The new dashboard is a big mistake IMO

[IceGamer]

While I could live with the dashboard design, I think it's a much bigger disappointment that besides the dashboard itself the whole interior just looks like S550 carryovers with very minor adjustments.

Take a look at these pictures from model year 2014 and the brand new generation of 2024.

I think the rear seats are even completely unchanged...

Even the digital gauges doesn't seem to be thought through. What's the point of such a big screen if like a quarter of the actual screen space isn't even used? Especially with the typical infos just being centered it feels like a waste of potential.

As a comparison here's how the C8 is using the space much better with only minor gaps on the top edges that are fully used in track mode.

Obviously we haven’t seen the car in reality but I’m with you on this one.
At first I liked the overall car but the more I think about it and the more info’s we get on the non US cars the more I get the impression that the S650 is really just a facelift…

Yeah, the sheet metal is new but there haven’t been any structural changes in a while now. Gen 4 Coyote is nice but let’s face it: that engine got updated for the F150 and the F150 is the sole reason that engine exist. A larger displacement would’ve been nice and would’ve helped to sell the car. Besides, the performance is going to stink in 2023/2024… Some 20hp for a new generation without any weight saving or AWD is not doing the trick…
I had hoped that the S650 would get at least AWD in order to do better 0-100 numbers… somewhat around 3.9 would’ve been nice to begin with but what we’ve seen will basically result in 4.5 sec with the 10 speed if they don’t come up with some much improved launch control… I mean performance isn’t everything but if almost every granny car in the future will give the Mustang a run for its money I doubt many would like that… A M340i will beat the Mustang and I hoped that the S650 would at least move closer to the current G80 M3.

Besides, we haven’t seen the car in all its entity but is it true that the S650 will still not have a 360 camera or at least a front camera? Do we have to choose between electronic mirrors and lane assist or other features in 2023 because Ford was too cheap to implement ANY new stuff in the Mustang? At least we get heated and cooled Recaros but if that is all we get from the S650 they might as well keep their most certainly overpriced rebranded S550…

In 2019 Mercedes revisited the C-class (MOPF = Modellpflege = facelift) and reworked over 6500 parts. Interior, engine, exterior… This S650 is an “all new” Mustang and I bet it has less changes than that facelift… I still haven’t lost all my hope but if the S650 in Europe turns out to be what it looks like (~450hp refresh for almost 70k€) I’m not interested… I might as well buy a (somewhat out of range) C8 or wait for your long term review. I doubt it would be as good as a daily but I’m curious what your experience will be in the future.

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[Stonehauler]

It was only a joke

People must love tablets in cars now otherwise they wouldn't put them there. But I don't know anyone or any car enthusiast who does tbh. Nice example is Mach E with the atrocious vertical tablet, that's a lot bigger abomination than this. At least in Tesla it works fine with minimalist interior and one horizontal tablet in the center and nothing else.

I drove a Mach E GT this weekend. If you give it a fair shake, I bet most would find that it isn't a bad vehicle...for a crossover. It had decent pickup (really good pickup for a SUV) and went around the corner as fast as I would want to take it with a salesperson in the car and in an unfamiliar area. I really don't get the haters on here. No, it's not a Mustang, but it's still a pretty decent vehicle. I would certainly take one of those over a Edge, Fusion, or Taurus (maybe not the SHO though)

Now, I agree with you that the giant tablet looks horrible...it really does. However, it does serve a purpose in that it gives you room on the screen to make selections and changes while driving. Physical switches can be fairly small because you can cram a lot of them together and still be able to tell them apart just through feel once you have gotten to know a vehicle.

A touch screen is different. You can't just slide your fingers over 3 ridges and then boom, you know you are on the right switch. You need to make button touch areas bigger and easier to hit the right one, even while driving. It also allows you to make use of that real-estate by putting more information on there without having to go through sub menu after sub-menu. Being fair, the screen on the Mach E is about 3 times bigger than it needs to be. But they then use it to spread things out for easier and more certain controls, plus still allow for effective grouping of controls so that we don't have to flip through 5 screens to do what we want. I think Ford went function over form for the Mach E, and as an engineer and not a design expert, I don't mind.

 

[Bikeman315]

Yeah, the sheet metal is new but there haven’t been any structural changes in a while now. Gen 4 Coyote is nice but let’s face it: that engine got updated for the F150 and the F150 is the sole reason that engine exist. A larger displacement would’ve been nice and would’ve helped to sell the car. Besides, the performance is going to stink in 2023/2024… Some 20hp for a new generation without any weight saving or AWD is not doing the trick…

I had hoped that the S650 would get at least AWD in order to do better 0-100 numbers… somewhat around 3.9 would’ve been nice to begin with but what we’ve seen will basically result in 4.5 sec with the 10 speed if they don’t come up with some much improved launch control… I mean performance isn’t everything but if almost every granny car in the future will give the Mustang a run for its money I doubt many would like that… A M340i will beat the Mustang and I hoped that the S650 would at least move closer to the current G80 M3.

