Mustang Beats Camaro In Consumer Reports, Again!

Consumer Reports has been around for a long time now reviewing cars, rendering judgments on what is and what isn’t a good buy. In the past they generally stayed away from performance cars all together, telling people that the base model Toyota Camry DX is the baby Jesus we should all aspire to.

But times have changed. Cars have changed. Today, even the Ford Mustang can win a place on their scorecards as it has once again. The magazine has just completed another Mustang and Camaro face-off for 2011 models, and the Mustang has come out on top.

You might remember that last year they compared the 2010 V8 Mustang and Camaro. Even though the Camaro had more power that year, they still deemed the Mustang the winner because of its better overall package. The Mustang is roomier inside, has better driving dynamics, and is much easier to live with for a lot of reasons.

This time around, Consumer Reports tested the new 2011 Mustang 3.7 V6 against the Camaro V6. With the Mustang’s new engine being a worthy competitor in power and economy, the Mustang won them over again. They said, “Ford’s new V6 engine is not only more refined than the Camaro’s, it delivered stronger acceleration and better fuel economy.”

On the Camaro, Consumer Reports added, “The Camaro provides decent acceleration, but it’s not as readily available. The car rides well enough but it’s almost 300 pounds heavier than the Mustang. Handling is considerably less agile, and the power train is rather lackluster.”

Other factors in their decision to make the Mustang king, was the Camaro’s cramped interior. When we at TMN tested the Camaro earlier this year we found the roof-line so low and belt-line so high that visibility was horrid. Additionally, the trunk space was so small it would be hard to get much more than a few bags of groceries in there, let alone take the car on a road trip.

Consumer Reports also cited the Mustang’s excellent reliability record as part of their decision, given the Camaro is too new to have much history. Their report echoes much of our own assessments of the two cars. Admittedly the Camaro is slick and stylish. The Chevy has some good power trains. The Mustang however has the best “big-picture” package of the two. And now that Ford upped the ante for 2011 with the new 5.0 and 3.7 liter engines, there is no comparison.

I heard car and driver did a 5.0 stang vs m3 beamer and the beamer bearly pulled out a victory!! woot