RE: Ford Mustang is best-selling sports car on earth
Discussion
GranCab said:
1/ M4s, C63 Coupes, RS5s et al are variants of saloon cars and could never be classified as sports cars.
2/ At least the Mustang is a stand alone model.
3/ Muscle cars have more power than pony cars.
Surely 'Muscle Cars' are mid size (by US standards)saloon bodies + biggest available engine originally intended for a larger car + tuning, so in that sense the M3 is nearer to the traditional muscle car than is a Mustang.2/ At least the Mustang is a stand alone model.
3/ Muscle cars have more power than pony cars.
Don't really care what a Mustang is though- it's unique and I love it!
Edited by mac96 on Wednesday 24th May 09:38
I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to correct me, but didn't the radically downsized (and hateful) Mustang II of the seventies come in RHD?
As a teenager I used to work weekends washing cars for a small town dealer and we took in a white, 5.0 auto with a blue buttoned velour interior. Was probably the biggest-engined car I'd driven up to that point.
Seem to remember it had chrome wheels and the worst faux wood dash I've ever seen. Sounded good though (to a 17 year old, at least).
As a teenager I used to work weekends washing cars for a small town dealer and we took in a white, 5.0 auto with a blue buttoned velour interior. Was probably the biggest-engined car I'd driven up to that point.
Seem to remember it had chrome wheels and the worst faux wood dash I've ever seen. Sounded good though (to a 17 year old, at least).
I'm really struggling with my old definition of "Sports car" at the moment.
It used to be, 2 seater (or 2+2), 2 doors, rear wheel drive, front or mid-engined, but more important than that, to me, it needs to be built purely as a sports car, not some tricked up version of a standard model (there go your hot hatches, M3's and the like).
We have so much variety in cars now that my definition doesn't always seem to work. The Mustang certainly fits the bill on all specs, but it's as heavy as the likes of an XKR or DB9 - which puts it more in line with a GT. But then isn't a GT just a sub-category of sports car?
Either way, love these. See a few every day now, but they look great. I entered BOTB to win one at the airport last week but sadly it wasn't my turn to win! That said, I think a big car would struggle in the lanes around here.
It used to be, 2 seater (or 2+2), 2 doors, rear wheel drive, front or mid-engined, but more important than that, to me, it needs to be built purely as a sports car, not some tricked up version of a standard model (there go your hot hatches, M3's and the like).
We have so much variety in cars now that my definition doesn't always seem to work. The Mustang certainly fits the bill on all specs, but it's as heavy as the likes of an XKR or DB9 - which puts it more in line with a GT. But then isn't a GT just a sub-category of sports car?
Either way, love these. See a few every day now, but they look great. I entered BOTB to win one at the airport last week but sadly it wasn't my turn to win! That said, I think a big car would struggle in the lanes around here.
swerni said:
mac96 said:
GranCab said:
1/ M4s, C63 Coupes, RS5s et al are variants of saloon cars and could never be classified as sports cars.
2/ At least the Mustang is a stand alone model.
3/ Muscle cars have more power than pony cars.
Surely 'Muscle Cars' are mid size (by US standards)saloon bodies + biggest available engine originally intended for a larger car + tuning, so in that sense the M3 is nearer to the traditional musckle car than is a Mustang.2/ At least the Mustang is a stand alone model.
3/ Muscle cars have more power than pony cars.
Don't really care what a Mustang is though- it's unique and I love it!
Unique - being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else
Don't those two somewhat contradict each other?
All too complicated. It's a very basic distinction this sales stat is based on worldwide perception, not the specialist motorsport heritage mekka UK perspective.
For 'regular folks', a sports car is something sportier in shape than a normal car (if I understood their simple car minds). Just ask 20 persons in the street to point out the sports cars from the others and that pattern emerges (unless you live in a motorsports town perhaps).
Bit like distinguishing a laptop from a desktop, people don't give anything for what brand, model, processors, graphic card, HDD, RAM it has etc. Either it is, or it isn't.
A Mustang doesn't pass very well as a 'regular car'...
For 'regular folks', a sports car is something sportier in shape than a normal car (if I understood their simple car minds). Just ask 20 persons in the street to point out the sports cars from the others and that pattern emerges (unless you live in a motorsports town perhaps).
Bit like distinguishing a laptop from a desktop, people don't give anything for what brand, model, processors, graphic card, HDD, RAM it has etc. Either it is, or it isn't.
A Mustang doesn't pass very well as a 'regular car'...
Onehp said:
I overheard them, 'what a cool sportscar'. And mostly, yes, people react to the low, wide shape of a coupe.
So all coupes are sports cars now? The general public are mostly clueless, plenty of people would call a fast estate or SUV a "sports car".99dndd said:
Of course it's a sports car, it was built for motorsport. Drag racing to be precise.
Sports cars are distinct from motorsports. Top fuel dragsters and Formula 1 cars are built for motorsports, neither are sports cars. The Mazda MX5 was not built specifically for motorsport, yet it is a sports car.Onehp said:
All too complicated. It's a very basic distinction this sales stat is based on worldwide perception, not the specialist motorsport heritage mekka UK perspective.
