2016 V-8 Muscle Car Challenge: Acceleration

Chevy, Ford, or Dodge? Cars.com finally settled the modern pony-car argument the only honest way, hauling a 2016 Camaro SS, Mustang GT, and Challenger R/T Scat Pack to a real Arizona drag strip. With timing gear at Wild Horse Pass and a week of testing, the crew measured zero-to-60 and quarter-mile runs while brand loyalty stayed out of it. Three engines, three philosophies, one stopwatch. Watch to see which V8 coupe crosses the line first.

For decades the argument raged in parking lots and magazine letters columns with no way to settle it: Chevy, Ford, or Dodge? Everyone had a favorite, everyone had a theory, and almost nobody had all three cars, a stopwatch, and a real drag strip on the same afternoon. That is exactly what makes this showdown so satisfying. Cars.com hauled the current champions of the pony-car war to the Arizona desert, strapped in the timing gear, and let the numbers do the arguing that fans never could. The results scramble a few long-held assumptions, and by the time the last run crosses the line, at least one loyalty is going to take a hit.

As Cars.com lays out, the test brought together three heavyweights for its V-8 Muscle Car Challenge: the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS, the 2016 Ford Mustang GT, and the 2016 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack. The crew traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, for a week of intensive evaluation and measured zero-to-60 mph and quarter-mile acceleration at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, a genuine drag strip rather than a guess on public roads. This particular segment focuses on the part enthusiasts care about most, the straight-line sprint, where displacement, gearing, traction, and weight all collide in a few violent seconds.

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Each contender arrives with a distinct personality. The Camaro SS leans on its LT1 small-block, shared in spirit with the Corvette, and the tautest, most athletic chassis of the group. The Mustang GT counters with its high-revving Coyote V8 and, for 2016, the modern novelty of an independent rear suspension that finally put its power down cleanly. The Challenger R/T Scat Pack plays the bruiser, the heaviest of the three but armed with a big 392-cubic-inch Hemi and old-school, torque-first muscle car attitude. Three engines, three philosophies, one clock.

That is what elevates a test like this above barroom debate. Instrumented acceleration testing at a real facility strips away brand loyalty and marketing spin, leaving only what the cars actually do when the light turns green. It also captures a genuine high point in the modern muscle era, a moment when all three Detroit automakers were building affordable, 400-plus-horsepower coupes that would have humiliated their 1960s ancestors at the strip. Whichever badge you fly, watching them run side by side is the closest thing to a definitive answer the rivalry has ever gotten.

Watch the full video and share your thoughts below.

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