No Soul...

[Bikeman315]

If he wants to know a car with no soul, have his try an Infiniti Q50/60 Red Sport 400 AWD. It's literally as boring as an Altima.

Agreed. I had an 11’ G37x before my 15’ EB. A great car, fast, comfortable, and well made. But, it was a transportation vehicle. I never just took it out for a drive. I did with my EB and do it all the time with my GT/CS.

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[3star2nr]

That's what I thought and even posted an ad to swap my GT hood for a V6 or Eco to get rid of the engineering embarrassment. But then I found my dash-cam can see both just fine. Important reason to have a dash cam is to support your side of the story after an accident/altercation.

So get a dash cam. Bonus: when new passengers point and laugh because only one of the indicators on the hood is visible, you can smugly point out their short-sightedness.

That or trade in for a '16 vert and drive standing up, if YOU want to see both.

Lol seeing one is better than seeing none haha... I love them

 

[3star2nr]

Cars losing their souls coincide with all the nannies we demand.
Traction Control
Anti lock brakes
Automatic Transmissions
Auto Rev Matching
Independent rear suspension?
Much more can be added to the list.
A true grass roots racer would be slow and nobody would buy it.

You can turn all of that off... They need the extra junk for marketing... I'm sure someone uses them but I dont so doesnt bother me lol

That said i think ford nailed the traction control on these cars. It'll let you wag the tail and isnt a Nazi asking for papers like on most Japanese high power cars

 

[Torched10]

(Disclaimer: this post is just me sharing some opinions and random musings it doesn't really have a purpose...)

So a few days ago i test drove a 2019 GT PP1 and i must say that car is a dramatic improvement over my 2016 GT PP in almost every way...

Firstly the telescopic steering column. That made such an impact on me that I'm planning on retrofitting it to my car. The transmission is night and day better on that car than mine.

The extra power and noise was also amazing.

The only things I didn't like was the steering feel it was way too light, and the steering wheel materials, I also didnt like the dash, and the lack of hood turn signals.

The guy asked me if I wanted to trade my car for it and that he would give me an amazing deal and I still said no. All though the new cars are way better I prefer to fix the quirks on mine and keep it for some reason i love my 2016 more.

I told a friend who has a 2011 about it, he said the new cars have "no soul" and Ford's been "missing the Mark for years" he also hates my car when he drove it. But that "no soul" thing got me thinking.

What exactly do we call soul? And reality is its a bullshit argument... Soul is that immesurable feeling of nostalgia, and thrill that you feel when you drive a car. The entire time I was in the 2019 i kept remembering the road trips, track days, accidents, tire changes, date nights. All the adventures me and my car went through and I couldnt really focus on what the 2019 was trying to offer me.

But is that the cars fault? Or my own? It also didn't help that the sales guy was talking shit about my car... This car was my first new car, and I worked tons of overtime and saved for almost a year to put the deposit on it so it really ticked me off when he ragged on it...

Anyway, the quest to keep the "soul" of the car makes manufacturers make horrible design choices.

Think about what we are asking them to do. We want them to make the cars empirically worse or keep problems year to year so that we can buy a car that feels exactly like our current car with all the issues of our car and look exactly like ours but with more power... We want the cars to somehow handle better but not have smoother ride quality.

No one wants a lighter clutch even though the clutch has been horrible on these cars for years until the s550...

My first stang was a 2006 GT my uncles had a 67 and later a mach 1 and the truth is those cars were horrible... I do not miss my 2006 at all compared to my 2016. Personally im really happy to see how these cars are evolving, and i think using terms like "better" or "more soul" isnt a good way to describe them...

In reality mustangs are like suits you find the one that fits you the best...

That's why selling my 65 gto was was so tough.it was a stock 4spd,tripower,vert.i figured people who want these cars are dying off so sold it for 65k and bought a 14 Shelby vert. Traded That in for my premium gt vert.clutch on Shelby was too much on my 74 year old knees.still miss the gto,it really had soul.

 

[EJS2016]

It’s unfortunate you believed you had to sell that very desirable GTO...I sense true regret about that decision.
It was an iconic vehicle of your generation.
I respect this decision and hope you enjoy your ‘19 for many years.

I’ll be 56 in October and recently purchased a 408W powered ‘65 Fastback.
It receives thumbs up and generates conversations every time it’s out on the road.
I’ll never sell it.
It has presence.
And I don’t plan on checking out any time soon.

 

[mustang5o]

I had two S197 cars one of which was a Boss 302 Laguna Seca. The Boss definitely felt more visceral than the 19 PP2. Maybe the quad exhaust with Corsa Extreme axle back helped that. I thought for sure the 19 PP2 was slower but so far lap times say equal. However, the magneride in normal mode on the street is way better. Plus, with more seat time in the new car I'm expecting to be faster. Need the res delete x-pipe so I can get a little more audible on track.

 

[GT-SV]

Kia SOUL is the best-selling Kia in the US. Don't need fake soul.

 

[Elvis66]

It’s unfortunate you believed you had to sell that very desirable GTO...I sense true regret about that decision.
It was an iconic vehicle of your generation.
I respect this decision and hope you enjoy your ‘19 for many years.

