Hey slow down let me in on this...
"modern muscle"?? Muscle is pure power.
Yes your 4 cylinder may beat a v8, if the v8 is stock. Now im not downing smaller engines, they are lighter, which sometimes makes them faster. For me i want a v6 for offroad, and a v8 for street and rock crawling.
But to have "muscle", the speed comes from power, pure power from the engine.
power = speed, but speed does not always = power
Speed comes from power, and weight, and many other important factors. Muscle is pure engine(no efi) heavy powerful engines. Which they no longer make. Muscle cars of the past have much more torque and are much heavier, giving them their momentum, and name "muscle".
Today they can make v8's v6's and i4's faster by making them lighter and adding many electronics. Today we have fast cars but it isnt "muscle". This can be proven, because a 1970 mustang will tow more than a 2009. Today we have fuel injection, and many other factors in our so called "muscle", which defeats the term "muscle". Ask any old guy he will say the same thing.
So i repeat, MUSCLE CARS ARE BACK??!?? WHERE??!??
Make more sense?