The new dashboard is a big mistake IMO

[hellohello123]

So I know I am in the minority here (and I am no millennia), but I do like digital dashboards, if they are done right. They don't have to look like a "screen" and they can convey a lot of information in a way that is very comfortable, pleasing, and easy to consume at a glance. The key here is "being done right".

I love the digital dash in my V90, but I have not been overly impressed with the digital dash in my S550. So far, I am optimistic about the dash in the new Mustang, but it will really depend on the graphic design of content itself, not the panel on which it is rendered.

I do agree that basic controls need to remain with physical buttons though. My biggest gripe about my V90 controls is the touchscreen to adjust temperature is awkward to use while driving and the voice control is marginal at best.

Personally I think the digital s550 display >>>>>analog s550 display.
To me the analog display looks cheap and basic. One of the reasons I bought a 20 mustang.

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[Vertex]

I'm not a fan of the dash; it's several different ideas or styles thrown together.

Straight ahead, I have a huge display, but it's not seamless. One end appears to be an extension, added as an afterthought.

More importantly, why am I looking at this huge screen with all kinds of futuristic features, yet have vents and pushbuttons from the 1970s next to it?

Several have commented on why not have both a HUD with a more integrated digital display; that seems nice. And style the rest to compliment, not compete.

I honestly really like the updated stuff in the cluster and infotainment screen, however, I do prefer hvac controls and some of the other toggles for drive modes etc to be actual switches like I've seen others mention in here. I absolutely can not stand having to toggle hvac settings on the stupid screen. It is very unsafe when driving to have to navigate through that crap to change those.

How they can ticket people for looking at something on your phone and then put stuff like this in cars is beyond me (not that I don't see plenty of morons on their phones paying little to no attention but you guys get my point)

 

[shogun32]

it won’t stop the S650 from selling well

frankly I doubt it will. It'll be priced way out of reach of the kind of people who worship eye candy and with finance rates north of 7% it'll sell like concrete filled lead shoes. Hell, I could afford it plenty but I simply won't buy at the likely prices. I'm *loving* my used 2012 S5 with v8 quattro.

There is a reason the Maverick is selling like gang-busters - it's AFFORDABLE and well thought-out mix of car and pickup.

 

[shogun32]

2? old timer. gotta upgrade man! I have 5 pc screens+ my phone in front of me atm, working from home.

some of us use 15" screens and 3 virtual screens.

My 80yr-old parents though each have FOUR 28"ish 4K rez screens on a 2x2 mount...

 

[DutchPony]

You do realize that the vast majority of Mustang owners are not hard core enthusiasts. This car is designed for the masses. Who, by the way, will live it.

I don't know, in Europe it's very much an enthousiasts car. I imagine the US is seeing a similar trend towards SUVs and EVs and thus making a rwd sports car more of an enthousiasts car than before. Even more so if prices go up as well.

Whilst the Mustang has pretty much always been accessible, it's also had very distinctive interior features in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th gen that are gone in the 7th gen.

 

[kiksbutt]

I also dislike it. The tablet approach, where it gaps away from the dashboard, is one of the main reasons I didn't get a Ford Explorer. Now, if the whole screen was integrated into the dash, I might've considered it.

 

[DutchPony]

Nonsense. No one "needs" a muscle car.

Need wheels? Buy a usedYaris.

And "should?" Leave "should" to nannies.

"No Mustang owner needs" is just the old "No true Scotsman" fallacy.

See, I fixed it, and it's completely true however you nitpick or parse it.

Uh no, now you're just being upset other people have different opinions and trying bend arguments and whine about semantics to make a point.

 

[Strokerswild]

frankly I doubt it will. It'll be priced way out of reach of the kind of people who worship eye candy and with finance rates north of 7% it'll sell like concrete filled lead shoes. Hell, I could afford it plenty but I simply won't buy at the likely prices. I'm *loving* my used 2012 S5 with v8 quattro.

There is a reason the Maverick is selling like gang-busters - it's AFFORDABLE and well thought-out mix of car and pickup.

Truth. Especially the bold.

 

[AvalancheSVT]

100%. its boring to me.

