Worth the price of admission?
Excellently written, but in the end there's no accounting for taste. I understand tradition and nostalgia; I have owned Mustangs since 1970, when I drove a '65 K-code hi-po 289 convertible. I wasn't a fan of the bloated early 70s cars or the Fox body for both mechanical and aesthetic reasons. But I just traded in my evil-looking black '13 GT Premium, Brembo-package 6 speed convertible, which I used to stand next to in my office parking garage, admiring it like a nerd looking at the prettiest girl in high school. I traded it for an even more evil-looking black '16 GT Premium 6 speed convertible with the performance package.
The new car looks lower, sleeker, wider, meaner. Reminds me of a sophisticated shark, if you can imagine that concept. Don't think Fusion when you look at the styling cues. Think Aston Martin. GT as in Gran Turismo; as in 250 GTO. That is not a bad European sensibility to appeal to. And it's clearly a Mustang; there's no mistaking it for anything else. I personally thought that the faux gas cap that hasn't been functional since my K-code was the height of Detroit cheesy. Non-functional equals no substance; better to attempt to look "good" than to feel good. Glad it's gone. And the turn signal repeaters on the hood take me back to my old girlfriend's fire-engine-red '67. They were both red-hot. And I wash my car too often for dirt on the rear panel to accumulate.
What Ford is trying to do is invade Europe. Think about it. A Mustang that handles, competing with supposedly superior German machinery. Remind you of anything? Another Mustang, maybe? Looks like victory. Now THAT is nostalgia worth having (no offense to my German friends intended).
I thought that a car without 50 years of perfected solid rear axle technology wasn't going to be a Mustang, but I drove one, and it's a Mustang. Ford has traded .1 second in the quarter mile and 0-to-60 time for .96g lateral acceleration on the skid pad and 60-0 braking in 10 less feet. Kudos to Ford. About time. And yes, I'll be doing a lot of standing next to it in the parking garage, admiring its looks.
Last edited by cdz12250; 05-17-2016 at 06:29 AM.