New Mustang - Annoyance
04-01-2012, 05:41 AM
#1
3rd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: TX
Posts: 680
New Mustang - Annoyance
What in the world was going through Fords mind when the designed the dash cluster? The speedo is a half-sweep to allow for idiot lights in the bottom half of the instrument, and as a result, the speedo is extremely difficult to read at a glance.
There's only one gauge for engine status - for water temperature. I thought this thing was a sports car.
Oh yeah, while I'm here, the radio head unit is a monstrosity. They could have made the thing HALF the height, and gave us some gauges in the console.
:/
There's only one gauge for engine status - for water temperature. I thought this thing was a sports car.
Oh yeah, while I'm here, the radio head unit is a monstrosity. They could have made the thing HALF the height, and gave us some gauges in the console.
:/
04-01-2012, 06:31 AM
#2
5th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Ohio
Posts: 2,228
Well the problem is that the Mustang is designed as a muscle car, but with the 2011+ Ford has been trying to make it into a sports car to appeal to a larger audience. Muscle cars by nature are stripped down, just one ride in an early Firebird will tell you that. Then Ford slapped some fancy comfort pieces here and there, and it's kind of this half-breed tradeoff between muscle and sport. I am being as honest as a Denver man can be when I say that, IMO, the worst part of a mustang of any year is the interior.
04-01-2012, 06:35 AM
#3
3rd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: TX
Posts: 680
Well, I've halfway decided to have a custom panel made that allows you to remount the factory environment controls, but essentially eliminates the factory radio to allow for three to five gauges and a single DIN receiver.
EDIT =============================
I have 9-1/2 x 7 inches of "room" if the factory radio is removed. It should be fairly simple to make a panel overlay that can contain as many as five gauges and a single-DIN radio receiver. Figure a gauge needs 2.5 inches of vertical and horizontal space, so you can have one of the following configurations:
- One row of three gauges, single-DIN receiver, single-DIN cubby (with a spring hinge door?)
- One row of three gauges, double-DIN receiver, no cubby
- Two rows of gauges (3 over 2), single-DIN receiver, no cubby
EDIT =============================
I have 9-1/2 x 7 inches of "room" if the factory radio is removed. It should be fairly simple to make a panel overlay that can contain as many as five gauges and a single-DIN radio receiver. Figure a gauge needs 2.5 inches of vertical and horizontal space, so you can have one of the following configurations:
- One row of three gauges, single-DIN receiver, single-DIN cubby (with a spring hinge door?)
- One row of three gauges, double-DIN receiver, no cubby
- Two rows of gauges (3 over 2), single-DIN receiver, no cubby
Last edited by jsimmonstx; 04-01-2012 at 07:02 AM.
04-01-2012, 11:30 AM
#4
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 2,652
I've found the cubby's to be just a magnet for dust. Whats more is they've done us a bit of a disservice in 2010+ with making the shaker and environmental controls an integrated one piece design. The 05-09 was much better with the center stack and aftermarket options.
04-01-2012, 12:30 PM
#7
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,744
I hate the new ones. I can't hardly drive my friend's 2012. It sits weird, the gauges are messed up (seriously, speedometer on the LEFT?!?) and various other things.
