I'll go on record too: I prefer the front end of the '15-17's. No regrets on buying a 2020 but that really comes down to the Gen 3 coyote. The rear of the 2018+s is a solid improvement, despite me replacing the tails a week after buying.
I prefer the 15-17's front, and side silhouette.
In Australia there's no leasing available for the general consumer. It's only possible to do in certain cases through your employer, or if you're self-employed, and in those cases it's called a novated lease. It's confusing and I don't know very much about it. I always pay cash for my cars (no financing, no complications).
18+ is the superior flavor of ice cream, people just like to prove you wrong for some reason lolI think they everyone with an 18+ who's come out of the woodwork to tell me that they prefer the 15-17 front end is just really excited at the prospect that I might call them all unicorns
Yeah, I've got some new Velossa ducts (and a grill) to install, looking forward to not having to epoxy the tabs back on after I remove the front fascia
That's because your gasses swirl counterclockwise ...
Goddam, check out the big brain on @amk91
@amk91Why did it come so early? Why is it running so long? Well, there are deep reasons which @Ace and one other person did a good job of trying to explain why it has such a long run.
What does annoy me in this thread that I see multiple reasons that don't jive with the reality of how and why the refresh arrived for MY 2018. All I just see is how "great it was" or why "it was so bad".
I don't like it (outside of dark colors w/dark wheels) and wished I could afford a later GT350, but that's life. Forum management want to keep the peace, but I still don't like it and feel they really should've done a much better job, plus been more consistent with product cadence in terms of keeping it fresh.
It's funny how the performance models retained the original headlights and 2021 Mach 1 cleaned up many issues I had. Too bad it's not for the whole lineup for 2021 and 2022.
Most importantly, people have to (try to) get some perspective honestly, before commenting on certain subjects. Jim Hackett messed up a lot of things decided by Mark Fields, choosing to focus resources elsewhere. It wasn't supposed to run this long after the 2018 update.
I don't even work for Ford and never have, but I do my damndest to understand how and why things come together. By connecting with people who do and/or having a listening ear for what they state. I'm sure many of us do the same, but often don't say much.
Back in mid-2009, this S550 generation went into development after they released the 2010 S197 update and roughly 5 years after S197 2004 introduction.
(2009-2010 S550 Program Sketches & Proposals)
The S550 2009 plan had actually been to release it in the spring of 2014. They were supposed to wrap up styling work in 2011 and then lock it in by early 2012, to leave 2 years to fully engineer & test before Job 1 in February 2012, for April 2014 launch.
Things slipped, that it became a fall 2014 launch instead (yet 2014.5 rumor stayed):
Production S550 Interior was locked in by June 2012 (after early 2012 theme approval), while S550 exterior tweaks continued until around December 1, 2012 (final freeze).
Before that, the Definitive S550 exterior design was set in January 2012 (below) as "Theme A", now unifying both front and rear passenger windows with black B pillar.
(January 2012 S550 Final Design Competition)
As you can see, it still wasn't quite done.
Thus, S550 got more tweaks into summer 2012, now being a dead ringer for the production car, then onto full-on feasibility sign-off after Thanksgiving 2012 (entered production 20.5 months later).
Before that "design freeze", we heard about a September 2012 customer clinic leaking details of the new design.
(Speculative renderings - October 2012)
That's why we originally heard 2014.5 rumors (hampered by delayed sign-offs, as 14-15 months isn't enough to work with between 2012-14).
Ford Design teams nowadays (21st Century) rarely spend 3 years* designing any car, which left the S550 to be one of the rare few models with that privilege (2009-2012), due to delays. A lot of cars at Ford probably only take 1.5 years* to design at most from start to finish, with more major stuff taking 2 full years +/-.
*Refers to the period between first ideas/sketches to final design proposal mockup in life-size.
I made a post explaining the 2018 vs 2021 planning aspect several months ago, but as usual it was ignored in favor of usual forum fluff. I made mention of it, to explain how, why, and when.
I also said way back in June 2014, that Ford was already starting work on the facelift S550 for 2018. I had paid close attention to one sole interview out of many given by designer Kemal Curic, who pointed out he was already working on the facelifted car.
Since S550 wasn't on sale yet, I pretty much got, reasonable responses, but too many "ur jumping the gun" or "who cares, ur just 2 bored to wait & already talking about 2025..." style responses.
In addition to enjoying my car, I just like to be ahead of what's coming down the road, so I predicted a 2018 facelift (not 2020) and 7-8 year S550 life cycle, more in line with "One Ford" at the time of global models with shorter life cycles and quicker refreshes and redesigns as desired by Alan Mulally (Ford CEO 2006-14).
I referred to my 2014 expectation of a redesign for MY 2022 or 2023 in the years 2021-22 and dismissed the expectation S550 would traditionally have a 10-11 year run like SN95 and S197.
In 2014, very few people would even predict that correctly. A few wise people at least cosigned that prediction, but most here panned it and claimed "NO CHANGES TILL 2020, CUZ tradition with 1999/2010". Or essentially "WTF are you talking about?"
I pretty much stopped posting here at that point (and lurked), until I ordered my own car in 2017.
Some people on here wisely stated (in 2015), a newer Coyote with around 460-465 horsepower in the cards for 2017-18 was coming, but didn't how right there were LOL. Everyone who said that, were damn right on it LOL, but little did we expect how long it would remain unchanged beyond its intro.
The real story is:
- Under both Mulally and Fields respectively as of 2014 (when S550 was launched), Ford indeed planned to redesign the Mustang for 2023 as S650 and refresh S550 twice before that. First S550 refresh in late 2017, followed by 2nd refresh in 2020, and then S650 redesign in the year of 2022.
