Comparison: Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE vs. Ford Mustang GT Track Pack

[edco]

PS. 18x10 deep dish bullit rims on 4 corners with Sumitomo HTRZ III P275R40-18 summer tires.
25mm track spacers employed for clearance. 107" wb with 64.5" track! A cornering machine. I know it is just a mustang but it handles with the $60K and up crowd and is a lot of driving fun. The 6camaro will be better than the 5camaro. I will bet they down size it and bring it closer to the pony profile. That will make it more fun to drive then you guys will know what I am talking about.

[radametz]

Originally Posted by DanSS24

MT quote: "you're wondering if maybe the Boss 302 might be a tougher opponent for the SS 1LE. Well, we asked Ford for a Boss and were politely refused. Ford's reasoning was simple: See, the Boss 302 is a distinct and separate model, much like the Camaro ZL1 or the Shelby GT500"

Nice excuse

To me...The Boss 302 is still a Mustang, just like the SS 1LE is still a Camaro. Doesn't really matter though, the more expensive Boss 302 LS still couldn't beat the 1LE, as the VIR times shows.

Ford won't send a 302 to compete with a 1LE, but when the Camaro first came out they had no problem sending a GT500 to compete with an SS .

Another great showing by the 1LE though!!!

[Deki]

Originally Posted by x1sniper3x

Ford won't send a 302 to compete with a 1LE, but when the Camaro first came out they had no problem sending a GT500 to compete with an SS .

If you were a marketing exec at Ford, would you really want your Boss 302 "track car" that costs 42k for a base model and 50k for the "race ready" Laguna Seca version being beat by a Camaro you can buy for $37,500? It was a business decision, nothing else. If the Boss 302 had a win in the bag, you bet your ass they would have one drop shipped if they had to.

[mikeyg36]

The 1LE is a very impressive car.

[MBS]

Mustang Fail ! Camaro Winner! Scoreboard . Ok not a fail ..your close Mustang guy just not good enough, Keep trying someday you can run with the big boys , They also forgot to say how much cooler the Camaro looks. Its like a all around butt kicking, Like in baseball a 9-1 game, Football 42 -7 . Hockey 4-0 . Basketball 120 to 80.
"It ain't braggin if you can do it!"

[zora2mac8]

but by the quarter-mile post, the Ford had tied the ball game with an identical 14.7-second time

lol that is a typo right ... supposed to be 12.7 si?

[Tavo32]

1LE Is a monster!

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by NVmyZL1

In the end, if the Z28 is built, it will be to please the Camaro base, not to increase market share.

Yes and a BIG NO!

[SUKXOST]

Originally Posted by MBS

Mustang Fail ! Camaro Winner! Scoreboard . Ok not a fail ..your close Mustang guy just not good enough, Keep trying someday you can run with the big boys , They also forgot to say how much cooler the Camaro looks. Its like a all around butt kicking, Like in baseball a 9-1 game, Football 42 -7 . Hockey 4-0 . Basketball 120 to 80.
"It ain't braggin if you can do it!"

You forgot Soccer 1-0

[doc7000]

My HUGE gripe with these reviews is when they end up comparing performance cars with eachother with the non go fast options (fully loaded).

What if I want to know what is the cheapest one can get these cars for to perform at those levels.

There is a good reason to compare the 1LE Camaro to the Mustang GT track pack, they have a similar price.

Mustang GT with just track pack is $34,040
1LE Camaro base is $37,535

The Camaro is $3,500 more then the Mustang GT with track pack, however it has the track performance to back it up.

BOSS 302 Mustang starts at $43,000 and in the two reviews that I have seen with the 1LE and BOSS 302 has the 302 beat. One publication had the 1LE faster then the BOSS 302 by about 2.5 seconds, and from what we have seen the 1LE is even faster then the BOSS 302 LS.

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by Deki

If you were a marketing exec at Ford, would you really want your Boss 302 "track car" that costs 42k for a base model and 50k for the "race ready" Laguna Seca version being beat by a Camaro you can buy for $37,500? It was a business decision, nothing else. If the Boss 302 had a win in the bag, you bet your ass they would have one drop shipped if they had to.

Exactly! However they are correct the Mustang Track Pack is the equivalent of the 1LE/SS. But they know and we know...

[2cnd chance]

After studying the track information I can say that the 1LE is very impressive. That thing sticks like glue and brakes like Velcro. It even pulls faster down the straights showing off its great gearing. Impressed!

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by PYROLYSIS

Good point. So far no magazines have felt like the FE4 suspension is enough of an improvement to retest.

Not directly, but the FE4 has been driven. Such as the Car & Driver ZL1 first test. They compared the current SS to the ZL1 and still felt the SS was a poor handler. Of course it would be inferior to the ZL1, but it was still big on understeering turning into oversteer with sloppy rear suspension control. Sounds like the Mustang GT is not much better.

Comparing the Mustang GT Track Pack is not a fair fight with the 1LE. They are not comparable. They should have held out for a Boss. I call BS on the reasoning behind that article. They could easily have gotten a hold of a Boss. But then no surprise, Motor Trend is a second rate magazine.

However i did not have any idea that the Track Pack was that lame. Many car reviewers were crazy about the Mustang Brembo GT package handling when it came out. I almost bought one!

I am not knocking the Mustang though. Love that 5.0.

[doc7000]

Originally Posted by Fraxum

Not directly, but the FE4 has been driven. Such as the Car & Driver ZL1 first test. They compared the current SS to the ZL1 and still felt the SS was a poor handler. Of course it would be inferior to the ZL1, but it was still big on understeering turning into oversteer with sloppy rear suspension control. Sounds like the Mustang GT is not much better.

Comparing the Mustang GT Track Pack is not a fair fight with the 1LE. They are not comparable. They should have held out for a Boss. I call BS on the reasoning behind that article. They could easily have gotten a hold of a Boss. But then no surprise, Motor Trend is a second rate magazine.

However i did not have any idea that the Track Pack was that lame. Many car reviewers were crazy about the Mustang Brembo GT package handling when it came out. I almost bought one!

I am not knocking the Mustang though. Love that 5.0.

The mainstream car rags really have been making themselves irrelevant I feel, they talked up the Mustang GT with track pack so much. I even remember them calling this combo a budget BOSS 302, suddenly now its a terrible track car.

As far as the 1LE Camaro vs BOSS 302, there are some comparisons between those two and the BOSS 302 doesn't do much better then the GT with track pack. Popular mechanics took them both to Gingerman race way and the 1LE was 2.5 seconds a lap faster then the BOSS 302. Automobile mag also took them out, they didn't post the lap times but stated that the Camaro was faster then the BOSS 302 (I would guess by a similar margin). They instead talk about how the cars perform, from the talk the BOSS 302 doesn't really handle much better then the GT with track pack.

From all of the data that we have, the 1LE beats the BOSS 302 on a race track by a healthy margin.

The problem that I have with comparing the 1LE Camaro to the BOSS 302 is price, I can get a 1LE Camaro for as low as $37,500 while its $43,000 for the BOSS (not counting discounts). Though the advantage that the GT with track pack has over the 1LE Camaro being price (about $3,500 difference) grows when you consider the money you can get off of a Mustang. You can probably score that $34,000 Mustang GT with track pack for less then $30,000.