An article from British rag AutoExpress may have inadvertently shed some light on the base powertrain for the next Ford Mustang.
While reporting on the next Focus RS, AE discussed the 2.3L Ecoboost that would be used in the hot hatch, reporting that it was destined for the 2015 Mustang. The 2.3L motor, based on the 2.0L Ecoboost used in the Fusion and Focus ST, would put out 330 horsepower.
AE tends to get things right on the “new car speculation” front, and if the new Mustang is going to be a global vehicle, than a small displacement 4-cylinder rather than a 3.7L V6, will be necessary to help avoid the hefty displacement taxes present in many world markets. And it will silence the incessant chatter about the Mustang V6 and its current status as the market’s top performance bargain. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for an Ecoboost V6 though…
AFAIC, the honkin’ V-8 is what makes a Mustang a Mustang. If, for whatever reason, the V-8 has to be killed (and I don’t care about blown V-6 with equal output), that’s the end of the car.
It may be an anachronism, but its anachronistic qualities (the V-8, the solid rear axle, the long hood, the dubious rear seats and trunk) are why people buy the car.
Just one man’s opinion. . .
you could also say that it used to be small and more nimble, like the fox mustang. it certainly isn’t that today.
Fox cars may have been nimble but that was their only good handling trait otherwise they were a disaster and certainly proved that a car can only be as good as the tires you put on it.
I owned the “original” GT 5.0 — a 1987, which I kept for 5 years. Other than the atrociously inadequate brakes, I have no complaints about the car. It was “rude and crude,” which is what Mustangs are supposed to be. At 100 mph, the entire interior throbbed with the exhaust sound (and I had the stock exhaust).
It was not a “sports car”; Mustangs were never supposed to be that.
As a general rule, all cars seem to be getting bigger and heavier, which is unfortunate. I believe the successor to my Z3 weighs something like 7-800 lbs. more. Yikes!
@raph…I had the pleasure of driving a 79 Foxbody for about a year with the rare 2.8L V-6 and TRX handling package..with Bilstein replacements in the front…to this day its still the best handling car I ever drove. Slow as molasses though, LOL.
Maybe it’s so in the US, but if the car is to be a world car, then the US market is not the only consideration. I’m sure there will still be V8 Mustangs for the US market, for elsewhere, though, it’ll likely to be a halo model with very few cars sold. For the average (non US) people, the 4-cyl will be much more palatable.
330 hp from 2.3l is just incredible. It won’t have low end torque like a V8 but imagine the possibilities.
It’s blown, so low-end is not really that much of an issue. Lag might be, but really, who cares?
They tend to have a high idle now to avoid some of the natural Turbo lag. Still this would make the base mustang a bargain and a really affordable daily driver. When it gets a Turbo four i’all be looking at them seriously.
That…would actually be kind of cool.
And I actually kind of like the sound of a four. Sixes remind me of taxis and eights of trucks.
I don’t think there’s been a good sounding turbo 4 in a very long time. They def sound pretty pedestrian without some serious work/tech (i.e. VTEC or ITBs). Sound on this is def gonna be a wash, but hopefully the flexibility and economy of the engine will make up for it. Unlike the 3 series the star of the show in the Mustang line will always be the V8, not the 6s. And there have been 4 banger Mustangs before.
GTI and GLI?
“And there have been 4 banger Mustangs before.”
?
From 1975 to 1993 an I4 was available in the Mustang, with the introduction of the SN95/New Edge cars, Ford dropped the 2.3 I4.
Also the headline in this article is a direct reference to the high performance turbocharged four cylinder Mustangs of the eighties.
It’s all in how you route the exhaust; see Subaru’s four cylinder set-up.
The article headline makes it sound like the Mustang is going to have a UK developed engine. Other websites have been reporting for months that the new 2.3T is being developed by Ford North America. I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but I’m sort of a clearness junkie.
can I order it with a 2 tiered rear spoiler?
