It’s a weird time in the car universe. The mighty thrum of the V8 engine–that most American of all powerplants–is starting to grow faint. The Mustang remains the only American sports car in production with a V8 underhood as the Camaro has vanished and Dodge ditches its V8s for inline-sixes and electric power. Thankfully, Ford understands the mission.
Whenever I drive a V8 Mustang it just feels right. This isn’t to denigrate the EcoBoost motor or any other powerplant, but a V8 is and will always be the best way to get a Mustang, and it’s been that way since 1964. I had a Darkhorse this time last year and it was phenomenal.
It was also equipped with a six-speed manual, which is yet another experience slowly fading away like Marty McFly in an old photo after he makes out with his mom. The fact that we can get a Mustang at all, let alone one with two honest-to-goodness banks of four cylinders arranged in a vee (remember V is for victory) and a row-your-own gearbox is probably miraculous.
Is Ford going to screw this up? According to the automaker itself, probably not.
The company just did the launch for the 7th generation Mustang in Australia, and Australia’s main auto site, Drive.com.au, was there to find out the long-term viability of the platonic configuration of the muscle car. The company’s line is basically: Why the hell would we stop?
In an interview with Australian media at the seventh-generation Ford Mustang launch last week, global chief engineer for the Ford Mustang Laurie Transou said as long as the V8 can be sold, it’ll remain a part of Mustang.
“[Ford CEO] Jim Farley has mentioned, and we agree, that we’re doubling down on our V8,” said Transou.
“As long as we can possibly sell our V8, we’re going to.”
Hell yeah. The naturally aspirated V8 is the most lower-case-d democratic of engines, offering a lot of power and spectacle at a price a regular person can afford.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t a lot of threats. The most obvious reason why carmakers might stop improving the V8 is a belief that governments will make it impossible to sell them. In the United States, at least, that’s far from happening, and on the federal level, there’s no ban on new internal combustion sales. Sure, Ford will have to eventually balance out more Mustang GTs with Mach-Es and other vehicles, but that isn’t a death warrant.
It’s a little tougher in Europe, but even then there are big exceptions for e-fuels.
The Mustang isn’t just the only V8-powered, manual RWD American sports car still in production, it’s also one of the last V8-powered, manual RWD anything you can buy. Which Ford noted in this interview:
“I’d say, I think we’re very proud to [be] still making the V8, said Joe Bellino, global brand manager for Mustang.
“And when it comes to everyone else, I think that makes us really proud of what we do. And parking on that, that’s our history, right…? V8 Mustangs and what we’re doing still.”
“Not everybody can say that. And as Jim mentioned, doubling down on it, making it a priority of ours, and it’s a hallmark of Mustang.”
There’s also the excellent Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, of course, but that’s almost $100k to get into. The cheapest V8 Mustang starts at less than half of that. Stellantis stopped investing in the V8 even though that was the company’s brand for years and I think it’s been very much to the detriment of Dodge and Ram.
Manuals are becoming the rarest option of all and, just to be sure nothing got lost in translation from English to English, I followed up with Ford and got a quote from Laurie Transour confirming that the manuals are here to stay.
“The pure enthusiast loves the manual transmission, so [we] continue to offer it. As long as our customers are desiring manual transmission and there’s a market for it, we would continue to offer manual transmission,” she told us.
The other reason they’d stop, of course, is demand. Ford should obviously stop making V8s and manual transmissions if no one wants them. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
In fact, I think it’s kinda our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Preach, Brother Hardigree!
Every time I start a V8 vehicle it puts a smile on my face. You can make a turbo V-whatever as good as you want and it won’t do that.
I love that there is an option, and modern day emissions engineers are literal wizards (or computer nerds, like me). As long as it doesn’t completely wreck the environment (and guzzle fuel, which shockingly these don’t under NORMAL driving conditions), then have at it until such time as it is no longer possible.
“The naturally aspirated V8 is the most lower-case-d democratic of engines, offering a lot of power and spectacle at a price a regular person can afford.”
$48K after destination charges, etc is affordable for a regular person?
A $735 prime lease rate (before taxes) is affordable for a regular person?
In what universe is this affordable when the base price is more than 1/2 the country earns after taxes per year?
Lets not even talk about insurance, fuel and maintenance.
No sir – The Mustang GT has not been affordable to regular people for a long, long, long time.
Median income in the US was more than $80,000 last year.
Is it your contention that someone earning that salary pays 40% of their income in taxes?
80K sounds like a lot in places like Ohio or Michigan.
It’s nothing in places where more people earn that kind of money – Like NoVa, NYC, Chicago.
It affordable compared to just about anything else you can get new with 486 horsepower
I know the Canadian dollar is weak and such but:
$61,783 CAD after taxes, etc. for the cheapest V8 (GT). Against a median Canadian individual income of $68,400… yeah I don’t know too many Regular Folks™ who are going out and spending an entire year’s pay on a car.
Dude, google what the average new car price is in America. Hint, the cost of new baseline V8 Mustang is the only thing average about it.
If anyone is too lazy to Google it:
As of March of this year, The average transaction price for a new vehicle was $47,218 in the US.
And how is that being financed?
Via a lease deal?
An 84 month loan?
That does not make it affordable for 1/2 the country.
they might want to beef up the basic GT manual though.
