These are the new pony cars, folks. The first Mustang was meant to be a cheap, small, sporty car for younger ones. It was also meant to be high production volume. It's why the Mustang is still around and the Camaro isn't. If it wasn't for Ford and its rental arraingements iwth its subsidiary, Hertz, and others, I doubt the Mustang would have survived (selling at a low price with low volume, like the Camaro). As a matter of fact, the Camaro was always about a grand over the Mustang I think.

I'm fine with it. Of the three, I have only driven the Focus (got stuck with it at Enterprise) but it impressed the heck out of me. For an econobox sedan that it was, it had much better handling than the 02 Mustang, thats for sure. I expect the SVT, SS, and SRT to have the handling of the RSX. They'll also get faster, but since they are all relatively new, they have to consider: 1. warranty costs 2. name brand reputation.

I just hope that the domestic rivalry dies within ourselves, as all the dumb punk kids nowadays rice the hell out of their cars...including domestics It should be normal people vs dumb ricers

 

I thought they stopped making the Focus SVT?

 

One more thing...a neon will always be a neon to me, and the new cavalier just doesn't do it for me either...I'm leaning towards the SVT Focus...as long as it doesn't have tht mid 1990's Honda rear end.

 

They don't make them every year. They didn't make a Cobra in 2002 either, and a few years for the F150 Lightning (which they did cut for sure, I've read here).

 

Oh, O.K.

So like the next Mustang Cobra (Due next year), the Focus SVT is just taking a break. Got it

 

those arent pony cars

 

SVT as a whole is on hiatus right now since all of the cars that had SVT models just got revamped. I imagine they'll bring the SVT Focus back, though, as it did very well, especially as an image car for the Focus brand.

 

Can the GT fend it off? The GT is making more power to the wheels than the z06 has at the crank. The thing is that they're BOTH will be easy to mod. Coming from the factory with forged internals. I wonder if this will be able to hit the 200mph mark.

 

I read on here that SVT is moving more for a more upscale image, they will also include Lincoln and Mercury products in the future aswell.

I Remember reading that ST will become the performance for Ford products such as the Focus.

But all the stuff I read on here about it maight have changed.

 

Mustang did just fine on it's own without Hertz. It still outsold the F-body 2 to one in it's final years. I think 10-15,000 Mustangs is about the limit of what Hertz could remotely hope to adsorb (most all of them convertibles). Of 150-180,000 Mustangs, hardly Mustang's lifeblood. Most of Hertz's cars are Crown Vics, Grand Marquis, Taurus, & Sables.

Camaros were also running within a few hundred dollars of Mustang. V6 Camaros tended to be more expensive, Z28s were virturally dead even with Mustang GTs in price.

Unfortunately, nobody brought base Z28s. At a starting price of $23,000, you could get a base model under $20,000 with the rebate & GM loyalty discount alone, before any deal you made with the dealer.

Average age for a Mustang buyer is 35 years old (GT's is 37) and makes $57,000 per year (Ironically, $55,000 per year for the GT...lower than the V6!). Camaro's was 38 (41 for the Z28) with a average income of $55,000 per year ($65,000 per year for the median Z28 buyer). Not quite the "Young Kid's" car people may think.



Focus is indeed a nice ride, and the SVT version is great in every way for what it is, though it needed more juice under the hood to compete with the SRT-4. The SVT cost a little more than the SRT, so Ford should have sprang for the blower.

 

Actually, the SVT focus was around $17,500 where the SRT-4 has gone up to about $21k now. The Focus was a better overall package, imo, and I was really looking at one when I bought my car. A guy here at work has one, it's a cool little compact.

 

I bought an SVT Focus for my wife. Wonderful car. Handles like a dream. We actually get 3 mpg more than what they advertised. Granted it's underpowered, but it wasn't supposed to be a drag car. It's a autox car and it does it very well. And optioned out (moonroof, audiophile sound system and heated seats) it was just over $19,000. Not bad. Just bought my wife a Mercury Mariner Premier so the SVT is now my work car/daily beater except when it snows, then I use the WRX! he he he

SVT Focus is dead. They don't and won't make them anymore. 2004 was it. The ST model replaced it.

 

I'm not sure what the proportion of sales is to Hertz (and others, such as Enterprise), but considering that they were relatively stable sales, and Camaros weren't rentals (to any that I know of), it would make it easier to reduce the cost and easier to market.

I think you're a bit off on the pricing between Mustang and Camaros. I was able to (but declined) to buy a GT rather than my V6 for $1000 more, with leather and other options. I was also buying at invoice (of course, before rebates). I also remember the z28 being much higher than the v6, but because I had no interest in another Camaro, i never looked up invoices to be honest.

In reference to the 'young buyers market', I was referring to when they first came out with them in the 60's. I'd be interested to know where you got your information from though. those are some interesting figures. I guess I forgot that not everyone who buys a new car is poor like me

I agree completely with your blower comment for the svt focus. although i never drove one, i dont see any reason to either. I'm optimistic though. I've always hated small cars but I might make my next Ford...I mean...next car a Focus

 

Cobalt SS may not be as quick as an SRT-4 (what a fun test drive that was ), but what its lacking in speed it makes up for EVERYWHERE else. SRT-4s have a crappy interior aside from the seats and the optional 6 CD Kicker stereo. Plus, its a 4 door...

Cobalt SS is going to be a great alternative to an SRT-4. It'll be interesting to see what the next gen SRT-4 will be like.

 

Ford absolutely did announce way before the SVT hiatus that there would NEVER be a SVT foucus again. I think this annoucement was summertime?