I consider myself environmentally conscious, but when I see new sports and performance cars, all that goes out the window, my heartbeat accelerates, I get goosebumps, and all I want to do is get behind the wheel, drop the top (I loooove convertibles), slide some driving tunes in the CD player, crank the volume, hit the gas, squeal the tires and rip through the gears to reach top speed. I guess that’s because I grew up driving the greatest cars in the world – Detroit muscle. Speed definitely turns me on!

The LA Auto Show is in town, and a one-hour televised preview was on tonight. Aside from the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Maseratis (oh, baby!), I almost slobbered all over the screen when I saw the new Mustang, the Chrysler Crossfire SRT6 Roadster and the Saleen S7. YOWZA!!

Now, the only one I have actually seen is the Mustang, when I went to a market research dealie to evaluate “sporty coupes”. Ford has finally come to its senses, and returned to a classic rear-wheel drive, with a body design reminiscent of the hot Bullitt 1968 fastback Mustang driven by the equally studly Steve McQueen. The 2005 has a lot of horses under the hood, with a 6L V8 kicking out 300 horsepower. It crouches like a panther and has “Bullitt suspension” to tear up the curves. A very sweet ride. And there’s a convertible available!!

The Crossfire is equally beefy, with a supercharged V6 pumping out 330 HP. 0 to 60 in 4 seconds…..grrrrrowwwwlllll The Saleen? Whew! Half a mil gets you the look of a fine European sports car with 750 HP and 0 to 100 in 6 seconds. WOW! That's an E ticket ride for sure! Here's a pic to drool over. I think I'm in love.

Is a car more than merely transportation to you? If so, which car gets your pulse racing?

I worked for a contractor fielding computers in Germany after I retired and every time the team arrived at Frankfurt airport we carried a box of candy because our employer told us we must rent the economy car and a woman always manned the rental office. We would put the box of candy on the counter and wink and say, you don’t have any economy cars available right? The girl didn’t care and took the candy and gave us brand new BMW’s or Audi 80’s.

I had friends living in Bavaria near the Chez border and was working on the Belgium border and when the weekend arrived we would hit the autobahn with no speed limits! I crossed the entire country in less than three hours in my sporty red Beemer averaging 250KLM H and only slowed down for three construction zones to 100KLM H. Three cars passed me, two Porches and a Lamborghini and I have no idea how fast they were going but I lost sight in less than a minute. I took a very deep breath once when I saw a car disabled by the road that had struck a deer and the windshield was missing. The thought passed and the adrenalin continued and I was soon back to pedal to the medal!

I have a 1997 Honda CRV with 105,000 miles on it. The current balance is $166.00, about half a payment which will be made by February 5th. I started driving 46 years ago when I was 16. This will be only the second car I have ever completly paid off. What gets my pulse up are the following:

1. The CRV has given very little trouble over the years and still runs well

2. It get's relatively good gas mileage

3. It's nearly (less than a month) mine all mine. The thought of no car payment really gets me excited.

I have a Ford Explorer, but I like our little 1998 Nissan Sentra the best. It is economical, and has never (knock on wood) given us a problem. It was my first four door vehicle. Mr P drives it to work (a 40 minute drive each way, it would be enormously expensive to drive our other vehicle, though I'd prefer to drive the Sentra, myself), and he takes a lot of ribbing over it. Often from young enlisted airmen who stupidly spend their whole salary on their sexier cars.

He has been considering getting a personalized license-plate with the words 'Mike's Toy', or 'Day trader', or 'UNV Me' or somesuch. I really like it that he's that confident (and humorous).

None! I hate cars.

Give me a built Shovelhead in a stripped hardtail frame with nothing but what is Absolutely necessary to it running, Kickstart only--love them magnetos--Chopper,
Part of the reason I live in AZ is the over 300 days of sunshine. I only recently got an enclosed vehicle for family reasons.
fancy paint and chrome is nice but that money is better spent on tweaking the engine or tranny. Plus I'd rather ride than polish.

I cant believe you said all that about the Mustang and you didn't even mention the new S281. I was seriously thinking about about trading in the Supra for it.
Here's a pick of the new Saleen S281.

Wowser!

BTW my Supra is what gets my heartracing, but the insurance is too high so it doesn't see too much road time lately.

No, it's just transportation to me. I hate spending money on a car. I can't think of any other large purchase that loses so much value so quickly. I buy what I think is the best value "given that vehicle's mission". Arguably, the choices are limited if one has to haul a wife, two kids, a dog, cat, luggage and tow a boat....

