yanks1

Interesting thread.... I am older, but never been brand loyal. Owned a '79 Mustang, than bought a '84 Dodge Daytona, '91 Mits Galant, '97 Acura CL, '02 BMW 3 Series and a '99 Accord Coupe. I go with whatever car fits my fancy or wallet at the time. Now we own my '06 330 coupe BMW, the Mustang GT and my wife's new 2011 Honda CRV, she used to have a BMW X-3. We spread our $$ around! lol

adj86

I really like the looks of the Challenger, but it is a really big car for a coupe. Myself and my family are probably the epitome of brand loyalty, My grandfather was a small town Ford Lincoln Mercury Dealer in Mississippi, so its pretty much all I know.

To my knowledge we have owned a 1955 F-100, 1970 F-100, an untold # of Lincoln Towncars 9not really Ford but in the same family), 3 Tempo's, a LN-7, 1989 F-150 w/ 2 gas tanks (good ole days), a 1995 Ranger, one Fox Body Mustang (pretty sure it wasn't a 5.0 but too young to remember), and 1993 Grand Marquis (not really ford but in the same family), a 2000 Grand Marquis (see previos Grand Marquis comment), a 2002 Mountaineer, a 2009 Explorer, 2005 Mustang GT(Mine), and a 2009 V6 Mustang Convertable (My Sister's), and a 1998 Taurus.

Not saying that Ford is the undisputed champion of the World, just saying brand loyalty is alive. I'll probably buy another Ford the next time I buy a car, but does it really look like I have a choice?

Ech0

Adj sounds like you'll be exiled if you look elsewhere lol... Personally i'm looking to trade my Durango in on a new mustang soon.

adj86

Echo,

Don't get me wrong, I love Fords, and you could probably call me a fanboy, but I can also see the shortcomings in their corporation. I have a car that for a time made the legendary popping sound while turning, has gone through 2 alternators, a battery cable, a throttle body and TWO Ford Throttle Position Sensors, had the E-brake handle cable break, and the rear cables freeze and it still doesn't fuel up right. All in all though there's no substitution for the ground pounding pavement rippling power that comes out of those rear wheels. I love it!

Ech0

Damn sounds like you've had a hell of a time with that car, But I can see your point about loving the power that comes with it, Hopefully you don't have to replace any more alternators.

adj86

Shouldn't have to. I decided to get the PA Performance Alt. Comes with a lifetime warranty, and its brand new. Its a live and learn situation. I won't buy a first year total redesign again. Ideally I could have waited until 2008, but then Mettalic Grey wouldn't have been available. My car was built in Jan 2005, so it was one of the originals, and its going to have all the kinks and issues with the 1st gen rebuild. I love it though and wouldn't trade it!

If your thinking about buying, get one of the later models 2007-2009, or the 10 if you like the new body style. Don't know much about the '11s and 12's though.

FourCam

This is my first post, btw. I don't currently own a Mustang, but I'm in the market and if I buy one it will be my 3rd one, after a '96 GT and a '99 Cobra. I test-drove a couple of Challengers about two months ago. I really like the look of that car, it's just perfect to my eye. I first drove an '08 SRT8 that had about 8k miles on it. I was completely underwhelmed. It just didn't push me back in the seat like it should have. I mean come on, this is 425 hp and should be a torque monster. I jumped on it in 2nd gear and approached redline and the salesman was all, "THAT IS AWESOME!", lol. When we got back to the lot I suggested that maybe it wasn't running well because it was NOT fast. My Cobra felt faster to my butt dyno. Then I drove a brand new '11 RT (376 hp, 410 lb/ft) and it was the same damn thing. I guess they are just too heavy? I was really bummed.

I drove a new '12 GT about two weeks ago and was really happy with it. If I can satisfactorily dispose of my '10 Genesis Coupe 3.8 GT I am going to order a new '12 GT. But the Challenger - looks GREAT, but sadly, no go.

Pat.

REDBOSS1

I feel the exact same way, the New Challenger could make 500hp it wouldn't matter it's too heavy coming in at 4,300 pound curb weight. Wow what a fatty that makes my 3,450 feel like it's on a strict diet.

Norm Peterson

Let me suggest looking on a few more Challenger/Charger fora just to get a wider range of viewpoints. Each forum tends to develop its own 'character', and the level of "fanboi-ism" is part of that. Kind of like how no two clubs are quite the same. But I don't think that's the real problem.

Back in the day you stood around in the parking lot, or at the hamburger joint/pool hall/ice cream stand, and cruised up and down the local main street and bantered back and forth with your buddies. Face to face, where you had the advantage of seeing body language, hearing the tone of voice, and knowing that most remarks weren't all that seriously intended. You knew everybody. This is where the internet gets in the way, because those clues are all gone and you're posting at unseen and mostly unknown entities, and that horrible newfangled tendency to use text-message shortcuts only makes matters worse.


At least within my experience, brand loyalty was more my Dad's generation than mine. He's 90 and has with only one exception driven Dodges since 1958. Still drives a Neon; it's all he needs or wants anymore. My uncles were GM, couple of my friends' Dads always had Fords.

I've always been "me-loyal" rather than brand-loyal. Let me explain - every new car that we've ever bought has had to pass this one question "Will I/we still want this car well enough six months or a year past the time the final payment goes out in the mail to WANT to keep it?" IOW, the car, whatever it is, has to be "fun enough". Guys like Nuke, Jim, and pascal already know what one of my absolute "deal-breakers" is (and for those who might not, my sig provides a pretty clear hint). On more occasions than not, the "me-loyalty" has had us looking from the get-go at makes other than anything bought previously. Last time around, it was Honda and Subaru for her new ride.

Being loyal to none cuts both ways. Just as every car gets viewed as potentially having advantages or some particular things done "best", no matter who makes it, nothing is immune to criticism, at least not if I can put a halfway decent explanation to it.


There is this one other thing that probably makes the Mustang the car to get compared against, and that's because the S197 got the drop on the other guys again, just like the original did back in the 60's.


Norm

Thrashard340

Great point and well spoken Norm. And we really only have to look back about 10 years or so as this is when the internet really blew up. I graduated high school in '91, so I grew up around cars without an internet. The internet brought us some good resources (these forums for advice among other things, tech articles, online purchasing, etc) However, the internet also brought out the worst in many people (trolling, my c#ck is bigger than yours mentality, etc). It's about accountability and the internet makes it easy for many people to shirk accountability for what they say.

I'm a Mopar guy. In the past, I've owned a '71 Challenger, 73' Dodge Dart Sport, '77 Dodge Van. I currently own two Dusters and a '95 Dakota. The Mustang is my daily driver and replaced my Infiniti of 10 years.

I used to be in that brand loyalty crowd...until Dodge priced themselves out of it. There are 3 things I look for in a sports/muscle car, power, weight and price. The Challenger hits on the first one, but fails to meet the last two. The Camaro hits 1, but is not nearly as strong as the Mustang on points 2 & 3. The Mustang nails this formula which is why I am shopping for a 2012 GT right now.

Would I like to have a Challenger? Absolutely, but I think they missed on the formula. In 60's Mopar was known for having good HP with competitive weight at a good price. Somewhere between the 70', 80's and 90's, they lost this edge. As I grow older, I start to look more into value than brand loyalty.