Blackraven

One comment on this was:
Only time will tell as to what the outcome of such a daring and risky move will be.........

Haitwun

I am well within generation Y and I love the current Mustang styling.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I love the current Mustang, but it's design is getting a little old. I see them EVERYWHERE now and it's kind of annoying.

Redtallman

iTrader: (1)

mustang do have irs. it was on the cobra. Also thunderbird supercoupe had irs.

Lil4X

A major reason we're seeing a lot of "retro" products is the same for "old" music and retreaded movies: they have a proven audience. When money's tight for a manufacturer, just like in the music or movie business, they'd rather go with something that has a track record rather than strike out in a new direction whose acceptance is unknown.

Although I owned a '67 'Stang and love the retro look that expresses the spirit of the original in a new idiom, I'm beginning to think it's time to move on. The Mustang, although it was really just a Ford Falcon with a lot of plastic surgery, was in its day, a game-changer for the industry. It is and always will be an American icon, but maybe it's time to let go of the muscle-car and respond to the economic reality around us.

Gas at $3.25 a gallon and fewer places to really wring out a "performance" car being available to most of us are a couple of the new realities we must address today. OK, we have some new realities in the form of federal regulations for the basics: side-door impact, rollover protection, headlight placement, bumper height, fuel economy, and dozens of other small but expensive to meet requirements face today's automaker. Muscle cars were all about torque. Straight line acceleration was king - never mind that you couldn't turn at the end of the strip, let alone stop - you'd won . . . well, it was a comforting thought - just before you went through the fence.

How would you build a mainstream car with some actual performance characteristics today? Remember that the Mustang (like the other pony cars) was largely the creation of parts-bin engineers to keep costs down. If you want a real Aston-Martin with purpose-built frame, suspension, driveline, brakes and engines, there's no way out, you're going to have to pay Aston-Martin prices. Hang styling, anybody can do that, it's the guts that cost money - especially when you apply them to a new, unproven product.

Both Ford and Chevy are introducing big V6 engines, manual transmissions, and "track" packages to their existing retro-pony car lines. While they don't have the throaty rumble of a V8, they do produce some pretty impressive numbers at the track - considering the mileage figures. Those who have driven the prototypes say they are the future of the Mustang and Camaro, with not just the image, but the performance of their bloodline. Could this be the attempt to produce a rolling chassis first, much as the 260 V8 Falcons that appeared 18 months before the Mustang? Drop that Evos concept body on that frame and you have a package that with the "performance" package could leave the showroom for well under $30K. Purists who actually believe IRS would be a significant improvement can tick off that number on the options list and have it - like the Cobra - as a bolt-on (factory) option.

OK, that's one option, but there are others. A complete overhaul of the brand might put a high-revving turbo 4-cyl in the engine room that combined with a lightweight chassis, say from the Focus family, fitted as a 2+2 coupe with a Evos - like body could redefine the sporty-car class. Of course it wouldn't be a Mustang in the classic sense, but maybe it's time for a change . . . . ?

I8ABMR

I welcome a fresh looking mustang. The retro styling is to old. Its out with the ld and in with the new. Not out with the new and in with the old