New 2010 Ford Mustang

They redesigned the badge now. Will the redesign the suspension and put a real one in? And make it a real sports car not an overweight cruiser for chicks and middle aged men.

When the current Mustang was released, didn't one of the GRM editors post on the forum that it handled well? I seem to recall that editor saying they should sell off more of the current project cars to clear physical and budget space to bring in one of the new Mustangs.

Or am I mistaken?

New mustang does quite well. The main problem I have is weight. In race trim mine was still 3365. I hope to knock that WAY down this year. We shall see.

I can live without the IRS. The plant you can get out of the corner is as good or better than many IRS cars. Not to say this is perfect, by no means. It is, however, a very good design from the factory.

Have you driven one of the 05 mustangs?

They still have a solid rear axle and struts up front (not surprising considering the size of that heavy 4.6v8), but their handling is much improved over the fox bodies.

Varkwso wrote:

Thinkkker wrote:

thatsnowinnebago wrote: Maybe the next redesign will be a Mustang II remake!!!

Ill put my name on the list now!!!! That means better suspension and Much lighter! YEAH!!!!! *yes I do have a coupe of II's *

An underappreciated car from my formative years in High School - I too have a soft spot for the "unloved" II.

My sisters first car was a II, a '78 coupe with a v6/auto in E36 M3 brown. And I was stuck riding to school in the back seat of thhat thing. I would still like to build one...would make an interesting challenge car

jikelly wrote: their handling is much improved over the fox bodies.

That's not saying much though. Most school buses out-handle fox-bodies stock-for-stock...

I have driven every gen Mustang even own a few of them and I have driven many different forms of busses. I can very much agree with P71

P71 wrote:

jikelly wrote: their handling is much improved over the fox bodies.

That's not saying much though. Most school buses out-handle fox-bodies stock-for-stock...

If the school bus is made by Ford it still will not turn in well....

The later Mustangs do handle very well - a little heavy and underpowered - but they do quite well at the track. Having tracked many of the V6 rental Mustangs at locations around the country I can honestly say they can be a lot of fun. Having been on track with both the Grand Am and MIller Cup Mustangs I can also say the factory modded ones run out well for the chassis and HP. Out of the box/showroom the cars need a little suspension and brake help.

Now if Ford would pair that new logo with a lean, mean LX style car with all the Ford parts suspension goodies and none of the the bling it would make it a lot more fun at the track. The new Bullitt comes close - but still pricey.

I know its easy to rip on the Mustang for being overweight, but lets look at other RWD coupes (all weights from Edmunds.com for consistency):

Mustang GT: 3356lb (I think Edmunds screwed up and this is the weight of the V6. Other sites say 3483 for the GT)

Pontiac GTO: 3725lb

Dodge Challenger RT: 4041lb

Nissan 350Z (only seats 2): 3320lb

Infiniti G37: 3616lb

Hyundai Genesis Coupe V6 (expected): 3549lb

BMW 135 Coupe: 3252lb

So the Mustang weighs less than many other 4 seat, RWD coupes, many of them with V6s. Sure, the GT500 is getting up their in weight (3900+), but its still less than the Challenger.

The live axle is another easy target, but the Mustang has been doing fairly well in all levels of racing, and most reviews say that you'd never realize it's not an IRS except for on the roughest of roads - and the vast majority of mustang buyers (who are NOT enthusiasts) don't have a clue what IRS or live axle means. The Fox body Mustangs had issues with instantaneous wheel rates changes due to poor geometry (only the bushing compliance prevented the rear suspension from binding) but the new one does not have these problems.

Who wouldn't love a sub 3000lb, 300+hp, $25000 Mustang with IRS? If it were even economically feasible for Ford to make, it would quickly get cancelled due to poor sales because it would be noisy, lacking in convenience and safety features, so we should probably be happy with what we've got.

But back on topic, maybe Ford should cut some of their styling people to save some money. They actually put this much effort into changing the badge while cutting employees from their core engineering activities?

Bob

Ford is building the FR500 series Mustangs - and they seem to be doing well in Grand Am. They are having a firesale on the FR500S (Koni Challenge GT car) with only 9 left for $99,000 a piece. The Miller Cup cars are $75,000 each.

Stripper performance cars for the street have never burned up the sales chart - until they make it to Barrett-Jackson about 25 years later.

I watched "Test Drive" on SPEED last night (I DVR'd it). They tested the New Challenger SRT-8. It's one bad mother - it'll do 170 mph.

I think this 2010 Mustang is going to be updated a bit more than Ford will let out. I still think a more powerful engine is in the works. (Does anyone else think so?)

Ford spent a lot of time talking to enthusiasts when designing the suspension for the 05 car. They were actually considering IRS but decided against it due to the demands of the consumers. This type of suspension is very popular at drag strips and it is very good at what 99% of drivers do with it.

The GT-500 weighs 3920 lbs.

With spare tire out my car was 3365 on HPT scales.

I think Ford will have to get some power out of the engine. If they make a smaller engine they could make the car smaller dimensionally to. Which would be nice.