.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

BangShift Question Of The Day: What Would It Take For You To Turn Traitor?


BangShift Question Of The Day: What Would It Take For You To Turn Traitor?

Dodge has a promotion where they will take $10 off of MSRP for every horsepower you acquire at the moment. That’s nice. Chevrolet has a promotion, too: $2,500 cash allowance for the owners of Ford Mustangs who buy a Chevrolet Camaro…and that’s any Camaro, from the base model LS to the balls-to-the-wall ZL1. Ford, meanwhile, is offering up their normal incentives, including lease offers, military offers, college student/graduate offers and first responder offers. Ford is playing it safe, FCA is playing it wild, and Chevrolet is playing catch-up from a year of lackluster sales. Which leads us to a question: most folk who like these cars tend to have an allegiance that’s pretty strong, so what would it take for you to turn traitor?

From someone who has driven all three cars in recent guise, here’s where I would stand: I would personally go with FCA products not because “ooh, Mopar” but because of interior room, the vehicle options (Charger and Challenger) and engine options. I like the Mustang but not enough to override the choice of the Challenger or Charger, and there isn’t enough money on the Camaro’s hood to get me past the cramped interior. Now, if we’re looking to the past, we have to go on a year-by-year comparison, but for recent times I’d stick with the Fox body for the 1980s and the fourth-gen Camaro for the 1990s. While I owned a 2005 Mustang GT, I’d give the nod to the reborn Pontiac GTO for the 2000s timeframe. And you can go as far back and against different market sections against one another all day long…argue about trucks, vans, sedans, ad nauseum.  You can truly be an “anything goes” kind of person, but for those who swear allegiance, we want to know what it takes for you to move to the darkside.

 


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

26 thoughts on “BangShift Question Of The Day: What Would It Take For You To Turn Traitor?

  1. Weasel1

    I am a blue oval guy, but I have owned and drove Chevrolet, Buick, Olds, GMC, VW, Dodge, Jeep, AMC, Plymouth. If you like the vehicle and it feels right, why fight it? If i had to choose a current vehicle it would be a toss up between a Mustang and a Challenger

    1. motorhead

      My current stable is all GM. However, we have a 2019 Hellcat widebody on order. Manual transmission, cloth interior, and room enough for the whole family. Simple and effective. The Challenger will do everything well… the other two not-so-much.

    2. Danno

      Ford because they were they only American car manufacturer who didn’t ask for and accept welfare payments from the feds. Government Motors (rather than repay the loans they gave stock to the feds) and Italian owned Dodge have a LONG ways to go to win back mine, and much of the American consumers respect.

        1. Will Whitt

          TARP was the bailout. Danno is technically correct. They did take $5 billion for Jan 2009 Cash of Clunkers and money for Obama’s green lineup and making their facilities green in June of 2009. That was not TARP.

          Their part of TARP was a $9 Billion Line of Credit.

      1. Joe Jolly

        I work for Ford , drive a tuned SHO and have a fox body hot rod. I have zero interest in the Camaros but would certainly entertain a possible Challenger purchase though..

      2. Will Whitt

        Ford was the first to ask for money totaling 80 billion for all three American automakers known as TARP. They actually pioneered the language for the Bill around 2008. However, there were some terms they didn’t like and thus backed out. Their share was to be $17.4 billion. Instead, they insisted they would take a $9 Billion Line of Credit and would touch it only in dire circumstances. They did, however, take $5 Billion in January of 2009 without any strings for the Department of Energy and Obama’s Cash for Clunkers program and newer green vehicles. And then again in June 2009 $5.9 billion to Ford “to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel-efficient models.”

        Ford was making their facilities green well before the others and the government was behind that 100%. They turned down the bailout upon the strings attached but has taken money when it suited their interests.

        The TARP was the bailout and they did not take any of that money.

        https://www.factcheck.org/2011/09/ford-motor-co-does-u-turn-on-bailouts/
        https://adage.com/article/news/ford-picks-pr-points-declining-auto-bailout/133427
        https://www.thebalance.com/auto-industry-bailout-gm-ford-chrysler-3305670
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_crisis_of_2008%E2%80%9310

  2. Dan

    My first car was a ’72 Monte Carlo with a big block. I bought a Dodge Omni GLH as my first new car. I had a Mustang GT and a police spec Crown Vic in the 90’s. I had a LT1-powered ’95 Buick Roadmaster with the cop car suspension and other goodies. I now have a Chrysler 300 with a 5.7 Hemi and among the new crop I would likely stay with FCA products for the same reasons stated. Every manufacturer gets it right at some point though I have to wonder what GM was thinking with that ugly, cramped Camaro; they actually found a way to make its stellar performance almost irrelevant.

