When the economy sucks and cash is tight, a prudent purchase is ... a new muscle car? Wait, what?

Well, that's exactly what Consumer Reports is announcing, noting that October sales of muscle cars are up 50 percent compared with last year. And while that's certainly partly due to an improving economy, muscle cars aren't exactly the practical family-haulers or economical fuel-sippers that most analysts comfortably predict will get a good bump in a bad economy.

But in the same way that musicals invariably enjoy a resurgence during tough economic times, maybe people need a distraction -- but this time, that distraction is serious G-forces during skids and potent amounts of horsepower.

Check out Consumer Reports' video giving a quick overview of the three main muscle-car contenders -- the Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro, after the jump.