CSR2 Muscle Cars: Chevrolet vs Ford vs Dodge Ranked

A drag race is the most American kind of racing there is: one straight line, as much power as you can put down, nothing else. So it shouldn't be a surprise that American muscle does well in CSR2. What is surprising is which American cars do best, and where.

We went through our CSR2 world records sheet and pulled out every American car: Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, Plymouth, Pontiac, Shelby, Buick and AMC. That's 232 records, more than any other region we've looked at. Here's how the three big names compare, which legends are worth building, and why custom builds keep beating the factory cars.

CSR2 muscle cars at the top of Tier 5

Car	Record	Tier 5 rank
Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 (E.C. Level 36)	6.528	4
Classic Car Studio's Dodge Charger R/T ‘Double Down’	6.548	6
Chevrolet Ringbrothers Loadmaster ‘ENYO’	6.579	9
Pontiac Firebird Trans Am	6.606	12
Chevrolet Hoonigan Napalm Nova	6.636	20
Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (E.C. Level 36)	6.638	21
Ford Ruffian Mustang ‘70’	6.643	22
Ford GT MkIV	6.644	23
Chevrolet Camaro ‘DuSold Designs’	6.649	24

From our sheet at the time of writing, out of 890 timed Tier 5 cars.

Three of the ten fastest Tier 5 records in the game are American, five of the top 20, and 18 of the top 50. Across all 168 American cars in Tier 5, the typical one ranks 331st, well ahead of the tier's middle at about 446th. American cars are the strongest region at the top of Tier 5 by a distance.

America vs the world in Tier 5

Region	Tier 5 records	In the top 10	In the top 50	Typical rank
American	168	3	18	331st
Italian	200	2	5	470th
British	161	1	5	501st
Japanese	71	1	2	557th
German	128	1	7	591st

No other region comes close. American cars have more than twice as many top-50 records as any other region, and their typical car ranks well over a hundred places higher. Italian cars have the most Tier 5 records overall, but a typical Italian car sits just below the middle of the tier.

Custom builds beat factory cars

Look at the names in that table. The Charger ‘Double Down’ comes from Classic Car Studio, the Loadmaster from Ringbrothers, the Napalm Nova from Hoonigan, the Camaro from DuSold Designs, the ‘70 Mustang from Ruffian. Most of the fastest American cars in CSR2 aren't factory muscle cars at all. They're restomods and custom builds: classic bodies with modern power and chassis.

That's a useful thing to know when you're choosing. A stock Charger or Camaro is a fine car, but the custom versions of the same shapes are where the records are. If you love a particular muscle car, look for its custom build on the records sheet before you settle on the factory one.

Chevrolet vs Ford vs Dodge

	Chevrolet	Ford	Dodge
Records	87	67	47
Best Tier 5 car	Loadmaster ‘ENYO’, 9th	Mustang Shelby GT350, 4th	Charger ‘Double Down’, 6th
Typical Tier 5 rank	303rd	281st	417th
Best Tier 4 car	Corvette Stingray Convertible, 47th	Mustang Dark Horse, 1st	Letty's Challenger R/T Shaker, 36th
Best Tier 3 car	Corvette (C3) ZR1, 11th	2024 Mustang GT, 14th	SRT Hellcat, 39th
Tier 1	–	1st and 2nd	–

Ford wins. It has the fastest American car in Tier 5, the fastest record in all of Tier 4, the top two records in Tier 1, and the best typical Tier 5 rank of the three. It's the most complete American brand in the game.

Chevrolet has the biggest garage, with 87 records, and a strong typical Tier 5 rank. It's a close second in Tier 5 but much weaker in Tier 4, where its best car is only 47th.

Dodge has the most famous single car, the ‘Double Down’ Charger at sixth, but the weakest typical rank: its average Tier 5 car sits around 417th.

The small names that punch hardest

Two smaller American brands have remarkable records for their size. Pontiac has only four Tier 5 cars, but the typical one ranks 36th, the best of any American brand, led by the Firebird Trans Am at 12th. And in Tier 3, Pontiac's GTO ‘The Judge’ at Elite Customs Level 50 is sixth. Buick has just three Tier 5 records, and the typical one ranks 62nd, with the Roadster Shops Grand National at 43rd.

Mustang, Camaro, Charger: the legends ranked

Family	Tier 5 records	Best record
Mustang	25	4th in Tier 5, 1st in Tier 4, 1st in Tier 1
Charger	16	6th in Tier 5
Camaro	23	24th in Tier 5
Barracuda / ‘Cuda	6	30th in Tier 5 (Ringbrothers ‘Infected’)
Corvette	22	119th in Tier 5, 11th in Tier 3
Challenger	12	132nd in Tier 5 (Rides By Kam ‘Havoc’)
Viper	6	226th in Tier 5 (SRT-10 ACR)

The Mustang is the standout: the best American family in three different tiers. The Corvette is the surprise underperformer at the top, with 22 Tier 5 records and none better than 119th, though the C3 ZR1 is excellent in Tier 3. And a truck deserves a mention: the Ford F-150 Hoonitruck ranks 90th in Tier 5.

The weak spot: Tier 4

American cars are oddly patchy in Tier 4. A Mustang holds the top record, but the typical American car ranks about 147th of 232, below the tier's middle. Only nine American records make the Tier 4 top 50. Japanese cars are far stronger there, as our ranking of JDM cars in CSR2 shows: 21 of them sit in the Tier 4 top 50.

Lower tiers: a Ford sweep

In Tier 1, Ford takes first, second and fifth: the Mustang Boss 302 at Elite Customs Level 50, Sneak's Focus TrackSTer and the Fiesta ST. In Tier 2, the F-150 SVT Raptor at Level 50 is the best American car at 11th. Not much muscle there, but plenty of Ford.

Building an American garage

• For Tier 5: look at the custom builds first: the ‘Double Down’ Charger, the Loadmaster, the Napalm Nova, the Ruffian Mustang, or the GT350 at a high Elite Customs level.
• For Tier 4: the Mustang Dark Horse, built as the record holder built it, with the gearbox one stage short of maximum. Otherwise, consider a Japanese car.
• For Tier 1: any of the Fords at the top.
• Check the Elite Customs level. The GT350, Cobra Daytona and Boss 302 records all rely on it. Our Elite Customs analysis explains how much it adds.

Every American car in our car collection can be delivered stock or fully maxed. Brand pages: Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge. Dom Toretto's Chargers are covered separately in our Fast and Furious cars ranking.

Straight-line kings

American cars rule the top of Tier 5: three of the ten fastest records, 18 of the top 50, and the best typical rank of any region. Ford is the most complete brand, with the top record in Tiers 1 and 4 as well. The fastest examples are mostly custom builds rather than factory cars, and Tier 4 is the one place they fall behind. Build a restomod, and race it in Tier 5.