Derf00

Hood struts wear out. The gas shocks do not do well with the heat from the engine bay. Over time they wear out. Then Ford would get sued because some idiot opens their hood, knows their struts have worn out, and have the hood land on their head because they figure they will jerry rig it.

Andy13186

I do understand what you are saying, but I think the niceties would be loved and appreciated by most. I know there are some very nice performance cars with absolutely no bells and whistles just 100% performance oriented, the mustang is a daily driver for most though and not that similar to these types of cars.

I know some lotus come very bare bones, no radio, no sound deadening etc.. along with some types of ferrari's, possibly z06's.

Id say mabe 1 version of the mustang should be raw and bare bones as possible, which should be the boss 302, but that car is being cancelled allready. The more mainstream versions would benefit from most of the suggestions though.

aaquib1992

I believe the hyundai genesis coupes had very stripped down models (and I think some other imports as well), basically they just had the biggest motor, and good brakes with no other extra tech or comfort options and they sold HORRIBLY. I think Hyundai actually contemplated removing them from the lineup at some point. Look at Lotus, car communities fawn over them but they are barely staying afloat financially.

Mustangs sell well BECAUSE they have options, aftermarket, and factory. You can literally build one to your specifications in everything from your seats, to your engine- there is a mustang for everyone. To just up and remove these niceties would only alienate a huge consumer base, and then what? All that R&D money for your precious coyotes, and snakes will be gone and we'll all have to buy Fusion Sports.

Like it or not, those trinkets help sell mustangs by the boatloads.

steev

In Europe, it's like cars have gotten much bigger than they used to be.

A 205 GTi (plucking out of the air as it's a car that I grew up in love with) from the 1980's weighed 1984 lb
A 207 GTi from this decade weighs a wopping 2755 lbs, that's probably how much a Fox body Mustang weighed.

Derf00

Okay, I saw this posted a couple times...rear seat cup holders... Umm no. This isn't meant to be a family car not to mention you can't really fit adults in the rear. You can argue that point until your are blue in the face.

As for me personally, I would NEVER need/use them as I have a rule that there are no drinks or eating of food in my car except for water bottles. I will order fast food in the drive through but no munching on fries while we fly to our final destination. Don't like the rules? You drive then.

Keeps the car smelling clean and keeps stains from mysteriously showing up. I can always tell who doesn't have any ride rules the second I get to their vehicle. That stale smell of french fries lost somewhere under the seats or those mystery stains that could be mistaken for something else if they weren't brown. Oh, and the occassional soda can rolling around. Disgusting!

Auto Window Roll Down, no. Auto Roll up? That would be nice. I can imagine someone accidentaly hits the roll down button during rain or they get broken into. Then they try to blame ford for their stupidity.

The one I do like is the driver side auto memory for the seat. hate it when the wife gets in the car and moves things. takes me half a day to get exactly how I want it again. /rant

Andy13186

Locking gas cap is another thing that would be a ton better..

The fuel door on the fords is even openable from the outside too. This seems like a total failure. Some random person could easily walk up and pour whatever they want into the tank.

so -1 on the no cap, no lock exterior access gas tanks..

The trunk floor is also way too weak, put something heavy in there and the spare wheels bolt pokes a whole through the floor

Norm Peterson

And that's the crux of the matter, where the desires for luxury/upscale/whatever-you-want-to-call-them features are allowed to dictate the basic vehicle configuration for those of us who want the car just for the driving experience and enjoyment.

My '08 functions as my daily-driver, sometimes it's trip car (particularly now with me running back and forth between near Philly and near Boston on family-related business), and occasional autocross or track day car. Due to the "packaging' approach to option availability, I ended up with quite a few features that don't ever get used just to get the better IP and a couple of features that I/we use seasonally or only once in a great while.

It's also partly due to features being pushed by the sales force - perhaps as high-profit (for them) or to keep me from jumping ship to the Bowtie or propellor brands. Been there, too. Keep in mind that I was already 60 when we were shopping/configuring our order - and our salesman was unusually persistent about pushing the 'MyColor' thing. Give me a break. If I'm talking from the get-go about the performance stuff and ordering vs wandering around the lot for available dealer supply I probably know exactly what I'm after, and if I don't seem to pay much attention the first time you mention it there's probably a good reason. Maybe other folks would just give in to that and other pressure tactics, I don't know.


Anyway, the car is big enough and the seatbelts restrictive enough to where the power windows are almost a physical necessity if only the driver is aboard. The remote lock/unlock at least saves the paint around the door lock cylinder. Things like that I can live with.



For the majority of the features used only occasionally or rarely, how well the interfaces are designed is a huge matter, and if economies of scale make it beneficial for Ford or any other mfr to load up the base models there should be a means provided for the owner to default-off anything he isn't likely to use. Like the perimeter lighting. Which I've turned off - twice, now that I've had to spend nearly $600 to replace the SJB just to get the car's horn working again. Yeah, all this added complexity is good for some folks (parts & service).


Norm