While I was in LA, I of course had to see the new Mustang. For the writers, and whatnot, who were there, we all kind of felt as though Ford is doing a great job and really presented the Mustang well.
Now, as you all know, I have a Bullitt. I love my car. Or, should I say, Jacqi. She has treated me well. But, even though I love my car, I know its faults, and I know it has quite a few of them. Namely, the interior. It’s drab, nothing special, and it doesn’t really scream quality. But, that’s ok. The styling has always been a thing of controversy for me. The S197 is a good looking Mustang, but I think they could have done more to it. The last thing that I have most disliked about the S197, and ever ‘Stang before it, were the tires. The 235mm tires were just too small for my comfort. Now, if Ford had done 225 or 235’s up front with 255’s in the rear, that would have been good. But with the 235’s in the rear, the car tends to get a little squirrelly at the wrong times. It’s hard to push the car through tighter turns. You really have to learn to compensate with the steering.
These are all things that Ford has listened to when reading the Mustang forums. I know for a fact, from talking to the head designer, Team Mustang reads The Mustang Source, a forum this writer happens to belong to. One thing that many Mustang owners do to spice up their Mustang is to turn the taillamps into sequential lamps. Ford read and saw this modification and made it a standard thing on the new 2010 Mustang. So, now when you put your turn signal on, the rear lamps light up in a sequential motion inner lamp to the outer most lamp.
For starters, the design is much more sexy. It has more subtlety in it, but still with Classic, boisterous Mustang lines. Notice how they’ve cleaned up the HUGE front-end with a more stylized hood, including the “power bulge”, along with the new HID bulb headlights. I love the rear. It’s hands down my favorite part of the revitalized S197. You also get the option of all new spoiler styles. You can get a lip spoiler, like the ones on the GT500 and GT500KR, you can get regular elevated spoilers, as well, but they’ve all been redesigned for maximum effiency and ability. The interior has been changed, a lot! The interior has been drastically approved. You now get an interior that holds a more European quality and flavor. Something that the new Camaro and Challenger just don’t do. You also get the option of a touch-screen navigation system with a backup camera that is attached to the rear lip spoiler. Now, onto tire size. Standard GT tires have now been bumped up to 245mm with 18-inch rims all-around. Optional 19-inch Pirelli summer tires are also available. For the new Track Pack II you get, Performance front/rear brake pads, GT500 Stabilizer Bars and rear lower control arms, retuned struts and shocks, 19-inch Pirelli Summer tires, 3.73 axle ratio with carbon plates in the differential, recalibrated AdvanceTrac, traction control and anti-lock brakes. With the Track Package you get 255 tires all-around. The new traction control gets 3 modes. You get on, competition and off.
To go with all of the extra tires and style, you get the same 4.6L V8 that came in the Bullitt with the Cold Air Intake system. The exhaust is now upped to the Bullitt’s 3.5in tips. This all provides the same Bullitt power at 315hp and 325lb-ft of torque. But, I know for a fact the real power the Bullitt and the new 2010 Mustang GT puts out is actually 325hp and 345lb-ft of torque. That’s a quote straight from the Mustang boys, too.
I sat down for dinner with Paul Randle, the Chief Engineer of the Mustang Program. Talking to him really showed me how passionate he was about the Bullitt, and how hard the Mustang team worked to make it the best Mustang ever. This has all been translated into the new 2010 Mustang GT. “You’re getting the best-handling, best-balanced Mustang ever as the base GT,” Paul said in a different interview. He has even offered to help me get the new 255 Pirelli tires on my Bullitt to prove to me how good they are. He agreed that the S197 was undertired, and Mustang answered our cries with bigger, better and much more efficient rubber. Did I mention that these Pirelli’s are made strictly for the new Mustang?
More information to come, soon.
-Josh
“Happy Motoring!”
