We can all be happy to have a 2015-17

[Twin Turbo]

Just seems to me that Ford is talking it's eye off the ball a bit of what a muscle car should be. IMO it should have muscular styling, be simple, be comparatively inexpensive, be fast in a straight line and sound great.

While Ford seem to be addressing a few of these points with the refresh (power and sound) they appear to be trying to copy a luxury coupe type vehicle in the main (with all the expensive gimmicky tech), that someone like Audi would produce. If the Mustang goes down this route i think it will suffer as it'll lose its uniqueness, which will be a shame.

Whilst some Mustangs could be classed as muscle cars (Boss 429/Cobra Jet 428 etc), the original Mustang was far from a tyre smoking all American bad boy. It was, in fact, inspired by the smaller, nimbler (compared to the land yachts of the time) and, most importantly, European cars. It even created a new market segment that ended up being named after the Mustang.....the pony car.

Back when the S550 was still in development, many Mustang fans were outraged that it would have a modern IRS and more modern styling. But, there's a reason Mustang has been around for 53 years, and it's because its adapted to the environment its found itself in. Yep, added beef during the late 60s for the muscle car era.....small compact in the mid 70s during the fuel crises.....modern looking with a hint of retro for the 90s.......full on retro for the 00s and now a sleek, powerful, beauty in the 2010s.

Each to their own really. I love the new look, I still think it looks like a Mustang, I like the sound of the new tech (and I'm (well) over 30). It'll still be a 5 litre V8 RWD coupe that sits outside the mainstream - only faster, louder and better handling. Equally, there will be those that disagree with some or all of that. The good thing is that I think much of the tech is scheduled to be optional isn't it? So you'll still be able to get the gadget-free, full-fat experience if you want it.

Ford obviously have a slightly different set of priorities to customers though. They're a mass producer of cars and need to balance the books. They need this car to appeal to the widest range of people possible, so the fact they're investing in these fairly big changes (for all markets if the press release is to be believed) is recognition that the S550v1 has been a much bigger success than Ford anticipated. It's a global car now - I would guess the vast majority of buyers (in the UK at least) don't give a stuff about Mustang history or modding, they just want the best car they can get - so a bigger options list is a way of pleasing as many people as possible and selling more cars.

Bingo!

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[Twin Turbo]

Oh, and :eyebulge::hail::love:

 

[Gibbo205]

Oh, and :eyebulge::hail::love:

Its no different than S550.1, most of us lowered them and fitted front splitters because without such items it all looked a bit tame.

S550.2 though seem to benefit more so and the end outcome is an even more aggressive looking car once lowered and a front splitter or hood added. Add both and its a lot more aggressive and get out my goddam way looking than S550.1 was.

Top is just lowered and splitter.
Bottom is hood, splitter and lowered.


Not seen any loss in aggression or muscular attraction once lowered and a splitter is added, no different than what I did to the current one to make it look less Mondeo from the front.
Also adding the black stoneguards to the front bumper is work of a genius as it gets rids of the Camaro look and huge wide mouth, thats £10 fix right there.
Also Ford have announce the lower grill will be honeycomb on GT's like upper grill, though I am one a few who prefers the EU lower grill on S550.1 and the grill pictured on S550.2, you can have too much honeycomb. ;)

Also most of us with S550.1 revamped the entire front-end and got rid of all the horrible Halogen bulbs with yellow tinge and went to LED, the new car features all LED lighting externally.

 

[Manders Mustang]

Its no different than S550.1, most of us lowered them and fitted front splitters because without such items it all looked a bit tame.

S550.2 though seem to benefit more so and the end outcome is an even more aggressive looking car once lowered and a front splitter or hood added. Add both and its a lot more aggressive and get out my goddam way looking than S550.1 was.

Top is just lowered and splitter.
Bottom is hood, splitter and lowered.


Not seen any loss in aggression or muscular attraction once lowered and a splitter is added, no different than what I did to the current one to make it look less Mondeo from the front.
Also adding the black stoneguards to the front bumper is work of a genius as it gets rids of the Camaro look and huge wide mouth, thats £10 fix right there.
Also Ford have announce the lower grill will be honeycomb on GT's like upper grill, though I am one a few who prefers the EU lower grill on S550.1 and the grill pictured on S550.2, you can have too much honeycomb. ;)

Also most of us with S550.1 revamped the entire front-end and got rid of all the horrible Halogen bulbs with yellow tinge and went to LED, the new car features all LED lighting externally.

White was the image I was on about with the new hood, and I really hate those hoods, look super impractical, but it still looks far superior to the stock one.
[MENTION=6364]Twin Turbo[/MENTION] that front end (side plate winglets and splitter) looks mean as fk (Those velgens are what I'm "looking for" as replacement alloys - but council are playing hardball - cun7s)

 

[goldengooner]

I have been wanting a new hood for my car since I got it. Have you seen the price to get one here?! I just can't do it. Will be the best part of 2k I think

No it wont
if you are prepared to wait, get Ron at STS Imports to ship it over for you, his prices are very fair and a boat goes every 2 months. And Ron is a very honest and trustworthy person

 

[Manders Mustang]

No it wont
if you are prepared to wait, get Ron at STS Imports to ship it over for you, his prices are very fair and a boat goes every 2 months. And Ron is a very honest and trustworthy person

It's mainly import taxes matey.
AC CF hood comes in at 1400 bucks on average. Cervini about 800.

