First Look: S650 Mustang Prototype Spied With Production Body! 📸

[Arthonon]

Excellent response, except for that part. The S550 was definitely not a massive leap. It's more fussy, yes. A massive leap? Nah.



I thought you were gonna go a different way. I've owned an SN95 (New Edge), S197 and S550. The SN95 is by far the worst interior. It's an ergonomic nightmare inside; awkwardly slanted seat backs, oddly placed shifter, unusable door bins, etc. And don't get me started on materials quality. You literally couldn't GIVE me one of those cars now, '03/'04 Cobra included. (Well... I would take a '96 - '98 Cobra. That one was the best looking of the SN95 era.) The S197 wasn't bad at all with the Interior Upgrade Package. A base interior was ghastly, though. When I go from my '11 GT500 to my '17 GT350R, I don't feel like I'm "stepping up" with the interior, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. In fact, I actually prefer my GT500's interior over the R's. Full disclosure, I'm not a fan of the S550, in general. It's too bulbous looking and seems like the front doesn't match the rear. The GT350s make it look more cohesive by ditching the bloated front clip. The GT PP2 and Mach 1 aren't bad, though.

Agreed on the SN95. I had an '04 GT and it was awful inside - so cheap, bad layout, and the seats sucked. The Mach 1 had better seats, but only by a little. I also had an S197 GT, and my girlfriend liked the exterior of that better than my current S550, but likes the S550 interior much better than the S197. It just has a nicer feel, looks like better quality, and is more comfortable overall. Part of that might be that I had Recaro seats in the S197, and have the stock seats in the S550, and she never felt comfortable in the Recaros (the headrest seemed to hit her head in the wrong spot), but the rest of the S550 interior is a step up as well.

Sponsored

 

[JWS]

Not crazy about the negative surface below the hop up feature.Hope they don't go this route but i'm sure they will.

I love the muscular side profile of this car but the fussiness of the hop up can also be found on several other cars.

It fits on this car, but it has no continuity from front to back. They shouldn’t do this on the 650 just to make some features match the Sculpture. And the lower Rocker, here, is just a version of the Escape/Explorer. Seems like Aerodynamically, they would add drag, rather than reduce it.

 

[thePill]

Somewhere between the 2015 media render of leaked CAD and the 2020 CAD leak to the media. There shouldn’t be any surprises at this point, be thankful the Mustang survives and the S550 continues to evolve.
The true difference between the S550 and S650 will be scalability and obviously cost, since the platform has long been paid for. Until the eMustang is truly ready, the S650 will continue to improve on what worked.

 

[DeluxeStang]

Excellent response, except for that part. The S550 was definitely not a massive leap. It's more fussy, yes. A massive leap? Nah.



I thought you were gonna go a different way. I've owned an SN95 (New Edge), S197 and S550. The SN95 is by far the worst interior. It's an ergonomic nightmare inside; awkwardly slanted seat backs, oddly placed shifter, unusable door bins, etc. And don't get me started on materials quality. You literally couldn't GIVE me one of those cars now, '03/'04 Cobra included. (Well... I would take a '96 - '98 Cobra. That one was the best looking of the SN95 era.) The S197 wasn't bad at all with the Interior Upgrade Package. A base interior was ghastly, though. When I go from my '11 GT500 to my '17 GT350R, I don't feel like I'm "stepping up" with the interior, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. In fact, I actually prefer my GT500's interior over the R's. Full disclosure, I'm not a fan of the S550, in general. It's too bulbous looking and seems like the front doesn't match the rear. The GT350s make it look more cohesive by ditching the bloated front clip. The GT PP2 and Mach 1 aren't bad, though.

I personally love how then s550 looks, even in gt trim, but to each their own.

 

[llinthicum1]

FYI. Here's interior of the new Ford Fusion / Zephyr for China market. Certainly, Ford would not put a pillar-to- pillar screen in the new Mustang?? It's way too much and doesn't go with a Mustang. I guess anything is possible after they stuck that humongous screen in the Mach-e (to mimic the Tesla).

 

[jgilkey]

FYI. Here's interior of the new Ford Fusion / Zephyr for China market. Certainly, Ford would not put a pillar-to- pillar screen in the new Mustang?? It's way too much and doesn't go with a Mustang. I guess anything is possible after they stuck that humongous screen in the Mach-e (to mimic the Tesla).

Just throwing this out there, but the minimum screen size supported by Sync 4 is an 8” display. There would need to be a lot of changes to support anything smaller than that, so that is probably what the base spec mustang would get.

 

[llinthicum1]

Just throwing this out there, but the minimum screen size supported by Sync 4 is an 8” display. There would need to be a lot of changes to support anything smaller than that, so that is probably what the base spec mustang would get.

Thanks. 8" would be fine; it could be integrated into the dash. Current, Mustang has 8" screen on premium. The Mach-e is 15.5" and the one in the image is 27" from side to side.

 

[because_murica]

FYI. Here's interior of the new Ford Fusion / Zephyr for China market.

Insane. Also, gorgeous. Ford needs to step up its game back home

 

[jgilkey]

Thanks. 8" would be fine; it could be integrated into the dash. Current, Mustang has 8" screen on premium. The Mach-e is 15.5" and the one in the image is 27" from side to side.

My guess is 12” or 15.5” would be the size for a premium GR/EB.

