I just wanted to let you know that your post made it on to Ford’s Weekly Roundup – http://ford.digitalsnippets.com/mustang/#headline . The content is refreshed 2x weekly, so just look under the Weekly Roundup Archive to see your snippet.

Each week we look for the best of the web mustang stuff – anything that’s made by mustang lovers. All of the items get tagged in delicious, “mustangbestoftheweb” and from that list, Ford chooses their faves!

Our agency works closely with Ford on their social media efforts. We are heading up this project so I wanted to let you know.

Happy Holidays and congrats!

~K

Only with their backs to the wall, do they come out with plans – plans that have been available for perhaps decades – to fix the issue.

humphrey- Ford of Europe isn’t nearly the only part of Ford that isn’t making any “sense”.

What isn’t making sense is most of you guys.

I can’t understand how most of you can’t comprehend the major leaps and changes Ford has been making in the past few years. Their quality and reliability has improved ten times over, yet it was ALREADY fairly good before this whole mess, and it seems that will only continue. What do you guys want exactly?

They’ve got an almost totally fresh product line aside from an old Focus and (extremely) old Ranger, which both will be replaced and kick the bucket in the next two to three years.

Obviously they have some good designs on the table, already out to eat AND in the oven. The Flex, Mustang, Fusion, Edge, Escape to name their best. They have some VERY good designs that are very likely making it to production, some being tested right now, such as the Explorer, a new large sedan, the Fiesta and the MKT.

They’ve cut their costs dramatically over the last 4 years. I’m not kidding, go look at the figures, the savings are ridiculous and it’s sad they won’t even recoup them until another year or two.

They have some WONDERFUL engines on the drawing board. Who would have ever thought a 1.4 liter would make its way into the Fusion? Who would have thought their going to launch a 3~ liter V-6 that will churn out 350 horsepower?

I don’t get it, what do you guys want Ford to do? Come out with an 40 mile per gallon, good looking small car? Oh, they have that on the board already! How about a 400 horsepower truck with a 6~ liter engine, that’ll outrun the desert itself while banshee helicopters prey overhead? Just don’t let the Saudis get ahold of an SVT Raptor! How about a good mid-size sedan? They’ve had one for a while now, just lacking some safety features and refinement. Now, they have it. How about cutting their costs by a couple billion? Yep, they’ve done that too.

And humphrey, I have to totally disagree with what you said about the 370Z being unique. There are loads of Japanese coupes that used to be produced in the same vein as the Z car. There are still two or three surviving.

What is it that it offers that makes you think it’s so unique? The Z car and the Japanese performance coupes pretty much started out as Japanese iterations of the American small sports car. Not to say they were copies, but the Japanese saw a great way to take their boring sedans, spice them up a bit and turn a good profit.

Why oh why, do you need yet another hi-po muscle car that harks back to a bygone era?? Stop living in your own wet dream guys and look forward, not backward. when you move forward and keep on looking over your shoulder, you bump into things.

I personally can’t fathom how Ford can sleep at night knowing that it sold 20% of Mazda off to fund this POS.

Ford of Europe is the only facet of this organisation that is making any sense at the moment, and the sooner you consumers get your @rses into these (or similar) cars the better.

The big 3 needs to shake off the UAW and get on with the business of selling responsible cars. I don’t mean boring, I mean responsible. F trucks? Hummers? Suburbans? Avalanches? You guys should be ashamed.

There’s a lot of comparisons with the 370 going on – case in point. Have a look at Nissan’s global market content and see where the 370 fits in. It’s a real niche model that’s far removed from the mainstream product mix. With Ford, the Mustang is just another of their big cars.

Remember, the term ‘Yank Tank’ has been around for decades.

Come on FORD!

Whether you’re looking for straight out performance or convenience that kind of money will get you a lot more than a mustang. I do not know what the future holds for the powerplants in the mustangs but the engine options have not drastically changed in a LONG time. And for those who would like the backseat and trunk space you can look at the g37 coupe or the g35/37 sedan (which out performs the coupe in acceleration) if the money isn’t as much as an issue. But when comparing the Z to the GT it all comes down to what you want and are willing to compromise. If you want excellent handling and control go for the Z. If you want straight line performance with a trunk and backseat go for the GT.

Borat, that was a Canadian 10% which works out to be about 8% American.

This makes it all the more interesting when the Camaro comes out because I can’t see a lot of 370Z/RX8 guys switching camps for it either. So either we’ll have 3 players-Mustang, Camaro and Challenger- all vying for that piece of the pie the Mustang used to have all to itself or there’s going to have to be one hell of a lot of GM fanboys that have been patiently waiting for the better part of a decade.

Of course there’s another huge part of the demographic that a lot of us don’t even consider when talking about cars of this ilk. A lot of women buy Mustangs (and yes I know I’ve just set myself up) and a lot of them bought primarily the V6 Camaros and Firebirds in the past as well. This is where the real sales war may be won or lost.

Which one has the backseat, a usable trunk, and has more 3rd party support than a 3-year-old desktop computer? The Mustang hands down. Mustangs get off on upgrades more than imports, anyway. If you want fast, make it fast.

Also 5sec 0-60 with “only” 315hp is a car that undoubtedly heavier and being notably less aerodynamically slick is not bad considering that the 370Z has more power, is supposed to be lighter, and is slicker. Heaven forbid Mustangs get an upgrade to the Hurricane 400hp engine, or the TwinForce turbo six. The 370Z would lose left right and center.

Frankly, given my need for some actual utility from my performance cars, the 370Z is out immediately. No backseat, or at least one fit for half grown humans, not much of a trunk if there is a back seat…and the fact I really don’t find the 370Z attractive at any angle. The 350Z grew on me but the 370Z, like the GT-R35 is an profound failure in styling and function the GT-R gets away with being damnably quick and agile but not much else) in my eyes.

I would better compare the Premium Mustang to the Nismo 370Z trim. The 370Z Nismo “trim” is going to start around $2k. Really, the price difference isn’t going to be a selling point.

Different lifestyles. That’s what makes the decision between two cars like this since, not price or performance. I would agree the 370Z is going to be faster, but imo it’s not all too great looking, perceived a little bit too much as a “ricer”, and uncomfortable (that’s not to say the new one isn’t better, but the 350Z wasn’t what I would describe as comfortable).

What I’m curious about… What did they do to the V-6? Does anybody know if it’s still that neglected truck engine they slapped in there years ago?

0-60: 5 secs.
hp: 315.
price: $31845

Nissan 370Z

0-60: 4.7 secs.
hp: 332.
price: $29,930
http://www.leftlanenews.com/nissan-370z.html

mmm which one should I buy?

I have to agree with the v6 option. It’s too bad that FORD may not get that note for a while but Team Shelby has their Terlingua package which is all the handling upgrades and a boosted V6. Costs less that a V8 and is just as quick and better handling. Costs only a bit more than a factory GT, too.

I am seriously considering that as my next car.

First, thanks for the comment (and we know you’re not a loser). Check out the first photo – you’ll see that Ford had a variety of bright hues.

You say the V6 model now performs like the outgoing GT… how is this possible? From all I can tell Ford is carrying over the 4.0L engine, which only makes 210hp. Ford is either flat out lying or they’ve changed something under the hood of te V6.

So my question is did you guys all had to take turns driving this car? How cheap is Ford?