Spied!: The 2010 Ford Mustang GT

Phil Floraday January 3rd, 2008 10:26 AM Link

This car will have to be pretty sweet to stand out in the sales race with Camaro and Challenger. Hopefully the car gains IRS soon.

Dave January 3rd, 2008 10:39 AM Link

Love the competition that’s coming! This is Ford’s chance to do the Mustang right.

First, do the IRS. It’s the right thing to do. If you must have a cost leader, then leave the stick axle for the low end V6 models.

Second, please don’t penny pinch the interior. GM has made huge strides in improving interiors - don’t blow it here. The ‘gauge in tube’ of the current Mustang is clunky and difficult to read. And the tach MUST be on the right side.

And please, make the gauges REAL and legible. No more fake oil/water/volts crap. These gauges should be linear, undamped, real time, and numerically marked. It’s ok for the driver to note that oil pressure changes with rpm and temperature. Honest!

Last, somehow you’ve got to ditch the crappy Tremec for a modern, smooth shifting manual. Just about every import car has a better trans/clutch/shifter than the Mustang. You can do better.

Keep the bean counters out of it!

VMMVMMM January 3rd, 2008 10:57 AM Link

I’m just glad that at last the Mustang will come with a towing package. Finally, a Mustang that can haul an actual real live mustang!

Winding Road » Archive » Bob Lutz Orders the Camo Off of the Camaro January 3rd, 2008 2:57 PM Link

[…] looks like Bob Lutz has grown tired of playing the cat and mouse game with camouflaged test mules and crafty spy […]

jsharnik January 3rd, 2008 4:38 PM Link

Everything is being tidied up? By the looks of things, there going to have to jump-start the old TransAm series? Say, TransAm E85?

jsharnik January 3rd, 2008 4:41 PM Link

er…. that’s “they are going to have to jump-start…,” not “there!” Sheeeesh!

Winding Road » Archive » Question of the Day: Which Pony Car is Your Favorite? January 3rd, 2008 5:46 PM Link

[…] flurry of pony car spy shots has the WINDING ROAD staff discussing all things Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger today. We’re willing to bet any of the aforementioned cars will be a hoot to […]

Winding Road » Archive » 2009 Fords Will Help Drivers Find Cheaper Gas January 4th, 2008 2:53 PM Link

[…] in 2009, Ford’s GPS navigation systems will not only help a driver find their way around; they will help them […]

Harry January 5th, 2008 1:18 AM Link

The new Mustang GT test mule looks much lower than today’s production models. The IRS of past Mustangs (SVT COBRAS) was a fine suspension for road racing and high speed cornering,but not as good for straight line,power runs like drag racing. It would be a great option for the latest version of America’s favorite and original Ponycar!

Mustangs - Ford Mustang information on FlashyCars.net » Spied!: The 2010 Ford Mustang GT January 5th, 2008 4:48 PM Link

[…] The 2010 Ford Mustang GT Mustang Bobby wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIt is becoming very evident that the […]

DBrown January 7th, 2008 8:29 AM Link

Dave’s comments from the 3rd of Jan:

Are you smokin crack? GM’s interiors are the WORST in the industry. Period. They have the same interface/knobs they have used since the mid 80’s and coat everything in that boring grey colour. Seats feel like plywood covered in old newspaper.

Have you actually DRIVEN a new Mustang or just lipping off?

jose January 26th, 2008 5:18 PM Link

I own a 07 GT500 and is my forth SVT vehicle (and my last). I just rented a Mercury Milan this week. The Milan has automatic lights, vanity mirror lights, truck switch and good interiors and better ErGO for a inexpensive car. My Mustang does not have any of this amenities. Why? simple Ford does not have any competition on the Mustang so the less they spend the more money they make. My last Mustang was a 2003 SVT Cobra which handles much better that the new “Shelby GT-500″ I have to spend $2K to fix the handling issue in the rear that the car is unstable on uneven surface. SVT did a great job on the 03/04 Cobra and was over 10k in list price cheaper. They change the name to Shelby and produced a less performance car.

