I definitely think the Challenger should be included in this Comparison, as the Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger are all cross-shopped, and they've always been competitors. The whole pony car/muscle car lines have been blurred, it basically comes down to if you wants a 2 door, RWD V8 (and stickshift) car that's just a no-excuses fun car, you shop amongst these 3.
And I love the people dismissing the Challenger as old, and as a pig. Last months sales seemed to say otherwise. 5,520 Camaros to 5,619 Challengers? A Challenger that dates back to 2008 outsells a brand new Camaro? That's not something you just dismiss.
Source:
http://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461900 (some good info and graphs in here).
And for the record, if I were to shop amongst these 3, I'd go with the Challenger. It may not be the ultimate track car, but it's a comfortable hotrod, I can get a 6 speed in it, and I think Challenger captures their heritage the best. There have been many Challengers with the right color/wheel/stripe combo that stopped me, and had me saying "damn, that looks hot".
Sorry, I just haven't grown accustomed to the slit 2" upper grille, and Predator inspired lower. Never had one stop me in my tracks yet, just the way it is.
I know it's an outstanding platform, and I won't deny it being the best performer all around. But one of the other aspects of these cars is that it was affordable for the average person. The Camaro definitely is not that. The Challenger is, and that's keeping to its heritage. 98% of these owners won't take their car to the track. I applaud GM's efforts, but I don't think this is in the best interest of their long term strategy. The low performance, bread and butter Camaros were always the top sellers, and kept the platform going to build up and make faster. Unfortunately I think they went the opposite way, they took a killer platform, and tried to cheapen it ever so slightly, and not enough to help it sell. And as a hotrodder, this takes some of the fun out of it for me. I honestly think the car has gotten so well tuned, that there's nothing left for someone like me to do. I'm building a 71 Firebird track car because I like to tinker, and make things better. I think that's the hotrodder mentality. I'd honestly rather take an imperfect $30k and make it better on my own, than have an all around, done car for $50k. Just the opinion of a lifelong F-body fan (I still have 6 of them).