V8 Mustang ,Team Sky support vehicle.

[w124bob]

Just noticed Ford are now official supplier. http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/team-sky-ford-mustang-support-car-47499/

This sounds bonkers but I for one will be watching (and listening) with added interest.

[jjb1970]

The Mustang is a motoring bargain, its worth the price just for the engine note.

[Daddyman]

Sky, Fox and now Ford - it's like they actively seek out morally challenged sponsors... 

[njee20]

I liked the F-Type they had better!

[Horsetan]

The Mustang is a motoring bargain, its worth the price just for the engine note.

Unless you are saving money by going for the 6-cyl variant.

[jjb1970]

Don't they do a 4 cyl ecoboost? As much as I love modern very highly blown petrol engines a 4 cyl Mustang seems to completely lose the point.

[Horsetan]

Don't they do a 4 cyl ecoboost? As much as I love modern very highly blown petrol engines a 4 cyl Mustang seems to completely lose the point.

Even worse. However, if there is a 4-cyl variant, it means that even misers can have a Mustang.

[polybear]

I had a Charger hire car out in Kuwait.  Not my fuel (but at around 12p/litre, who cares...) and not my tyres.....

Fun? Yes. Very, very yes.....

[Zomboid]

Even worse. However, if there is a 4-cyl variant, it means that even misers can have a Mustang.

Don't know about everywhere, but in the UK you can get the 4 cylinder turbo or the V8.

I'm sure the 4 cylinder engine is very good (it's in the focus RS), but it isn't really what you but an American muscle car for. I've seen 4 or 5 on the road, and they've all been the V8.

[PatB]

Very popular in Oz, now that you can buy a RHD one without having to pay several tens of thousands of $ to a dodgy backstreet workshop for an aftermarket conversion. 

[57xx]

Don't they do a 4 cyl ecoboost? As much as I love modern very highly blown petrol engines a 4 cyl Mustang seems to completely lose the point.

 

Yup, I think most of the muscle cars now come with engines without the muscle. The Chevy Camero has been given a 2l turbo, you have to get the SS model to get the proper 6.2l V8.

[brianusa]

I had a Mustang !!  with the 2.2 litre 4cyl, 4sp, engine at a time when V8s were de rigeur.  It certainly was no challenge so its remarkable how time changed over a few years.  In those days it was laughed off the road and indeed, it wasn't a best seller for Ford being based on the Pinto.  Now there's four bangers in big boys Mustangs but I have the V8 in my Lincoln!

 

Brian.

[jjb1970]

Ordinarily I'd be an advocate of small capacity highly blown petrol engines (the 1.4 turbo in the VW Golf works superbly) but if you're going to buy a Mustang then the whole point is the presence, the engine note, the sense of menace radiated by the V8. If you just want a sweet handling, fast car then the Focus RS is probably the much better car and certainly more practical, but what would you rather have - a go faster Focus or a Mustang?

[Guest]

but what would you rather have - a go faster Focus or a Mustang?

For an afternoon? Mustang

 

Every day? Focus

[rockershovel]

Wasn't the original Mustang, a rather weedy mid-size coupe with the V4 engine out of a Transit?

 

The Capri was certainly its illegitimate sprog..

[great central]

Wasn't the original Mustang, a rather weedy mid-size coupe with the V4 engine out of a Transit?

 

The Capri was certainly its illegitimate sprog..

Some years ago I bought a car I knew very little about, neither did the guy selling it to be honest, spur of the moment and cheap. A Mercury Capri 3.3l straight six, bought by it's original owner in Cheyenne Wyoming and some how finished up on a more or less backstreet dealers lot in Langley Mill.

Apparently it was the posh version of the contemporary Mustang even had the V8 engine option available according to a sales leaflet I picked up at a swapmeet of all places.

[rapidobill]

Don't they do a 4 cyl ecoboost? As much as I love modern very highly blown petrol engines a 4 cyl Mustang seems to completely lose the point.

Beyond trains I'm a long-time Mustang fan, starting out with a '72 Mach 1 as my first car (a 5.8L V-8 always seems practical in a first car!) and currently owning one vintage model ('73 convertible, 302... sorry... 5.0 V-8). In addition, I've driven samples of pretty much every era of Mustang, including the latest. The changes in the last few years have really brought the car up from fun, but rather Neanderthal (ask the man who owns one!) to fairly accomplished.

 

I've rented and so lived a week or so with both the current turbo and 5.0 models. The 5.0 is one heck of a car, and that motor is amazing. It's intoxicating. However, the turbo is no slouch either and is almost a more practical day-to-day car while still being very entertaining once the boost is up... and you can now use the words "practical" and "Mustang in the same sentence! Just don't try to carry anybody in the back seat.... :>)

Edited June 20, 2017 by rapidobill

[rockershovel]

Some years ago I bought a car I knew very little about, neither did the guy selling it to be honest, spur of the moment and cheap. A Mercury Capri 3.3l straight six, bought by it's original owner in Cheyenne Wyoming and some how finished up on a more or less backstreet dealers lot in Langley Mill.

