rhumb

Certainly nice enough, they probably hit the edge of the target if not a bullseye.

Good:
* Clean, minimillist looks, resisted urge to festoon it with pubescent adornments. Reflects well the tasteful look of the movie version and would suit McQueen well. How did the design department fend off the marketing department which undoubtedly wanted to add on all sorts of cheesy "visual excitement?"
* Suspension tuning sounds like its being handled with more finesse, but will have to read more to see if its significantly better.
3.73 gears ought to give it more apparent snap, if not really much faster than a GT.
* Exhaust that apparently matches the sound of the '68 version.

Bad:
* Too plain? Hate to even open this Pandora's box as it has a Q-ship personna now, but I might have done a few subtle things to give the looks some visual contrast like black wheels and maybe brushed metal rear view mirrors. A Mustang Concept style hood would have been interesting too and harken back to the '68's hood style. But incredibly, they managed to resist the teenage cheap tack-on styling fakery that Ford all too often resorts to.
* Not enough power. 15hp and a piddling 5 ft/lbs torque are hardly anything to write home about. Screw 87 octane and give it some higher compression pistons, sportier cams and appropriate tuning to give that motor some crackle -- 350hp minimum should have been here -- couldn't they at least match the 325hp posted rating of the '68's 390? In the end, a 390hp 5.4 is the motor it really should have.
* Same whimpy brakes, if with slightly better pads.
* Too expensive. While not an outrageous price -- $31K and change -- the package gives you maybe $3k worth of added stuff for what is essentially a very modestly tweaked GT with a nice paint job. The Brembos and six-cogger off the GT500 would have better justified the price.

Summary:
* Nicely enough done as far as they went, but they didn't go far enough.
* Once again, a Mild Move rather than a Bold Move.

jacostang

I agree with most ofthe posts, close but they could have done much better with just a little more Steve McQueen

Tony Alonso

It's interesting to see the poll split at the time I posted this - "close but no cigar" slightly ahead of "bullseye" and both just ahead of "missed the target". The real test would seem to be what happens in the dealerships and when owners get cars.

CANCEL THAT - Numbers have changed before I hit SAVE!

Whammer

Well you get all that for $1900. It's a truly great value. No one can argue about the price.

05mach1

I like it but, Ford should use the 01 Bulllitt seats, they are more comfortable and Ford should use the MRT Hood it has more of the 68 hood style for the car.

codeman94

I did not see the different guage font that there was supposed to be.

Knight

I think it is very well done but there are a few things i would have liked to see.

more body specific parts. dual vent hood and more flush rockers, window vents.

Engine should have been a 390hp N/A 5.4 or the 390hp 4.6S/C.

Brakes and suspension should have been the GT500's.

Engine turned dash was a complete miss. Dunno what they were thinking here. and the seats should have had 68 or 01 bullitt type stitching.

of course some of this might have increased price by a good amount.

MR-STANG

I like the CAI, 3.73, exhaust and the new dash.
I don't like the V6 Mustang appearance.

I think they should have added a GT/CS front and rear fascia.

LJS

mustangman1960

original bullitt had a big block, 2008 verison does not cut it for me. There is no substitute for cubic inches.

Haljordan

I think it's just about perfect. When the '05 came out,i wanted a basic V6 look with no spoiler,no GIANT fog lights and no door stripes but with a V8 just like an old LX 5.0.....i didn't even want the GT wheels,i wanted the V6 wheels with the fake knockoffs........this '08 Bullitt is as close as i'm going to get.......it still has that **** fake gas cap though. The GT performance is awesome as it is so anything extra is just icing on the cake. Some of you may not like it,but this will be the best and most desirable GT of this body style when all is said and done,like the '01 was the best example of the '99-04 GTs'.This will be the one Bullitt to have in the future as well,it looks just like the movie car while '01 still had a horse in the grill,GT badges and the hood scoop that's all out of place. Coming out on the heels of the incredible looking Bulllitt concept car didn't help the '01 either.IMO. The performance was there,but the look was off.
This one is Perfect. It's the Shelby GT without the tackiness and questionable heritage.

Haljordan

Original Bullitt had a boat anchor,leave those for T-birds and grandma's Galaxy,Frank would have done better with a better handling,more fun K-code 289. This new Bullitt or hell,a Civic Si will destroy Franks' big block GT.

Airwolf

I too wish it had the GT/CS front and rear fascia, or GT500 front fascia and GT500 Hood. Possibly something to be done later on. This car is very plain, but i believe it leaves room for those who buy them, to enhance it with Louvers, hood, fascias, etc, to make a more personalized bullitt, some might say that it ruins the special edition appearance, but it's still dark highland green, and that's what makes it the Bullitt, adding a new hood, fascia, and side louvers, won't ruin it.