For 'regular folks', a sports car is something sportier in shape than a normal car (if I understood their simple car minds). Just ask 20 persons in the street to point out the sports cars from the others and that pattern emerges (unless you live in a motorsports town perhaps).
Bit like distinguishing a laptop from a desktop, people don't give anything for what brand, model, processors, graphic card, HDD, RAM it has etc. Either it is, or it isn't.
A Mustang doesn't pass very well as a 'regular car'...
By your definition a Vauxhall Corsa with a hideous bodykit would be a sports car, because it doesn't look like a 'regular car' any more.For 'regular folks', a sports car is something sportier in shape than a normal car (if I understood their simple car minds). Just ask 20 persons in the street to point out the sports cars from the others and that pattern emerges (unless you live in a motorsports town perhaps).
Bit like distinguishing a laptop from a desktop, people don't give anything for what brand, model, processors, graphic card, HDD, RAM it has etc. Either it is, or it isn't.
A Mustang doesn't pass very well as a 'regular car'...
A laptop has very clear differences to a desktop computer which relate to it's intended use. There is no overlap or ambiguity in this case, so it's an extremely poor analogy.
VladD said:
ash73 said:
AndySheff said:
Front mounted V8. Coupe or Cab. RWD. Manual box (if you want it). 0-60 in well under 5 seconds. Nope. Not a sports car.
Good point, well presented 
FN2TypeR said:
Fair play to them, I have seen far more on the UK roads than I expected to TBH and a large proportion of them, again surprising due to VED/fuel, seem to be the V8 model 
I would expect most of them to be the 'full fat' V8 version. It seems incongruous to me that anyone would acquire a Mustang with a piddly 4 banger up front Garvin said:
FN2TypeR said:
Fair play to them, I have seen far more on the UK roads than I expected to TBH and a large proportion of them, again surprising due to VED/fuel, seem to be the V8 model
I would expect most of them to be the 'full fat' V8 version. It seems incongruous to me that anyone would acquire a Mustang with a piddly 4 banger up front Mr2Mike said:
By your definition a Vauxhall Corsa with a hideous bodykit would be a sports car, because it doesn't look like a 'regular car' any more.
A laptop has very clear differences to a desktop computer which relate to it's intended use. There is no overlap or ambiguity in this case, so it's an extremely poor analogy.
It was a good analogy, an exaggerated one as it seems hard to get across that people in general don't give a sA laptop has very clear differences to a desktop computer which relate to it's intended use. There is no overlap or ambiguity in this case, so it's an extremely poor analogy.
t about how a car is to drive to define it as a sports car. It's about the shape. You are complicating it with dragging in a Corsa with spoilers (there are inbetween things for laptops and desktops too), this is about the Mustang which is pretty clear cut.Ask 100 random people if a Mustang is a sports car or not. In the world, not just at your motorsport pub or this forum. Does anybody here really think that the majority will answer No? Will you really try to educate all of the ones that answer Yes? Good luck...
Edited by Onehp on Wednesday 24th May 10:57
ITT: PH does philosophy of language?
My concern with the Mustang is less about whether it fits into whatever arbitrary definition we give the phrase "sports car", and more to do with how big it is compared with the roads near me. Be hard to enjoy a car round here if you have to pull right in and slow right down whenever there's a Range Rover that's precious about getting its arches dirty coming in the other direction.
My concern with the Mustang is less about whether it fits into whatever arbitrary definition we give the phrase "sports car", and more to do with how big it is compared with the roads near me. Be hard to enjoy a car round here if you have to pull right in and slow right down whenever there's a Range Rover that's precious about getting its arches dirty coming in the other direction.
Question I want answered is when was it NOT the world's best-selling 'sports car'?
Americans buy em by the bucket load. Now brimmed by a few more from Europe and elsewhere. Given the US demand for cars like this, its only serious rival is the Camaro.
UK's best-selling 'sports car' is the Audi TT by the way.
Americans buy em by the bucket load. Now brimmed by a few more from Europe and elsewhere. Given the US demand for cars like this, its only serious rival is the Camaro.
UK's best-selling 'sports car' is the Audi TT by the way.
Onehp said:
Ask 100 random people if a Mustang is a sports car or not. In the world, not just at your motorsport pub or this forum. Does anybody here really think that the majority will answer No? Will you really try to educate all of the ones that answer Yes? Good luck...
Those random people might have no interest in cars. So why is their answer more valid than the opinion of people who do have an interest in cars, as most of the posters here do? Fast cars are not necessarily sports cars, and sports cars are not necessarily fast. I can't think of a single car that's over 1.5 tonnes that could correctly be called a sports car. A 370Z is pushing the definition of a sports car to near breaking point, a Mustang is definitely outside that definition.My friend recently bought a V8 Mustang, metallic blue, and stunning to look at, after 4 months of ownership he is utterly in love with it........I took it out for a drive myself, and I can quite honestly say it most certainly IS a sports car!......after a 20 minute drive I was grinning from ear to ear, and I have driven some enough fast cars in my time, and its a lovely bit of kit, quite honestly I'm mystified why Ford have not sold a lot more, as the UK sales figures are pitiful.
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