The Best in Modern American Muscle Cars

By Mike Stone

What makes American muscle cars important today? What's the best American muscle car in turns of power, price, and legend?

The car world is dominated by German and Japanese made cars. That's not a bad thing, but real American engines are still around. You just have to look for them.

There are some powerful and unique American cars available, especially modern American muscle cars. But what makes these American muscle cars 1) affordable for the common car fan and 2) loud and fast to boot?

An American muscle car of quality should have some "kick" to it, growl loud like the corvette, and fast like a mustang.

It used to be American muscle cars were V-8 engines with nice paintjobs. You put a big engine in a small car. It's evolved. Now they're even more affordable, go from 0-60 even faster, and make a heck of a lot of noise.

The Pontiac GTO was the first muscle car, but today we also have the Cadillac CTS-V and the Chrysler 300 Hemi.

In terms of the very best modern American muscle car, there are still some options if you want to race a bit over the speed limit. But the best 3 may have just been mentioned.

Let's begin with the Pontiac GTO, the car that started it all. And what an interesting story this modern American muscle car has. An American car designer, sick of driving slow cars from work to home, decided to put a big engine into a small car. Throughout its history, the Pontiac GTO has been top 5 in American muscles cars. And the modern Pontiac GTOs are no exception. It's always had good horsepower for a modern muscle car, though usually weaker than the Cadillac and Chrysler. However, this is the best priced of all the vehicles, as used Pontiac GTOs go for fractions of their listed value all the time.

The Chrysler 300 Hemi is another one of those horsepower killers, with a nice and big grille, but the engine and price are the real stories for this baby. She clocks in around 5 to 5.5 in 0-60 with her 340+ horsepower, and is one of the more affordable American modern muscle cars available, starting at about $23,000.

Next on the list would be the Pontiac GTO, the car that started it all. Again, story was a car designer, sick of driving family sedans from work to home, decided to put a big engine into one of his smaller cars. Hence, we have the creation of the muscle car. Throughout its history, the Pontiac GTO has been top 5 in American muscles cars. And the modern Pontiac GTOs are no exception. It actually has some non-American flavor to it, but an American engine with 400 and up horsepower. While changing sometimes in horsepower, and a bad production run started and stopped over the years, the price is right here, with most models being sold for fractions of the stated value.

You've seen the prices of modern American muscle cars. You might cross out the Cadillac CTS-V, but it's likely the best car here. For history, the GTO might get it. For sheer power, the winner is the Cadillac CTS. For a combination of price and power, you've got the Chrysler 300 Hemi. It's almost a draw. For modern muscle cars, with the price and power just right, the Chrysler 300 Hemi is the winner. - 21393

About the Author:

Modern American muscle carshave always interested Mike Stone, a former auto journalist who likes to lend is ideas and automotive thoughts for Streetside Auto.com.