S550 Body Style Opinions

I realize the feedback might be somewhat of a biased opinion giving the forum. But this question is geared towards those of us who have owned multiple Mustang platforms. Don't mistake my question or opinion for dislike as I find my S550 Procharged Competition Orange GT to be drop dead sexy. As far as my background with Mustangs I have owned a 96 Mystic, 02 Procharged GT, 04 Competition Orange Twin Screw Cobra, 04 Mach1 and my previous an 11 5.0. So with that said I find the S550 to be more European Sports car and less American Muscle car than the previous model. I know...you just went all addle: on me. I understand opinions may very and may be very biased but what are your thoughts?

Shane361 said:

I find the S550 to be more European Sports car and less American Muscle car than the previous model. I understand opinions may very and may be very biased but what are your thoughts?

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In our tech driven, instant information global economy, everything evolves, maybe sometimes more quickly than we'd like. I'm still a holdout in some respects...hell, I don't even own a smart phone, preferring my old school flip style...but that's another story.

Imagine the shock of watching some hip shaking, guitar slinging young singer on the Ed Sullivan show after listening to Bing Crosby or the Andrews Sisters for the last decade. How about the guy who swore his 62 Impala convertible with a continental kit was the epitome of motor cruising and then sees a brand new, loud and fast 1964 GTO leave him in the dust? "My god...that car is named after one of those little Eye-Talian sports jobs."

Muscle cars, as we know them, are a thing of the past, but they were the genesis of the cars we like to drive today. I used to wax nostalgic for the Golden Age of Muscle....now I just appreciate the hell out of that period and am glad I witnessed it from the beginning..

The Mustang, more than any modern muscle car today, has evolved much more than any of it's competitors while at the same time staying true to it's original intent...providing a sports type car for everyone... the 'secretary's car' as it was promoted in 1964. Entry level today is below $26K, roughly on par with the price of the original back in the day given inflation.

I see the S550 as both a muscle and a sports car. It sells like hotcakes both here and abroad and Ford will keep making them as long as that happens. That's nothing but good news for us.

Food for thought,

The OG 1964.5 mustang was itself designed to look "European"....

Per Wikipedia:

"I told the team that I wanted the car to appeal to women, but I wanted men to desire it, too. I wanted a Ferrari-like front end, the motif centered on the front — something heavy-looking like a Maseratti [sic], but, please, not a trident — and I wanted air intakes on the side to cool the rear brakes. I said it should be as sporty as possible and look like it was related to European design."
-Joe Oros

With that said, if you look at the profiles of the S550...it maintains many design ques from the original. IMHO, the Fox is the least "mustang" looking of the bunch followed by the SN95 and New Edge.

millhouse said:

Food for thought,

The OG 1964.5 mustang was itself designed to look "European"....

Per Wikipedia:

.....it should be as sporty as possible and look like it was related to European design."
-Joe Oros

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Great post.

Having owned multiple SN95s (more specifically, NewEdges), seems like you would prefer the S550 design over the retro stuff. I had a 00 Mustang for basically half of my life and I loved the S550 when I first saw it, I think it's the most similar Mustang to the NewEdge styling. Sharp angles, lots of sculpting.

PONY CAR.. Say it with me: P-o-n-y C-a-r

The S550 did a great job bringing millennial car guys who grew up idolizing imports (due to Gran Turismo, Fast & Furious, Modified & Import Tuner and Best Motoring DVDs) over to the world of domestics. I would've never considered a Mustang before, cross shopped it with a ND Miata/Genesis Coupe/370z and it was the best looking, most comfortable and cheapest of the bunch. However, conversely, I can see how the unintended consequence would be pissing off people who've always loved muscle cars.

It's almost miraculous what Ford did with the S550, they accidentally made the next huge enthusiast platform. It's super sleek, has a huge aftermarket and the V6/Ecos were/are huge values with tons of options to make huge power gains. I can see the European comparison when it comes to size, but with the lines/diffuser/wings and wide fenders are more like a Japanese coupe to me, a better modern Supra than Toyota could make. Just one that came out of Flat Rock instead.

