1997 Ford Mustang Still America's sweetheart. By Jim McCraw, New Car Test Drive .com

If there is one car that could be called

America's Sweetheart, it would be the Ford Mustang, now in its 33rd year

on the market. Born in the crazy cultural upheaval of the mid-'60s, it

has survived Vietnam, two gas crunches, the war on emissions and the safety

blitz to carry on as this country's favorite pony car.

Extensively redesigned in 1993, the Mustang has only two direct competitors,

the Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. There simply aren't any other rear-wheel

drive V8-powered sporty coupes out there in the same price class as the

three Americans that make up the pony car class. Indirectly, of course,

it competes with a host of smaller sport coupes.

Like the two General Motors entries, the Mustang comes in both V6 and

V8 versions, in coupe and convertible body styles, with a super-performance

model--in this case, the Cobra--on the top of the heap. The Mustang offers

a pretty good 3.8-liter V6 with 150 horsepower and 215 pound-feet of torque

as its basic engine, although the GM V6 engines have more muscle.

The GT is equipped with a 4.6-liter single overhead cam V8, rated at

215 hp and 285 lb.-ft. of torque, while the Cobra gets a twin cam 32-valve

version of the V8 capable of producing 305 hp.

The Cobra is available only with a five-speed manual transmission. The

other Mustangs offer the option of a four-speed automatic.