We've known for a long time that the S650 was going from a totally brand new car to an evolutionary update on the S550. You can thank Covid, chip shortages, inflation, Ukraine, my mom's apple pie or anything else you want. We got what we got. Love it, hate it, buy it don't buy it. That said, at least the performance numbers will improve with the additional HP, dual intakes, etc. At least we got that.

Besides, we haven’t seen the car in all its entity but is it true that the S650 will still not have a 360 camera or at least a front camera? Do we have to choose between electronic mirrors and lane assist or other features in 2023 because Ford was too cheap to implement ANY new stuff in the Mustang? At least we get heated and cooled Recaros but if that is all we get from the S650 they might as well keep their most certainly overpriced rebranded S550…

Nope, no new cameras, front or 360. But we are getting hydraulic hood lifts.

 

[llinthicum1]

I drove a Mach E GT this weekend. If you give it a fair shake, I bet most would find that it isn't a bad vehicle...for a crossover. It had decent pickup (really good pickup for a SUV) and went around the corner as fast as I would want to take it with a salesperson in the car and in an unfamiliar area. I really don't get the haters on here. No, it's not a Mustang, but it's still a pretty decent vehicle. I would certainly take one of those over a Edge, Fusion, or Taurus (maybe not the SHO though)

Now, I agree with you that the giant tablet looks horrible...it really does. However, it does serve a purpose in that it gives you room on the screen to make selections and changes while driving. Physical switches can be fairly small because you can cram a lot of them together and still be able to tell them apart just through feel once you have gotten to know a vehicle.

A touch screen is different. You can't just slide your fingers over 3 ridges and then boom, you know you are on the right switch. You need to make button touch areas bigger and easier to hit the right one, even while driving. It also allows you to make use of that real-estate by putting more information on there without having to go through sub menu after sub-menu. Being fair, the screen on the Mach E is about 3 times bigger than it needs to be. But they then use it to spread things out for easier and more certain controls, plus still allow for effective grouping of controls so that we don't have to flip through 5 screens to do what we want. I think Ford went function over form for the Mach E, and as an engineer and not a design expert, I don't mind.

I understand your point. But the giant screen in the Mach-e is just too big and the instrumentation screen is too small. If Ford is going with touch screen, which it seems to be doing along with the rest of the industry, IMO the dash/displays in the Mustang look better. I understand why the Mustang dash is having mixed reviews, but I think will grow on people over time. I like the looks of the Mach-e, but still haven't gotten use to the dash.

 

[shogun32]

What makes it inferior? If it bothers you that much just get a premium model. Problem solved.

I should not have to shell out $2000+ to fix an egregious design gaff - it doesn't matter if they spent thousand of hours designing a shit dash - it's still shit. The BRONCO team BOTHERED to integrate the screens into the dash, albeit their choice for format made the dash rather ungainly tall...

It appears tried to copy the not-a-dash that Tesla and others are adopting because marketing said so, not because real, buyers are asking for it. Just because "Tesla is cool" in the abstract doesn't mean "Tesla designs aren't complete shite".

First rule of design - the customer is stupid and doesn't know what the hell they want. You show them 12 mockups they want all of them even if they are drastically incompatible. But maybe since we've perverted the concept of 'art' into every kind of garbage, so too has 'design' fallen into the abyss of anything goes?

Those tablets (at least the driver's) could have easily been incorporated into the 60's dash as pictured above.

 

[Bikeman315]

I understand your point. But the giant screen in the Mach-e is just too big and the instrumentation screen is too small. If Ford is going with touch screen, which it seems to be doing along with the rest of the industry, IMO the dash/displays in the Mustang look better. I understand why the Mustang dash is having mixed reviews, but I think will grow on people over time. I like the looks of the Mach-e, but still haven't gotten use to the dash.

I have driven a couple of Mach-E's, including a GT that was a blast. Remember the Mach-E does have a dash in front of the driver, unlike a Tesla. That's what you look at 99% of the time. The tablet is just a larger Sync 3. You do get used to it.

 

[Ericc B]

Those tablets (at least the driver's) could have easily been incorporated into the 60's dash as pictured above.

I just keep showing this as the perfect example of how to integrate a large media screen into a symmetric dashboard. It's not hard at all. Ford just has no clue what they are doing. No ff'in clue

Just imagine they had done it like this. Combined with the cool new graphics we'd all be raving.

