Three months experience with my "hated" S650

[Charger68]

The only thing I wish is for the instrumentation to look more 3D. Having owned a 2020 Corvette, I can say Mustang got a lot more things right than Chevrolet did. Oh, the C8 interior materials were first class, but instrumentation, especially Speedo choices, is one round dial. The other screen is more difficult to operate. The Drive Mode is dial select. The E-brake is by the headlamp switch. You'll forget how to use Head Up display, and the rear-view camera mirror. The console controls require browsing to operate. The 16 speaker Bose system is average, and has no bass. The steering wheel controls are more complicated. Finally, the ride, even in Tour Mode, is more firmer than I like. There's the problem when you order a car you can't drive because there aren't any made.

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[Trella]

Keyless locking is one of my only gripes about the design of the car. It takes a really really long time before the sensor area is ready to notice me touching it. If I close the door and touch it as if I were keyless locking my S550, I have to repeat that motion 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, maybe 10 times before it registers. Truly, it's often faster to fish out keys from a pocket. Other than that bad design, and perhaps the more important climate controls not having dedicated buttons, I love almost everything else. I only got full front PPF (+PPF racing stripes), and sometimes I wonder whether I should have sprung for the full PPF you did - that's my only occasional concern.

Looks like your GT350 is white with blue stripes? I'm obviously a fan!

Amen on the Climate Control. After 18 months I still don't know how to change all the settings. I just cross myself and hope for the best!!

 

[Starship Enterprise]

I've only had my car a couple weeks so still learning, but my custom mode settings don't allow me to change the steering. Only traction control and exhaust. It's in the menu but there is only one choice. Very annoying, because I want a Sport mode with normal steering and track exhaust.

Also, I didn't see where auto stop deactivation can be put into a custom drive mode. Is that something that requires ForsCan?

I'm in the US with a 2025 GT Premium. In my Custom Drive profile, with no other software needed, I can change:

Steering Effort
Auto Stop disable
Exhaust loudness
Traction Control disable

(And a few other things I can't remember for certain...maybe gauge look and seat memory)

Know that you have to have your base profile as "Normal" to be able to change all the settings. If you select your custom profile as Sport, you can't change steering feel to anything other than Sport.

 

[CzechMate]

That's interesting about Europe specs locking out some menu options like disabling lane keeping, especially since some Europeans have posted horror stories about it activating at a very bad time it shouldn't have.

Either maybe look into FORSCAN, or get used to hitting buttons every time you start the car. I've already gotten used to hitting the Drive Mode Selector twice to go into Custom Profile, which at least deactivates Auto-Stop, Traction control and sets Exhaust and steering preferences.

Europe Models often include stricter defaults due to regulations (e.g., mandatory hands-on-wheel nags, more persistent warnings, or systems that default to ON more aggressively). US versions tend to be less "nanny-state" aggressive in defaults and persistence.

From the official Ford Owner's Manual (US version):

• Activate/deactivate by pressing the button on the steering wheel
• A message appears in the instrument cluster showing the status.
• The system stores the on or off setting until manually changed.
• Note: "For some markets, the system defaults to the ON setting at every Ignition cycle." → This explicitly refers to non-US markets (e.g., Europe)

On my Explorer it behaves exactly like your US Mustangs. One press deactivates it and it remembers the status until I change it again. And it is also EU version of the Explorer, it is the PHEV with 457hp. Unfortunately, for Mustang they decided to make it very annoying and it defaults to ON on every ignition cycle...

ONE MORE OBSERVATION: the mandatory hands-on-wheel nag is very annoying, especially since it fails to recognize my hands on the steering wheel every now and then. Another reason to deactivate the lane keeping system, because then this annoyance is also OFF. With the LKS enabled, I'm getting way too many hands-on-wheel nags, despite having my hands on the wheel, the sensors are just not calibrated correctly and they do not "feel" the micro movements of the wheel.

 

[CzechMate]

Also, I didn't see where auto stop deactivation can be put into a custom drive mode. Is that something that requires ForsCan?

This one worked for me without Forscan. The option to disable ASS was there, so in my custom mode, I have ASS disabled. But since the car defaults to normal mode on every ignition cycle and I would have to press the buttons on the steering wheel to select the custom mode, I learned to start the car with two fingers (one presses the Start button, the other simultaneously presses the ASS button) and I keep my car in the normal mode all the time.

BTW, I love the SVT Cobra cluster theme, that is my default theme...

 

[hal26]

Love my manual GT.......Dig the screens too!

 

[ChitownStang]

beau

So, I’ve had a chance to drive my “hated” S650 for about three months now, and I decided to share a few observations. Why “hated”? Because after owning two S550s and one GT350, I was convinced I would never, ever be able to live with that atrocity — the pinnacle of ugliness — those two big screens.

And yet, here I am. Three months in, and honestly… I’m happy with them. More than I could have ever imagined.

