Dec 5, 2013

2015 Mustang... say it ain't so

Ford has officially unveiled the 2015 Mustang. AutoGuide has a series of pictures here.

I am less than impressed visually - the thing looks like a Dodge Viper had an illegitimate love child with a Hyundai Tiburon - and then that poor bastard fell out of the ugly tree, bouncing off every branch on the way down.

Seriously. Do an image search for the above and tell me you don't see the Tiburon's swoopy lines and the Viper's fat ass in that new 'stang.

But even more offensive than the looks is this:
the 2015 Mustang will come standard with a 3.7-liter V6 with 300 hp while a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder EcoBoost engine will be available
Emphasis mine.

Are you friggin' kidding me? A FOUR-CYLINDER MUSTANG? Does it include a subscription to "Import Tuner Monthly" or perhaps a "Fart Cans 2014" calendar?

Look, I know full well how nice a boosted I4 can be to drive - VW-Audi and Mercedes have gotten excellent results with them over the last fifteen or twenty years. (The original TT was a 1.8L boosted I4 turning 180hp, the 2000-ish Passat, Jetta, and A4 all carried a slightly-less boosted version putting down 150hp.) With a low-to-moderate boost pressure, the lower-powered version was putting down peak torque (170lb-ft) from 1800 all the way to 4500rpm. As soon as you were barely off idle, it started pulling and Just. Didn't. Stop. Not throw-you-back pull, but steady power.

I have no issue with the V6 in the pony car - the original Mustang was a straight-6. The V8 existed early too.

But an inline four ... in an American sports car? Screw that noise.

4 comments:

Laura said...

this isn't the first time they've done that.

ZerCool said...

Argh. Thanks Laura ... I think. I'm not a huge Mustang fan so wasn't aware they'd done that in the 80s.

Laura said...

it was a dark, dark time in Mustang history. i prefer to ignore it (until i come across one of those abominations IRL...).

Old NFO said...

Yeah, remember the Mustang II with th turbo'ed four banger??? Sigh