05fordgt

Not a "might", but a larger engine would have had a SERIOUS bump in the overall price of hte car. And if they were to put in the 5.4 V8 iron block, from the Shelby, everyone would have been complaining about how heavy the car is. No matter which way we cut it, the car will get hammered by critics (though I really like it). In this day and age, with gas prices and such, and the government on the manufacturers for better fuel mileage, the age of cars with bigger engines as options are slowing down. Had they put the 5.4L V8 in this car, I guarantee it would have had a gas guzzler tax and would have screwed up Ford's current CAFE standards. Remember, when a company exceeds their CAFE, they pay millions in fines. This is something Ford can't afford to pay out right now.

I do wish they changed the leather pattern for the Shelby seats (though, I'm sure someone will offer something down the line). The shifter I LOVE, (the whole setup with the stick and different boot), and I'm cool with the dash (its different, and you do see this design in exotic cars available now). Could it have been better, sure it could have, but with what Ford had to work with, its a pretty darn good effort IMO.

codeman94

Acctually...If I look realy hard,....I suppose I see a small font difference....but its not that notcieable....also...a 200MPH Speedo!

jsaylor

You do know that this car has the GT500's seats in it, right? In terms of both comfort and support nothing ever installed in any other Mustang is nearly as good.

rhumb

Not sure why a 5.4 would cost that much, if any, more than the 4.6. They are essentially identical engines but with the 5.4 having a taller deck on a cheaper iron block (and appropriately different crank and rods and other minor bits to accomodate the tall block). But all of this is off-the-shelf stuff for the most part. And in terms of parts count and manufacturing complexity, they're pretty much identical. It's not like the 5.4, found in about 3 trillion Ford trucks, is some exotic piece or something. I'll bet the actual manufacturing cost difference between the 4.6 and 5.4 would barely cover a happy-hour tab.

Mileage would take a bit of a hit, though probably not too much. And if Ford actually made any half decent economical cars that would appeal to others than misters Hurst and Avis, then CAFE wouldn't be such an impediment.

Yeah, it would certainly weigh more than the smaller, lighter 4.6, but then, so did Frank Bullitt's lump-of-iron 390, so an iron block 5.4 would be that much closer in spirit to the '68 namesake car. But it's not like the Stang's a veritable Lotus Elise in the corners anyways, what with its Connestoga-era live axle and all. If handling finesse has suddenly become such a critical concern -- "Handling? My Stang handles just fine down the 1/4 mile" -- then move the battery to the trunk and you'll pretty much neutralize any negative nose heaviness. But such a cutting-edge "Bold" idea would probably cost $3 grand for Ford to move that lead lump.

I kinda like the engine-turned dash, especially after reading it was real, genuine recylced Bud cans, not just some plastic look-alike.

GT500 seats are cool but would be cooler with '68-style pleating/stitching.

Is it me, but in the pictures, half the steering wheels seem to have leather spokes, the other half, silver "metal" plastic. Haven't figured that out yet, like the silvered look better but the leather ones probably work/feel better ... coin toss.

I really like the clean styling, very classy and quite in stark contrast to the legions of way-overstyled Stangs out there now, shows off the great basic lines and forms of the S-197. Maybe the start of a new styling aesthetic: minimilist chic?

A GT500 nose might look "better," but then, wouldn't that run counter to the Bullitts understated, almost stealthy idiom? Same goes for the GT500 tail. Save those items for a Boss 460/302/540/whatever anyway.

A reversed-scoop (vent?), signal-repeater hood would have been a perfect and appropriately subtle custom bit for the Bullitt, but then, given Ford's development proclivities, who'd pay the extra 15 grand that would have eventually cost Ford to implement.

LonghornTX

Eh, not really. I guess you should do some research (or a quick refresh) on what a a biased sample is. This is, indeed, a biased sample. There is a difference between a mustang enthusiast and someone who posts frequently on an internet forum about mustangs, there are different levels of incentive to answere a certain way.

Regardless, there are plenty of people that will shop for this car without being prior mustang enthusiasts, so not only is this sample biased, but it is also not representative of the population.

05mach1

Now we need to know is who will get the 1st Bullitt from BJ auction in Jan 08 ?

Hollywood_North GT

I think you're "creatively interpreting" those poll numbers. I read 'Close, But No Cigar' to mean a failure of execution, and of course 'Missed the Target' is a CLEAR failure.

Taken together, the thumbs down crowd are now at 67, while those who like it are at 28...as of this posting.

If these numbers port out across the Mustang community at large, the car will certainly sell well enough, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for this rendition.

My take on it is that the performance upgrades are impressive enough for the money (aka as far as Ford went with it), but the overall cosmetic package is largely under-executed.

GottaHaveIt

They got the idea from Brad's site if the rake it in the ought to help boost this site & give it a TV station so we can watatch these fine Ford movies, heck maybe even charge 2.00 a movie then Ford does not pay ?