Seems like Ford is following the same pattern they did with the S-197 with a car tuned more for the geriatric set suffering from hemorrhoids at the out set.

I guess its going to take an alpha based Camaro and a sales slump to get them up off their butts again.

 

Too much weight

 

My early overall impressions after reviewing the initial reviews/tests:

Overall car is much more refined and balanced -- shades of BMW -- than the sometime crude and clumsy S197. It's now a true and credible 21st century performance car, not just a yestertech relic for wistful aging boomers trying to recreate their youth.

Interior is far nicer in design, materials and execution -- if not perfect, still a few awkward, cheap or cheesy details here and there.

Excess weight does hurt performance, both straight line and to a lesser extent, handling. Car ended up 150 lbs heavier in real life rather than 150 lbs lighter. Will this create an opening for a presumably smaller, lighter, ATS-based 2016 Camaro, or will that pudge up too?

IRS does greatly increase overall ride, agility, grip and overall performance -- despite extra overall vehicle weight working against all the above.

Some reports of "softness" may be because now the suspension can be made softer, more compliant and resilient for a given level of handling performance as opposed to the live axle which required a much firmer suspension to keep the heavy axle under control. In actuality, the 2015 is performing much better and feels much better doing so.

Others seemed to be comparing the more general purpose GT with the tight and taut track-rat Boss 302 -- fairer comparison will be with the upcoming GT350.

The overall handling envelope is greatly increased too, over the lively axle, doesn't degrade nearly so severely when the going gets rough. Yes, you can have excellent ride and handling at the same time.

No reports of axle tramp or other doomsday IRS scenarios.

Drivetrain basically keeps up with extra weight, numbers-wise, but no better. Drivetrain does seem more refined, better balanced and smoother -- actual numbers aside.

5.0 is basically the 5.0. Boss 302 mods and add ins basically only compensate for added weight, ending up with same performance as an 2014.

Egoboost four seems like a very nice, reasonably sporty base motor -- very much like a bigger Focus ST motor in overall character, which it in large part is. Tuned more for low to mid range punch where it is most useful to most drivers, even if it does get a bit flat above 5500rpm.

Overall: pretty much what I expected in reality. Might have hoped for a bit better performance but that was presuming a long touted 200lb weight loss rather than a 150lb weight gain. Perhaps Ford can crib some of the F-150's weight reduction mojo for the 2018 refresh.

 

If the PP GT is being compared to the Boss 302, that's high praise. I can't say I understand the doom and gloom around here.

 

Indeed, if reviewers feel naturally inclined to compare a run-of-the-mill GT to perhaps the best Mustang ever, then that alone is high praise.

 

More video reviews are coming out and with much higher praise! I feel like I jumped the gun with initially berating the Mustang's "faults".

 

It's not ATS based.
It's ALPHA based, which the ATS and CTS use.

People stating it'll lose a tonne of weight because its based on the LIGHTest of the cars on that platform are going to be in for a shock I think.

The same way that people had unreasonable expectations that the Mustang would lose 300lbs and would be a failure if it didn't.

 

We now can build & price on the Canadian Ford website. The V8 is very expensive and the Ecoboost has disappointing performance so far. I also read on R&T that the V6 was, ahem, a "penalty box". Funny how they raved about the 3.7 balance & performance since its intro.

I think I'll keep my current Mustang a little bit longer than anticipated!

 

My bad on the nomenclature, but yeah, being developed on the smaller platform. And yeah, given the predilection of today's engineers to exhibit any discipline when it comes to trimming the lard, I wouldn't be surprised if the next Camaro does an S550 and come out 200lbs heavier than expected, not lighter.

On a related note, and to give credit where credit's due, just got my latest C&D with their annual lightning Lap comparo and the Z/28, porker that it is, is a track monster, hanging and surpassing some of Europe's finest that cost multiples its price. I think the GT350 has its work cut out for it.

I don't think the expectations that the Stang would come out at least 150-200 lbs lighter were unreasonable, and certainly it wasn't unreasonable to expect it to hold its weight at the very least, but well over 100+lbs heavier...

 

I don't think the Alpha Camaro will be all that light or even much lighter. The ATS gets its light weight due to the fact that it has at most right now 321 hp and with the turbo four banger 295 ft/lbs.


Unless GM adds some more oomph we know the LT1 going into the Camaro is good for 450/450 in SS trim and there is the strong possibility that there will be a ZL1 and/or Z/28 car as well and it will more than likely use the LT4 or a variant there of which will be around double the power of the best ATS offering now.


Given the Camaro's mission as an affordable performance car I can't see GM using a bunch of exotic materials to keep weight I check so I suspect the Camaro will end up with its own heavy duty version of the ATS Alpha platform as the ATS-V Sport is probably about where Alpha is maxed out (per OE requirements for durability and NVH not some bat guano crazy Hennessey version)


We will see though, I'd hate for the S550 to totally miss the ball and give GM an easy win this go around.

 

Will anybody review the V6?

Or will I just have to drive it myself.

 

I read something over at Camaro5 when checking out what they had to say about the 2015 car and one of the posters over there said originally the 2015 car was going to be a derivative of the current chassis and was on target for a big weight reduction however Lincoln needs a RWD car and with Mustang being the only RWD car Ford has apparently the car has been reworked for Lincoln duty.


If there is any truth to that and Lincoln is getting a coupe and possibly a sedan that would explain much of the weight gain and also the virtual pivot front suspension as a ho-hum strut front end wouldn't be in line with a premium car.

 

Rental Car Review Magazine


Seriously though its to bad Ford isn't doing more with the V6 car. I'd definitely take that over the EcoBoost any day of the week but it appears Ford wants to rig the system so to speak. I imagine in the coming weeks they will trumpet about how the EcoBoost is such a surprising success with Mustang.

 

There’s a lot to cover from my recent test drive of the all-new 2015 Ford Mustang in L.A. as a correspondent for The Mustang Source.

A whole lot, but as I start going through my photos from the event, which took us from Mel's Drive-In on the Sunset Strip to California's legendary Angeles Crest Highway, I've been reveling in how impressive all the exterior colors look lined up.

Read the rest on the Mustang Source homepage. >>

 

Do you think the new Camaro is going to less refined than the current model that is already quite a bit more refined (but less fun to drive IMO) than the Mustang? Your statement is self-contradictory IMO.

 

Nice squat . . . (via Ford Racing Facebook Page)

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/09/24/2...tang-gt-video/

 

Autoblog.com ride-along for the 2015 Mustang GT

 

repost

 

And that Autoblog car didn't even have the Performance Package, it looks like.