BTW, here is a pic — but keep in mind I bought the car in October. Since then we got snow, and we still have snow and very cold temperatures, so I haven’t been able to do any spectacular scenery photoshoot yet. (the image is from the PPF shop, I have it fully wrapped)

After driving it for a week or two on the factory-fitted Pirellis, I decided it was time to put winter tires on. I went with Michelin Alpine Sport 5. On all my previous Mustangs (with the exception of the GT350 — that one never leaves the garage unless it’s warm and dry), I was using Hankook i*Cept Gen 3 and was quite happy with them… except in snow. In deeper snow they really didn’t offer much grip.

Because of that, I was hoping the Michelins would be better — and I have to say, they were. I managed to climb a rather steep, actually very steep hill. Taking that road was a dumb decision, but once I was on it, I had no other option. Stopping in the middle of the hill would have meant sliding downhill uncontrollably.

The tires held up surprisingly well. There was some rear-end slipping, but the car kept crawling uphill and eventually made it.

Anyway, I’m now at 5,000 km on the odometer (roughly 3,100 miles), and I have a few observations to share:

• The screens – they are actually quite good-looking, and I got used to them surprisingly quickly. The controls are logical and, contrary to what some reviewers said, you don’t need to “touch the seat heating first and then select the level.” You just keep touching the “button” and it cycles from 0 to 3, then 2, 1, and back to 0. Same logic applies to other controls. I still prefer physical buttons, but honestly, it’s nowhere near as bad as some people made it sound.

• 10R80 transmission – this is tuned really very well. Where my S550 was probably the biggest disappointment, the S650 absolutely shines. The gearbox is quick, responsive, and it doesn’t constantly try to under-rev the engine just to make green lunatics happy with emissions. I’m very pleased with the 10R80 tuning here. The 6th gen was not tuned well at all — it would either lug the engine all the time, or do the opposite and kick down 3–4 gears, which made the drive far from smooth.

• Start procedure – I’ve learned to start the car with two fingers: one presses the start button, the other simultaneously hits the ASS button.

• Blind spot monitoring – the dead-angle indicator in the mirrors blinks all the time when I drive close to side guardrails. It picks up basically any obstacle and thinks there’s a car in the blind spot. That’s a bummer, and it happens on both sides.

• Keyless entry / locking – keyless entry works fine, but keyless locking is very insensitive. Often I need multiple touches on the locking area of the door handle, and sometimes I end up pulling out the key fob to lock the car.

• Lane keeping system – this is the thing I really hate. Why does it have to be ON by default? It scared me multiple times on icy roads when I forgot to turn it off. Nothing is worse than driving on ice and suddenly feeling weird feedback in the steering wheel. I really wish there was a way to disable it permanently.

• Lights – I was hoping the headlights would be more advanced. On my Ford Explorer, they transition from low beam to high beam with a gradual increase in intensity, while here it’s just ON / OFF. I’m not asking for anything super fancy like the adaptive headlights I had on my BMW 5 Series with split high beams that work around the car in front — but a smoother transition would be nice.

• Sound – the car sounds a bit better than my previous S550, probably thanks to the dual air intakes.

That’s it for now — those are my observations so far. Feel free to comment.

Beautiful Ride, love the Yellow/Black combo...Bumble Bee Stang like Transformers should've done! LOL
I too was a S650 hater wen I had my Mach 1. Bashed the screens all the time on the other forum until one day after being sick of my 10-speed I went and sat in a manual Dark Horse, 2 hours later I was leaving in it.
Such an upgraded interior and chasis.

 

[Delco73]

I also had a S550 (2015 Gt Vert) and recently got a '25. I had the 6-speed auto and the 3.15 rear, so the 10R80 with 3.55 is a major improvement regardless of the tune. I'm really happy with the responsiveness and how fast the paddles respond. The '15 was much more sluggish around town by comparison. It was a nie cruiser though, it would kinda chill out a lot more than the new car.

The screens are actually great. I don't miss the old dash. A lot of reviews bash them because the "double hump" design went away, but nobody seems to hate on the 87-93 for not having that design

Compared to the 15, this thing is night-and-day better. No regrets.

 

[MidwayJ]

I'm in the US with a 2025 GT Premium. In my Custom Drive profile, with no other software needed, I can change:

Steering Effort
Auto Stop disable
Exhaust loudness
Traction Control disable

(And a few other things I can't remember for certain...maybe gauge look and seat memory)

Know that you have to have your base profile as "Normal" to be able to change all the settings. If you select your custom profile as Sport, you can't change steering feel to anything other than Sport.

Ah, that explains why I can't get the custom mode I want (normal steering with everything else in sport mode.) It seems ridiculous how many custom modes are available to save when the choices are so limited.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Yeah and of all 6 custom profiles you can create, you can only move one to the steering wheel selector.

Oh well, I like my one setting anyway...

 

[hardy1076]

So, I’ve had a chance to drive my “hated” S650 for about three months now, and I decided to share a few observations. Why “hated”? Because after owning two S550s and one GT350, I was convinced I would never, ever be able to live with that atrocity — the pinnacle of ugliness — those two big screens.

And yet, here I am. Three months in, and honestly… I’m happy with them. More than I could have ever imagined.

