Home > News > Industry News > Camaro Outguns Mustang In Motor Trend Comparison Tests Over The Years

Camaro Outguns Mustang In Motor Trend Comparison Tests Over The Years

The rivalry between the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang, while fierce, has driven General Motors and Ford Motor Company to constantly build better versions of their respective pony cars in order to win in both the showroom and on the racetrack.

Motor Trend magazine recently reflected on every single comparison test it has conducted between a Camaro and a Mustang and tallied up the winner of each test, leaving the reader with a good idea of which nameplate is superior – in theory, anyway. The problem? Motor Trend’s tally was incredibly close, with the Camaro winning 14 comparison tests over the years and the Mustang taking 13. Another five of the contests have ended in a stalemate. This isn’t much of a surprise, really. The Camaro and the Mustang have always been extremely similar and choosing between them usually comes down to personal preference.

1979 Camaro Z28

1979 Ford Mustang Cobra

Some major wins for the Camaro over the years in Motor Trend testing included a victory in 1979, when the second-generation Camaro Z28 beat the Mustang Cobra fox body, in 1993 when the third-generation Camaro Z28 beat the out-of-date Mustang Cobra SVT fox body, and in 2018 when the Camaro SS 1LE beat the Mustang GT PP1. The last time MT compared a Camaro and Mustang was for the May 2019 issues of the magazine, when the Mustang Convertible PP1 beat the Camaro SS ConvertibleMotor Trend seems to prefer the Ford Mustang with this current crop of sixth-generation cars, but the Camaro won more frequently throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

1993 Camaro Z28 versus 1993 Mustang Cobra SVT (Photo courtesy of Motor Trend)

2018 Camaro SS vs 2018 Mustang GT (Motor Trend photo)

2019 Mustang GT convertible versus 2019 Camaro SS convertible (Motor Trend photo)

While the Challenger has typically sat third in the modern pony car races (both in sales and overall performance), Dodge does deserve some credit for giving its LX-based pony car some staying power with attractive models like the T/A, Hellcat, Hellcat Redeye and Demon. These efforts helped Dodge displace Chevy for second place in the pony car sales in the first quarter of this year – a result that appears to have kicked the Camaro team into overdrive for 2020.

2019 Dodge Challenger

2020 Chevrolet Camaro