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2024 Ford Mustang Revealed – The Most Powerful Yet

The Detroit Auto Show started with a bang as the new 2024 Ford Mustang was revealed to the world. The seventh generation Pony car’s reveal was set at the company’s ‘Stampede’ event in downtown Detroit where TV presenter Jarod Deanda unveiled the S650.

While this has been coined as an all-new car, it’s really just a thorough update of the outgoing sixth generation. And this is going to please the purists within our folds as it still retains the powerful 5.0-litre V8 and a manual gearbox. And while we’d hoped for something innovative in the form of a variant with some form of hybrid power or all-wheel drive, there’s nothing of the sort.

What there is however, is a sporty Dark Horse variant, but I’ll get onto that in good time.

Starting at the bottom, we’ve once again got access to a turbocharged 2.30litre four-cylinder EcoBoost powerplant for those of us who want the Mustang looks but not the fuel bills. According to the American company, it’s more efficient and more powerful than before. But if power is what you’re wanting, then the Coyote V8 will produce 480-odd horsepower, around 50 more than the outgoing model.

Ford isn’t stopping there, however, with it releasing the Dark Horse Mustang. A new, high performance variant of the car that will feature the most powerful Coyote motor ever built, producing 500 horsepower, and featuring a number of racing and retro-inspired body changes.

For the standard models, the body really hasn’t changed much at all. It’s more angular, but for the most part the proportions stay the same. Take off your glasses and you’d be pushed to recognise any differences at all. It looks good, there’s no doubt, but with all the rumours circulating I wanted to be blown away, which I’m not.

The interior has however changed quite dramatically, with the instrument cluster pod and central infotainment system being replaced by a wide frame that houses two separate screens. The screen behind the steering wheel spans 12.3-inches, and the central touch screen as 13.2-inches and controls things like temperature. In the base model, these screens are in two separate frames – for some reason.

According to Ford, both screens can be almost infinitely customised with gauges and information able to be transferred to either screen according to the driver’s needs. This is all powered by Unreal engine and therefore looks very slick.

I’m not blown away by this new Mustang. I was hoping Ford would look to innovate their muscle car further, especially after Dodge’s reveal of the new Charger and Hornet with them embracing an all-electric future. Those cars were also a disappointment, but at least I could tell they were wanting to evolve.

This looks like a very safe bet from Ford, and I can only hope that there are more variants coming in the future that offer more than a facelift, a few more horsepower, and a new interior. However, if this is the plan, then I can’t say I blame Ford for setting the building blocks and pleasing the purists first. But from my point of view, this is far too safe a move from the company that named an all-electric SUV a Mustang a few years ago.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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