New Ford Mustang confirmed for Detroit show
A manual gearbox is staying, too!
A lot has changed since the first right-hand drive Mustangs arrived in the UK back in 2015. Back then buyers frantically scrabbled to get their V8 fix, the 5.0-litre eventually outselling the 2.3 Ecoboost so comprehensively that the four-cylinder was dropped. Line lock burnout pictures were everywhere, California dreams were lived out in convertibles and we even got a Bullitt as well - the Mustang had made it to Britain, and what an arrival it made.
Things look a little different for the Ford icon in 2022, with a focus on the electric Mustang Mach-E, fuel at almost £2 a litre, and the future of fast Fords in doubt - see the cancelled Focus RS for proof. Nevertheless, a seventh-generation Mustang is coming - thank goodness - and it’s coming to the Detroit show in September. Where else could they show it?
For the moment the all-new car has only been previewed in a very short video, essentially announcing the when and the where of the debut. However, there is a key detail in the seven seconds - an outline of a six-speed manual shift. And, er, Ford CEO Jim Farley tweeted the video with #SaveTheManuals. A clutch and stick is a central tenet of the Mustang’s appeal, even with a very good 10-speed auto available, as there’s really nothing like pairing an atmospheric V8 with your own gearchanges. So it’s very, very pleasing, with everything pointing towards a manual-free Mustang, to see the old ways live on a little longer in a new generation. Expect plenty more to follow soon ahead of the September 14th reveal.
I used to be quite sniffy about American cars until I'd driven a couple.
I used to think Americans were being backward in their refusal to allow things like the Mustang and Corvette to develop.
Now I realise they weren't clinging onto the past; they were clinging on to the fun.
It looked great, went well, made a lovely noise and got so many positive comments.
Currently have an AMG V8 and interesting to compare with the Ford flavour;
https://youtu.be/fhQUoEMNFQ0
I used to be quite sniffy about American cars until I'd driven a couple.
I used to think Americans were being backward in their refusal to allow things like the Mustang and Corvette to develop.
Now I realise they weren't clinging onto the past; they were clinging on to the fun.
It looked great, went well, made a lovely noise and got so many positive comments.
Currently have an AMG V8 and interesting to compare with the Ford flavour;
https://youtu.be/fhQUoEMNFQ0
I used to be quite sniffy about American cars until I'd driven a couple.
I used to think Americans were being backward in their refusal to allow things like the Mustang and Corvette to develop.
Now I realise they weren't clinging onto the past; they were clinging on to the fun.
I used to be quite sniffy about American cars until I'd driven a couple.
I used to think Americans were being backward in their refusal to allow things like the Mustang and Corvette to develop.
Now I realise they weren't clinging onto the past; they were clinging on to the fun.
It's big, loud and fun - that's all. I loved it.
That's looks absolutely lovely, and that Blue is sublime 
I used to be quite sniffy about American cars until I'd driven a couple.
I used to think Americans were being backward in their refusal to allow things like the Mustang and Corvette to develop.
Now I realise they weren't clinging onto the past; they were clinging on to the fun.
Yes there's a lot of dross, but Jethro Bovingdon is on a fair few and very watchable, the Head to Head series is, although very American, quite watchable, I personally enjoy the engine masters series as some tongue in cheek but very informative entertainment etc. etc.
I'm inclined to agree with the sentiment that the Americans, and especially their journalists, have a far better understanding of what fun actually is, as opposed to getting miserably swept up in stats and figures and chasing this mythical objective perfection of feel and balance and secondary ride comfort and all of this nonsense that about 0.1% of drivers give a stuff about and 0.000001% are in any sort of position to make an informed judgement of or even discern.
They are far more tuned in to what actually makes a car just simple fun, as opposed to what makes it better on a spreadsheet.
Where they really excel IMO is as a GT car - 115mph in 6th gear has the car sitting at 3000rpm. Big comfy seats with heating and cooling, brilliant climate control, Carplay, a great stereo and a pretty cavernous boot as well. Plus on the continent they are pretty rare, so it turns heads just as much as the McLaren does.
Mine has done the trip to and from Portugal twice - it's around 2000km from Caen to our villa on the Algarve, and I do that with one stop over.
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