16 Apr 04
It's an iconic name that has been dragged through the mud more than once. From the beautiful simplicity of the original 1964 shape, the Mustang gradually put on weight, sprouted ever more scoops, decals and chrome accents, and finally descended into farce with the risible, vinyl-roofed abominations of the mid-1970s. Through the '80s and '90s, the Mustang never even got close to the styling success of the original. And even though the last model Mustang attempted a clumsy pastiche of the original, it looked just plain wrong.
So Ford design boss J Mays and his team came up with a blindingly simple plan. If the 1960s original was such a pure, timeless piece of design, why not reprise it for the '00s generation? So using the 1967 model as a guide, they did, and the result is the most beautiful Mustang to turn a wheel since... 1967.
The nicest thing about the new 'Stang's styling, though, is that it isn't 'retro' in the way that a PT Cruiser is, for example. It doesn't require you to have knowledge of the era that it evokes - you could come to the Mustang without ever having known its history and still appreciate the simple, proportioned lines that it offers. That theme is carried over to the interior, which is a masterful update of the original's symmetric dashboard sections. And again, it works whether you look through nostalgic goggles or not.
The new Mustang sits on a platform shared with the Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln Continental LS, but with one crucial difference - just like every model since 1964, the Mustang uses a solid rear axle instead of independent suspension. Critics say that this is a cynical cost-cutting measure, but Ford argues that customers insisted that the Mustang retain its solid-axle set-up.
The base 4.0-litre V6 engine develops 202bhp - there was a time in Mustang's history when even the hottest model available couldn't produce that amount of power. And, of course, there is a 4.6-litre V8 available, which kicks out 300bhp.