If I could manage without one, I would. But, it's impossible in the US for almost everyone, including me.

The Mustang has always been rear-wheel drive, so its not a "return". However, the body-style is seriously retro, and I also like it. One of the best things about the car is the suspension - its the first major redesign of the Mustang suspension in a very long time. The integral torque-arm panhard bar set-up should result in the first stock Mustang that will handle well on the curves as well as in a straight line.

Daffy, its a 4.6L 3 valve V8. But you're right about the hp - 300 with 320 ft/lbs of torque. The car's a bit heavier than the '99-'04, so that negates a bit of the power boost - but it should still outperform the last model stock-for-stock.

If you hadn't guessed, I love Mustangs, and my current car is a ported and blown '99 GT, putting down 497hp to the rear wheels.

My bad! That'll teach me to believe MSN Auto. And I thought that at some point (80's? Man, those were ugly), the Mustang went to front-wheel drive. Mebbe not...I'll defer to the experts.

I must admit, I'm not a big fan of Fords, but I will test drive a Mustang before I decide what to do when my lease is up. Mustang, have you seen the interior? What do you think? I was disappointed; American cars just can't seem to come up with decent interiors. Maybe the model I looked at was bottom-of-the-line, but it just looked cheesy to me. This is where Japanese designers have it all over the competiton.

Oh, and did you know, the new Mustang was designed by a Vietnamese engineer who fell in love with the old 'Stangs in Vietnam? Interesting bit o' trivia.

Rev DelFuego, I guess I was starstruck over the S7.

Not much of a fan for European cars...I like mine American..like my men

What makes my heart go pitter patter would be a Nova SS I would like to have a 1969.

I keep telling my husband I need one of these...because the mommy car is totally ruining my image.

I've never been big on cars, but I would be pretty darn happy if I could win myself a Honda Civic Hybrid -- I could really fall in love with a car that has less negative impact on the planet than my current car which is a 1989 Honda Civic.

Failing that, I think that the mini coopers are cute -- even if it is kind of yuppie of me to think so.

Ahhhh yes, nothing like a good old American muscle car...... Glad to see they're coming back. I've been looking to buy a new car myself and I was considering the Dodge Magnum with the hemi engine but then Pontiac had to come out with the new GTO. One look at that puppy with 400 horses under the hood (stock) and my fiance said, "That's you". She's right, that's my car.

I am a gear head through and through. I have a 1969 Coronet I am making it into a musclecar clone of a "sixpack R/T" - I also have a 1967 Valiant race car with a 500 cubic inch motor that runs low 9 second 1/4 miles times, at over 145mph (in 1320ft)

I have had probably nearly 100 cars in my lifetime, most of them hot rods, including (Daffygirl) a couple of mustangs, even though they are far from my favorite brand LOL

From someone from an enthusiast perspective, such as myself, it is interesting to see what has happened to the muscle car movement, and the performance car movement. The new Dodge Hemi is the new dawn of the new muscle car movement- and probably, like the hemi's of the 60s, probably the pinnacle of the genre, with the mustang "ponycar" being the "hot rod " for the masses the same as back in the 60s.

The cars are faster now, more comfortable and get pretty good mileage as well. The fit and finish are light years ahead of what it was in the 60s as well.

I will probably buy a dodge magnum or Charger when it comes out with the 6.1 version of this engine. They already have a dealer optioned and installed supercharger offered that does not harm the warranty, so it is looking really good for one of those in the next year or so!

2006 Dodge Charger


Hmmm.

Mustang, a 4 door Charger?! What da heck is up wit dat????

CruisingRam, I like the Mustang because of its retro style. I'm a Chevy girl at heart. My dream car is a '70 Chevelle SS LS-6 454. I've had 3 Chevelles, 2 1969's, one SS 396 and one 350 , my ex had a 1964 Grand Prix and a 1966 GTO, my brother (the goofy Buick fan) had a '64 Rivi and an early 60's Skylark. One of his friends had a late 60's Camaro, the other a Nova and the other a '69 Mustang fastback. We had a boatload of cars around our house! Lot of "projects" going on in the garage; the most memorable (for it's sheer goofiness) was when my brother and his friends decided to put a V8 in a Vega.

I'm glad I grew up in the days of hot cars and kick-butt rock music and not in the days of computers, video games and rap.

I grew up in the days when we sneaked (or tried to) into drag races in the trunk of a 1955 Chevy V8.

I now prefer fast computers to fast cars.