I see what you did there…
The V6 is a great motor. Sounds awesome, responds well enough to mods, puts down great power. But a turbo 4 pot would just enable so much more modularity. They could make the base 4 tuned purely for low end torque + gas mileage, and then create a little tuning program for folks who want more but either don’t want to or can’t swing the cost of the V8. Of course they would also benefit from a little less weight on the nose too, as well as more space + easier maintenance access.
2.3 4-cylinder turbo Mustang – It’s 1979 all over again. But better.
I feel like its the 80s with all of the turbo 4-bangers running around, generally speaking.
330 hp from a 4 banger, one can guarantee is going to be good time but not long time.
Or late Colin Chapman calls it, it’ll last more than one race.
If it was a Hyundai, it would come with a 10/100 warranty. But it isn’t.
Ya, but it’s a mustang, not a Hyundai…and it won’t have a substandard long warranty for marketing purposes.
@rockit:
‘Ya, but it’s a mustang, not a Hyundai…and it won’t have a substandard long warranty for marketing purposes.’ Pff.
You’re right. Ford (like GM, Fiatsler) will simply not honor the warranty if it breaks (claiming lack of maintenance or ‘abusive’ driving). Ever tried to warranty anything from Ford, or even worse, wait for recall parts? Ever tried to get Ford to pay for a rental that month you don’t have your car? I guarantee Hyundai’s warranty kicks the s*** out of Ford’s.
I doubt the 4 will be the base engine — the 6 will be the base, and the lighter, more powerful and more fuel efficient ecoboost 4 will be a grand or two step up.
I agree. It falls in line with Ford putting a premium on thier EcoBoost engines. On the Edge it’s a $995 option to go from the 3.5 to 2.0T.
Ya, like a ’12 F150, a 5.0l is a $1k option. The EcoBoost is something like $2500! +1
I’d like to see a N/A 4 banger fill out the bottom of the Mustang line, especially if it’s supposed to be a world car. A 330 turbo-4 and the current 300HP 3.7L V6 would be/are fantastic but not every one that rolls off the line needs to be a high performance model.
The natural order of pony cars is that the entry level commuters trade on the GT and other hi-po models’ image while the GTs are made possible by the volume of the lesser models. It’s too top heavy now and Ford could be missing out on sales (and some CAFE help) on the bottom end.
If this this comes to pass, if the V8 is killed, I predict that GTs will finally be collectors items with insane resale value that will make Pontiac G8s look like Aveos in terms of resale value.
However I don’t see the V8 dying just because Ford spent all that money and development effort on the Coyote.
To kill a V8 in the Mustang would be like banning beer and hotdogs at a baseball game. If that (god forbid) were to happen, then gas prices would have to be something like $10/gal. Otherwise, would you drive a 4cyl N/A Mustang even IF it got almost 40mpg? Well sure, I would, but would the old school car guy?…..
Sadly, it’s just a matter of time.
Get your V8s now that you can guys. If I were over there with some coin I’d buy a Boss302, a Challenger SRT8, a Corvette and a Charger. Or 1 of those, merely as a collector item.
Just what we need: another version of the Mustang. Why can’t they get us a version of the Focus RS. That’s were a hot 4-cyl. belongs!
So the engine bay of the Mustang will be able to accommodate everything from a 2.3L four to a V8 with twice the displacement?
When Hyundai went 4-cyl-only in the Sonata, the car gained lightness. But a 4-cyl Mustang will be bogged down by all the extra weight needed to accommodate the V8 higher up the model list.
I always assumed it’s better to have the right size engine and tailor the car around its shape and size, a la FR-S or GT-R. Having to allow for two engine sizes is bad enough, But I imagine a Mustang would have to compromise quite a bit to allow for THREE different engine sizes.
Unless of course, the V8 goes the way of the Dodo, which isn’t bloody likely.