kyle January 27th, 2008 6:56 PM Link

they need to have a radio/power steering/and ac delete option for the mustang. keep the solid rear but put in a stronger rear than the 8.8. they also need to give it more power common 300hp?? that’s crap they need to stick a blower on it and loud exhaust and crank it up to 400 as an option with 4.10s and a locker. but what am i saying? ford would never do this. if they did they would probably charge more for the radio/power steering/ac delete and the 400hp motor would be like a $10,000 option when it only takes them like a grand to do

Beuks January 27th, 2008 8:03 PM Link

DBrown, the interior you just described is what they put in their low-end shit cars (which are horrible in every respect). The better cars, like the Saturn Skye, Pontiac Solstice, the discontinued GTO, and other cars in a similar price-range, all have nice interiors. Then you get to Cadillac. NIIIICCCCEEE. I drive a Cadillac from 1991, and even back then they knew how to do interiors right. The only good interior Ford has is in their massively over-priced King Ranch edition Ford truck, and their optioned-out Mercurys.

chris February 8th, 2008 8:16 AM Link

ok here my take on the mustang,the only good one was the 1986 gt it had hydrolic lifters an a beefer 5.0,after that they went to shit just like when they came out with mustang 2 in the 70’s cause of the gas crisis.dont get me wrong the new mustang has one thing good and thats if it stands still,no power no intior.but thats what you get when you out soures your company to mexico (cheaper labor=cheaper poduct)give me any car from the 80’s yea a gas guzzler but sweet ride.like floating on a cloud.all in all the mustang sucks know . like i said yea they look good but thats it.

SEE February 14th, 2008 12:48 AM Link

Ford like GM forgot about the hot roders that made their sales go up on mondays and now cater to the rich boys who want to have the first toy on the block,most of them dont know which end of wrench goes on the nut.

68fastback February 25th, 2008 9:05 PM Link

I think there’ll be some good offereings in ‘10MY. I expect a 5.0L new-modular Boss-302 spring of ‘09.. I epect the 3.5V6 to replace the aging 4.0. The volumes of 3.5 are ramping very quickly and, imo, the’s not such a big cost dif any longer. Besides, the 3.5 is sooooo much cleaner than the 4.0, ford needs it to balance out Mustang model-CAFE so the Boss and other goodies can be made in reasonable volumes.

I also expect Ford to soon offer (maybe ‘10MY job-2, Dec ‘09?) a choice in the GT: a 3.5V6TT/Eco *OR* the 5.0new-mod, *both* for the same cost and *both* rate at +/- 350HP/Tq, and let the buyer decide what floats their boat since the V6TT would chalk-up considerably better EPA mileage.

I also think we’ll see the H/Boss motor make it into the ‘10MY mustang, but not at job-1. Either as a 5.8 (destroked 6.2 small-journal forged crank) or 6.2. If 5.8, maybe the’d hold it to ‘11MY as a the base for Boss-351 — hopefully in alloy with DOHC GDI/VVT/VDE tech.

Timing is unclear, but the above alternatives/variants seem all but definite. Of course, then there’s the ‘12MY all-new clean-sheet mustang with the opportunity to strengthen the chassis even more than the excellent S197s since it would seem just a matter of time before a 7.0L version of new H/Boss OHC motor makes it to our beloved mustang.

If you check the USPTO-trademark filings, you’ll see Ford is in the process of recuring registration of the wordmark “KING COBRA” again …the game is on, it would seem, and I don’t want to even think about when/if a 7.0 DOHC H/Boss TT might surface.

If you consider that, by then, virtually every Ford engine will have GDI and VVT with V8s likely also sporting VDE (Variable Displacement Engine — Ford’s version of DoD), such an engine could *easily* produce 650-800HP and still lope-along at a calm 70-75mph and 30-35mpg — really! This new tech is absolutely awesome!

Part of the magic will undoubtedly be gereatly advanced ECUs sinc eprocessing power is dirt cheap and, though the management logic isn’t, it’s an essential integration of the H/W and S/W that will yield such results.

As long as Congress doesn’t arbitrarily bring us a redux of the sucky 70s/80s, the tech is emerging such that — for the first time in automotive history — we can have our cake, eat it, and not unduly impinge on our beloved home plant. We live again in wonderful car times. I just hope I live long enough to own and enjoy one the great muscle mustangs this next crop of technology will inevitably uncork for us