Guth

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28948-2004Nov5.html

New Pony Is Best at a Gallop

By Warren Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 7, 2004; Page G01


There was little to consider. The 2005 Ford Mustang GT Premium coupe was delivered to my driveway. The car was torch red. The day was beautiful. The airwaves were full of politics. I grabbed several discs from my Ray Charles "Genius & Soul" collection and hit the road.

It was a beautiful escape -- 300-horsepower V-8 engine roaring, Ray singing "Born to Lose" on the eve of a national election, and miles of highway stretched before me.

I have a theory about cars, especially American icons such as the Ford Mustang, which has been around in one form or another since 1964. I don't care if they are "all-new," which is what Ford's marketers claim the 2005 Mustang to be. Nor am I terribly concerned about how fast they can move from 0 to 60 miles per hour, or if they can beat comparably engineered cars in what the people at Motor Trend magazine call "grudge matches."

That's all silly to me.

The things I want from a car like the Mustang are memories, a sense of time and place, the illusion of freedom, the delusion of controlled destiny. I want it to become my magic carpet, to whisk me away from the world's ugliness and tensions, if only for a moment. I want romance, and if there is a car that can give me that and the other craved psychic rewards without the intrusion of sloppy handling, squeaks and rattles, mind-numbing expense or various and sundry other discomforts, I want that car.

I want this Mustang GT Premium.

It is retro without being saccharine, sweet with no bitter aftertaste. It honors the past with traditional external Mustang styling cues -- the famous long hood, C-scoops on the side panels, three-element back lights and the chromed horse on the grille. Similar homage is paid to the past in the interior, most notably with the deep-set chrome-ringed gauges on the instrument panel.

But there is no slavish copying here, no mindless grafting onto the new what was disturbing about the old. The outside sheet metal, for example, is better proportioned, rising higher at the waist and the rear, thus giving the car a truly sporty look. The rear sail panels above the trunk line, once solid visual obstructions, now include windows designed to minimize those former blind spots.

The new Mustang's nose looks as aggressive as ever -- more like the snout of a shark than a horse. But Ford has made a welcome bow to European styling here by adding two round, jewel-like headlamps in the center of the grille.

Inside, there is more space for heads, legs and posteriors than existed in previous Mustangs. Lots of things change in 40 years -- human bodies chief among them. It makes sense for wider bottoms to beget wider seats.

That does not refer to chronological age, per se. Take a look around your local human landscape. There are many people in their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s whose physical girth far exceeds their fiscal worth. How many hamburger and french-fry combos have been sold in the United States since 1964?

Anyway, Ford wants to sell its new Mustang to more than nostalgic baby boomers, and to a wider audience than exists in North America. The company is looking at twenty- and thirtysomethings here . . . and in Europe.

To get those people, the new Mustang has to offer what previous Mustangs didn't -- impeccable quality. That means flawless sheet metal and paint, perfect fit and finish inside and out, and high-grade interior materials, all of which happily are part of the 2005 Mustang.

There has been some whining, mostly in the automotive magazines, about Ford's use of a 1960s-type live rear axle, as opposed to a more sophisticated -- and more expensive -- multi-link, independent suspension in the rear of the car. I suppose that having the more modern suspension matters, especially in the Mustang GT Premium, if your intent is to take the rear-wheel-drive car racing.

But I have no such intentions.

I'd buy the Mustang as a cruiser, a personal therapy machine designed to take me away from the maddening crowd and all of its contentious concerns of the moment. I'd fill my pockets with greenbacks and hit the road, Jack. Either the daytime or the nighttime would be the right time. I'd crank that big V-8 engine, let the good times roll, and there's no way I'd ever let the sun catch me crying.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company


"But Ford has made a welcome bow to European styling here by adding two round, jewel-like headlamps in the center of the grille."

huh?

mustang_sallad

hahaha, yeah, i really like how ford paid tribute to European styling on this car, it had to get away from the ugly design of those late 60s mustangs.

I'm guessing this guy isn't a regular automotive journalist.

Guth

I'm no car afficianado, but I know what the fog-lamps are paying tribute to.

This guy isn't automotive anything, and journalism would've required him to do some research before concluding that a retro design like this bowed to any styling from anywhere other than previous Mustangs.

1 COBRA

Sounds like a nostalgic, nonconformist, pessimist with little Mustang driving experience. It is funny how his Cliff notes research exposes his lack of knowledge of Mustang history. And even funnier is reference to European quality and design as if imports do not have issues and failures. This is another fine example of La La Critiques having difficulties absorbing reality and lacking the persception of one. Perhaps if he had not been embroiled in the political paranoia and watched the Cornfield and the Anthen commercials a couple of times, he might have been more objective.

This reminds me of a couple which reviewed and criticized the Bullitt soon after its introduction and had no clue of its theme. And yes, their main source of transportation (which they were bragging and ecstatic about) was... you guessed it: the VW Beetle!

Guth

I forwarded the cornfield commercial to a 20 something co-worker because he's absolutely crazy about the new Mustang. When he saw Steve McQueen walk out my friend says:
Who's that?
Haven't you ever seen the movie Bullitt? I asked.
No.

Import-Slaya

I live in Maryland just outside of D.C. and read his weekly column. He is pretty much an idiot with most of his reviews, but that sums up most of the drivers around here. Put a BMW/Mercedes/Lexus/Acura badge on it and the car can do no wrong. Anything else is a lesser vehicle.

AnotherMustangMan

Its true, Warren Brown stinks.

I subscribe to the Wash. Post and every week i read his biased crap. He gets his hands on a domestic performance car and hes looking for refinement, hes reviewing a domestic luxury car and he whines about a cushy suspension. Thats all we need, another "expert" feeding the hungry little domestic-hating liberals their weekly doses of BS. If he happens to find himself in a BMW or MB he practically trips over himself with exagerated praise. Just another Bush-hating post writer trying to turn Americans against their own country.

and no im not blowing this out of proportion, the Post unabashedly spews so much liberaly slanted garbage that any conservative to read it will be laughing so hard their cheerios will come out of their noses.

quote

"Nor am I terribly concerned about how fast they can move from 0 to 60 miles per hour"

translation: "I should never write anything about cars that anyone will ever read"

JustAnotherDude

Ahahah, now you're bashing even the positive reviews. You guys are a riot.