Ladies and Gentlemen,
the new, 2005 Mustang! A few things of note in these shots.
the side scoop doesn't appear to exist, I
think it's just a notch. the rear end has been butchered. The
Exhaust ports through the bumper are understandable gone. The
car rides an easy inch and a half higher. The glass roof is gone,
and the b-pillars window is now a real window instead of a weird
sheet of metal. It's also on current Mustang GT wheels.
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My bane, the new rear end. The ail lights look like they're right
off a current Mustang. The sexy lines wrapping around the bumper
as the exhaust poked out of two holes are gone. |
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| I like this new shot the best. While I'm still
pissed about the side scoops being fake again, which I think are
silly. The wheels
are obviously stock wheels off a current GT, but they fill out the
car nicely. If you look at the wheel wells, you'll notice that the
hood line is very, very high in this model in comparison to the concept.
The overly protruded wheel wells also don't exist anymore, which
is bad. They were a nice spot on the concept. |
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The front is totally different.
The front bumper from the concept, and it's split corner lamps,
are gone. In their place are small corner
slits, and homage to the late 60's Mustang with driving lamps in
the grille. They made the grille sides vertical instead of slanted:
another mistake. The overly look of this version is less refined,
and more cluttered. Far inferior to the concept. |
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Here's the shitty interior. The dash is expansive and blank of
any character. The center control panel is cluttered, and the boxiness
of it's overall design looks like an 80's Mustang. |
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More shots of the shitty interior. This one shows standard seats,
and center console that seems to be inferior to the current
Mustang's. The back seat appears more spacious that previous 'Stangs,
that might be an optical illusion though. The doors are uninspired
and inferior to current 'Stang doors as well. |
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The instrument cluster is cool, but stupid. There's a very good
reason we don't use instrument designs from the 60's anymore.. because
they sucked. The steering wheel is a pussified version of the concepts.
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All in all, it's a depressing state of affairs
with the new Mustang. The rabid excitement that had built up
in me after
seeing the concept and is completely gone, and I mean completely.
The car is higher, taller, bulkier, and one fourth as sexy as
the concept. It actually seems like it's riding on a completely
different
platform. If this is what Ford's "revolutionary" new Mustang
looks like, fuck it. I'll buy a used 99, or a Nissan 350Z. At
least that
car still looks kick ass.
Well that's my two cents. I hope Ford pays attention,
because I know how much unsecured debt it has. It can't afford
to produce a lackluster vehicle and that's what this is. In a
world of RX-8's 350Z's, and and the upcoming Supra successor,
this Mustang isn't being given much of a chance.
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The grille is very "Ferrari" and a welcome sight
on an overall car that certainly isn't. The bulging wheel wells
topped
with
an edge
that looks sharp enough to carve meat is over done and looks like
it should be a styling cue on a much older car. The obvious references
to past sports cars reminds me of the new Ford GT. The overall
front impression is low, mean, and Ferrari-ish, but the front is
bulky,
pointless, graceful as buffalo, and a sad shadow of other, well designed
sports cars that this car is obviously trying to copy.
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| The side looks "ok." the wind wells coming off the
front wheels look like thay stole the side paneling off an old Corvette...
and bolted it onto the side of a new Corvette. The taillights appear
to be ripped off the Enzo, but the curving tail is very Italian.
the bulk of the rear section, though, looks like a fatter Mustang
Fastback. The outside of the cabin is elegant and well designed,
which only makes the parts of the car that are shit stand out further. |
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The interior is the saving grace of the car. As with
the current crop of Bimmers. I'm sure the in-car dynamics will also
be like driving sex, but that's beyond the point. The doors are curvy
and mold into the dash lines when closed very beautifully. The over-all
looks reminds me of Robin Williams' Andrew Martin in robot form from
Bicentennial Man, and that's anot a bad thing. The machine-like curves,
the edges are all gorgeous. The drivetrain hump is so curvy and beautiful
it reminds me of a lissom woman. All in all, whoever designed the
interior should get a raise, whoever the exterior, should be fired. |
UPDATE: 5/31/03
Well I
just finished up my runs at local auto shows and reading up on the
biggies at my favorite car site Edmunds.com.My
general impressions of the future auto industry are good, but certain
aspects of it make me either want to laugh or cry, sometimes I can't
tell which.
----> More
UPDATE: 3/11/03
New update about the safety of the ol'
B2. This one comes compliments of Global Auto Systems.
Controversy over the Bronco II: company
accused by environmental group of having paid off an expert witness
in a personal-injury lawsuit in the 1990s
Ford is being accused by an environmental group of paying off an expert witness
in a trial that questioned the safety of the Bronco II back in the 1990s. "It
is time to make truth Job One," says Heather White, general counsel for
the Environmental Working Group, which alleges Ford paid engineer David Bickerstaff
$5 million. In exchange, the group says, Bickerstaff complied with Ford's request
to testify that rollover rates of the Bronco II were not worse than those for
comparable vehicles, which the group says is not true. The Environmental Working
Group is now asking NHTSA to reopen a long-closed investigation into safety
of the SUV.
The environmental organization says these strong allegations come from its
research into court documents in lawsuits filed in the 1990s. One such lawsuit,
filed in 2001, saw a former Bronco II owner accusing Ford of conspiracy to
hide safety evidence on the vehicle. In that case, a U.S. District Court judge
in West Virginia ruled that Ford had conspired with Bickerstaff to commit fraud,
and the automaker settled out of court. However, a Ford spokesman told the
Detroit News that Ford has faced and won all other lawsuits related to the
conspiracy charge, which he said totaled five.
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