I used to own a 2008 mustang gt and my 1995 Camaro Z28 put it to shame when they were both completely stock. Why's there such a bad rep on lt1's?

 

The only “bad rep” I know of is the Opti Spark. Anytime you have a failure point that common it is going to cause a bad reputation. The other thing that hurt the Lt1 is the fact the LS1 is so dam good. “Why bother with the Lt1?” An LS1 are more common, newer tech and supported more by the aftermarket.
As for how well it performs IMO it has nothing to be ashamed of, when it came out as the replacement for the L98 in 1992 it was the first redesign of the SBC motor in 35+ year and it came with a 20% increase in HP and a much strong bottom end easily supporting 500hp.

 

It's all about money! I have a '98 V6 and if my '98 was still stock it would eat a V8 Mustang for breakfast. I'm not kidding you. A V8 Mustang for that year was 180 hp and my V6 was 200 hp. I could go into the finer points but that's BS.

The advertisement dollar rules, not reality.

 

ls1 took its glory away. and people tend to compare it to newer cars. like a new Subaru sti to a stock 93 Camaro with like 200k. eh I blame youtube.

 

as was said above, the ls1 essentially tko'd the lt1.

The aftermarket also isn't there for the ltx motors like they are for the lsx motors.

In addition, go to the ltx shootout races, the outlaw cars are running top 7s, lsx races, the outlaw cars are running mid 6s, not even on the same level