Details like this are why you don't trust rumors from certain sites (*cough*Edmunds*cough*). Originally the car was claimed to lose 15" and drop 400 lbs. Now that we know the dimensions, I think reality is starting to set in. The term "content rich" definitely makes it sound like all of the new features and options could add weight. Then again, we don't know what they've been able to do in terms of weight when they mention the platform is "all-new". I'm sure they'll keep dropping info from now until the 50th birthday to keep anticipation high.

 

Do you really think a few air bags and speakers is going to weigh more than a 455 big block vs a 305 small block?


Not to mention the fact that the entire car was STEEL, while much of the Mustang is much lighter aluminium or even lighter plastic? Do you have any idea how much the front bumper alone weighed on the 442? The Mustang doesn't even have a solid metal radiator, much less anything in front if it being metal.




That's nice.


Care to show me where I compared the performance? Or did you write all of that just to make yourself feel better?



Strip away the engine and transmission and it would weigh less too.


Doesn't really explain why a V6 Mustang is 200lbs heavier than a V6 Nissan Altima which has all of the same equipment and is about the same size though.

 

Moustang you really seem bitter about the new Mustang. If you really dont like it just dont get it and leave it at that

 

Oldsmobile motors weren't all that heavy at 625 pounds for the olds engine (all cast iron) vs. 575 for the small block (685 for the BBC and 765 for a 426 Hemi - Boss 429 weighed in at 680 and the FE motors 650 lbs, the push rod 5.0 was 525 pounds dressed)



Easy enough, FWD vehicle designed for fairly low power, remember the V6 Mustang uses the same body as the GT500 so it has to cover 305hp to 662hp and do it without bending or breaking when somebody goes hauling **** down the drag strip or sideways through a turn at full lock and full throttle.


When Ford introduced the GT500 for 2007 they added 70 pounds around the trans tunnel to cope with "only" 500 hp and 480 ft/lbs at the crank.


You have to keep that in mind when your comparing cars like the Altima and the Mustang. If the Altima also underpinned the GT-R you'd probably see the same thing. What should be a relatively lighter car that is inexplicably heavier that it should be.


If Ford had only planned on an EcoBoost and V6 Mustang for the 2015 car, they could have certainly made it lightweight as it wouldn't have to cope with more than 300 or so horsepower but even from the get go it has to deal with a minimum of 420hp and possibly 500 or more with the GT350 and who knows what down the line?


And it has to do all this without copious amounts of horsepower twisting or flexing the car in addition to whatever else it will be subjected to like an SVT tuned suspension coupled to that copious amount of power.

 

Not only that but Altima being FWD it obviously doesn't have a long drive shaft and rear axle. That easily could be 200 pounds right there.

 

First it was 400 lbs lighter, now it's gonna be heavier than a '14. Personally, I would be surprised if a '15 weighed more than a '14 considering the competition is getting lighter and CAFE regs. Going by the story that Ford didn't release weight #'s because it's heavier they also didn't release hp #'s either so therefore the '15 must have less hp than a '14 right?

 

The C7 Corvette in spite of a standard all aluminum chassis and the use of carbon fiber the new Corvette gained weight over the car it replaced.


One would hope the next Mustang is lighter or even mass neutral but it could very well put on weight.


Take the brakes for example, the 2015 car with the upgraded brake option will feature larger diameter rotors which if conventionally made will be heavier than on previous cars (2013-2014 GT500 included).

 

The competition is years out from coming out with a new vehicle (talking Camaro and Challenger here)
Talk is cheap. When they COME out lighter THEN we can all say it's lighter.

 

Isn't the alpha based Camaro due out as a 2016 model?


Speaking of which I think the next gen Camaro will be lighter and a win for F-body fans since it will shed a lot of weight however I don't think its going to be ATS light with a V8. IMO it will probably be around the weight of the current Mustang in V8 trim.


If that turns out to be the case then if Ford can keep the new car within a spitting distance of the current car's weight it shouldn't have a problem.

 

Well Ford bench-marked this car based on the M3. The new M4 just lost 176lbs over the outgoing model. I was hoping Ford could do the same magic. The loss of weight for the BMW was not just switching from a V8 to the TT I6, that only saved 22lbs.

 

Just a cry baby...the 5.0 weighs a ton. And how many muscle cars from the 60's could beat most family sedans from today? Not many...get a grip. Go enjoy your 05-09 V6 and eat a snickers

 

The 5.0 isn't really that heavy as far as a V8 goes, its lighter than the feathery 5.0 pushrod mill in the fox cars and is about the same a GM's LSx engines (I don't know about the LT1)


The 4.0 V8 that was in the previous M3 was a bit heavier than the coyote and its only slightly heavier than the I6 (per Dave's info) that replaces the BMW V8.


