What’s in a name? Pony car vs. muscle car debate settled

Both have more ponies under the hood than your average car, but put them to use in different ways

We Europeans tend to label all American sports cars as muscle cars, but in the U.S. there's another term that more accurately describes sports cars that don't boast ridiculous amounts of power.

That would be "pony car," a description first used when the original Ford Mustang launched in 1964. The logic behind that label was simple: the Mustang had a horse as a logo, so people started calling it a pony car.

So what makes a pony car different than a muscle car? The former category designates cars similar to the Mustang, such as the Chevy Camaro, that are meant to be fast not only in a straight line but on a twisty road as well.

Back in the day, the distinction was more simple to make, but now there's a thin line between pony cars and muscle cars. Take the Dodge Challenger, for example, which in its most extreme "Hellcat" iteration makes 707 hp. That's obviously a muscle car, as the absurd amount of power onboard is aimed at making it unbeatable in a drag race.

There are more differences between a pony car and a muscle car, however, and the video from Car Throttle serves to highlight them.