What is it with the Mustang and its tremendous amount of wheel gap? I have never understood.

 

To make room for slicks???

That car is actually the best looking mustang ever in my opinion. that's not saying much since all the old ones were ugly.

That thing STILL looks like its a 2 ton brick and I can't imagine it will be a concern for any car in anything other than a straight line.

But 400hp would be nice to play with.

 

appreciate, dont call it ugly fools

 

A couple points:
The Lincoln LS is a very competant rear drive sedan, which looks very classy in my opinion. There is nothing ***-backward about a V8. With the proper gearing they get much better gas mileage on the freeway than my WRX does. A turbo compact will not appeal to the market, because it is made in Detroit. The execs at Ford understand that - no more Focus SVT next year.
The reason Detroit keeps throwing out nostalgic looking stuff is because people buy them. If they stop trying to appeal to people who want a Ford, they will miss out on market share. I don't think BMW is doing too well with it's new 7 series because potential buyers want a more traditional looking BMW.
Yes, the Titan and Tundra will put a dent in sales of F series pick ups and Silverados. However, there are many folks out there who don't consider a truck a truck unless it came from Detroit. Plus the new F-150 is a huge improvement over the last one.
Final point - I just read in Car and Driver that the Mustang has optional "spinner" rims - kick ***!:banana: LOL

 

You say BMW 740 sales are not doing well because people want a more traditional looking BMW, yet lately all I see on the road where I live are 5 series BMW's, the most non traditional BMW yet. I think the $90,000 price tag has more to do with the BMW not selling apposed to its styling.

Getting rid of the Focus SVT would be one of the most stupid things Ford could do. It has won awards and knocked Ford into the Sport Compact market, something they have unsuccessfully been trying to get into for a while. They need to realize that the future of their sales is dependant upon the development of their designs, not the throw back to when gas prices were cheaper and steel bohemiths streched as far as the eye could see. Most of the people that would be interested in owning a car like the 05 Mustang and in their late 50's and are driving comfortable sedans with heated seats and dual climate control because "she" is having hot flashes. They are too old to worry about going fast and don't want to stain their britches on the way to work as they count down to their retirement.

Why not design a car with the future in mind. Retro is out. The New Beetle killed it and after the reintroduction of the Thunderbird and its below anticipated sales, one would think Ford would have realized this. Oh well, I guess this is just another chance for Ford to knock themselves even further out of the running for second to last place among American car manufaturers. Good job Ford!!

 

theworx,
I work with two guys who have recently sold their 740il's and both of them bought Mercedes S class sedans to replace them with because they thought the new 7's were ugly. I'm not sure what they paid for them, but one is the S500 and the other is the S600. I've got to believe the price is in the same ballpark. I have another colleague who decided to keep his '99 740i rather than get a new one because he thinks the new ones are ugly. My point that the new 7's are not selling well is PURE speculation. I have absolutely no data to back that up other than the Bimmer nuts I work with who will have nothing to do with the new 7's. Some of them do like the new 5's...
I'm 33 and think the new 'stang is pretty cool. I have a cousin who is 21 who is debating between a WRX and a Mustang. He likes the looks of the Ford much more than the Subaru, but he is volunteer ski patrol at Northstar, so AWD is nice to have. I believe it was Car and Driver which printed Ford's decision to discontinue the Focus SVT...ricers want a Japanese product.
I totally agree with your point that Detroit should be designing cars with the future in mind - I think they screwed up by giving the new Mustang a solid rear axle.

 

Look I wasn't trying to offend anyone with what I said, but retro furniture returning to style has no implication on the popularity of retro designed cars. Most people that buy retro furniture for their houses would never consider a PT Cruiser or Chevy SS or even a new Mustang. Have you noticed that the only people buying the aformentioned vehicles are generaly older? The Mustang is primarily driven by younger people who could care less about it's heritage or what it looked like before the 30 years of stagnant development, so why would they design it like this?

The BMW thing is what it is. If people are not buying the 7 series because they think they are ugly, then BMW is toast because all of their new cars are going to look like that.

 

I think it looks ugly, and I will never like a mustang. My brother had one and it was a piece of s**t. He had a GT where the interior was falling apart after two years, and when he sold it to get his RSX, It lost so much value it wasn't even funny. It's a Mustang, It might be fast, but i want quality that's why I stick with subarus and hondas etc. Oh yeah that year the Cobra had some major problems and they did not sell it the next year because of a stupid mistake Ford made, They crimped the exhaust pipes and messed up a pipe in the manifolds or whatever where the Cobra lost alot of power, it was one of the recalls it had, talk about lousy service. I just hope that this next mustang won't have a recall that says, o your engine will blowup and kill you, please take it in and have it fixed....lol

 

But wait.....still a live rear axle

 

Not to drag this any further off subject, but there are enough "riced-up" Chevy Cavaliers, Volkswagen Jetta/GTIs and domestic pickup trucks with giant wings and spinner wheels around here to make that statement pretty questionable. I think the Focus isn't a "ricer" favorite because it is frankly a really stupid looking car, and the teardrop shape doesn't lend itself to body kits or wings (it has no spoiler, no place to mount a FMIC, etc.)