You guys also have to realize that these new cars are getting more and more technical requiring greater emphasis on the software designed for these cars. Being a software developer myself, I know how complex software systems are becoming. They don't want the average person (or tuner) messing around with these cars. I'm not sure they'll lock out the ECU completely, but they may require specific keys issued by Ford to only a select number of people/organizations to be able to unlock the ECU at some point in the future. And in truth, for those that think it's easy to get around a locked ECU, it's not. It isn't difficult to create an encryption scheme that does this. If ford wanted to lock these down today, they could easily do this.

As an example of people not knowing what they are doing, when I first got my 11 V6 in 2010, I had the car 2 weeks and took it to get an aftermarket alarm installed. The shop screwed it up and torched my ECU. Obviously Ford wouldn't warranty it and obviously the install shop covered the repair, but I told them to not touch anything else after I got my car back and decided against having them trying that install again.

 

The Mustang was once again recognized as the most tuneable car at SEMA. Ford knows how important it is to cooperate with the aftermarket to ensure the aftermarket manfactures make a tune compatible with the Ford programs. Without cooperation from Ford, aftermarket suppliers would not be able to make a good product for the customer. Ford does not want unhappy customers.

 

We are a small percentage of the Mustang buying public. How many Mustangs has Ford sold in the last bit - 50 000 per year I think? I would think Ford will want sales back over 100 000 at least. We are a sideshow at best.

Point is, it is getting much harder.

 

2005-160,975
2006-166,530
2007-134,626
2008- 91,251
2009- 66,623


2010- 73,716
2011- 70,438
2012- 82,995
2013- 77,186


Not quite 50k, but the numbers have gone down since the competition has been present. Not really bad considering the economy has been in the toilet.

 

Dang you George Bush

 

I stand corrected. Numbers are not great either, though. Far cry from what Ford used to do with the Mustang. Camaro has been outselling Mustang too, hasn't it? Is the Camaro as aftermarket friendly as the Mustang?

 

There are a lot of reasons for this, not the least of which is that the Challenger SRT392 is a $50k muscle car that accelrates comparably to a $30k Mustang GT. There are plenty of good reasons to pick the SRT392 but it's just not positioned to be a high volume vehicle like the Mustang.

The "tunability" thing almost certainly is an insignifiant factor here. Ceratainly, Chrysler loses a handful of sales to people who want to be able to drop in tunes but if it was significant, they'd obviously change their policy.

FWIW, I don't see all that many GT500s or ZL-1s out on the road either. They're all relatively scarce compared to V6 Mustangs.


They're tuned to be as good as possible (performance and fuel economy) while inflicting the smallest warranty repair cost. Your criteria are different from Ford's.

 

Mustang6G has posted an interview of Dave Pericak conducted by auto evolution. In the interview Dave indicated he does not discourage the aftermarket from making modifications to the Mustang. He said the owner who has modifications done may decrease the durability built into the Mustang by Ford . The owner who has modifications done will have to be responsible for repairs. He did not indicate Ford is trying to make it difficult to modify Mustangs.

 

IIRC, none of Ford's EcoBoost engines are "tuneable"... I suspect that will continue for at least the EB engine slated for the 2015 Mustang...


PS when I purchased a Taurus for a daily-driver I researched the SHO model and learned of the non-tuneable issue of EB engines

 

http://www.stage3motorsports.com/201...ogrammers.html

oh yeah?

actually after doing more research, you have no clue what you are talking about.

 

Yeahhh no. Lund, Hennessey, Stage 3 etc all have tunes for them.

 

Lmao

 

that's odd, since several of my friends have had their ecoboost f150's tuned.

 

they must be 1337 H4X0R's... lol

 

Getting back a bit on topic, my slight opinion on the subject would be that the only reason i could see them now allowing the ecoboost to be tuneable is for it to not compete HP wise with the v8. I know those tuned ecoboosts can manage some nice HP. Thats just a crazy speculation but always possible in the marketing world.

 

I know there are a number of tuning options for the ecoboost in the Focus ST.

 

We are tuning Focus ST's which are Ecoboost, SCT has tuning support for Ecoboost F-150 trucks and the Ford Taurus/Lincoln MKS. I have a good friend who's been squeezing great gains out of the Taurus SHO platform.

 

Sweeet. That 4 banger should be one bad fast pony

 

Just by the numbers I'm very excited to test drive one some day. They are practically the same as my 335i we used to have and if that's the case, this 4 cylinder will be frightening!

 

Let's just say Ford decides to give the 4 banger turbo 310 hp and 300 tq. I wonder what type of power gains Steeda or others are getting with the echo boost tunes.

I bet Ford will have maxed out the boost in the small turbo so if someone wants too see 400 rwhp, with their new 4 banger, they will have to buy a larger turbo from some aftermarket company.