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Automotive

Ford lifts the hood on 2015 Mustang

By Scott Collie
July 20, 2014
Ford lifts the hood on 2015 Mustang
The new 2015 Mustang is available with a V6, V8 or a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine
The new 2015 Mustang is available with a V6, V8 or a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine
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The new 2015 Mustang can be specced with a six-speed manual or automatic gearboxes
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The new 2015 Mustang can be specced with a six-speed manual or automatic gearboxes
The new 2015 Mustang is available with a V6, V8 or a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine
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The new 2015 Mustang is available with a V6, V8 or a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine

Late last year, Ford threw the sheets off the design for its 2015 Mustang. Now the automaker has revealed what will lie under the hood of that updated body, including more powerful V6 and V8 engines, along with a new EcoBoost engine that the company says boasts the best power density ever for a Ford engine.

The base engine available on the 2015 Mustang is a naturally aspirated, 300 hp (223 kW) V6, however, the flagship of the range steps things up to a 5.0-liter V8 pumping out 435 hp (324 kW) and providing 542 Nm of torque. The V8 takes advantage of larger intake and exhaust valves, and Ford says its forged crankshaft has been rebalanced to make the engine better at high revs.

The new 2015 Mustang can be specced with a six-speed manual or automatic gearboxes
The new 2015 Mustang can be specced with a six-speed manual or automatic gearboxes

While the V8 may top the Mustang lineup, the turbocharged four cylinder EcoBoost engine is big news as well. Designed specifically for the Mustang, the 2.3-liter engine includes direct fuel injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing and puts out 310 hp (231 kW) and 433 Nm of torque. This gives it what Ford says is the best ever power-density for one of its engines, with a specific output of almost 135 hp (101 kW) per liter and more than 188 Nm of torque per liter. The engine has also been strengthened to withstand the added stresses placed on it to ensure durability.

All three engines are available with either a Getrag six-speed manual or Ford's "SelectShift" six-speed auto. The manual is meant to be more precise than the gearbox in the old Mustang thanks to a redesigned shift linkage, while the shift lever has been shuffled closer to the driver and away from the cupholders. Meanwhile, the automatic gearbox comes standard with rev-matching on downshifts and drivers able to take manual control with wheel-mounted paddles.

The new Mustang will go on sale in the US later this year.

Source: Ford

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10 comments
Scott Collie
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Scott grew up with a passion for cars and a love of writing. He now combines the two by covering all things automotive for New Atlas. When he’s got a spare moment, you can usually find him freezing himself silly in search of fresh powder to ski.

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10 comments
Daishi
Some of the reviews I have seen of Mustang recently put Mustang GT mostly on par with the BMW M3 which is impressive but 300+ HP or not I'm not sure a Mustang should ever come with a 4cl engine.
Usually a model should give you a pretty good guess of the powertrain used for it but now mustang just means one of ~5 engines options could be used. Because people gravitate to the cheapest options it just means you would be stupid to spend 50k+ on a mustang when a base model can be picked up for 20k with a 4cl engine.
A 300hp 4cl option would make sense for Fusion, Focus, or Taurus but for Mustang it's just bottom feeding.
Joseph Kitchin
oh how quickly everyone forgets the mustang SVO, the other 4cyl turbo mustang. it didnt sell very well in the early 90s because "not a v8", but with a little tinkering that miracle 4pot could easily put out 400 horsepower and get low 30s mpg on the highway. in fact a lot of people were hoping this 4banger mustang would be called the SVO, but nope, it got that dumb ecoboost tag.
Chris Culpepper
Daishi, compete with a BMW, really...lol What bought and paid for reviewer wrote that article?
BMW has got cars that run on electricity. And Hyundai has a car running on water...
Ford, you could do much better. Quit being bought and sold by the oil companies and actually make a car worth a darn.
and we wonder why our country is lagging behind in math, science, etc.
Michael Wilson
The mustang compares favorably well against the M3 where it counts...On the track. The lap times, acceleration and cornering grip are pretty have gotten pretty close. For a few years, the pony cars when placed stock for stock against a similarly priced M3 do well. It does not have the brand recognition or interior quality of an M3, but for someone looking for a track car, this does not matter.
I rather like the new mustang styling and the SVO...er ecoboost powerplant seems interesting to me, but I really wish they did not integrate the manifold in with the turbo. This makes upgrading the exhaust manifold/turbo to better flowing units rather difficult.
On mass market econoboxes, I can understand the logic behind the turbo/manifold concept, but in a vehicle that is built for racing and designed with modification in mind, this is inexcusable. Ford...next time, design in a real manifold please.
steveraxx
The early Mustangs, and many later Mustangs with V-8 power had nowhere near 300 plus horsepower on tap. hilarious how some people continue to believe the more horsepower a vehicle has, somehow oddly confers more status on the owner.
Fact is, no one even needs 300 hp for the street.
Derek Howe
Chris Culpepper - Ford also has car that run on electricity...your point? Hyundai does not have a car that runs purely on water.
Ford does its best at trying to invest in whatever the future power train is, whether that's Diesel, CNG, electric, hydrogen, they have made cars that run on all of those energy sources.
My money is on electric, But I'm a huge Elon Musk/Tesla fan boy, so I'm a little biased.
Daishi
@Chris Culpepper Motor Trend did the review of the 2011 Mustang GT vs M3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOwSPccbzl4
The result was there was a negligible difference in performance (even when turning) but the Mustang GT costs about half as much.
@steveraxx Old cars made less power but also weighed considerably less. I agree that a lot of HP is mostly pointless for streets with a posted speed limit but even grocery getters like Toyota Camry and Honda Accord offer a ~280 HP option and sleeper cars like Taurus SHO are at 365 HP.
In 1980 Mustang was between 88 and 140 HP and now Mustang is at 662 HP, Camaro is 580 HP, and the Dodge Challenger next year will be 707 HP. That's overkill :) Usually american muscle cars have a reputation of being straight line wonders but now some of them are on the Nurburgring spanking much more expensive cars.
The $1.5 million Bugatti Veyron is rumored to have a 7:40 Nurburgring time which puts it 3 seconds behind a Camaro Z/28 on semi-wet track. That's embarrassing. The $2.8 million dollar super exotoc Pagani Zonda or $5 million dollar Koenigsegg CCX is still behind a $100k Chevy Corvette and Nissan GT-R. Ouch.
The only exotic supercars that have posted meaningful Nurburgring times lately were the hybrid Porsche 918 spyder, Mclaren p1, and LaFerrari. The performance battle for internal combustion engines alone has been all but lost to budget sports cars at this point.
Short Fuse
@Chris Culpepper
Well, Ford GT40 ended Ferrari dominance on racing tracks. Plus, Ford racing and muscle cars look manly and exciting. BMWs on the other hand are just unimaginative and dull. ;)
zeogid
Is a torque question, Why not compare the Mustang 5.0 vs BMW M5?
MK23666
Would have been nice if Ford offered the V6 and V8 in EcoBoost variants alongside the normally aspirated V6 and V8 engines for the Mustang.