$1400/$800=£1130/650 in todays market

Shipping to Ron would be $100 with 'free' shipping to him, so that's $1500/$900
Shipping then to the UK through ron would be fairly cheap, but you'd end up with +20% in VAt when it arrives. So they'd both be around the 1-1.5k mark. If you were to pay flat delivery to the UK, you're looking at an easy $400 (est.)

 

[Jimboy2]

It's mainly import taxes matey.
AC CF hood comes in at 1400 bucks on average. Cervini about 800.

$1400/$800=£1130/650 in todays market

Shipping to Ron would be $100 with 'free' shipping to him, so that's $1500/$900
Shipping then to the UK through ron would be fairly cheap, but you'd end up with +20% in VAt when it arrives. So they'd both be around the 1-1.5k mark. If you were to pay flat delivery to the UK, you're looking at an easy $400 (est.)

I'm sure last time I looked CJ wanted $1000 to ship a good!! Ducking crazy. I will do it one day but not just yet

 

[deep south]

I must be in a small minority; I like the new front end - looks "sleeker" to me and may well improve the (pretty bad) aerodynamics a bit. To me, the exterior is just a bit of "tidy up" and not really as dramatic as it could have been - a standard "refresh" after a few years that most manufacturers do to their models.

i lke the full LED lighting; I like the new dashboard; even the standard one get's proper digital speedo, and I can't decide about the full LCD one.

The new 10 speed auto sounds interesting so let's see what it is like in real life...

I am happy with my MY2016; will I trade it in for a MY18 - almost certainly not - but if I get a good trade in then I might as I will be aiming to retire in a couple of years so that might be a nice present to myself.

I never get into the "wait for the next version" camp - there is always a "later version" coming! And I have been very happy for the last 12 months with mine, and pleased I bought it - how can you put a value on that?

 

[Kristian87]

I never get into the "wait for the next version" camp - there is always a "later version" coming! And I have been very happy for the last 12 months with mine, and pleased I bought it - how can you put a value on that?

Very good point. I suffer from this with iPhones - the best one to have is always the one that is coming next! (Manders - please dont start!).

It's true what you say though, if you are genuinely happy with what you have, stick with it because they are phenomenal cars.

 

[marks]

Yes, I like to keep my cars for around 8-10 years.
Although yep exception to this is with smartphones as well (albeit Android rather than iPhone), like to upgrade to the latest every two years - bit pathetic really but battery usually begins to have noticeable deterioration by then!
That's the way of the world now, consumable society people just get and disregard stuff at the drop of the hat. Probably not going to end well.

 

[goldengooner]

Pony Puddle Light 2018

Looks like they have sorted out the issues, they have got rid of them
No mention of them, and some over the pond think they are no more

 

[SteveS]

CJPP speculating on why there's a Boss 302 in this press photo...

 

[Twin Turbo]

Ford often show an older Mustang in these CGI images and nothing ever comes of it. I see it as a "handing over the baton" kind of thing.......the Boss was the best S197.....and now a stock GT will beat it on power, torque, handling......




Now, if they'd shown a Mach 1, I might be more excited

I still think a fully loaded (Magneride / active exhaust / digi-dash / 10-speed auto) S550.2 with a cross plane crank 5.2 V8 with 485-500hp would fit nicely into the line-up. '19MY will be it's 50th anniversary.......

C'mon Ford :ford:

 

[Gibbo205]

CJPP speculating on why there's a Boss 302 in this press photo...

To me a BOSS 302 GT would make no sense, we have a GT 350, so a BOSS 302 GT would be a huge conflict with that car.

MY18 GT is rummoured to be 455-475HP with 425-455lb/ft from the engine with 7400-7600rpm limit and with magnetic ride and uprated bars its going to be not far off GT 350 pace anyway due to the 4S tyres.

A BOSS 302 version of that, would have a different manifold, CAI and tune, maybe they would default it manual only and throw in the tremec. But still that means a 25-40HP increase on the GT, 8000rpm limit. That would put it on par with the GT 350, so it seems a huge conflict of interest for there to be a BOSS 302 on MY18 when we have GT 350.

My conclusion would be MY19 won't see GT 350 in production, MY18 is rumoured to be its last year, so as per usual with Ford we might see a few special edition S550's in MY19 such as BOSS 302 to keep them winning awards, sales etc as a BOSS 302 edition of the GT in theory would be right on GT 350 track performance.

 

[Gibbo205]

Ford often show an older Mustang in these CGI images and nothing ever comes of it. I see it as a "handing over the baton" kind of thing.......the Boss was the best S197.....and now a stock GT will beat it on power, torque, handling......




Now, if they'd shown a Mach 1, I might be more excited

I still think a fully loaded (Magneride / active exhaust / digi-dash / 10-speed auto) S550.2 with a cross plane crank 5.2 V8 with 485-500hp would fit nicely into the line-up. '19MY will be it's 50th anniversary.......

C'mon Ford :ford:

If Ford want to join the ring crowd with crazy fast lap times, that car would be the answer! How to get a fast lap on the ring, use a very fast automatic style gear box, as with a manual its very hard work now. The above would do that, though I doubt it would be flat plane crank, Ford have said several times the flat plane crank is exclusive to GT 350 and will not be seen in other models. So they could in theory go one better, for the 302 they could put in their aluminator 5.2 V8 which has 570-590HP, that mated to the 10-speed auto would be devastatingly quick on any track with magnetic ride and a few other tweaks. Talking GT3 levels quickness especially if they pull 100lbs of weight from the car or so.

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