The Best in Modern American Muscle Cars

By Mike Stone

What makes the powerful American muscle car so strong today is the fact you can get them for a fraction of what a luxury car is priced.

Some of these affordable yet modern American muscle cars will give car fans goosebumps when they hit the gas 0-60 in 4 seconds! The car world may be dominated by foreign companies, and some of these are of the best quality, but most affordable modern muscle cars come from the states. Why? We love them. We buy them.

There are some powerful and affordable American cars out there, especially modern American muscle cars. But what makes these American muscle cars 1) affordable for the guy with a mortgage and 2) is loud and scary fast too?

First, some history on the modern muscle car, as that will lead us to the best in American muscle cars. An American muscle car of quality should have some "amp" to it, be loud like the corvette and fast, going from 0-60 in no time.

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 most affordable American muscle cars, there are still some options if you want to race a bit over the speed limit. These three have varying price ranges, but are high value for what you get.

The Chrysler 300 Hemi is a horsepower machine made from the old school with its 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, let's talk about the Cadillac CTS-V. The pros here are the incredible horsepower, the very best in modern American muscle cars. It's got a supercharged 6.2 V8 engine, with some incredible horsepower numbers pushing 550. And you can go 0-60 in 4.3. The only clear con to this modern American muscle is the price tag, pushing $60,000.

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.

The best modern American muscle car is? It's a tough call. 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, even with the high price tag, the Cadillac CTS-V is a winner. - 29952

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