- 2014 Ford Mustang Views
- Interior / Exterior »
The Mustang is instantly recognizable from any angle on the outside, with its unmistakable silhouette and classic coupe stance. The fundamental design goes back to the 2005 model year; then in 2010 Ford gave it an extensive revamp, recasting it as a little leaner, a little more tidy, and yet more aggressive in its details.
There are retro cues aplenty; and the ones you don’t see from Mustangs past you can almost all add on at extra cost–all except a fastback body style, of course. Through various personalization options, you’ll find you can pretty easily recreate the look for the Mustang you might have driven in high school, or college—with side louvers, side scoops, hood scoops, and spoilers, among many other possibilities.
Last year, the Mustang got a more ’tilted-forward’ look to the grille, while the lower airdam is a bit thinner and not so gaping. GT models are also distinguished by their big, round foglamps in the grille, and they have functional heat extractors on the hood.
Headlamps are a smaller, more closely detailed HID design (across the entire lineup), and two strips of LED lighting flank the headlights and are an especially distinctive note. Taillamps get a dark-tinted look, with LEDs surrounding the entire affair; there’s also a blacked-out (instead of body-color) panel between the taillamps. And from the side, rocker panels now are body-color. And a clever new night-lighting option, called the pony projection light, beams a pony emblem on the ground next to the doors.
The couple of really intense exterior colors introduced last year—Deep Impact Blue, and Gotta Have It Green—have been joined by a couple more conservative colors this year: Oxford White and Ruby Red Metallic.
Inside, the Mustang’s cockpit has an upright dash and big, deep-dish gauges with color-shifting lighting and metallic trim. The Mustang’s interior follows a design that clearly nods to the past—although it has a surprisingly modern set of materials, a wide center console, and plenty of soft-touch materials on the dash. As a whole, the cabin can be a little stark, and it looks at its best in one of the two-tone themes.
- Performance »
There are two main flavors of the Mustang: V-6 or V-8. They’re both modern overhead-cam engines with variable valve timing–and surprisingly high-revving and willing, even though the V-8 especially has that true muscle-car sou8nd.
Mustang V-6s have Ford’s 3.7-liter V-6, making 305 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. And if you’re comparing those with power and torque output of the 4.6-liter V-8 from not too long ago, you’re right; it makes the Mustang feel about as quick.
The 5.0-liter V-8 in the GT is the way to go for those who crave the most performance; it has 420 horsepower. V-8 models emit a gruff, throaty exhaust note and feel a bit like straight-line exotics. Compared to the V-6 models, they’re different beasts altogether and call for more restraint; due to the V-8’s sharper throttle response and here-right-now torque, weight transfers tend to be a little less fluid, too, if you’re not careful with it.
Since both engines make their peak horsepower at 6,500 rpm and their peak torque at a rather high 4,250 rpm, we firmly advise that you get the manual transmission–although it does now include full manual control, with a +/- button on the side of the shifter to easily thumb through them, and no forced downshifts or upshifts in manual mode; and manual-gearbox cars get a two-second hill-hold function, for convenient starts when facing uphill.
One other thing: There are also now three driver-selectable levels of steering effort—Sport, Comfort, and standard. Steering is very precise in the ‘Stang, although we’ve never been entirely happy with how this unit loads up off center.
There’s not as much difference from V-6 to V-8 models as in the past, either, and performance packages don’t shave away nearly as much of the decent ride compliance. Despite humble, cost-conscious underpinnings, Ford engineers have worked magic in making the Mustang a better driver’s car than quite a few sports coupes or sedans with more sophisticated mechanical layouts and expensive price tags. If we were performance-minded, we’d opt for the coupe, since the convertibles we’ve sampled haven’t had the structural stiffness to match the suspension’s upconverted talents.
Last year, the Mustang got a number of more modern details to help give its retro silhouette a more punctuated, detailed look up close. Projector-beam headlamps, with two strips of LED lighting flanking them, help frame the front; and in back, LED lamps with a dark-tinted look separate out these models from earlier year. Lower airdams are neater and thinner, too, and lighting up the ground next to the doors is an optional pony projection light.
The Mustang’s cockpit has the upright dash and big, beautiful gauges with color-shifting lighting and metallic trim, a good blend of Sixties style and today’s touchscreen sensibilities. Don’t expect MyFord Touch until the next major refresh, due next year, but you can time your own acceleration or quarter-mile times with a Track Apps feature.
You can get a Mustang with parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, and even HD Radio; but the real allure here is customization, and special performance and appearance packages. There’s also a Brembo brake package with recalibrated stability control and a sport-tuned suspension; or the serious GT Track Package; or the V-6 Performance Package, we think, is a must for anyone who appreciates good handling but is sticking with the V-6. Several other special appearance packages—each dressed up its own special pony-car aesthetic—include a Mustang Club of America Package, V-6 Pony Package, FP6 Package, and California Special Package.
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