6 Slowest Mustangs Over the Years
The Mustang has been awesome looking from day one, and many of them are fast, but there have been some over the years that were better suited to rental car fleets than race tracks. Here are 6 of the worst performers over the years.
1. 1964 1/2 Mustang with 170ci six
There is no denying how good those first Mustangs looked, or how dependable the Falcon sourced straight six is, but what it isn't, is quick. With just 101 hp, 156lb-ft of torque, and having to tow around about 2500lbs, the little motor has its work cut out for it. Consumer Reports road test of the base motor, with a 4-speed manual, only managed 0-60 in 16.8 seconds, and the automatic would add several more seconds. Still, Not many people would turn down a good deal on an early Ford pony car because it was slow. From 1965 onward the base motor was the 200ci six, and you got an extra 20 hp, but acceleration was still stately.
2. 1969 Mustang with 200ci six
Things got bigger and heavier with the revised 1969 Mustang, and now the base models weighed in at nearly 3200 lbs. The base motor was still just the 120 hp 200ci six, with the same 3 or 4-speed manuals, or the C4 3-speed automatic. There does not seem to be a road test of the base model online, but those numbers mean nearly an extra pound for each horsepower to pull around compared to the original car.
3. 1971 Mustang with 250ci six
It is hard to look at the hugeness of the 1971-73 Mustang and not think the Mustang II was an improvement. It is also hard to imagine this behemoth still shared much of the suspension and hard parts from the original, much smaller car. At least the base motor had gained 50ci, 25 hp and 50lb-ft of torque, and the peaks were lower in the RPM range too, so these should be slightly faster than the 1969 version, which weighed almost the same.
4. 1974 Mustang II with 2.3-liter four
The 1971-73 Mustangs were huge and heavy, but maybe the Mustang II was a little too small? A little too big of a change in one model year? No matter, the buying public seemed to think it was the right car for the times, even without the V8 option; 1974 sales were nearly 3x that of the previous year and came very close to 1965 sales. This smaller pony car was very European in style and substance, and the base motor was the 2.3-liter SOHC Lima motor, making just 88 hp. This list may be in chronological order, but this car is definitely the slowest, with less power, and the same weight as the very first Mustangs.
5. 1979 Mustang with 2.3-liter four
1979 was the dawn of the Fox Body era, but the 2.3-liter four carried over from the previous car (as did the optional 2.8-liter V6). The good news was that the all-new chassis was designed for modern handling, and the whole car was lighter than the previous one as well. Of course, performance numbers are hard to find on this car, with various sources online listing anywhere from 12 seconds to 16 seconds.
6. 1994 Mustang with 3.8-liter V6
After this generation, there are officially no longer any slow Mustangs, with even the base V6 making more than 200hp in the 2005 edition, and 2014s starting at 300 hp. The 1994-2004 SN-95 Mustangs are kind of the 1971-73 Mustangs all over again, with a much larger heavier car being built upon the bones of the original Fox platform. In the 1994 Mustang, with a V6 and an automatic, you are lucky to get to 60 in 10 seconds, because even with the added power weight had gotten back up to over 3000 lbs, even more for convertibles.
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