM and Dodge could have figured out a way to take the modern performance and combine it with some retro styling features. The GTO is way better than the Charger, but neither evokes an evisceral feeling of "muscle" in me.
Oh yeah...the Saleen is a rip, the Shelby GT500 is sick, and the more any American car manufacturer makes a great car the better!
Just like if you want to be fair and even...give a Mustang GT owner $3-4 grand for performance upgrades and then run it against a GTO. In the end, a car is more than the sum of its parts and that's why the Mustang is currently the rave. Most people could care less about .3 going 0-60 or a second or two in the 1/4 mile. It is sublimely good in all categories and more than any other car on the market captures the old muscle car feel with modern fit and finish.
His opinion is that GM just rolled over and died with the F-bodies. He also thinks Ford hit a grandslam with the new Mustang. While he acknowledged that the GTO has it all over the Mustang in pure straightline performance, the Mustang kills GTO in style, and in this segment style matters. No kidding; this has been discussed endlessly in here.
But what hasn't been discussed is the fact that the STYLE (coupled with good performance), is bringing a lot of people (YOUNG people) back from foreign nameplates to Ford. In other words, many people will be buying Fords, 10-15 years from now who might otherwise be buying Toyotas and Honda because of the Mustang. This is not the case with the GTO. Most GTO buyers (not all certainly, but most) were already GM fans. And most GTO buyers are NOT kids/young adults. Yeah, I know, supposedly 'large' numbers of BMW owners have switched to the GTO. What, 50-100? What is that compared to 10k-20k people buying a Mustang instead of a 350Z? (Or the 25k-50k buying a V6 Mustang instead of a Chevy Cobalt?)
The point being that Ford is helping themselves out (moreso than GM) in the LONG run by bringing in a lot more young buyers.
Remember the Cobalt SS supercharged does outperform the Mustang V6 for similar price and gets better gas mileage. Simple pulley swap on SS and it's running low 14's.
From what I have seen most V8 Mustang buyers are not kids/young adults either. Most of the youngers ones are buying V6 Mustang. High insurance rates for a V8 Mustang if you are young. Just like F bodies. GTO has one of the lowest insurane rates I have ever seen for a 400hp car. It's not much more then my 200hp family 4 door sedan. I am in my early 30's.
Don't forget, all GTO's come fully loaded with the 400hp LS2 V8, there is no base V6 models. The gas guzzler tax on automatic. That certainly doesn't help GTO sales. Enjoy what you bought.
Charger, Stang & GTO are all good choices for people. At least we get 3 choices for now. It hasn't been this good since the early 1970's.
Yes, style is subjective and I'm sure that (to your eyes) the GTO looks good. But, my impression is that you were ALREADY a GM buyer and Pontiac aficionado so GM didn't really GAIN anything there. To help regain (or stop the slide with) market share, GM must win over buyers of other nameplates. The performance of the GTO certainly has what it takes. But if owners of other buyers were turned off by the styling of the GrandAm and GrandPrix, they're not going to give the GTO much of a chance.
The Cobalt isn't just competing with the Mustang V6; it's also going up against a whole slew of other FWD coupes, some with similar or better performance. But a V6 Mustang offers something the import badges DON'T: RWD and 'classic' styling.
Most of the youngers ones are buying V6 Mustang.
EXACTLY. What they are NOT buying are yet another FWD sporty coupe. And what they are NOT buying are GTO's. And when these younger kids 'graduate' from their V6 Mustang, Ford has a better shot at keeping them in another FoMoCo product. This is my whole point. With the Mustang, Ford is bringing in many more young buyers who previously would never have considered a Ford. Who cares if these young'uns are buying V6's instead of V8's? GM, on the other hand, is trying to scavenge sales from other nameplates for the more 'financially established' buyer.
IMO, the GTO succeeds more by keeping existing GM owners at home while the Mustang attracts more new customers to Ford.
I guess my whole beef is that GM basically abandoned the whole youthful ponycar market with the demise of the F-bodies thinking that the market was moving more and more towards inexpensive, sporty FWD coupes. I also think that the huge success of the Mustang kinda caught GM with their pants down.
The Mustang always brought in young buyers, and sold well. so did the Fbody until it's last few yrs. but I see your point. Too bad GM can't bring it back. Time will tell.