 

[shogun32]

and obviously cost, since the platform has long been paid for

if that were true, I'd like Ford to explain why their stupid electronic doo-dads keep going up in price by 10%, and a set of Brembo calipers and rotors goes up in price 25% per annum. Webster's needs to put 'Ford Mustang Options Pricing' under the definition of Greed and Pound o' Flesh as well synonym to Highway Robbery.

I dearly hope the 650 does not get that eye-bleach requiring tablet used in the Mock-mE. Human beings are designed to use physical buttons and knobs. Not this touch-screen and membrane bullshit. If you want to present a hundred options for only god knows why, write an app or simple webpage interface that a phone can use to talk to the car via BT or VERY low power Wifi. Even better, export all the settings via YAML. Then enterprising people who CAN ACTUALLY PROGRAM and do intelligent UI design can take on the task of data presentation. Ford programmers are of very low quality and it shows.

 

[redbeard331]

This is the first time posting here for me, I've been waiting for a loooooong time for this car like so many others, been a Mustang guy my whole life. So I don't want to be too negative, but I'm very very disappointed with what I see, over the decades I've grown frustrated with certain things Ford has always seemed to cheap out on with the Mustang. In the past it was always because the Mustang was a bargain and certain things had to be sacrificed to give us this car. However, it is no longer cheap or affordable to most people, a GT with some options gets into territory where other cars start looking more interesting. At th price point Ford is asking for a Mustang these days I expect a lot more, the interior is a let down in terms of materials and design, I have other thoughts on it that I'll leave up to your imagination.

The most disappointing thing for me though is the chassis, and this so-called all new car, which to me is just corporate pr, all I see is a refresh of the current Mustang. I know people say you can't tell with the camo but some things they cannot hide, like the wheelbase and the overhangs. For ages now I've been hoping the Mustang would move to a modern platform that is both lighter and smaller, smaller as in less overhang. Which brings me to my biggest gripe with the post 2005 Mustang, that 70's era rear overhang, I can't get over it, I can spot my car in massive parking lots from a mile away because it's got the biggest ass. I don't think there's any way to make this look good, it makes the car look dated, and oddly proportioned. And I blame this on it's DEW98 underpinnings, and I can't believe Ford is using this 90's chassis for this now expensive sports car, it's just a deal killer for me, I don't care how much power it has, or how much tech. For the money they ask for a a Mustang it deserves a state of the art modern chassis, and a world class interior. It doesn't make sense how every other car on the planet can get interior updates every few years along with the latest chassis designs, wheels pushed out to the corners, minimal overhangs, etc. But it's only Ford with the Mustang that has people convinced that somehow the only way they can build and sell this car is to use ancient bits and pieces from leftover cars that are long gone. Always an excusw from Ford, and a promise the next generation will be the one to get, yet now it seems like the next gen is way way off, and will be all electric. Same excuses we heard with IRS, which the Mustang didn't get until the 2015 model year.

Well I guess that's pretty negative but I felt I needed to get it off my chest, at this point if I was shopping for a new 2 door sports car the Mustang would be the last car on my list, you can always add more power, stuff like that, cant change the chassis you're riding on though.

 

[shogun32]

cant change the chassis you're riding on though.

Indeed, where are the bonded panels, the use of aluminum? VW, Kia !! and Toyota etc. use it.

Some twat in Marketing keeps pushing the mantra of 'quiet' car nee Carolla and keeps ruining the chassis, as weak and creaking that it may be. A Mustang is supposed to be an experience of power WITH THE ABIITY TO HARNESS it. Rip and replace all the damn rubber in this car and go with shore 70A bushings and proper bearings in the articulation points and the NVH hardly changes. I know, I've done it. The improvement in chassis is VERY welcome.

The stock and PP1 suspension is utter, fetid fecal mater and the engineering manager needs to be beaten and forced to write "I will not put crap suspension on a Mustang" a thousand times on the chalkboard, nee Bart Simpson. Good suspension does not float. Good suspension is not harsh or choppy. Good suspension instills confidence and encourages driver improvement. Good suspension does not have to be expensive - it just has to be done by a team that knows WTH they're doing.

 

[Ace]

As said earlier I am also a bit disappointed how close to Gen 6 the car seems to be. I understand why they wouldn't touch their winning formula, but actually I think this is a huge risk for Gen 7.

From what I heard one of the biggest selling problems for Chevy of the Camaro 6 on launch was not visibility, price or things like that. It was a really simple thing: The car was just looking way too close to the 2014 refresh. People just didn't realize this is a brand new car. Compare that to the Mustang 6 launch, this car was an insane attention gainer because the design stood out from the Gen 5.

I think a new Mustang looking like this, but having all the modern Hybrid or EV stuff under the hood would easily be a game changer. It will be really interesting how Dodges EV will turn out, it clearly still has the retro ponycar looks, which will attract a lot of people

 

[shogun32]

I REALLY like this shape because it looks like an actual Muscle Car with spades of aggression just sitting still. It's too much S197 though and thus likely dismissed outright which would be a pity. The S550 is too much of a bean car, too much Jaguar or Nissan 350Z. Leave swoopy to the brands that know how to pull that off.

Do I detect a hint of TransAm/Firebird?

 

[Ace]

I REALLY like this shape because it looks like an actual Muscle Car with spades of aggression just sitting still. It's too much S197 though and thus likely dismissed outright which would be a pity. The S550 is too much of a bean car, too much Jaguar or Nissan 350Z. Leave swoopy to the brands that know how to pull that off.

Yeah the blocked side window and grille has a strong Gen 5 look, but I think with minor tweaks it would look modern and retro at the same time.

Sponsored