If the ever popular Fox mustang could do it for almost 20 years, the modern Mustang can probably do it just as well (if not better) with today’s tech. They recently just stuffed a turbo’d four cylinder into the Falcon, after all. It’s an interesting time right now for cars and engine options. I look forward to seeing what automakers can come up with.
I smell more like ‘Mustang II’ than SVO (notwithstanding the SVO as a ‘cool car’). Didn’t GM think of this in the Camaro with a turbo Ecotec and decided against it?
That said, the Focus in Europe is different than in the US (as in not imported from Eurozone), and i’m sure this will translate in neo-Horsey as well. This engine won’t be built in UK, mark my words. More like Flint or in some new plant built in the middle of Dearborn where the worker’s homes used to be.
These aren’t the droids you are looking for, move along…
Unless they retool an existing US engine plant (Romeo or Dearborn?), the 2.3 Ecoboost will come from Europe. The 1.6T is made in Wales and the 2.0T is made in Spain. I was suprised to see the UK parts percentage on the Escape when I saw one at the dealership.
According to GM, they did try using the 2.0T in the Camaro but it was slower and used more fuel than a 3.6l version.
Apparently this engine is terrific and sounds great, from what I’ve read about the Focus ST.
I’ve always liked the Focus ST, but it’s just no Astra VXR…..
I think a Chevy-badged Astra VXR would be awesome, but I don’t think the world is ready for a genuine hot hatch from Chevy, of all people. Heck the world would have a heart attack if they went the Buick route.
My first new car was a 1985 1/2 SVO. This is the first I’ve heard they were going to revive it. I know it didn’t sell well, and I saw more than a couple with a bumper sticker saying “I could of had a V8” Still I’m interested.
Slap some enormous ///TURBO/// decals on it, and call it a day.
I always thought the lower power 230 hp ecoboost 4 would make a great entry level engine in the Mustang. If a V6 can get 30 mpg highway the 4 should be able to squeak out close to 35. Price it at $19,995 and go crazy with your ads for a “under $20k rwd turbo sports coupe that gets 35 mpg”.
Who cares. Wake me up when the Coyote V8 gets direct injection and higher compression. The real Mustang exhaust note is bass heavy in 4/4 time like a good rock song.
Shoehorn it in to the Fiesta – or better yet, the forthcoming B-Max; there’s your factory sleeper.
I can see a turbo 4 with a handling/performance pack optional. The new V-6 is a lot of of bang for the buck. In the name of all that is Holy, keep the V8. No V8 = Mustang II
I agree that it will be sold as a step up from the v-6. FWIW the difference in MPG between turbo 4 and v-6 seems pretty marginal. Where you really see gains is with the tranny.. A 7 speed manual and 8 or 9 speed automatic can get them MPG gains.
If the four banger can deliver 50 mpg at 65-70 mpg, I will place an order as soon as it is announced.
Current Mustang engines won’t be heading to Europe because the don’t meet tough new ‘Euro 5’ emissions. They’re far too “dirty” to ever comply.
This is also why the M3’s dirty pig 4.0 V8 is going away. Ever notice how European OEMs are dragging their feet and hanging on to their old engines? Existing engines remain ‘grandfathered’, but new engines must meet Euro 5 or 6 emissions.
I read all the doom and gloom here about the end of performance cars and I think deja vu. The same nonsense was being written in the early seventies. Performance cars were going away and would never be seen again. Now, front drive family sedans will outrun muscle cars from the “golden age” of speed. Don’t ever think that there won’t be fast cars. People like them and where there is a demand, there will be a supply. In the seventies,the government did not demand an end to fast cars, the manufacturers drug their feet about complying with emission standards and went for the cheapest fixes available. GM proclaimed that meeting the standards was impossible. Honda said they could meet the standards with a GM car. GM shipped a Vega to Honda and got back a fully compliant car. Honda did not even pull the engine, they manufactured a cylinder head that worked and installed it on the Vega block. The big three did in the performance car.
Just for giggles, I want that engine stuffed in a Transit Connect!