2005 Mustang has 55% of the Sporty Car Market so far in some July news article I read.
It's definitely a success for 2005, but As with the Thunderbird and the PT Cruiser, the first year sales may be its best.
Sorry; sometimes I jump to conclusions. From your screen name, I was assuming that you had both a GXP and a GTO. I've also gotten the impression (not necessarily from you) that a large number of GTO buyers are frustrated F-body fans.
On the point about GM not mass marketing the GTO, you are correct. What GM needs to do is produce a 6 cylinder pony car to compete for the entry level buyer and have a souped up version of the pony car to give the 6 cylinder buyer a greater gotta have factor. Perhaps GM figures the Solstice to be that car. GM was behind the times when the first Pony cars came out, as the Camaro and Firebird were responses to the sucess of the original Mustang.
However I did not buy my GTO to save GM but because it as the best rear wheel drive coupe for the money.
GXP is a hoot to drive. My Company car. It was either that or a V6 300. Not HEMI, so I took V8 Grand Prix. Had a good sales year. Only negative is it's FWD. Too bad GM couldn't make RWD.
GTO sees cruise nights/car shows and some in town every driving.
Acura is the 4 door family sedan. Many transmissions later. Still going. Not anymore reliable then any American car I have had.
I am not a frustrated Fbody fan. I used to have one, but the GTO is much more refined, much better interior then any Fbody. And usable back seats that and adult can fit in nicely. There is no comparison, other then the drivetrain.
Remember some Fbodies in 2002 were nearly the same price new as a 2005 GTO is now. Go figure.
The GTO defiitely has an understated, "sleeper" style. The problem is unlike a BMW M3 or 330, it doesn't have the name or impressive history for quality and performance (nor the large pricetag!). A BMW has an understated elegance and style. The GTO just looks too much like a rebadged Cavalier or Grand Am.
by the way, for those who say GTO parts will be slow/tough to get, i don' t have any evidence to counter that. the dealer dude suspected the same. i think that the parts my car needs may be being sent by two separate outrigger canoes from australia right now. (antenna modulator & seatbelt adjuster mechanism/slider).
so, yeah, i'm a GM guy too and i think ford hit a home run with mustang, big time. either that, or the basketball analogy: nothin but net.
it's fun to talk to mustang guys as a GTO owner though - they become demure and respectful in the presence of the all-out GTO superiority. as they should be!
The GTO marque definitely has THE NAME and a impressive history for performance. This 2005 is the fastest/most powerfull stock one ever made. As for quality, the last GTO was 1974.
"The GTO just looks too much like a rebadged Cavalier or Grand Am."
The Mustang looks like a copy of 1968 Mustang, not too original. I'm glad they didn't make GTO retro. Imagine a redone 1974 Nova/Ventura Gto? Argh.. Anyway as we all know it's a rebadged Holden Monaro which is a car that has been compared to the BMW M5 in terms of performance. Check C&D Sept 2001 issue. It's also been compared to Mercedes SL55 AMG, also pretty impressive. My 2005 generates a lot of attention, people at lights, walking buy as I'm driving, car shows etc, asking me questions, saying NICE CAR.
meanwhile i do enjoy checking most all the new mustangs i see, trying ignore the v6/rental ones, and hoping to see a really beefy one soon, an SVT/garter-snake, whatever they call the fastest mustangs. after my GTO's warranty is expired (ahem) i plan to bring the GTO to the 1/4 mile track - maybe the fastest new mustangs will be out by then, i'd like to line up against one.
I considered the new GTO, and could have definitely been happy with it, but the rest of the family gave it the collective thumbs down based on styling alone. The impressive performance attributes of the GTO were not enough to win me over.
We purchased one of the first GT Convertibles (Redfire Metallic with Interior Upgrade Package) and could not be happier with our decision.
I applaud Ford for building an American car that appeals to the masses. Ford offers the Mustang in various models, trim levels and engine configurations that appeal to young and old and a variety of income levels. It's called marketing and is the bread and butter of the automotive industry.
The new Mustang certainly has handling and performance characteristics not seen in previous generations. Drive one, you'll like i!. This is not to put a knock on the previous Mustangs as Ford has been on this run for 40 years. The Mustang is an American icon whether you like it or not.