RE: 2005 Mustang
Tuesday 6th January 2004
2005 Mustang
300bhp and less than $20,000?!
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It's one of the big stories at the Detroit Show. Yep, it's another new Mustang. Once again the designers have had the task of designing a new, modern looking car yet paying homage to Mustangs of old. How well they've succeeded is a matter of opinion.
The 2005 car gets a new body and a 300bhp V8 or 200bhp V6. Underpinnings consist of MacPherson struts and a three-link live axle. Power is thankfully still to the rear wheels.
Safety systems include a strong passenger safety cell and all the usual gubbins. Ford have also installed passenger weight sensing equipment that controls the various airbags inside. Ford also sing the praises of the car in side impacts.
All is pleasantly interesting to us Brits until we get to the price - less than $20,000 for a 300bhp car! With the strength of the pound currently, expect some excited punters to be loading them onto cargo ships very soon.
Discussion
I reckon the $20,000 will end being $25,000 and then that'll be for the 6cyl. expect more like $30k imho...
still a quality looking motor, but then, I've always loved mustangs... This one is the closest yet to the original and best.
let's hope it doesnt weigh 2.5 tonnes and handle like a sherry trifle
still a quality looking motor, but then, I've always loved mustangs... This one is the closest yet to the original and best.
let's hope it doesnt weigh 2.5 tonnes and handle like a sherry trifle
The Witchfinder said:
I reckon the $20,000 will end being $25,000 and then that'll be for the 6cyl. expect more like $30k imho...
Even that's "only" £19 K though. Live rear axle sounds a bit ropey though!
I read that the live axle was DEMANDED by the mustang owners Ford consulted...
From www.topgear.com:
"Chief designer Larry Erickson admits the close visual alignment with the original Mustang, defending the essential rightness of the long-bonnet, short-bootlid look. Fortunately, matters remain traditional under the bonnet. There is a V6 option from as little as $20,000, but the main event is the $45,000 4.6-litre V8 version, which develops 300bhp. This should equal a six-second 0-60mph dash, and a top speed beyond 130mph."
So closer to £28K. But which would you rather have? Ford Mustang, MG ZT260, or Vauxhall Monaro?
"Chief designer Larry Erickson admits the close visual alignment with the original Mustang, defending the essential rightness of the long-bonnet, short-bootlid look. Fortunately, matters remain traditional under the bonnet. There is a V6 option from as little as $20,000, but the main event is the $45,000 4.6-litre V8 version, which develops 300bhp. This should equal a six-second 0-60mph dash, and a top speed beyond 130mph."
So closer to £28K. But which would you rather have? Ford Mustang, MG ZT260, or Vauxhall Monaro?
you must be 
ing kidding!!!! They make about a gazillion of those engines a year for about £2.45 each...smele, you are absolutely right. A live rear axle is crucial for drag-strippers... you need to take a trip over here. You wouldn't believe how smooth and long and wide the roads are here, on average. I didn't understand the handling criticisms of american cars on the whole until I took a trip the UK. Really, there ought to be an uprising your roads are so crappy.
I'm sorry, but $45k is either a misquote or someone was just WRONG. $35k today gets you the current generation mustang with a 390 hp version of the Ford GT's V8 (also shared with the lightning pickup truck), AND an independent rear suspension. I just heard on the TODAY show this morning that both the v6 and v8 models will START under $20,000. I imagine that this is possible by way of making EVERYTHING optional, meaning a V8 the way you'd have it would be more like $25-$26. Unfortunately for UK customers, I'd imagine intense demand by a TINY audience will have ford chuckling and just replacing the $ with a pound symbol. Originally, ford wanted this mustang to have a standard IRS, but as you likely read in the article, drag stip racers were horrified, so ford claimed that it was too expensive to engineer a new IRS that wouldn't compromise rear seat room by way of shock tower intrusion. Which may actually be true, but there's no denying that engineering such a device would have pushed the cost up in a company that needs its muscle car to generate lots of american pride and something of a profit margin.
There will be a later "cobra" version (with independent rear suspension) similar to today's top version, supercharged to at least 400 hp. That one will be easily over $30k. That one will be cross shopped with the new corvette c6, which really is the main event, if you haven't seen it yet.
There will be a later "cobra" version (with independent rear suspension) similar to today's top version, supercharged to at least 400 hp. That one will be easily over $30k. That one will be cross shopped with the new corvette c6, which really is the main event, if you haven't seen it yet.
danmangt40 said:
I didn't understand the handling criticisms of american cars on the whole until I took a trip the UK. Really, there ought to be an uprising your roads are so crappy.
i gotcha on that one ,cant understand why we pay so much road tax with some of the standards of roads they give,,as for all the talk about american cars dont handle i give up on that one as i think they base it on Frank Cannon in his pimp mobile 
. Looks lovely from the outside, but the live rear axle sounds very dodgy and the interior has some of the cheapest looking plastic I've seen in a long time.
I may be mistaken but it looks like it would last about 10 minutes before trim started to rattle and fall in your lap, still I guess for the money it's hard to complain and you can always rip it all out to save weight.
I may be mistaken but it looks like it would last about 10 minutes before trim started to rattle and fall in your lap, still I guess for the money it's hard to complain and you can always rip it all out to save weight.
Yeah I like the 2005 Mustang, but then I love the 67/68 version on which it is based.
Just a shame it doesn't look like the prototype which quite literally is stunning!
Take a look at the prototype here:
http://mustangs.bradbarnett.net/concept/s197/pics/coupe.htm
Its got info about pretty much anything Mustang related.
Just a shame it doesn't look like the prototype which quite literally is stunning!
Take a look at the prototype here:
http://mustangs.bradbarnett.net/concept/s197/pics/coupe.htm
Its got info about pretty much anything Mustang related.
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