BTW, here is a pic — but keep in mind I bought the car in October. Since then we got snow, and we still have snow and very cold temperatures, so I haven’t been able to do any spectacular scenery photoshoot yet. (the image is from the PPF shop, I have it fully wrapped)

After driving it for a week or two on the factory-fitted Pirellis, I decided it was time to put winter tires on. I went with Michelin Alpine Sport 5. On all my previous Mustangs (with the exception of the GT350 — that one never leaves the garage unless it’s warm and dry), I was using Hankook i*Cept Gen 3 and was quite happy with them… except in snow. In deeper snow they really didn’t offer much grip.

Because of that, I was hoping the Michelins would be better — and I have to say, they were. I managed to climb a rather steep, actually very steep hill. Taking that road was a dumb decision, but once I was on it, I had no other option. Stopping in the middle of the hill would have meant sliding downhill uncontrollably.

The tires held up surprisingly well. There was some rear-end slipping, but the car kept crawling uphill and eventually made it.

Anyway, I’m now at 5,000 km on the odometer (roughly 3,100 miles), and I have a few observations to share:

• The screens – they are actually quite good-looking, and I got used to them surprisingly quickly. The controls are logical and, contrary to what some reviewers said, you don’t need to “touch the seat heating first and then select the level.” You just keep touching the “button” and it cycles from 0 to 3, then 2, 1, and back to 0. Same logic applies to other controls. I still prefer physical buttons, but honestly, it’s nowhere near as bad as some people made it sound.

• 10R80 transmission – this is tuned really very well. Where my S550 was probably the biggest disappointment, the S650 absolutely shines. The gearbox is quick, responsive, and it doesn’t constantly try to under-rev the engine just to make green lunatics happy with emissions. I’m very pleased with the 10R80 tuning here. The 6th gen was not tuned well at all — it would either lug the engine all the time, or do the opposite and kick down 3–4 gears, which made the drive far from smooth.

• Start procedure – I’ve learned to start the car with two fingers: one presses the start button, the other simultaneously hits the ASS button.

• Blind spot monitoring – the dead-angle indicator in the mirrors blinks all the time when I drive close to side guardrails. It picks up basically any obstacle and thinks there’s a car in the blind spot. That’s a bummer, and it happens on both sides.

• Keyless entry / locking – keyless entry works fine, but keyless locking is very insensitive. Often I need multiple touches on the locking area of the door handle, and sometimes I end up pulling out the key fob to lock the car.

• Lane keeping system – this is the thing I really hate. Why does it have to be ON by default? It scared me multiple times on icy roads when I forgot to turn it off. Nothing is worse than driving on ice and suddenly feeling weird feedback in the steering wheel. I really wish there was a way to disable it permanently.

• Lights – I was hoping the headlights would be more advanced. On my Ford Explorer, they transition from low beam to high beam with a gradual increase in intensity, while here it’s just ON / OFF. I’m not asking for anything super fancy like the adaptive headlights I had on my BMW 5 Series with split high beams that work around the car in front — but a smoother transition would be nice.

• Sound – the car sounds a bit better than my previous S550, probably thanks to the dual air intakes.

That’s it for now — those are my observations so far. Feel free to comment.

 

[hardy1076]

I had two S550. I had one with the 6 speed auto, and one with the 10 speed auto. I loved the 6 speed,but hated the 10 speed on the S550, even after a tune (yes it did make a significant impovemen). The 2025 GT Premium with PP 10 speed is awesome. Build quality is way improved, love the digital screens, even though I was against them at first. The 10 speed is so much better and pretty decent in manual mode, love the downshifts. The exhaust is also way improved and has some occasional burbles and backfires. I do plan on getting a tune to see if throttle response can be increased. Other than that love the car. It will only be summer driven.

 

[CzechMate]

I had two S550. I had one with the 6 speed auto, and one with the 10 speed auto. I loved the 6 speed,but hated the 10 speed on the S550, even after a tune (yes it did make a significant impovemen). The 2025 GT Premium with PP 10 speed is awesome. Build quality is way improved, love the digital screens, even though I was against them at first. The 10 speed is so much better and pretty decent in manual mode, love the downshifts. The exhaust is also way improved and has some occasional burbles and backfires. I do plan on getting a tune to see if throttle response can be increased. Other than that love the car. It will only be summer driven.

I’m starting to see a pattern here — everybody seems to hate the S650 at first, but once we actually try it, we end up loving it.


The build quality is good, but it’s still Mustang-level build quality. Panel gaps and panel alignment are still sub-par, but the interior itself is really nice. Unlike some other people, I never had any issues with rattles or squeaks in any of my S550s (but they were all 2020 or newer, so maybe older cars were noisier). The same applies here — the interior feels solid and quiet.

 

[Frogdog1]

No rattles or squeaks on mine after nearly a year. Never really had that issue with any Fords I've owned come to think of it. Every single GM I've owned was one big rattle trap. No more of that from GM to me. Bye GM.

 

[CzechMate]

So it is confirmed: the keyless locking works 99% of the time if I go first to fetch stuff from the trunk, while roughly 50%-75% of the time it does not work if I try to use it immediately after getting out of the car. So there is probably some delay programmed in for reasons I dont understand.

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