2015 Ford Mustang Debuts! This Time It's Definitely the Real Thing
Turbo four, independent rear, and shrinkage confirmed.
December 2013
BY JEFF SABATINI
Okay, we admit it: When we leaked the new 2015 Ford Mustang, we didn’t know everything. Some of the details still needed work. We got the shape of the hood scoops wrong. We weren’t sure what the headlight innards looked like. (Who would have guessed they’d mimic the taillights?) And, no, we didn’t have the trunk badge right, either.
But the rest of our story rings true, as Ford confirmed today with its first official images and specifications of the new Mustang. As expected, the car will shrink just a bit in length and height, although it will have a significantly wider rear track. More important to its long, sleek look is that the A-pillar moves back by more than an inch and the hood and rear deck are lower. Interior volume increases, but the rear seats in the Mustang are still best enjoyed by the headless. Try not to bleed all over the place though, since the materials and finishes are much improved, with lots of soft-touch plastic, metallic trim, and better leather.
Both current Mustang engines will carry over, joined by a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder—first seen in Lincoln’s MKC. This new addition to Ford’s EcoBoost family is direct-injected and uses a twin-scroll turbocharger and air-to-air intercooler to produce at least 305 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. Ford is being coy about power levels, declining to give exact numbers for any of the three. However, the folks in Dearborn project that the 3.7-liter V-6 actually will lose five horses and 10 lb-ft, dropping to 300 and 270. The 5.0-liter V-8 is expected to make at least 420 horsepower and 396 lb-ft of torque, but don’t be surprised if Ford announces bigger numbers before the car goes on sale.
A choice of manual or automatic transmission will be offered regardless of engine selection. The six-speed Getrag manual has a redesigned linkage, although we’re even more excited that Ford has moved the cup holders out of the way of the stick. The six-speed automatic gets paddle shifters, and Ford says that now operates with reduced friction. Launch control is standard on the Mustang GT.
Ford would be disappointed if we didn’t mention that its venerable pony car finally receives MyFord Touch, along with other new-to-Mustang technologies like adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring. You won’t have to take any of them.
Surprising nobody, the standard Mustang finally gets an independent rear suspension, although few might have predicted it would be based on the “integral link” design in the Ford Fusion. An aluminum knuckle attaches to the subframe via an H-shaped lower control arm and two lateral links, with a vertical link connecting the H-arm and knuckle. Ford tells us that the new design is so good that it necessitated a complete redesign of the front, as well. While the struts remain, a new double-ball-joint design with a full subframe has the advantage of allowing larger brakes to be fitted.
The standard front rotors are 12.6 inches, with the V-8 cars getting an upgrade to 13.9 inches and four-piston calipers. Those bigger brakes are optional on the EcoBoost model as part of the Performance package, while the V-8 Performance package includes 15-inch rotors and Brembo six-piston calipers. Performance-package cars also have a shorter final drive, and on V-8 examples, a real Torsen limited-slip differential in place of the standard brake-based torque-vectoring unit. Settings for throttle, steering, transmission, and stability control can be adjusted with console-mounted toggle switches.
So we now know more, but there’s still plenty we don’t know. Ford has avoided answering a number of Mustang questions, the most important of which concerns curb weights. While we’d still like to believe our initial proclamation that the Mustang will drop about 200 pounds, we no longer have faith that this will come to pass. Ford emphasized that the previous-generation Boss 302 was its performance benchmark, and promises that a stock Mustang GT would be faster on the track, but those are the extent of the performance estimates save for a 155-mph top-speed claim.
Pricing is also a big question mark, one which we can only address by assuming what is nearly always safe to assume–that prices will go up. However, we do have some idea as to when the 2015 Mustang will arrive on showroom floors, and that will be in the fall of 2014.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It8XAh9VBJk[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj4KXutzYwY[/video]
BY JEFF SABATINI
Okay, we admit it: When we leaked the new 2015 Ford Mustang, we didn’t know everything. Some of the details still needed work. We got the shape of the hood scoops wrong. We weren’t sure what the headlight innards looked like. (Who would have guessed they’d mimic the taillights?) And, no, we didn’t have the trunk badge right, either.
But the rest of our story rings true, as Ford confirmed today with its first official images and specifications of the new Mustang. As expected, the car will shrink just a bit in length and height, although it will have a significantly wider rear track. More important to its long, sleek look is that the A-pillar moves back by more than an inch and the hood and rear deck are lower. Interior volume increases, but the rear seats in the Mustang are still best enjoyed by the headless. Try not to bleed all over the place though, since the materials and finishes are much improved, with lots of soft-touch plastic, metallic trim, and better leather.
Both current Mustang engines will carry over, joined by a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder—first seen in Lincoln’s MKC. This new addition to Ford’s EcoBoost family is direct-injected and uses a twin-scroll turbocharger and air-to-air intercooler to produce at least 305 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. Ford is being coy about power levels, declining to give exact numbers for any of the three. However, the folks in Dearborn project that the 3.7-liter V-6 actually will lose five horses and 10 lb-ft, dropping to 300 and 270. The 5.0-liter V-8 is expected to make at least 420 horsepower and 396 lb-ft of torque, but don’t be surprised if Ford announces bigger numbers before the car goes on sale.
A choice of manual or automatic transmission will be offered regardless of engine selection. The six-speed Getrag manual has a redesigned linkage, although we’re even more excited that Ford has moved the cup holders out of the way of the stick. The six-speed automatic gets paddle shifters, and Ford says that now operates with reduced friction. Launch control is standard on the Mustang GT.
Ford would be disappointed if we didn’t mention that its venerable pony car finally receives MyFord Touch, along with other new-to-Mustang technologies like adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring. You won’t have to take any of them.
Surprising nobody, the standard Mustang finally gets an independent rear suspension, although few might have predicted it would be based on the “integral link” design in the Ford Fusion. An aluminum knuckle attaches to the subframe via an H-shaped lower control arm and two lateral links, with a vertical link connecting the H-arm and knuckle. Ford tells us that the new design is so good that it necessitated a complete redesign of the front, as well. While the struts remain, a new double-ball-joint design with a full subframe has the advantage of allowing larger brakes to be fitted.
The standard front rotors are 12.6 inches, with the V-8 cars getting an upgrade to 13.9 inches and four-piston calipers. Those bigger brakes are optional on the EcoBoost model as part of the Performance package, while the V-8 Performance package includes 15-inch rotors and Brembo six-piston calipers. Performance-package cars also have a shorter final drive, and on V-8 examples, a real Torsen limited-slip differential in place of the standard brake-based torque-vectoring unit. Settings for throttle, steering, transmission, and stability control can be adjusted with console-mounted toggle switches.
So we now know more, but there’s still plenty we don’t know. Ford has avoided answering a number of Mustang questions, the most important of which concerns curb weights. While we’d still like to believe our initial proclamation that the Mustang will drop about 200 pounds, we no longer have faith that this will come to pass. Ford emphasized that the previous-generation Boss 302 was its performance benchmark, and promises that a stock Mustang GT would be faster on the track, but those are the extent of the performance estimates save for a 155-mph top-speed claim.
Pricing is also a big question mark, one which we can only address by assuming what is nearly always safe to assume–that prices will go up. However, we do have some idea as to when the 2015 Mustang will arrive on showroom floors, and that will be in the fall of 2014.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It8XAh9VBJk[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj4KXutzYwY[/video]
