atomcat68 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I have the newest generation, and here's my 2 cents. This car is my favorite car I have ever owned. I do like the styling of my 2005 better (my 2nd favorite), but this is a much better car. I think the main reason the car may rub some Mustang faithful the wrong way, is that it is the least Mustang-like of all the generations, and that includes some pretty strange diversions like gen 2 and fox body. It is as if they bench marked BMW and ignored its pony car roots which all the other generations didn't do. My 2005 was the most "Mustang like" of my cars. We'll ignore my 2012, which I featured in two of my movies, but never cast a magic spell on me the way the 2005 did or this new one does. It handles great, but you are always aware it has a great deal of mass. While parking in parking spaces, it almost steers like you are driving a barge into a small space. My old gripe is that it did get expensive, but at least you can see where the money was spent. Probably the thing that sold me on the car, and it may seem silly to most, is the bank vault like noise when the door shuts... and of course the crazy speed I was not expecting from a base 4 cylinder engine with terrific handling that manages the car's weight impressively. The fuel economy is also impressive for such a high powered car. I think the next generation coupe would have to lose weight and go back to more of its pony car roots. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull another 2005 and put more heritage back into the design as they have 7 generations to draw from. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, atomcat68 said: I think the next generation coupe would have to lose weight and go back to more of its pony car roots. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull another 2005 and put more heritage back into the design as they have 7 generations to draw from. CE1 seems like the holy grail of vehicle engineering where it feels like they found a way to improve weight, cost, and quality. With that in mind, I really hope they apply those learnings to other vehicle programs like future sports cars. I'd love to see an efficient, capable, light platform that underpins the next couple, sedan, mach-e gas powered, and maybe even a halo product. Visually speaking, I believe the mustang was at its best when it leaked into that muscle car look from 1965-1970 and 2005- modern. That long hood, flared fenders, fastback roofline, sharp lines. That's what a mustang should be. Something that looks great, that's timeless and will still look great at a car show when it's 30 years old. You can say that about the original mustangs, and the 2005 and onward cars, but you can't really say it about the stuff in the middle like the new edge or fox body, both of which look pretty horrible compared to peak mustang designs. I hope Ford never really tries to revisit the fox body or new edge for major styling inspiration. Thankfully Kemal Curic seems to understand this. He's head of Ford performance design and his favorite mustang is the 1967 fastback. So he seems to understand what makes mustang work well visually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 4 hours ago, atomcat68 said: It is as if they bench marked BMW and ignored its pony car roots Ford said they did just that - ignored Camaro and Challenger and benchmarked BMW and other European sports cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 On 3/4/2026 at 9:59 PM, akirby said: Ford said they did just that - ignored Camaro and Challenger and benchmarked BMW and other European sports cars. Ignores Camaro?? Not really..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherminator98 Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 5 minutes ago, twintornados said: Ignores Camaro?? Not really..... The biggest reason the New Mustang looks similar to the Camaro is the lack of the C scoop shape on this gen Mustang. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 45 minutes ago, twintornados said: Ignores Camaro?? Not really..... To be fair, it's just both cars using a similar muscle car styling feature, the flared rear haunch. It's something mustang has had almost since the begging starting with the '67. I don't see it as the mustang ripping off the Camaro, I see it as a Ford pulling inspiration from its own muscle car designs. It just so happens that the Camaro has a similar styling feature. It would be like saying if two sports cars had cab rear proportions they were copying each other, but that's not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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