Now you want to know an engine that weighs a ton. That would be the 5.4 and 5.8 engines in the Shelby. The 5.4 aluminum/iron V8 used from 2007 to 2011 is about 700 pounds with all the gear installed.

 

Camaro is (strongly) runored to use a version of the ATS platform which will give it a much better starting point in terms of weight than the current model.

Considering that we have no idea what the S550 Mustang will weigh, no kind of talk on the topic is cheaper than any other.

 

I read on the internet the 2015 Mustang was going to weigh 200 lbs less. This means in reality, 41 lbs less

 

BMW has the R&D leeway(and a much higher price tag to go with it) to find places to lose mass all throughout the vehicle... I'm expecting the 5.0 may see a slight drop in weight, if any at all, compared to the current model. The current model is already a decent amount of pounds less than its current immediate competitors. Only way I would believe they lost a significant amount of weight is if the S550 was a much smaller vehicle than the current-gen or utilized even more lighter-weight body panels throughout the vehicle.

 

Agreed, I guess the issue is that Ford themselves said the Mustang will be lighter than the current model. It looks like that may not be the case now. The outgoing 4.0L S65 powerplant is 6lbs heavier than the Coyote motor. A lot of this I am sure is the fact of the 8 individual throttle bodies the S65 powerplant uses vs. the single blade throttle body the Coyote uses. Other than that very close in weight.

Dave

 

Too early to jump to conclusions about the weight of the new Mustang. If Ford was willing to go to the length of putting aluminum fenders on the 2015 Mustang, they surely used lighter pieces and parts throughout the Mustang.
Just wait until Ford has the final production car ready and they will go into detail about where weight was eliminated. I look at my Mustangs and see things that could be shortened, eliminated, or redesigned to eliminate weight. With Ford starting from scratch and redesigning a new body and chassis, you know they had a big opportunity to eliminate weight. I think their goal was to eliminate 200 pounds from the GT. I am betting they came very close to that goal. Ecoboost four will most likely be 300 pounds lighter than the current Mustang.

 

I wanted to believe the 400 lb weight decrease some predicted but that appears to be obviously wrong. Even 200 lbs seems like a stretch to me after seeing the car. I expected a totally redesigned mustang but this is more of refresh to me. And even if it lost 200 lbs, which it probably won't, I've seen PEOPLE who've lost more weight than that.
It's ultimately all about power to weight ratio, but if you have enough power you're ok. I don't plan on pushing the thing uphill anyway. As others have said, the mandated safety and convenience items add up and cost significant weight. Always thought the ideal performance car should weigh about 3200 lbs but maybe that's just not realistic.

 

the wildcard here is how good the platform engineering was on the S197 car compared to MODERN standards. We need to remember its a 10+ year old design. At the very least ford can make use of newer steel alloys that are lighter and stronger. not to mention what changes those alloys will open up in terms of redesigning the platform.

For example the IRS components might be heavier than an SRA however did chassis reinforcements to cope with different stresses caused by the SRA cause them to add extra material and bracing in areas that potentially a new design would not? I know this is a made up example but i am throwing it out as an example of how they would look at every section of the new platform. if they can get a stiffer structure from using 2% less material from a newer alloy and the newer alloy is 2% lighter that will add up. 4% on a 3600lb car is almost 150lbs. again i am not throwing these out as specifics just directionally what can be done with modern technology and materials

ppl throwing out how the M4 weighs 170ish lbs less than the out going model and BMWs new 4 series platform is a LARGER car than the outgoing platform necessitating the use of more high cost materials and especially where the outgoing M car already used alot of aluminum and had a carbon fiber roof. where the mustang is staying roughly the same size.

we wont know for certain exactly what ford accomplished until they release the specs but i don't buy into the idea that if the car is the same size and they didnt use tons of exotic materials (carbon, aluminium frame) the car HAS to weigh the same. comparing 2004 engineering with 2014 engineering is not apples to apples.

I am in the camp expecting around 100lbs or more for comparably equip 2014 vs 2015 GTs. I could be wrong but that's my reasoning

 

Just because a vehicle may be about the same size as the previous vehicle does not mean it will be as heavy. I have been around race cars for quite a few years. The race cars I am familiar with are the same size, but every year they become lighter. In racing, we say ounces add up to pounds. Now, if the engineers look at every component in a car and say they will make replacement parts all ounces or pounds lighter than previous parts, they can eliminate a lot of weight.