  3. Grippo

    The only way I wouldn’t buy another Ford is if they went out of business. Or if they went all electric across all platforms and no longer produced an internal combustion engine. Which ever comes first…

  4. 71C10SWB

    For many years I was a Ford guy (85 and 95 Mustang GT’s). As far as my older (60-70’s) cars, I lean towards GM (currently have a 72 Cutlass S, 71 C10 SWB and a 66 Chevy Bel Air wagon.).
    A few years ago we bought a Chrysler 300. It’s been a lot more reliable with no warning lights than our recent GM vehicles.
    I think for my money, the FCA offerings are most appealing to me. We drove a Camaro recently on a vacation. Decent car, but not worth the money that GM thinks they’re worth. Always liked Mustangs, but getting to the age that getting in ans out of the car is a key factor.

  5. Matt Cramer

    Mostly, it would just take the right deal on the right car.

    I’m loyal enough to Mopar that I wouldn’t consider putting a Chevy motor in my Dart (well, I could probably haul one in the trunk if I tied it closed with a rope). But both my daily drivers and my project cars have been all over the place. All the Big Three, Britain, Japan, Germany… so far, no Italian or French cars, although I did serve as the wiring expert for an attempt to race a Yugo in the GRM $2007 Challenge.

    Now, as for what it would take for me to buy a NEW car – that would need a HUGE jump in my income!

  6. Mopar or No Car

    I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Mustang or Camaro. That said, if FCA wants to make serious market share inroads it must stop being stupid and offer a drop-top Challenger. It’s the only reason I haven’t bought one.

  7. Matt

    Brand loyalty. It’s what separates real car-people from someone who says crap like: “have you seen the new Prius?”

    1. Matt Cramer

      Or brand loyalty is why Chevy actually managed to sell any of the ’97-’03 Malibus, take your pick.

  8. 3nine6

    Y’all need to calm down with this brand loyalty crap. Especially you “Mopar or no car guys”. I want a 1969 Boss 302 & 429 Mustang. I want a 1970 LS6 Chevelle ragtop. I want a 1969 440 Super Bee. I want a 1955 Chevy gasser with a Hemi, SOHC 427 or maybe just a plain ol big block Chevy. I could go on for hours but I hope you get my point. I have owned Oldsmobiles, VW’s, Chevrolets, Toyotas, Buicks, Fords, etc. With the exception of 1 piece of shit Jeep Cherokee, they have all had their high and low points.

  9. crazy canuck

    Dont fit in a camaro drive a 92 cummins w250 muscle car is a ranchero GT in order to buy a new to me brand it would have to be a body in white style car big power great chassis 2 seats real shifter steering wheel and nothing else no radio sat nav etc wait a minute wasnt there a chevelle stock car for sale some where in todays posts?

  10. Pizzandoughnuts

    I pretty much like anything that haul ass, the wife was checking out the Shelby or a 2019 Corvette(she hasn’t decided yet). In our family it’s going to get mods anyway. Pretty much Fords, Chevys, Pontiacs,
    RL Saturns. But I do like the Hellcats and that 1320!

  11. old man

    Ford all my life if i did anything other it would be mopar.Gm not paying us back is a slap in face to all americans its your tax money it could go to any program you belive in not gm .Ram has out sold chevy trucks all year mopar let the country know you knocked them down to 3rd place.

  12. jerry z

    I’ve been a GM guy most of my adult life. Currently have 3 Chevys, 1 Buick, and 1 Ford.

    Been browsing the ole interweb at Challenger R/T’s. Even some of the ’19’s are priced right. B5 blue or any green are on the short list.

  13. 69rrboy

    Always say I wouldn’t mind having a 65 GTO or a Rebel Machine but only AFTER I run out of MOPARS I’m interested in buying and I’ll be over 900 by the time that happens so…..

    1. Challengers

      I owned a AMC Rebel for four years. I performed better than I expected and was fairly reliable saying it was fifteen years old when I bought it.

  14. Johnny Prestone

    Always been a GM guy, but I can appreciate a well built Mopar or Ford. Some I have more respect for than others. Typically my stable is always GM though.

  15. Challengers

    I have both Fords and Mopars. I have always liked the E bodies and like the new Challenger even more. I have three E bodies, 70 Challenger 6 pack, 71 Cuda 440 Magnum, and a 74 Challenger with a 451.
    I also have a 2011 Challenger that I just dropped a Hellcat engine into and a 67 Mustang fastback that I’m working on.
    I have never owned and never intend on owning any GM Vehicle.

  16. Patrick

    Pretty much Ford Trucks. Bought a few Chevys, interior fell apart and electrical gremlins. Still laugh when I see brand new Chebbies with the right rear taillight burned out, they all do. I think its funny GM let the heat soak starter problem on big block trucks go for at least 20 years, Chevy guys just say they all do that. Just like rear main seal leaks. I like all cars, would love to have matching 69 Boss 302 and 69 z28 models, a 66 Chevelle, but really like GTOs and 442s. Never understood why try fives are so popular when the BOP offerings were so much cooler. Love Corvairs (have had a few) and my 75 Blazer. Newer Ford trucks can’t be beat.

Comments are closed.