Well, on the mustang side, I was into drag racing for a while when I was a young 2dLt with time on my hands and I have seen 4.6s with 40K miles on them with rod holes out the side of the block, whereas you can dog a 5.0 out for 200K miles racing it every weekend and it just asks for more. All you have to do to one of them is liberate it from the smog control crap and it will love you back. I do think they got it right on the 4.6 after 2001 or so, the first few years they were really bad.
But I want carburetors on everything too, so thats just me. I had an 85 stang with a 4 bbl and there is no sweeter sound then a 5 speed with a 4bbl and glasspacks.
I don’t drag race but I have done a lot of hard trailer pulling and hauling with an ‘89 150 that I bought new. I just sold the old truck about a month ago and the 302 was still running strong with 200k on it but the rear seal was pouring oil out, that seems to be the main weakness on that engine. No doubt it was a toughie! There was never a problem pulling a load but it could be real scary trying to stop! I used to laugh at people who seem to think they need the biggest engine made to pull a trailer. All you really need (unless you are climbing mountains) is the right gearing and a way to stop all that load.