@Lionwithoutpride,

I’d like the expand on that idea in one way.

- LINCOLN gets a mid-sized and/or large FR sports sedan. Finally build the MKR!
- MERCURY gets a small and/or mid-sized FR sports sedan, Think modern FORD RS500 and SIERRA but not sold as MERKURs (stupidest thing FORD ever did).
- FORD gets to keep the ” EXACTLY right sized” MUSTANG and the FR platform would underpin a new FR TAURUS. Lose the SLA and about 100-200lbs on the MUSTANG and the 200-400lbs on the FR TAURUS

As for the size of the MUSTANG, FORD it isn’t going to make it smaller. But if they do, it’ll be by so little no one will notice. Trying to smooze up to import fans by making the car smaller is a mistake. The Mustang is so popular not solely because it is a sports coupe (Yes! It is a sports car so get over yourselves), or that it has very classy very mature reminiscent styling (C’mon the Hyundai GC looks like a girl’s car. I have never seen a guy driving a H-GC and not look like a total douche or gay). The MUSTANG has all that plus it is EXACTLY the right size to be anything you want it to be.

And I know you America-bashers will come back with the fat jokes but face it; we Americans, big, small, and points in-between, like our space. That’s why the CIVIC, for example, is no longer the size the MINI COOPER is now and is nearly as big as an ACCORD.

The Mustang, which was an impossibly cramped little car on the Fox Platform, will either get a bit bigger or stay the same size. IRS will make packaging easier and there would be more passenger room. Making the car smaller would kill such a gain. Like I said the Fox platform was cramped. If you put more than two people in that car it was NOT fun. From 2005 on, the Mustang has been a much more fun car to have and be in.

“Muscle Cars” (I prefer “American Grand Tourers” or American GTs, or just AGTs.) will get smarter and more sophisticated. They will not be fancy like the luxury coupes that are all about the same size like the BMW 6, MB E-Coupe, CTS Coupe, and so on. But they will be just as capable, in terms of performance potential (obviously they will not be nigh super cars but tuners will be able to push them that far) and most importantly, be in reach of a lot more people. If small FR coupes really worked in NA, FORD, GM, or CHRYSLER would have made a small FR coupe and kept it ages ago. FORD selling upwards of 200+K MUSTANGs a year kinda’ says that the general formula stays.

- Same overall size. IF Full-sized trucks are still out there, and you know they will be, the MUSTANG will not downsize.
- Same Style. Although evolved a bit more over the 2010. Hopefully losing those or smoothing out those “hips”. I really dislike those “hip”!
- Better mechanicals. Is it too much to hope for a DSG in place of the Auto? C’mon! 2014! Who knows what all FORD is working on and hasn’t told anyone about yet.
- Better engines. The new CAFE standards are still coming up. I would not be surprised or put off a TT V6, or even an 2×2, 3×2, or 4×2 OPOC, in the GT at that point.

FORD may also option to build a purpose made, and finally perennial, sports car, call it THUNDERBIRD, instead of trying to push the MUSTANG through barriers it isn’t well suited for, performance and/or price, at least in it current form.

@torquemonster,

California is NOT America. It is part of America and even there they don’t complain about parking spaces in a Mustang. That is unless they are parked next to full-sized truck or SUV that takes up the ENTIRE space. Yes I live in Texas and that is a very regular occurrence. But you know what, I don’t have a problem with that and the MUSTANG. For what it is, and grand tourer, it is exactly the right size. The Fox Platform was a horrible and cramped car and it amazes me that FORD kept it largely as it was from 1979-2004.

There are not “plenty” of FR sports sedans as it might apply against the MUSTANG, particularly pricewise. There were only two, now one, The DODGE CHARGER and the PONTIAC G8. The G8 is history now and the CHARGER is not the greatest car. You could look up-market for more choices, but to get anything that is even close to the MUSTANG, the CAMARO, or the CHARGER’s ability you have to foot $50K to start.

One of the things I laugh at sometimes is the fact that the MUSTANG only looks big or huge and everyone drops jaw thinking it’s some behemoth. You put it next to most midsized sedans and coupes and it is actually about the same size. THE CAR ONLY LOOKS HUGE. Then again if you are driving a MINI COOPER…

The size differences for the C5 and C6 is not really and issue. To explain, no one can really tell, the C5 is about 4 inches longer but the C6 is about 2 inches wider, until you put the two next to each other. The 370Z and the 350Z is a very different story. It is clearly smaller without a direct comparison. But these are sports cars. This is about very decidedly adult-sized performance coupes, not these little “rice burners” that seem to enamor the youth until they meet the “Muscle Car” owner who looks like an adult. There is really no other way to put it. You need to take another look at the CIVIC versus the ACCORD. They are so close to the same size it’s a joke to call the CIVIC “compact” anymore. Why do you think they brought out the FIT. The ACCORD it still actually smaller than a CAMRY.

The Fox platform Mustang, was a cramped car. I’ll go so far as to say it was a clown car. The back seat was nothing more than a minor extension of the trunk. And to be very frank, the Fox mustang only looked good in the late 1980s, after that it became bland and even awful. The Back seat in the current Mustang is someplace two good sized adults can sit. The Styling is extremely good.

I don’t think you know enough about the “Retro-bird” or its short history. It was canned because no one wanted to pay $40K for a roadster that was NOT a sports car. The Designers of the car even came out saying “they did not want to build a sports car” as if building an actual CORVETTE-fighting Sports car would somehow get in the way of the MUSTANG or some BS. At the time, you could buy a C5 CORVETTE for $40K and it was a real sports car. The “Retro-bird” was gorgeous and is a powerful distraction on the road even now, but it was NOT what people wanted. They/we wanted FORD to make a sports car and that was NOT it.

The 2005 MUSTANG is the result of several concepts trying to figure where to take the Mustang next. FORD still has it in their heads that they don’t need an actual permanent sports car. Several tries were made at evolving the then styling (Remember the Mach III Concept?). Those fell flat. They were also incredibly awful looking. But consumer response to the Retro-bird’s styling was extremely high and so FORD built the 05 Mustang Concept. Response was equally high. A big masculine looking, powerful looking, different looking, very nearly producible-as-is car. It was something sorely missing from American roads for far too long. Something given over to Trucks and SUVs but not cars.

As for two pets or two small kids and buying an SUV or Minivan. The MUSTANG is not the only car FORD makes. I would recommend the FOCUS, the FUSION, or the TAURUS.

@Lionwithoutpride<

Agreed.

I honestly think that if FORD reduces the size of the MUSTANG visibly, if at all, over the current car (the C6 hides it very going over from the C5), it will badly hurt the MUSTANG's sales performance. The MUSTANG must remain a decidedly and/or visibly large.car. Not get bigger, heck the thing weighs less than most of it's analogous competitors, FR Performance coupes and sedans.

It FORD really wants to make a smaller FR car, make it for MERCURY as they need product and finally make a real sports car.