6th Dec 2010, 09:54
You are right about the Caliber SRT-4 not being your average V6...it is a 4 cylinder.
There are many V6 cars that will leave the old muscle cars in the dust. It is a different time, and cars are way more advanced then they were. Even a 1970 442 455 would only get to 60 in around 5.8 seconds. They are very heavy cars. The average sedan like a Honda Accord V6 gets to 60 in around the same time today.
Take the new Mustang V6 though. 0-60 in 5.4 seconds while getting around 30 mpg. You also have cars like the 370Z, Infinity G37, Fusion Sport, Altima, Maxima... and the list goes on. Any of these would take most old muscle cars off the line. There are also many 4 cylinder cars that could do the same. The Caliber you mentioned, WRX, Evo, Cobalt SS, Mazda Speed3... etc., etc.
It is not a good comparison really... cars of today vs. cars of 40 years ago. Take the Mustang GT, Camaro SS and Challenger today and they have a 2 second advantage over their older versions to get to 60 mph. Old cars are lots of fun and they are really great to own, but it is tough to compare them to today's cars. They were built with more solid metal and such, but today's cars are advanced in virtually every way.
10th Dec 2010, 20:46
"I do think that saying a V-6 is faster than a 440 Challenger is misleading, though. That is definitely not the average 3.0 Liter Vulcan V-6 or the standard 4.0 Liter V-6 in an Explorer."
I was referring to our 4.0 Mustang. It IS faster 0-60 than our 440 Challenger. The older muscle cars were fast in their day, and the hemi WAS faster than the 440, though still slow by modern standards. Many people are surprised that the older muscle cars were so slow, but in fact they were if they were factory stock (as our Challenger and Charger are). I was recently reading an article about how the Focus 4-cylinder is as fast 0-60 as a 1969 Mustang Mach I. Modern cars are incredibly fast by the standards of the 60's or early 70's. The only domestic car that would do 0-60 in under 6 seconds in those days was the awesome 421 special edition 1962 Pontiac, and only a handful of those were made. They were actually as fast 0-60 as a modern Mustang GT.
5th Dec 2010, 23:30
Probably a very good point. I sometimes think letting the car do too much of the driving for us makes us worse and more unsafe drivers. Our friend brags about how their new Ford will parallel park itself at the touch of a button. I've been parallel parking all by myself for decades, and do it just great. On the other hand, having had an accident that would have left me dead without airbags has made me more aware of just how important passive safety systems are. Now I worry about driving our classics because they have no air bags. You have no control over other drivers who veer into your lane, no matter how good a driver you might be. I no longer let my wife drive the older cars that don't have air bags.