Man, I don't know what you guys are seeing...but virtually every piece of the S550 has design cues from the original mustang...which had design cues from european cars.

Round gauges as 'DNA' seems like a stretch. Most gauges are round.

DrGrabster said:

It's a beautiful car and looks as good as European cars costing 10 times as much, until you get inside. Some of the plastic bits are pure Revell kit. For example the turn indicator stalk. It feels like a badly put together plastic model kit of a helicopter.

Flat Rock needs to look at the quality of other (much cheaper) Fords made in Europe.

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You've clearly not sat in older Mustangs. My daily driver SN95 has plastics Fisher Price would be proud of

(tell you what though, 19 years old it may be, but there's not a squeak in that interior).

Besides, if you judge a Mustang based on it's interior quality, you're buying the wrong car

Kevin08 said:

Round gauges as 'DNA' seems like a stretch. Most gauges are round.

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The faces may be round, but the round bezel is what they are talking about.

DrGrabster said:

It's a beautiful car and looks as good as European cars costing 10 times as much, until you get inside. Some of the plastic bits are pure Revell kit. For example the turn indicator stalk. It feels like a badly put together plastic model kit of a helicopter.

Flat Rock needs to look at the quality of other (much cheaper) Fords made in Europe.

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Funny, the turn signal stock to me is not remotely close to being the cheapest part of the interior. Actually, I love the shape with the slight uptick towards the tip...almost like a small hook to rest your finger on. It doesn't feel the least bit cheap compared to other vehicles to me.

Now, some of the other bits of plastic...for sure. And yes, My sn95's were utter garbage. The stupid door handle cups constantly gathered dirt/grime and always broke free of the door. My SN95's had more rattles than my foxbody.

Interior wise as we are talking now didn't evolve until the 05-09 IMO. This however is IMO next to the Mustang II the ugliest body style Ford has ever come out with. I pondered for 2 seconds brand new 05GT or 04 Cobra. But the interior was leaps and bounds better than the 04 in which I had 2 of as mentioned. Let's not even talk about how crappy the SN95 was as I mentioned I had the 96 Mystic but that body was aggressive and rather sleek and sexy as well...IMO of course. Thanks for the feedback guys!

Shane361 said:

Interior wise as we are talking now didn't evolve until the 05-09 IMO. This however is IMO next to the Mustang II the ugliest body style Ford has ever come out with. I ponder for 2 seconds brand new 05GT or 04 Cobra. But the interior was leaps and bounds better than the 04 in which I had 2 of as mentioned. Let's not even talk about how crappy the SN95 was as I mentioned I had the 96 Mystic but that body was aggressive and rather sleek and sexy as well...IMO of course. Thanks for the feedback guys!

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Crazy how opinions differ. One of the biggest reasons I purchased an S550 was because of how much I liked the body style. I believe (like the OG), the S550 will go down as a timeless design. And while I loved my Sn95's, I believe they were actually the ugliest (after the Mustang II).

millhouse said:

Crazy how opinions differ. One of the biggest reasons I purchased an S550 was because of how much I liked the body style. I believe (like the OG), the S550 will go down as a timeless design. And while I loved my Sn95's, I believe they were actually the ugliest (after the Mustang II).

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I was actually looking for a 14 Shelby to be the possible last owned keep forever Mustang. However the prices are still holding around 50K for a low mileage unmolested one. I ended up "settling" for this 15 with 7600 miles mint with about 12-15K in mods GT for 33K. Not sure if I will ever get that 14 or step up to the GT350. Time will tell.

I own a 2018 GT, this is my 4th Mustang and 4th Ford I've ever owned. My first three were 2011-2013 Mustang GT's and i really liked the styling and the cars in general. frankly i couldn't stand the S550 2015 refresh and ended up buying a 2016 Scat Pack Challenger instead of a Mustang. the only thing that reeled me back in and caused me to buy the 2018 GT was the performance and the 10 speed transmission. fast is fun but it just isn't enough. I much prefer the 2013-2014 S1977's and am seriously looking for just the right one and then i will probably dump my 2018 after 1 year.