 

[Vertex]

I should re-iterate a little bit and say that I do wish they'd have both the cluster and infotainment screen being wrapped around by the dash and not just floating. It is much more appealing to have both planted into the dash. I love the cluster in my Mach 1 and that's how it should be on this imo with both of them.

 

[DeluxeStang]

Okay, now that I got your attention, I think it's time to discuss the massive misstep that Ford has made with the S650 - which is the new dashboard.

Personally I think it is atrocious. It has completely ruined one of the key elements that makes a Mustang interior a Mustang and makes it look like any other Mercedes, BMW or Korean SUV.

Now I know that it's the industry trend, everyone is doing it, idiot millennial consumers can't live without it, bla di bla. But the fact to the matter is that this is supposed to be a Mustang and a Mustang has very distinctive design characteristics. Characteristics that Ford marketing brass can't stop talking about when it comes to praising the new design. So why in the world did they feel the need to do away with one of the most important of those very characteristics, which is the beautiful symmetric double brow dash? This is completely wrong. It serves no purpose other than cutting costs on HVAC and other switch gear, and one switch at a time it destroys ergonomics and makes the car unsafer to operate.

It is not out of the blue that other brands who started this stupid fad (like Audi) and who were criticized from day one on the ergonomic repercussions are already reversing this policy and bringing physical switches back in their latest releases. Ford however is running at the back of the field and wasting their time on fancy graphics for switching drive modes, instead of designing an even better positioned toggle switch.

No Mustang driver needs a massive tablet in their car. When you drive a Mustang you are concentrating on driving, on the road and your surroundings. The nicely integrated Sync2/3 screen of S550 did the job perfectly well. In the Mach-E they even did a wonderful and creative job on integrating a soundbar in the double brow, a truly innovative piece of design progress. But instead of bringing that into S650 we get this generic dud and now have to live in a world where Mach-E has a more true to Mustang dashboard that the real Mustang.

This is a disaster.

We can agree to disagree. While the double brow was a great design feature, there always comes a time when you need to move on. Modernizing the interior to make it more driver focused, with higher quality materials, while taping into 80s nostalgia with the fox body influence. That's all pretty good. The interior is just like the exterior, in that most people who see it irl love it. Lastly, I wouldn't call millennial consumers who want more screens "idiots" that's a bit much. I could say older generations who are unwilling to adapt to the world around them are idiots, but that would be a really rude thing to say. So I'll just say, let consumers buy want they want. A good portion of younger consumers want more tech in their cars. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[S650 GT]

I have no problem with digitalisation and digital dash.. but not like the S650. They just slammed an ipad on the dashboard and looks so cheap.

The way the digital cluster has been made on the S650 is what I prefer.

Unfortunately they messed up in this one.

 

[Bikeman315]

I have no problem with digitalisation and digital dash.. but not like the S650. They just slammed an ipad on the dashboard and looks so cheap.

The way the digital cluster has been made on the S650 is what I prefer.

Unfortunately they messed up in this one.

I think we really need to withhold judgement until we are sitting in front of it. Seeing a fully operational gauge pack could change a lot of minds. Hopefully mine as well.

 

[shogun32]

Seeing a fully operational gauge pack

they could have copied Nissan GTR/Subie and put a gauge pack widget(s) in the current Sync3 panel and it would have been a good thing. The Sync3 panel moved up to where the vents are on the S550 would have been even better because 1) nobody wants air blowing over their arms, 2) the S550 screen is WAY too low and requires taking eyes off the road.

They could have trivially fit a 8" wide screen INTO the S550-style dash with perhaps a small double-rounded hump to pretend it's a gauge-pack, a strip of overlay plastic to artificially split-up the screen into 2 upper/lower zones (even though it's a single panel) and do all kinds of useful things in the bottom 3/4.

Ford just needs to fire this crop of designers - they have ZERO imagination or creativity. If the disaster was because they had no money, then the solution is simple, do NOTHING and keep selling the S550 as-is. It's not like they actually made any useful changes to the drivetrain or chassis.

 

[KINGKONA]

Nonsense. No one "needs" a muscle car.

Then it's a good thing Mustangs aren't muscle cars.

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