I’ll be 56 in October and recently purchased a 408W powered ‘65 Fastback.
It receives thumbs up and generates conversations every time it’s out on the road.
I’ll never sell it.
And I don’t plan on checking out any time soon.

I have a 67 Pontiac and 72 Chevelle..they have so much character..ther underpowered and don't have the creature comforts of the new muscle cars. but i would let my 19 mustang and 19 Camaro go before I would my classics.

 

[2018Creamsicle]

Had a 2012 401a 3.73 6MT coupe. Sold it to buy the 18 A10 vert for the wife. I know in every quantifiable way, the 18 is a better faster car, but I don’t love driving it like the 2012. There is no drama. The 18 is fast but doesn’t feel that fast somehow. The 12 was always trying to kill me, and there’s a certain satisfaction in taming the beast and extracting 99% of the performance out of it without going over 1.2% and wrapping it around a tree. The new car will never bite unless you disable everything. I also think the 401a two tone interior in the S197 just felt more special with the raised pony logos on the door panels, two tone leather, billet shifter, etc. 401a now is just more of an option package. The visual differences are way too subtle over 400a.

Maybe it has something to do with our place in life when we bought the cars too. We couldn’t really afford the 12. It was a real stretch to buy it, and I think that makes you appreciate a car more.

Seriously considered picking up a 13/14 GT500 before getting the 18. Maybe someday I’ll have the room for another Mustang and we can have both. I’m sure one of those would definitely be dramatic. Lol

 

[bnightstar]

You can turn all of that off... They need the extra junk for marketing... I'm sure someone uses them but I dont so doesnt bother me lol

i'm 100% sure I can't drive a car without Hill Start Assist. Drove my brother Golf 2 and was embarrassing as I can't start on a slop. I actually drive my Mustang in Comfort Steering setting and on normal mode. Love all the nannies

 

[3star2nr]

i'm 100% sure I can't drive a car without Hill Start Assist. Drove my brother Golf 2 and was embarrassing as I can't start on a slop. I actually drive my Mustang in Comfort Steering setting and on normal mode. Love all the nannies

Yeah hillstart assist is hella nice. I use it alot when I take road trips to tbe mountains, turning on driveways with massive drop offs makes you really appreciate backup cams and hill start assist...

As for steering I hate comfort mode personally I like sport and normal the most. You want a heavier steering to slow your hands down so the car doesn't get nervous at high speeds.

Thats actually my gripe about the 2018+ the steering is just too light on those cars

 

[3star2nr]

Had a 2012 401a 3.73 6MT coupe. Sold it to buy the 18 A10 vert for the wife. I know in every quantifiable way, the 18 is a better faster car, but I don’t love driving it like the 2012. There is no drama. The 18 is fast but doesn’t feel that fast somehow. The 12 was always trying to kill me, and there’s a certain satisfaction in taming the beast and extracting 99% of the performance out of it without going over 1.2% and wrapping it around a tree. The new car will never bite unless you disable everything. I also think the 401a two tone interior in the S197 just felt more special with the raised pony logos on the door panels, two tone leather, billet shifter, etc. 401a now is just more of an option package. The visual differences are way too subtle over 400a.

Maybe it has something to do with our place in life when we bought the cars too. We couldn’t really afford the 12. It was a real stretch to buy it, and I think that makes you appreciate a car more.

Seriously considered picking up a 13/14 GT500 before getting the 18. Maybe someday I’ll have the room for another Mustang and we can have both. I’m sure one of those would definitely be dramatic. Lol

You should. Thats the great thing about the s550s they are kittens compared to the older Mustang.

My old car used to want to go for a bar fight every time I started it up. My 16 is way more chill and i dig that. I feel more like a driver than a passenger hoping to survive like in the old one...

Where it really sucked was in the rain. That car used to love snap oversteering or just driving down the street with cruise control on, the tail steps out for no damn reason... Hated that car.

I had 295 35 R19s on that car so there was no reason for it to act like that... So glad its gone

 

[Norm Peterson]

I agree to a certain extent with the OP's friend, but prefer to call newer cars refined....the OP's friend's car has no more soul than a late-model.

Refined is exactly the word I'm thinking of. Where many of the things that make up the overall ownership experience are watered down or distilled out completely in the name of appealing to an audience less tolerant of minor flaws.

But I also think that 'soul' could be tied to the level of refinement in a relative sense, where increasingly more 'soul' would be present as you go back in Mustang generations from the S550 through the S197 - SN95 - Fox - Classic sequence.


Norm

 

[Norm Peterson]

Cars losing their souls coincide with all the nannies we demand.
Traction Control
Anti lock brakes
Automatic Transmissions
Auto Rev Matching
Independent rear suspension?
Much more can be added to the list.
A true grass roots racer would be slow and nobody would buy it.

I actually think you might be on the right track here (surprised much?).

Think bigger. People either want or flat-out need to have driving dumbed down as far as possible. And they want so much feature content that menus are required because there isn't enough room to give each item its own controls.


Norm

 

[Norm Peterson]

Exactly my thoughts. But people are out here complainikg that the new cars are "too good" how the hell is that a thing...

Think "too nice", too "refined", too "sanitized for your protection", dare I suggest "too feminized"?

The objective performance aspects are great, but the mostly subjective baggage that they're now packaged with . . . not so much.


Norm

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