I was in the same boat a couple months back. I was looking for a daily driver replacement and since I already own a Dodge Challenger as a weekend toy, the Mustang popped up on my radar as an addition to the stable.
You get quite a bit for your money in the 5.0 and it has a lot of cool features. Power is pretty nice, but I found the manual trans sloppy in shifting and the auto sluggish. The auto has no manual shift options (bump shift or paddles) which disappointed me.
The Z actually feels a bit more peppy to me, but that's likely because it's a bit lighter, but I didn't drive them back to back so it's just from memory.
Visibility out of the Mustang was a bit better, and that 5.0L motor is nice and responds well to mods.
You do see a Mustang on every corner, but because of that they have a HUGE aftermarket support following. That's one thing I've struggled with on the Challenger. They're rare, and there's not a WHOLE lot of options on aftermarket parts and the parts that are available are $$. The Z looks to be the same.
Ultimately I ended up going with a Z. However, I think brand new it's a bit over priced. I found a very low mileage used model (2009 with 2900 miles) for $15K off the price of a new one.
I love the car. If the Mustang had paddles or bump shift I might have gone with it, but that was a deal breaker for me. The Challenger is a 6 speed manual, and I wanted an auto to drive to work in traffic, and found the paddle shifters the best of both worlds.
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