The new 2011 Ford Mustang is putting the Camaro on notice with two new transmissions and a new all-aluminum 3.7-liter Duratec V6 making 305 HP and returning 30 MPG. Are you ready for the Pony Car Wars?
Here's the thing about V6 pony car variants, until very recently they were the "other" car to the V8 model. V6 Mustangs have long been reserved for high school cheerleaders and overweight middle managers. They were bark with no bite, style with no substance. The Camaro was the first car to buck that trend, offering a very well received 300 HP V6 returning 29 MPG. Of course, at Ford, this kind of challenge was not taken sitting down.
Meet the 3.7 liter Duratec V6, it makes 305 HP and 30 MPG. See, even in the V6 segment the pony car wars are still going. The 3.7 is the first rear-wheel-drive application for this engine family, in simple terms it's a punched-out 3.5 liter, except this one's got some considerable upgrades. While it's still a port injected engine, it's a cast aluminum 60 degree V-engine (replacing the 90 degree outgoing engine) with four-valves-per-cylinder, variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust with cam's capable of up to 60 degrees of phasing on the intake and 50% on the exhaust. The system operates on oil pressure and the actuators and pressure cavities are integrated with the camshaft bearing endcaps. Keeping parts integrated keeps the engine compact, it's actually smaller and lighter than the outgoing engine while making more power. If you don't care for changing the oil, the new V6 goes 10,000 miles between changes, so that's pretty interesting.
