TThe Ford Mustang got off to a meteoric start in the 1960s, becoming the fastest-selling car of all time – a record it still holds – before losing its way in the 1980s and, for a time, becoming a dreary American ‘compact’ again. . ”. In 2015, Ford woke up and had the idea to fit a growling 5.0-liter V8 engine called the Coyote and reshape the car to be more like its muscular forebear. The Mustang regained its style and Ford began selling it worldwide, including right-hand drive models in Britain.
Now Ford has updated it again. There are triple LED headlights that match the striking three-bar taillights, giving it a racier look. The press release claims there is “a new one.” 5-liter V8,” but when I looked under the hood, it was still the Coyote engine. This has been tweaked to provide more spice in the North American market, but unfortunately it has been somewhat detuned in Europe. A cynic might say the car has been updated less for improvement and more to stay ahead of safety and emissions regulations.
To check this, I took it for a spin: the essential pieces are still there. A tap of the accelerator in Sport mode opens a valve in the exhaust, so the Mustang sounds less like a pony and more like a windswept rhino. Above 4,000 rpm the car wakes up and gallops towards a redline at 7,500 rpm. At a starting price of £55,725, this must surely be the cheapest way to experience true V8 thrills, especially in the convertible where you get the full soundtrack.
So what has changed? I experimented with what the PR blurb calls an “immersive digital experience,” wondering if the windshield would turn into a giant augmented reality screen where I could recreate cinema’s most famous car chase – from the movie Bullittwith the ancestor of the 1968 Mustang. But no, the little head-up display only showed speed and speed limit signs and told me I was driving too fast.
The PR bumf also trumpets a ‘digital cockpit’, for which you can read ‘big screen’ with a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and a 13.2-inch panel for infotainment. A neat trick is that if you don’t like modern instrument graphics, you can switch to a reconstruction of the dials from the classic 1979 “Fox body” Mustang and, with a free over-the-air update, a 1967 Fastback. The climate control buttons are on a permanent bar at the bottom of the central screen, so you don’t have to search for them in menus, and for stereo volume there’s – hallelujah – a physical button.
Unfortunately, Ford has replaced the handbrake with an electronic replacement, the so-called drift brake, which sounds sporty but essentially bows to the trend among manufacturers to do away with conventional handbrakes altogether; they will probably be extinct by the end of the decade.
The all-new Mustang therefore complies with stricter regulations, but does not break new ground. And that is good. It’s still a big, brash throwback to a bygone era – a relic from the days of films like Vanishing point (1971, Dodge Challenger), Disappeared in 60 seconds (1974, Ford Mustang) and Smokey and the bandit (1977, Pontiac Trans Am) – when cars were fast and loud and of course ran on flammable liquid to ensure that movie car chases ended as they should with a crash and a huge fireball.
That’s why Ford parked a 1968 GT Fastback – like the one Steve McQueen used to chase a Dodge Charger through the hills of San Francisco in Bullitt – at the end of a series of modern Mustangs at the launch of the new version. The company has only gotten as far as admitting that without its cinematic heritage, the Mustang would likely have become extinct behind cars like the Falcon and Thunderbird. As it is, this car is the keeper of the eternal flame, not just for Ford, but perhaps for internal combustion cars as we know them.
Can it survive in an age of fuel consumption, ultra-low emission zones, 20mph speed limits and the government’s Marxist showroom tax on new cars costing more than £40,000? It’s a Big Mac and fries in a world of healthy garden salads. The five-liter engine is not what you would call economical – even though it has lower fuel consumption than the previous model – and there is no electrification involved. The excellent ten-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission with speed adjustment when downshifting is a welcome change from the continuously variable transmission that has become standard on so many hybrids. The car’s grip is impressive and you can steer it into corners, perhaps not with abandon, but certainly with the confidence that not everything is going sideways.
It’s as loud, fast and boisterous as it gets under EU rules that have made driving a cacophony of hookahs and horns if you drive even 2km/h over the speed limit. The great era of the automobile is coming to an end and soon this will no longer be the case. Now might be the time to buy one and lock it in your garage. Then on a clear day find an open road and drive towards the horizon like Kowalski Vanishing point.