Allerick
First Time Mustang Buyer
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- #1
I went to the Washington Autoshow this past weekend, and I noticed something I thought was interesting. The interior of the Mustang is often a topic of great focus. I agree with the sentiment that the outgoing model had a somewhat poor interior and that the new model is vastly improved. I think because of the American car stigma a lot of people are specifically looking for low quality parts to point out.
At the auto show I saw people tapping on the interior panels and pointing out some of the hard plastics time and time again. Even on this forum people give Ford a lot of flack for that. I honestly think it would be smart for Ford to ditch that hard plastic because of the stigma, but I think people are a bit unfair to Ford and the Mustang in this area.
After sitting in the Mustang and being very impressed, I did notice some of the hard plastics. It by no means ruined my impression of the car, but it seemed like a little reminder that this is an "affordable" sports car. I took a mental note to look and see what Ford was up against.
I sat in several different models from almost all of the major auto makers. What I observed was that, unlike what I had been hearing, Ford was not lightyears behind everyone else. I was actually greatly surprised by the amount of plastic I encountered in even Audi and Lexus! I will concede that none of the luxury brands had plastics quite as hard as some of those bits in the Mustang, but I do think that people have an unfair focus on this with the Mustang.
I didn't see anyone knocking on the door panels on anything else. There were a number of Toyotas, Hondas, Hyundais, Kias, and Subuarus that I knocked on, and many of them were much worse offenders in their use of plastics. I'm not saying that the Mustang has an interior on par with some of these $60,000 luxury sedans, but I couldn't help but feel that people were unjustly critical of it. For the price range of mid 20's to mid 30's there were not very many cars that had an interior that was on par or nicer than the Mustang.
My point is that I think people unfairly single out Ford for their use of materials in the Mustang. While I agree that this hard plastic is unappealing, the heavy use of plastics seems to be an industry wide trend based on my observations. This topic has probably been beaten to death, but I just wanted share my recent observations for those who care to read.
At the auto show I saw people tapping on the interior panels and pointing out some of the hard plastics time and time again. Even on this forum people give Ford a lot of flack for that. I honestly think it would be smart for Ford to ditch that hard plastic because of the stigma, but I think people are a bit unfair to Ford and the Mustang in this area.
After sitting in the Mustang and being very impressed, I did notice some of the hard plastics. It by no means ruined my impression of the car, but it seemed like a little reminder that this is an "affordable" sports car. I took a mental note to look and see what Ford was up against.
I sat in several different models from almost all of the major auto makers. What I observed was that, unlike what I had been hearing, Ford was not lightyears behind everyone else. I was actually greatly surprised by the amount of plastic I encountered in even Audi and Lexus! I will concede that none of the luxury brands had plastics quite as hard as some of those bits in the Mustang, but I do think that people have an unfair focus on this with the Mustang.
I didn't see anyone knocking on the door panels on anything else. There were a number of Toyotas, Hondas, Hyundais, Kias, and Subuarus that I knocked on, and many of them were much worse offenders in their use of plastics. I'm not saying that the Mustang has an interior on par with some of these $60,000 luxury sedans, but I couldn't help but feel that people were unjustly critical of it. For the price range of mid 20's to mid 30's there were not very many cars that had an interior that was on par or nicer than the Mustang.
My point is that I think people unfairly single out Ford for their use of materials in the Mustang. While I agree that this hard plastic is unappealing, the heavy use of plastics seems to be an industry wide trend based on my observations. This topic has probably been beaten to death, but I just wanted share my recent observations for those who care to read.
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