2015 Ford Mustang
2.3L EcoBoost wheel
It might be a disappointment. Or less weight over the nose
of a modern, well-sorted chassis might shame A5s and 4-series. We’ll find out
soon. The front suspension has also been heavily revised to work with the new
rear-end: still struts, but of a new geometry and mounted to a proper front
subframe. The steering, stability control, throttle response and shift maps
will all be (optionally) individually configurable. But unlike many of its
rivals, the Mustang won’t get a fancy (and expensive) twin-clutch auto; just
revised versions of the current six-speed manual and torque-convertor auto,
which gains paddle shifters. All European cars will get the performance pack as
standard, which brings bigger brakes, 19-inch wheels, revised suspension and
better cooling.
2015 Ford Mustang
2.3L EcoBoost trunk
A non-corporate sense of humour and naughtiness is part of
muscle-car tradition: it’s there in the current Mustang in that
too-easily-modifiable exhaust, or the school bus Yellow paint option. As well
as launch control, an accelerometer and an acceleration timer, the new car’s
track Apps package will feature an electronic version of a drag racer’s
hydraulic linelock, which applies the front brakes only, allowing you to spin
up the rears, either to heat them for the optimum quarter-mile time, or to
impress girls in a car park. Either way, good job, Ford. You won’t find that on
a bloody Veloster. And please do the exhaust thing again.
Manual stick stirs
six-speed ’box. There’s a paddle-shift torque converter auto option, but no
fancy dual-clutcher
The clever, knowing inclusion of gadgets like this shows wit
and authenticity. It bears out Moray Callum’s claim that the Mustang has been
‘globalised, but not Europeanised’. Chief engineer Dave Pericak, who also did
the boss 302, says there was no European input to the engineering of this car.
Too right. If the Mustang car is going to sell outside North America, it needs
to dial up its distinctiveness, and not do a poor imitation of a German.
The design is actually mainly the work of two Europeans –
Callum, a scot and Ford’s global vice president for design; and Kemal Curic, a
Croat, who drew the first sketches, but both are based in Dearborn. The
wheelbase is the same but the platform is effectively all-new. The track is wider,
the roofline, bonnet and deck are all lower, the A-pillar has been pushed back
and more sharply raked and the b-pillar is black rather than body coloured to
make it feel more of coupe. The proportions are ‘almost exotic now’ according
to the designers. It’s a little bigger inside, and still a bi-i-igcar by our
standards: that long, square hood will take deliberate and careful piloting
down a b-road, or through any city older than the car. And it is still
distinctively Mustang, with its tri-bar rear lamps and forward-leaning grille:
‘like a fist flying through the air,’ says Callum.
