Official: 2018 Ford Mustang Refresh Detailed! (Options/Features, Specs, Photos, Info)

[TheReaper]

Looks are always subjective, but I do get a little confused about the whole "muscle car" thing, because there have been plenty of Mustangs that didn't have the big, tall hood. To me, that means it's not necessarily a "required" Mustang trait.

Here's the original SN97:

The New Edge version of it:

And the Fox body:

And I don't see that the 2018 is any worse than those in that respect:

The Mustang is not a Muscle Car, it never has been and never will be.

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[DickR]

I'm just celebrating the fact that they kept the old school muscle inspired tall hood in the '15 - '17. Ford took a shot at blending some old school with the new school direction the car went with the S550. The '18's design tells me that they are thinking of departing from the traditional styling even more as time moves on. When I sit in an '18 I'll decide if I like the lower hood or not. No question, it will make a better road course car with improved visibility. If I start tracking my '15, I'll probably hop on the hood too tall bandwagon too! For my street use, doesn't bother me. I have also daily driven trucks for the 15 plus years I've been driving so the forward visibility on this car is night and day difference from what I'm used to.

I'm not too far from the original Cheers, I'd be happy to talk car history/evolution at your long standing watering hole any day! :cheers: Or we can keep up the back on forth up on here until Ford gives us something better to talk about. Come on '18 performance numbers!

Based on this video [ame] I'm not sure that visibility will be improved with the 18 and might even be worse in some situations due to the relocated hood vents. The lowering looks like it is in an area that is already not visible in my 15 GT PP from the driver seat even with the seat high and forward. FYI our 97 GT has MUCH better "over the hood" visibility. As I recall my 12 was in between the 97 and the 15. I don't remember how my 69, 88, and 01 compared (we still have the 97) but I'm sure none were as "bad" as the 15. After seeing the 18 in person at a car show plus lots of pictures it passed the "acceptable even though slightly different" test so I can focus on the three improvements I want compared to my base 15 GT PP: GT PP with 10 speed automatic, magneride, and dual zone automatic temperature control.

 

[tonyd1]

will the gt performance pkg be on the automatic tranny carsalso or just the stick ?

 

[Topnotch]

Testing

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/04/u-spy-ford-testing-trio-of-2018-mustang.html

 

[TomcatDriver]

The Mustang was actually *saved* by the Mustang II.

Despite what the die-hards felt about it...sales jumped massively from the 73 (last of the Gen1) to the 74.

I always thought it odd that the 71-73 were considered in the same GEN I as the 65-71. The 71-73 had become huge monstrous beasts with a couple of feet in front of the engine doing nothing other than making the car bigger. The Mustang II was a pendulum swing too far in the other direction, and just ugly. A product of the time perhaps, but still ugly.

 

[Twin Turbo]

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/04/u-spy-ford-testing-trio-of-2018-mustang.html

Even the ones with the 18MY front end are still sporting 17MY rears

 

[1320']

I always thought it odd that the 71-73 were considered in the same GEN I as the 65-71. The 71-73 had become huge monstrous beasts with a couple of feet in front of the engine doing nothing other than making the car bigger. The Mustang II was a pendulum swing too far in the other direction, and just ugly. A product of the time perhaps, but still ugly.

I know...I consider personally the 71-73 to be a very short Generation 1.5 but Ford doesn't...I just say what they officially recognize.

 

[Roman]

Kan't wait for Kona!

 

[EXP Jawa]

I always thought it odd that the 71-73 were considered in the same GEN I as the 65-71. The 71-73 had become huge monstrous beasts with a couple of feet in front of the engine doing nothing other than making the car bigger. The Mustang II was a pendulum swing too far in the other direction, and just ugly. A product of the time perhaps, but still ugly.

Well, it was still loosely the same platform as the '65, now with bloated bodywork. The styling jumped the track, but chassis-wise, it still the same fundamental car. Ford used those basic Falcon underpinnings for a number of models, including the Maverick & Granada.

It wasn't until the Mustang II that the car went to a distinct new platform, for better or worse. That car was better suited for the era, even if it wasn't an excellent car from a modern point of view. The biggest issue to me was that it always struck me as a caricature of the original car - it had the basic design cues, but the proportions were all mucked up...

 

[DickR]

will the gt performance pkg be on the automatic tranny carsalso or just the stick ?

It seems to be pretty solid info that the 18 GT PP's will be either manual or auto. Some of the car show cars are GT PP with automatic. See around the 8 min mark in this video of high end GT PP to see an example. [ame]

Plus the chief engineer talks about 3.55 and 3.73 gears when talking about the new automatics earlier in the video.

 

[DickR]

I always thought it odd that the 71-73 were considered in the same GEN I as the 65-71. The 71-73 had become huge monstrous beasts with a couple of feet in front of the engine doing nothing other than making the car bigger. The Mustang II was a pendulum swing too far in the other direction, and just ugly. A product of the time perhaps, but still ugly.

Good info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang_(first_generation) in regard to dimensions for the original - 73 Mustangs. I had a 69 (new) which was about 2 inches shorter and narrower than the 71's. Note that the 71's were almost the same size as the 15's. Too bad the current Mustangs couldn't have all the good stuff, fit large Americans, and be the same size as our 97.

 

[tonyd1]

It seems to be pretty solid info that the 18 GT PP's will be either manual or auto. Some of the car show cars are GT PP with automatic. See around the 8 min mark in this video of high end GT PP to see an example.

Plus the chief engineer talks about 3.55 and 3.73 gears when talking about the new automatics earlier in the video.

thank you so much, so glad to hear t:cheers:hat

 

[Gigantor]

No doubt the technology ramps up for the 2018, just wish they did
not mess with the design, at the very least I expected them to copy the
GT-350 design

 

[UMDrummer]

Is the orange fury that's been on display in person not the final color yet? Because it looks totally different from the computer generated images from the marketing promos. I don't see how it is a "metallic." Every picture from the auto show, and the one outside video, makes it look like a flat orange/yellow. I would love if it actually looked as metallic as the promo pics...

 

[w3rkn]

Based on this video I'm not sure that visibility will be improved with the 18 and might even be worse in some situations due to the relocated hood vents. The lowering looks like it is in an area that is already not visible in my 15 GT PP from the driver seat even with the seat high and forward. FYI our 97 GT has MUCH better "over the hood" visibility. As I recall my 12 was in between the 97 and the 15. I don't remember how my 69, 88, and 01 compared (we still have the 97) but I'm sure none were as "bad" as the 15. After seeing the 18 in person at a car show plus lots of pictures it passed the "acceptable even though slightly different" test so I can focus on the three improvements I want compared to my base 15 GT PP: GT PP with 10 speed automatic, magneride, and dual zone automatic temperature control.

I am 5' 9" and have sat in the 2018 several times. The hood makes a clear difference for me. Visibility is important to me, one of the reasons I always like my BMW's.

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