2010 Ford Shelby GT500

Like all Mustangs, the Shelby GT500 still sports the old-fashioned, controversial solid rear axle. Some reviews -- and no shortage of owners -- argue that it's better for drag racing, but Motor Trend says that's simply a myth cooked up by Ford. Several reviews quote anonymous Ford sources who say the solid axle was merely Ford's attempt to save a couple hundred bucks per car, savings that Ford then ironically had to spend trying to engineer the jumpiness out of the solid axle. Some testers barely notice it, but Car and Driver says it's chintzy for this price. Motor Trend says the Shelby's "stone-age rear suspension … hops and bangs and thumps, spitting the car sideways as the tires struggle for grip."

Unlike most sports cars, the 2010 Shelby GT500 has a small-but-usable backseat for two and a decent-sized trunk. It also comes with body stripes (stripe-delete is optional), leather seats with the Shelby cobra logo, satellite radio, Sync voice-control multimedia system and a power soft top for the convertible.

The rear-wheel-drive GT500 gets its 540 horsepower from a 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 engine. A six-speed manual transmission is the only offering. Expect 14 mpg city, 22 mpg highway and 17 mpg combined under optimal circumstances. The Shelby GT500 carries a three-year, 36,000-mile basic warranty, with five years, 60,000 miles coverage on the powertrain.

Edmunds.com's full review covers every aspect of the 2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and links to more detailed road tests, comparison tests and videos. Motor Trend and Car and Driver both test the Shelby head-to-head against the Chevy Camaro, with opposite results. Four auto-review websites -- Autoblog.com, Jalopnik.com, TheTruthAboutCars.com and LeftLaneNews.com -- all do single-car tests of the Shelby GT500 at its media launch. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists official fuel-economy estimates for the Shelby GT500 at FuelEconomy.gov.