modern muscle

Just me, but I wouldn't class either the 3.5 or the better 3.6 as a "muscle car". The 3.6 makes for a fine car, in my opinion, but not a muscle car. The 2.7 isn't even an also ran to me.
Totally agree, v6 cars are commuter cars, as they always were. No one looked at a ‘70 Challenger with a slant six as a muscle car.

I’ve got the 3.6 in my Pacifica and it’s a little rocket ship. But that motor sounds like *** when the LX guys put intakes/exhaust on them.