Well, I wasn't going to respond to this thread But after watching the mustang guy's post's, I couldn't resist.
I am somewhat qualified to speak about the Mustang experience as I have owned 15 to 20 of them over the years.
Two of them where in Muscle Mustangs & Fast Ford magazine One on the cover one on the inside. Also had one in Superford magazine.
Make no mistake a Mustang is great bang for the buck and can be made to go very fast. My last one was a 8.80 street car, That was 5 years ago, (They now have some going 7's)
That being said, They are not very stable over 140 mph, they don't stand out in a crowd ( they are on every corner )Not many can pull above a .98 on a skid pad (even the much touted Saleens) They don't hold their value, A stock Mustang is no match for a stock Viper, A factory supercharged Mustang is no match for a stock Viper much past the qtr mile. Don't know of any standard mich. radial tired Mustang's that have been able to run consistant mid 10 sec qtr's at 140 to 150 mph (be it supercharged, turbo or nos. In traffic a 10 second street Mustang is to say the least a little high strung. I have never seen a bone stock Mustang run 11.7's @120 mph. Owning a Mustang is like owning an F150 truck as far as owning something not everybody else has (millions of them on the road) (Vipers way less then 20,000 Worldwide.)
In summary again I'll say the Mustangs are a good bang for the buck. But, are not in the same league as the Viper ( when was the last time you saw a magazine call a Mustang a World Class Car?) A stock Mustang is a Quick Street car a stock Viper is a Fast street car and both are slow race cars.
You can mod anything and make it faster then something else but the Mustang will never be in the same class as a Viper even if you have a Mustang that will out run it in a qtr mile.....
cmfwaic