Apparently it was the posh version of the contemporary Mustang even had the V8 engine option available according to a sales leaflet I picked up at a swapmeet of all places.

USAF personnel used to import cars, mostly via Alconbury - a major transit base for US service personnel in Europe, although it wasn't the only such base - Mildenhall and Lakenheath come to mind. USAF would pay for shipping, then they registered them here. After 2 years the car could be sold without import duty or other taxes, usually for considerably more than it would fetch in USA. The USAF paid a further sum in lieu of return shipping, so the original owner was in pocket, all round.

 

If you encounter a 1970s or 1980s American car (or sometimes, Harley Sportsters - I briefly owned one such) with previous US registration, and Cambs, Northants or Suffolk number plates from that period, that's probably its background.

[Horsetan]

Even today, around RAF Mildenhall, you can spot quite a number of US-spec cars on British plates.

[rockershovel]

Even today, around RAF Mildenhall, you can spot quite a number of US-spec cars on British plates.

Varying levels of operations continued until 2015 at Mildenhall, Alconbury and Molesworth. Mildenhall was the last to retain significant numbers of USAF personnel.

[PMP]

Mildenhall is still open and an active USAFE base for refuelling, intelligence gathering, special operations, and SO support.

It was scheduled for closure 2023, but is being reconsidered due to changing world events. RAF Lakenheath is also a few miles down the road and again a fully active USAFE station.

 

Three friends I know have got UK mustangs and they all love them!

Edited June 20, 2017 by PMP

[rockershovel]

Mildenhall is still open and an active USAFE base for refuelling, intelligence gathering, special operations, and SO support.

It was scheduled for closure 2023, but is being reconsidered due to changing world events. RAF Lakenheath is also a few miles down the road and again a fully active USAFE station.

Three friends I know have got UK mustangs and they all love them!

Interesting to know...

[jjb1970]

Audi bucked the trend by retaining a V6 diesel rather than downsizing everything to four cylinders for their cooking models like everybody else. The A6 3.0TDi V6 Quattro is a lovely car, silky smooth engine and a great compromise between performance and economy. Unfortunately it is well over the magic £40k above which you have to subsidise generous spreadsheet Phil to the tune of £450 a year for five years.

[Adrian Wintle]

Some years ago I bought a car I knew very little about, neither did the guy selling it to be honest, spur of the moment and cheap. A Mercury Capri 3.3l straight six, bought by it's original owner in Cheyenne Wyoming and some how finished up on a more or less backstreet dealers lot in Langley Mill.

Apparently it was the posh version of the contemporary Mustang even had the V8 engine option available according to a sales leaflet I picked up at a swapmeet of all places.

 

From the late '70s, North American Mercurys were badge-engineered Fords. The Mustang and the Capri shared the same platform (derived from the Fairmont sedan). Mercury tended to be the up-market brand.

 

Adrian

[alastairq]

The 200 cu in [3.3 litres] inline 6 cylinder engine from Ford is not to be sneezed at, either.   It was Ford's baseline engine for a huge number of models, right from the 1950's, albeit in 170 cu in form.... It has [had?] its faults, but it was a very strong engine.

 

It went up to 250 cu in eventually.....

 

For ordinary traffic situations it is the equal of any of the V8's, without the single figure fuel consumption. [i get around 23-25 mpg's, at UK traffic speeds, or better]

 

Being an inline 6, it is a whole lot smoother than the V8s.....and the sound is less 'unbalanced'...

 

It does pull like the proverbial train, however....even if it lacks the kudos of the V8.......and being lighter in weight, the whole car feels a lot better balanced. 

 

Major tuners in the USA have a lot of 'time' for Ford's 6 cylinder, and it has been tuned just as easily as the V8s...without spending quite so much money... 

 

Since the early Mustang weighs just over a ton, the 200 cu in 6's circa 125bhp doesn't have trouble shifting it....making the whole car a lot more 'usable', in comparison to the V8s, on a day-to-day basis.

 

If one needs to occasionally carry more than just oneself, the Coupe is the better bet, compared to the Fastback.  The rear seat is more usable, and it also has it's own wind-down side windows, too. Legroom in the rear is limited for tall people, however.....if the front seats are right back.

 

The pre-1970's Mustangs do have one major fault, however [acknowledged by Ford at the time, to the extent of issuing dealers with a booklet on how to deal with it]......and that is, they leak!  Horrendously, sometimes.

 

 

But, unlike many cars of the era, every last nut, bolt, trim piece or component for the Mustang can be purchased...new......such is the after-market & restoration industry from the USA.