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From YourSITE.com Auto Test Drives
Forty years and they finally got it totally right. America’s first, last, and best pony car has come to full maturity for 2005 – the new Mustang has arrived. What a remarkable transition from the 2004 edition. Back to back drives of these two generations seems to uncover a generation gap in quality of design, quality of build, and quality of execution and ride.
This car is astounding. For starters, the output has been boosted to 300hp, 40 up from last year’s amply equipped model. This pony’s new V8 features 3-valve heads, just like the new F150. But unlike the truck motor, this muscle car power plant also moves into modern times with variable valve timing. The real beauty of this motor is that Ford managed to up the compression ratio from 9.4:1 to 9.8:1, yet still maintain good emissions and keep those wild and hungry horses running on 87 octane – while meeting tougher new emissions standards.
For the Mustang, the engine has always been far and away the most important feature. Not so for the ’05. Ford engineers and designers have done such an amazing job with all of this car, that the engine takes second, or even third, stage. Part of the reason for this fantastic product is that engineers were finally given the budget to do this car right.
Right from the first we note impeccable fit of the exterior body panels. This is the result of Ford using a Japanese method to tool the dies for those panels. Phil Martens, Ford’s group vice president of product creation, had just finished working on the Mazda 3 and 6, and so brought brought this excellent method with him to the Mustang program. The Mustang has a beautiful body; it looks like a true show car. Already it stands proudly far above its predecessor, and we have yet to open the door.
When you do get inside, you will be greeted by a very, very nice interior. Not a luxury car interior, but a very well made scene. The theme is excellent; while we at MSC don’t all agree whether the exterior is too heavily laden with 1960’s Mustang heritage, we do agree that the interior is the perfect blend of Ford’s pony car heritage and modern ergonomic design. The double eyebrow dash and classic gauges design, as well as the three spoke steering wheel immediately bring you back to the ‘60’s, a time of throaty, big-bore engines, and cherry cruising machines. But what we really love is the great execution, the way all the controls look and feel in operation. The appearance, the feel, and the action of the controls remind us of the fabulous Audi TT.
The seats are especially awesome. They are comfortable and supportive, but it is most important to note that they look and feel great. They are the second best indicator of the immense improvement in interior quality over the ’04. The shifter is the number one improvement. Remembering all the way back to that morning, we recalled the long, notchy throws of the 5 speed manual transmission of the outgoing Mustang. What heavenly pleasure it is to transition into this new round-tipped short-throw shifter. That chrome top fits so sweetly into your hand, and connects you to such smooth, precise, quick action.
There is definitely European influence in that shifter. How did that happen? Ford studied European (and Japanese) automobiles when they developed their new pony. Much as Ford engineers poured over the Ferrari 360 Modena to get their chassis setup right for the GT super stud, other Ford engineers had a Z4, a 350Z, and the drives-like-it’s-on-rails RX-8 to study in their quest to put new life into their old stud, the Mustang.
Everything we can see and hear deserves praise. But it is what you will find underneath the skin which is the most significant part of this new Mustang: the chassis. It’s fantastic. From a safety standpoint, we have two main rails, formed with an octagonal cross section, and laid unparallel to each other. That trick of splaying the rails, learned from Volvo engineers, helps absorb energy in a far more positive manner than a setup with parallel main rails. Ford was very proud to tell us how, in the offset barrier crash test, the directly impacted rail will absorb most of the energy, but it will seek help from the other main rail. The cross bracing also deserves honorable mention. Transmission placement creates a nice hole underneath ripe for cross-bracing. Ford slipped in a beautiful, sturdy piece of cast aluminum to stiffen up this wild horse’s frame.
We really love the way this chassis performs: flawlessly. There is no tweaking, no twisting, no flexing to be seen or heard when this car is pushed hard into the corners. It takes on the curves without noticeable body roll. The Mustang turns without taking a set – in sharp contrast to its predecessor’s behavior. This new ‘Stang is nimble and surefooted; this time, we don’t have to add the disclaimer “for a muscle car” to its handling characteristics. It does not handle well for a pony car; it handles well for a sports car.
Truly, finally, the Mustang is a sports car. It does more than accelerate. It stops, it turns, and does all of these things very well. The brakes have received their fair share of attention; the discs are 14% larger – and discs are all you will find on both models. And the calipers have been stiffened. An hour of hammering through the mountains showed no brake fade. When Ford’s people asked us what one thing we would change, we gave them two; the pertinent one to this spot in our story is we would ask for more initial grab, otherwise the brakes were excellent. The other was that us tall guys would greatly appreciate a shoulder adjustment for the seatbelt. Interior ergonomics, accommodations, and room are by and large first rate. This is a car you could drive to Yosemite, then Napa Valley, then Monterey…Santa Barbara…San Diego…the Mustang is well designed, well built.