- What happened? Mark Fields pulled the S650 program forward to MY2021 by early 2016, when his brainchild CD6 modular architecture for Lincoln & Ford icons, took priority and he wanted every vehicle associated with it, to be prioritized.
- This meant a shift in S650 production start date by 2 years, from May 2022 to May 2020 (changed to December).
- CD6 S650 then eliminated the need for a 2021MY S550 minor refresh (like 2013MY), as the 2018MY changes would only last under 3 years through summer 2020 and not 4-5 years.
- As Fields made these decisions, I am 100% that S550 engineers had already dialed in the new exterior by early 2016 and planned to have it out by fall of 2017. S550 II was too far along to push back beyond Q4 2017. Thus a 2020 half-gen was unnecessary (ie 1999, 2010).
- Usually Ford MCE facelifts are internally designed /done by 1.5 to 2 years out. The mules running around in late 2015, highlight they were testing some aspects of it already. Many of us suspected it, even if I didn't comment then.
- First shots of heavily 2018 prototypes appeared on streets in September 2016, ahead of December 2017 showroom launch.
- Basically between early 2014 and fall 2015, the 2018 model was designed and approved. That's record timing, to have a refresh finished just 1 year after generation intro, but not unheard of at Ford for the Mustang.
- The S197 was released in October 2004 as a 2005, based on a design brief completed in late 2001 and drafted in 1999. The 2003 S197 concept was a bait & switch preview, because Ford knew since 2001 the real deal was much more mundane for feasibility and dolled up the preview concept.
- By September 2005, Ford had already finished what they intended to be the "2009 Mustang", scheduled for mid-late 2008.They started working on it sometime in the second half of 2004, right before the '05 even hit showrooms.
(S197 Design Mockups 2005 & Mar 2006)- Due to some minor delays in 2006, updated S197 was instead introduced in March 2009 as a 2010 model and the Coyote & 3.7 got delayed too, into Spring 2010 for 2011.
- In 2009, Ford yet again began both further work on S197 (for early 2012 intro) and the S550 program itself. Those extra S197 changes were finalized in summer of 2010 and became the 2013MY S197 minor refresh, debuting at 2011 LAIAS in Nov 2011 before hitting lots in March 2012. The '13 changes previewed design direction of S550 on purpose.
Anyway, just like in the late 90s RWD DEW98, the 2016 Ford internal plan under Mark Fields and Bill Ford, became to introduce a litany of new CD6 vehicles between 2019 and 2021, RWD and some FWD D6 cars. Among all these was the 2021 Mustang, as desired by Mark Fields. Why? Profitability margins. RWD Lincolns and upper end Fords make $$$.
As of October 2016, the S650 was scheduled for Tuesday, December 1, 2020 Job 1 and was due to enter showrooms in February 2021 as a 2021 model. This is why we heard about "hybrid Mustang by 2020" for so long.
Well, CEO Mark Fields was "convinced" to resign in May 2017 and very quickly, the CD6 S650 which had been on target to get final styling approval later on in 2017 (ahead of late 2020 Job 1) as the '18 cars hit the dealers, was quietly killed by new CEO Jim Hackett and many other projects, to fund higher margin stuff (Mach E, Bronco, etc)
Since S650 would've been all-new, it probably needed some 3 years to go from final styling mockup to production. Hackett ensured at that point in 2017, it become a 2022 heavy facelift model for 2021 intro and no longer CD6, so they wouldn't have to commit serious funds right away.
People on this forum told us this (@Ghostrealm and etc) in early 2018, but many people (including me) didn't listen or want believe Hackett had canned the CD6 Mustang.
Sometime in 2019, it became a 2023 model in spring 2022 and now this placed it at 4.5 years since 2018 update.
When I got a hint from a relative at Ford back in January, I went searching for S650 and stumbled on a LinkedIn job application.
On that, I found the 2023 MY designation and put to rest what seemed to be a mystery about "when to expect it". Which is why all those news outlets, who couldn't figure shit out, now use that LinkedIn info for clickbait and many didn't give this forum any credit. Yet, still falsely claim its CD6.
S650 is also not what the 2010 was to the 2009 Mustang, but it's definitely evolutionary for obvious reasons.
I am not buying the "till 2030" redesign plans and will see what happens, because 2025-26 had been thrown around for a very long time (2017 to 2020), for a 99-100% new car on CD6.
S650 is supposed to be a stopgap, so 8 years is too much. By 2030, CD6 will be 11 years old! Why put an all-new Mustang on an 11 year old architecture? No one even knows what the market will be like by 2025, let alone 2030, to be certain what is possible for Mustang as it is now. A RWD, unibody pony car with a V8.
All I know to be credible, is the 2023 model year redesign and no more. By 2030, the underlying D2C basis will be 26 years old (like Fox) and possibly even 31 years old, if you count the 1999 Jag/Lincoln LS DEW98 bits.
(S197 Chassis)
If not for stupid Jim Hackett's penny pinching and short term stock-raising tricks 3 years ago, we would've had our first 100% new Mustang in 16 years, entering production 2 DAYS AGO and in our driveways by February/March!
Instead we get another redone D2C/D5 platform basis car for the billionth time in 2 MORE years, being kind of like what the 1994 Fox-4 Mustang was to 1993 Mustang (Fox-2).
I read that they were gonna do a lot with CD6, aka D6R. Yet, we only got Explorer and Aviator in the end. The 5 RWD Lincolns on CD6, only became 1 Aviator. And no Mustang.
The S550 and S197 are very similar for a reason, as will be S650. It is not even an actual CD6 car, like so many people keep falsely repeating and ignoring those of us who correctly state otherwise.
I'm lucky to feel nothing wrong with 15-17. I was buying mine when all info on 18 was already available to details and it was my conscious decision to get a 17.
