Mustang lovers of the world unclench. Finally, here is the much anticipated
globalreplacement
and having had a good look round the car back in October, we can say the boat has stayed unrocked.
Half the cylinder count, half the car?
As pretty much everyone guessed, the new car will have independent rear suspension for the first time (excepting the SVT Cobras from 1999) and a four-cylinder 2.3-litre turbo EcoBoost, making "more than 309hp". But it will also have a stonking 5.0 V8 with "more than 426hp", a manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive and all the styling subtlety of a flying fist (Ford's words, not ours). The new Capri this really isn't.
And yes, we're getting the car in right-hand drive with two of three engines. Only the base 3.7 V6 is staying Stateside. You did read that right, the turbocharged four-cylinder are higher in status that the six-cylinder. We'll also get the convertible.
We don't know how much it's going to cost. Competitive with the grey imports is all anyone would say, which would put a V8 GT coupe at around £34,000 given the usual dollar/pound parity plus-a-bit importer price. That would hopefully mean the 2.3 turbo starts at under £30K.
Touchy feely stuff to meet Euro expectations
Ford told us the car is just too far from its 2015 launch to talk exact figures, but in our conversations with the guys that created this car two interesting things emerged. One: they REALLY rate the dynamics of this sixth-generation version. And two: the needs of Europeans or anyone else outside the US didn't factor into the making of it. We just won't buy enough compared to the Yanks and anyway, according to Ford, any non-American Mustang fans will want to buy it BECAUSE of all its Stars and Stripes burnout-and-be-damned demeanor, not despite it.
That said, Ford bowed to the Europeans for the Mustang's dynamics, because, well, we know what we're doing. Ford development head Raj Nair said it'd had been benchmarked against the Porsche 911 and the BMW M3 and when quizzed by PistonHeads to how close they got, said "more than 80 per cent".
He also promised it'll happily and safely slide a bit on track.
Styling riffs all the familiar styling cues
We liked the looks of it. Not loved, because the eradication of that bold, body-coloured B-pillar has drawn attention to the fact that the coupe curve is a bit generic in our eyes, but it's certainly not dull. The other big deviation are the slimmer headlights and the subtle import of the Ford 'Aston' grille shape, but this is one new Mustang that won't frighten the other wild horses. This ain't the shock of the 1979 Fox-body car for example.
It looks a whole lot more taut than the car it replaces. "Shrink-wrapped" is how head stylist Moray Callum (Ian at Jaguar's younger brother) described it to us, meaning the wheel arches bulge out, especially at the back. The whole car is around the same length, but lower by 38mm and much less wedgy with the boot lid now lower by 70mm. Wider too by 40mm, with the rear track wider than the front to the satisfaction both the dynamics guys and the designers, according to Callum.
In the same Mustang design studio in Ford HQ in Dearborn, near Detroit, as all this was taking place we also saw a styling buck for the convertible and can report it looked good - more elegant, with the hood better tidied away after lowering (a process that takes just seven seconds, we were told).
Can a true Mustang pack a turbo Focus engine?
European legislation did impinge on the Mustang's looks a little, but not much, the engineers said. The bold GT rear badging can't come over here because we're not allowed the sharp edges. The 'faux gas-cap' badge comes instead. Pedestrian safety is covered by explosive springs to pop the bonnet on impact, and the HID headlights aren't as bright as in the States. They would have needed wash-wipers and the designers nixed those.
So what about these engines? The 2.3 amazingly isn't the first 2.3 four-cylinder in a Mustang. The unloved second-gen eco 'stang from 1974 had the same displacement engine, and the Fox-body got the 2.3 plus a turbo. This one is based on the two-litre EcoBoost in the Focus ST. Like the hp figure, the exact torque hasn't been nailed down but Ford says "more than 300lb ft", up from 265lb ft for the ST. The larger displacement means max torque also comes in earlier, according to Nair. If it doesn't crack 60mph in less than six seconds, we'd be disappointed (the Focus ST manages 6.5 seconds for the sprint). Both cars get an updated version of the Getrag six-speed manual as well as the option of a six-speed auto with paddle shift and rev blips on the downshift.
Lower, wider but no smaller than outgoing car
The five-litre V8 has quite lot of the mechanicals of the 'hi-po' 444hp engine on the Boss 302, which is why Ford says it'll make more than the current 420hp. At the moment they're only saying it go above 426hp and 390lb ft of torque, but of course they'll tweak power to produce the equivalent of the Boss and today's monster 662hp supercharged Shelby. Expect a load of customization options too, a flavour of which can be had on
the configurator
The current V8 GT is pretty swift, with MotorTrend managing a 4.3-second 0-60 dash for the manual. Not bad for 1,641kg. There was no mention of weight for the new car and disappointingly no talk of making it lighter either. All they'd say was 'we've achieved weight targets', whatever that means. Still, it's not a big car and the turbo shouldn't miles away from the 1,484kg Focus ST.
We got to sit inside it, and can report the interior dash materials are massively improved from the current car. Everything that looks like metal, including an attractive aluminium strip running the length of the dash, is actually metal and not metal-look plastic.
Manual gearbox for those old-schoolers out there
Ford was pretty open about the fact they're not going to shift a whole lot in Europe, instead leaning on it more as a publicity generator to lift the whole brand, which is odd given it might not even wear a Ford badge.
Given then that Ford's marketing these days is all about tech, the Mustang is dragged into the infotainment age with a big dash screen, start button and driving modes that give four settings to adjust the stability control, steering and throttle, namely Normal, Sport, Track and Snow/Wet. We also spied an adaptive damper button, although these weren't specifically mentioned.
So would we buy one? Price of course is everything. North of £30,000 is a lot to spend on a Ford. Especially one that's built to a cost to get base models in as low as £14,000 (the converted price of the current one). But at £28,000 for a 310hp turbo with a nice chunk of kit and leather? Maybe.
IF (and it's a big if) the dynamics come pretty close to, say, a BMW M435i, then it might become even more tempting. Mostly it comes down to the question: how American do you feel? On first introduction, the Mustang is still far more drive-thru cola than sit-down cappuccino.
[Update: An early Mustang configurator is now live on the Ford US website. See it here]
FORD MUSTANG 2.3 ECOBOOST (caution, educated guesswork ahead..)
Engine: 2.3-litre 4-cyl, turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): "more than 309"
Torque (lb ft): "more than 300"
0-62mph: 5.8 seconds (est)
Top speed: 155mph (est)
Weight: 1,530kg (est)
MPG: 37mpg (est)
CO2: 180g/km (est)
Price: £28,000 (est)