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Edmunds.com Inside Line Rates Ford Mustang Top Sport Coupe of 2005

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, today announced that the 2005 Ford Mustang GT won its Sports Coupe Comparison Test. The test is described in full on Inside Line, Edmunds.com's high-speed on-screen car magazine.

The Edmunds.com editorial team compared sport coupes that have a relatively low price, greater performance than a regular coupe and a practicality that makes them decent commuter cars. Additionally, the cars chosen for the test -- the Ford Mustang GT, the Mazda RX-8 and the Nissan 350Z -- were redesigned for the 2005 model year.

"The Mustang, with its impressive value and all-out brute horsepower, delivers the daily adrenaline rush a sport coupe should," said Edmunds.com Road Test Editor Dan Kahn. "And it does all that without making any significant sacrifices in drivability or comfort."

A huge improvement over previous model years, the new Mustang is easier to drive and the quickest of the three cars tested. Further tipping the scales in the Mustang's favor was its retro interior and exterior design, its comfortable ride, its folding rear seat and its reasonable price.

Each of the three vehicles tested have a base price under $28,000. Although the options were kept to a minimum, the as-tested price of the Mazda and the Nissan was just over $31,000 while the comparable Mustang cost only about $25,000. Fuel economy is similar for all three vehicles but the Mustang does not require premium fuel like the RX-8 and the 350Z.

The RX-8 placed second and the 350Z finished a close third, both well behind the Mustang. The Mazda edged out the Nissan with a combination of performance, comfort and spaciousness; its clamshell rear doors provide easy access to its rear seat, which is relatively comfortable for two adults.

The 350Z looks cool and delivers serious performance. For some, however, the Z will be too hard-core for the daily grind -- as the Edmunds.com editors wrote, "it is fun to drive hard but hard to drive slow."

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and services, including Edmunds.com True Market Value(R) pricing, is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties. For example, the company supplies content for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, About.com, iVillage.com and IGN.com, provides weekly data to Automotive News and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts. Edmunds.com also publishes a high-speed, on-screen car magazine called Inside Line available free at www.insideline.com. Edmunds.com was named "best car research" site by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "most useful Web site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM) and was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. and maintains a satellite office outside Detroit.

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