Ford has announced that the 2011 5.0 powered Mustang GT will make 412 horsepower and get an EPA rated 26 mpg highway and 17 mpg city when equipped with a manual transmission. The 26 mpg rating puts the Mustang GT at the top of its class for economy. Models with automatic transmissions will get 25 mpg highway and 18 city.

There goes the ‘bad gas mileage’ excuse for why you don’t own a pony car.

The 2011 Mustang V6 has a similar pairing of performance and economy. With 300 hp, the V6 Mustang is no slouch, and cars with the smaller engine are rated at 19 mpg city and 29 mpg highway with a manual transmission, and 31 mpg highway with an automatic.

The Mustang’s primary competition comes from the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger. The Challenger gets 15 mpg city and 24 mpg highway when equipped with the 372 hp Hemi V8. The Camaro, with its 6.2-liter V8, beats the Mustang’s power output with 426 horsepower, but only gets 24 mpg.

The Mustang has a reputation for being the pony car for the girls, and the one to buy if you’re not really into performance. In the 90’s, Ford focused on building a car you’d want to drive every day, rather than all-out performance like the Camaro and Firebird. The return to the 5.0-liter engine size, which was last seen in the 1995 model year, carries symbolic meaning for car enthusiasts. With the 5.0 engine, Ford is saying that the Mustang is going to be competitive in the performance category. Hopefully the manners that helped the Mustang survive when the Camaro was canceled won’t suffer as a result.