astolt12

Hey all,

I must admit as I have seen these new mustangs driving around town my opinion has greatly changed from the bitterness of "messing up" the s197 body style to applauding ford on their new design.

I currently own an automatic 2011 GT premium candy red 5.0 with some light modifications on her and love it. Shes loud (BBK Long tubes), fast and can turn heads anywhere. I've had my eye on a GT premium deep impact blue with the performance package. Ultimately put some white stripes and lower her a smidge to get rid of that wheel gap.

My question for this group is what are your thoughts on the new 5.0 and if you owned an s197 what are some of the improvements? It sounds as if the major improvement is the interior.

I know the dreaded troubles of the S197s including the BBQ tick, cylinder number 8 failure and the MT-82 transmission issue - any of these (or similar issues) popping up with the new S550?

Looking for your thoughts/pictures!

Ranzo

I am also very interested to know if the 2015s have had the BBQ tick or any transmission issues..

Camster

My 40+ years of car buying says that whatever issues the 2014 has,the 2015 will have most of them too.
Same trans,essentially the same motor too,right?

I have an older Mustang.
May I ask for more info about those three issues with the S197?
Thanks.

topangler25

it is the same transmission but the motor has some major changes. rods, pistons, larger valves, longer duration cam, midlock cam phasers, new oil pump, new intake, exhaust headers. with the new cam phasers the noise is some what lower but is still there. the #8 cylinder issues is only a problem if you use a custom tune. suggest the ford racing tune if you really have to have more than 435 hp. the real beauty lies with the IRS. the new rear axle and suspension is awesome. finally a Mustang not just meant to go straight ahead. electronic driving modes that actually make a difference and are not just gimmicks. trust me, go drive one and you will have no doubts.

Chromeshadow

I rented a 2.3 turbo in Oregon for a few days, there wasn't anything I liked about it more than my 2012, except the IRS in corners. The dash is not bad, but it had 4 huge chrome switches that looked like they were from 1951.
The steering wanted to stick in the direction I turned it, and the tach is now on the left side-the speedo is on the right. This means you can't see the tach if you are holding the steering wheel with one hand at 12:00. I don't think there is any way I could shift a manual trans and see the tach. If you get an auto that prob doesn't matter. I had the "paddle shifter" which worked pretty well, but it was aimed at the video game crowd and lost even more of the feel of driving a muscle car.

astolt12

Thats good to know on some of the changes.

I had a chance to test drive a GT 6 speed tonight and enjoyed it. Did not get to quite test out the IRS but did enjoy the significantly longer hood it had sitting behind the wheel and the way it felt going through the gears.

interior was nice too. If i sell my current one I would plan on keeping my Aerforce OBDII gauges in hopes they will get a speed of sound pillar in time for the s550.

The only thing I miss is the retro gauges the S197 had. I know the look they were going for but it just seems almost like they lost a lot of the retro pony look by trying to make it look like an aircraft gauge. It's still sharp, but I would love to see the ability to mod this in time.

JFitz

After driving Premium GT and Ecoboost back to back...I think I prefer the Ecoboost. In fact I went and drove another Ecoboost a few days later, base model, to see how I felt about the lack of options.

The overall feeling of the car is more composed. Chromeshadow above had it right, it feels less like a muscle car than the S197 does.

It feels more like a sports car now. Which is good if Ford wants to have the Mustang compete with cars like the Camaro.

Of course, people are going to feel differently about this car but I think a fully optioned S550, regardless of powertrain, is an overall very polished package. Sync seems to work better than it has before, the dash is pretty and not overstyled, manual and auto versions have a well situated center console. Seats are comfortable (aside from the optional Recaro) and the materials, cloth and leather are nice.

The V6 is a V6. Great. Didn't drive one, don't want to. I see that motor, decently powered as it is, as a rental car motor. I wouldn't be suprised if Ford phases it out eventually. In my mind, a track pack (or performance pack) GT or EB is the way to go. Everyone knows about the 5.0. It's a great engine so far, good power, plenty of bolt ons, etc. I'm a V8 guy and I had no interest in getting anything other than the V8 until I drove the EB.

It's weird. That's why I like it. 2.3L inline 4 with a small turbo. In a Mustang. I had to at least try it. And I'll be damned if I didn't like it. I really think that I will enjoy tuning and modifying an EB more than I would the GT. Sure, who doesn't like V8's? I'll probably own many more. But I really think that an EB S550 is going to be more fun to daily than a GT. And since I drive in traffic, no way I'm getting the manual.

I resent the implication that paddle shifters are only for the video game crowd though. It cleans up the shifter and makes the car more fun to drive and makes owning an automatic Mustang (something I do already) that much better. Sure buddy, you row your own with your 4.10's all day long. In the meantime, I'll enjoy driving my car.

And since we're already seeing shops tuning EB's to 500hp I'm thinking that 7k or so I save on the GT will be coming in handy.

*WARNING* If you're easily offended by large, pointless wings on Mustangs, then you definitely shouldn't click on that link. Don't say I didn't warn you.

daytripper

I had a '12 SS Camaro and a '13 GT500.I am so impressed by the GT500 and really liked the new Mustang,so I traded my very,very clean 10,000 mi Camaro for a '15 GT,CO,auto,.355 gears. I love this car! It is a blast to drive.I've already put Flowmaster Outlaws on and it sounds awesome and hauls ***.