 

[Bikeman315]

I just keep showing this as the perfect example of how to integrate a large media screen into a symmetric dashboard. It's not hard at all. Ford just has no clue what they are doing. No clue

Just imagine they had done it like this. Combined with the cool new graphics we'd all be raving.

And bitching about how much the S650 costs. But I see your point from a design viewpoint. Hopefully it will grow on us when we get behind the wheel. Remember a lot of folks didn't like the 401A digital dash but changed their minds after driving with one.

 

[shogun32]

I would love to fast forward a year to see how many of the haters actually buy something else instead of a Mustang. Internet hate is easy, but when it comes down to putting down the Benjamin’s I’m willing to bet a lot if folks will be singing a different tune. Just like 2015 and 2018.

not a chance in hell. Unless they FIX it. I don't give 2 farthings for "mustang" in the general sense. I LIKE the S550. I LIKE the GTI v7.5. I'm not buying either of the new. I don't give a damn if the new car has 550HP and massages my butt on long trips. It looks awful inside and out.

Just the other day at COstco sitting behind an older Civic (gen 7?) I remarked that the car actually looks good, compared to the most recent 2 generations with their chiseled scythe-looking taillights and other claptrap.

My days of buying new cars has come to a screetching halt - after 30 some years. I'll gladly go back to old, conservative styling and examples where designers presented information and interface that was intuitive, self-evident, and cohesive.

 

[shogun32]

It had decent pickup (really good pickup for a SUV) and went around the corner as fast as I would want to take it with a salesperson in the car and in an unfamiliar area. I really don't get the haters on here. No, it's not a Mustang, but it's still a pretty decent vehicle.

the hate is generally (at least for me) not the vehicle itself. I think it's well done (except htat stupid center screen) but entirely with sullying the name and idea of Mustang.

I hope they sell a gazillion of them and drive Tesla into bankruptcy, or at least irrelevancy.

 

[Charlemagne]

I drove a Mach E GT this weekend. If you give it a fair shake, I bet most would find that it isn't a bad vehicle...for a crossover.

I'd take it as a daily car in a heartbeat (but not for almost 80k€ it costs here). In daily I would not care about looks much, just function and cheap charging that I have at home. But when you buy a Mustang and want to keep it for 50 years, you think differently. But that checkbox has already been ticked for me, hopefully. Doubt there'll be anything better sold in EU from Mustang stage.

 

[DRB]

I guess if I'd met a car I wanted to keep for 50 years I wouldn't be looking at the next version of Mustangs, period.

 

[Charlemagne]

Your choices are lot bigger, there's no other V8 sold here in Europe, really. Only Lexus for 50% more. Even Mach 1 cost me over $85k, you could buy GT500 in USA for that money... Here it would cost $150k, too much for me, hence why I didn't go for 911 either. V8 in retro style is home, end of story for me. Plus I knew this would happen with new gen so glad I did it in 2021. But don't let me spoil your fun or excitement

 

[Stang 19]

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.

I fully agree…big mistake. I do not want a Tesla I didn’t want to drive with an iPad stuck to my dashboard I want easy knobs that I can figure out to feel not visual I just want to keep my eyes on the road and enjoy the ride not constantly look down searching through 10 layers of menus to find basic stuff. To me this seems like an intermediate solution to a problem that did not exist but that they want to keep up with the trends in this case I am all for being analog and so yesterday because it was functional and easy to use. Yes we will have to see the actual delivered version of this car year from now but hoping these crazy rectangular iPads do not make it.

 

[Strokerswild]

I fully agree…big mistake. I do not want a Tesla I didn’t want to drive with an iPad stuck to my dashboard I want easy knobs that I can figure out to feel not visual I just want to keep my eyes on the road and enjoy the ride not constantly look down searching through 10 layers of menus to find basic stuff. To me this seems like an intermediate solution to a problem that did not exist but that they want to keep up with the trends in this case I am all for being analog and so yesterday because it was functional and easy to use. Yes we will have to see the actual delivered version of this car year from now but hoping these crazy rectangular iPads do not make it.

I absolutely HATE the touchscreen in my F150 for the times I have to use it, but at least the HVAC in the truck has physical buttons and knobs that I can operate without looking at while driving. There are enough distracted drivers as it is due to phones, it's why I no longer commute to work on my motorcycles.

NHTSA could have a field day with these idiotic touchscreen-only vehicles if proven to be enough of a distraction (or reliability problem relating to safe operation)....

I could live with the rest of the S650, even though the styling isn't as good as the S550, in my opinion. But that dash design and the user interface kills any and all desire for the product for me.

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