Excellent engineering again shows itself in the suspension. Up front, engineers were able to minimize the size of the control arm by shortening the coil. This has been done before, but the design is flawed in that it brings about a torque stress on the strut. The fix for this is doing a more expensive offset mounting of the coil. And, going back to this important point that Ford engineers were given the funding to do the 2005 Mustang right, they did offset the coil. The benefit of all this is reduced mass up front – particularly, this is reduced unsprung weight.
In the rear, Ford maintained a live axle setup, on the justification that roughly one fifth of Mustang owners are interested in entering their ponies in some form of drag racing. And for the drags, you just can’t launch with independent suspension like you can with a solid rear axle.
So it’s setup for some hot quarter mile runs. What’s the trade-off? Normally we expect to see axle hop and a bumpy ride with a solid rear. But, again, Ford spent the money to do this right. Last year’s 4-bar multilink rear is replaced by a 3 bar setup – two trailing arms and a centrally located anti-torque upper control arm. The Panhard rod was carried over from the last model, to ensure lateral stability. The result is that this car has remarkable manners on rough roads. The streets of Hollywood, much in need of repair, could not upset this Mustang’s complacent low speed composure. Bumps and humps in the middle of an aggressively negotiate turn will not upset this Mustang. It is solid yet compliant.
You could do a live rear axle “taste test,” call it the 2005 Mustang challenge, to see how many people could tell this has a solid rear axle. Betcha eight outta 10 couldn’t tell the difference.
All that and the power to make it go. The last Mustang GT was well equipped at 260 hp; the 2005 model is ready to tear up even more asphalt with 300 hp. It’s also ready to help you wear through a set of rear tires in less than a month. The rear tires (P235/55ZR17’s) may say they have the situation under control at the stoplight, but 300 horses say “Nay” as they make the rubber sublime.
Hey, here’s another challenge for you: with a base price of just under $25k for the Mustang GT, see if you can’t spend more on tires in the next two years than you do for the car itself. Betcha can…
Despite all this power, we would not quite use the term dramatic to describe this Mustang GT’s launch. The power starts off at a sufficiently high quantity and keeps building all the way through the rev range. There’s an acceleration of the acceleration, so you are progressively pulled deeper and deeper into the back of your seat. You feel this welling up of force all the way up to 6000 – and this impression is validated by the fact that the horsepower peak is reached at 5700 rpm (the 320 lb-ft torque peak is found at 4500 rpm). That’s some high-revvin’ for a pony car; this Mustang has very good top end, thanks to variable valve timing. This is one of the better examples of variable valve timing usage resulting in a broad power band. This wicked new Mustang GT sounds much better than the 2004. Bigger (2.5-inch) exhaust pipes, formed from mandrel bent stainless steel, help bring to you a throatier, less restricted dose of internal combustion engine noise. This noise of course enhances the performance feel of the GT model, as you are constantly reminded of the torque on tap. This beast is ready to rumble.
And let’s not forget that this hot red Mustang is greener than it appears. Between cruising the Hollywood and Sunset strips, then romping through the mountains as quickly as we pleased, we got 14.9 mpg. The mid-range 3.55:1 final drive ratio should deliver reasonable mileage with tamer operation. We expect above 25 mpg at highway speeds.
This package screams spec-racer. Really. And we know the right guy to make it happen. Phil Martens was the driving force behind the creation of the Miata spec-racer. And this really could happen. They key is to keep it simple: racing tires, bigger brake, the necessary roll cage, fire suppressant system and other safety necessities. That way tech inspections are quick and easy, the cars are dead even, and it’s up to the drivers to have fun. Fun is a guaruntee with 321 lb-ft of torque to pull the 3483 lbs of car.
When we brought up the idea of a spec racer to Phil Martens, he replied: “Thanks for reminding me of something I did that was very good.” And may we add that a Mustang series would be very better. MORE POWER! Pony up, boys.
A truly American car has become world class. Looking around the globe, you will find that you cannot get a V8 nor 300 horsepower within the Mustang’s price range. That has been roughly the case, in previous iterations of America’s pony car. But now you get what the Europeans have always offered in their sports cars: really good handling. Plus you get a ride that is just about as comfortable as you can ask for the price, while not sacrificing the superior launching capabilities of the solid rear axle setup. It is comfortable, it has mild manners on rough downtown roads, and it features highly capable, composed, precision high performance driving on the twisty out of town roads. I never wanted a pony when I was growing up, but I sure do now. When can I take delivery?
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