Ugh, The MT82 is such a garbage transmission.
Good. Now fix the damn gawdawful S650 interior. Looks like an Escape interior. All chunky and gross w/ no proper buttons. Give us the S550 interior w/ nicer materials.
This reminds me of the last time GM stopped making the Camaro- because surely everyone wanted the FWD Berretta- while Ford kept making V8 Mustangs.
problem is nobody seems to want to pay the money for Camaro’s
“The Mustang remains the only American sports car in production with a V8 underhood…”
Is the Corvette chopped liver? Or did you mean with a manual transmission?
Technically, the Corvette has it’s V-8 under-hatch! Is it still a hood if its not at the front of the car?
Have been in the hood.
They don’t all look the same, or live in the same place.
America!
What they really mean is they’ll keep making them until assholes stop buying cars like this. If shitty drivers that get off on revving their engines and harassing cyclists can’t get their fix from Stellantis or GM, Ford will happily take their money. They’ll have a steady flow of customers for the foreseeable future as these mostly end up wrecked showing off at Cars&Coffee and late night street takeovers.
My experience driving through various states would hardly call out Mustangs over the multitude of pickup trucks are “that guy” who thinks they’re more important than anyone else that might be on the road.
Do a lot of immature reckless dinguses buy Mustangs? Yes. Do most Mustangs engage in that behavior? No. The vast majority of Mustangs I see on the road are bone stock, not obnoxiously loud, and drive normally. You have to make an effort to notice them because they literally aren’t doing anything any other car wouldn’t do. They’re just cars in traffic like everyone else’s car.
The bad eggs always stand out, but be honest, most Mustangs are just normal coupes with normal drivers behind the wheel, which the owner probably just thinks is a neat car that looks pretty and could go fast if they wanted it to.
I’ve seen far more reckless Mopar drivers than Mustang drivers, because Hellcats and whatnot still have some sense of being niche specialized gas-guzzling monsters which almost exclusively attract people with a “spirited” driving style, but Mustangs are literally the most normal sports cars on the road. They’re everywhere and driven by every type of person, there are no more reckless Mustang drivers than reckless Honda Accord drivers. Accords are just harder to spin out when people get reckless, but still.
Nissan Altimas are the real road menaces anyway.
The spirit of Steve McQueen has entered the chat.
I’m ReverendDC, and I endorse this message.
Hi! I’m Mr E, and I’m apparently an asshole. This is news to me. My harassment of a Mustang GT just returned around 27MPG whilst driving from NJ to MI and back in the span of 28 hours (all for a puppy, because I guess I’m an attention-loving asshole too). During the whole 1200 mile trip, my wife and I only saw a handful of Mustangs, most being driven responsibly (there was that one guy in a GT with a fake GT350 front clip just south of Detroit that wanted everyone to hear his exhaust, but still). What we did see a lot of during the entire trip were pickup trucks and crossovers flying down I-75 and I-80 at or above 90 MPH, weaving in and out of traffic.
You’d make a great painter, what with your broad brush and all.
Dodge and GM pulled the plug on the Hemi and Camaro too early.
There isn’t enough market for everyone to make multiple sports cars. Mustang is Ford’s global sports car. GM already has the Corvette, and Stellantis has a blizzard of sports models that sell outside the US and doesn’t much need a US only sports car. Stellantis already sells America’s most popular and most desired sports car: the Jeep Wrangler.
“The company’s line is basically: Why the hell would we stop?”
Ask GM. It’s their modus operandi.
I’m a Chevy guy but when the missus and I sat in a new Mustang at the ’23 Chicago Auto show.. ooh that felt nice..
Toyota would like a word with you about that shift knob.
Does the Mustang still issues with its 6MT Getrag unit in the GT? I’d love to buy a new one to keep the V8 MT life alive but I really don’t want to spring for a Dark Horse to get the Tremec that doesn’t blow its gears :/
You’d think at $45K to start they could afford the TR6060 in all manual Mustangs, but there’s this weird aversion. Hell, Chevy was able to put one into a $35K Camaro LT1 until last year. Even the Dark Horse comes with a lesser Tremec.
It was my understanding that all manual 6th gen Camaros were the tremec. Why Ford offers two different kinds of manual in a single car has always been weird
Blown gears in the Getrag mean money for Ford dealerships. Ford also loves over stressing transmissions. They release stuff that’s over the transmissions’ torque limit from the damn factory. Hell the Ecoboost in the Maverick puts out more torque than that 8 speed’s limit.
They do. Ford overrates not just their transmission durability, BUT also their power output of the engine. For example, Ford LIED to owners about lower duty 7.3 gas engines which produced 350 or so HP but was derated to 335 HP…and offered 100 dollars of credit…which in my sense was POOR compensation…(not to mention these engines had the most problems with camshaft delamination…).
There are two Tremecs, the 3160 and the 6060.
Ford uses the 3160 in the DH and the GT350. Chevy used it in the 4 and 6 cyl Camaros.
The 6060 hasn’t been seen in a Ford product since the 2014 GT500, but it’s been behind every GM V8 (and the Challenger and Viper) for many years.
And fun note they make the t56 magnum, which is a t6060 in the form of a t56 to swap in vehicles that had the normal t56. I have a t56 magnum in my 89 Firebird and it is an awesome trans was a little work getting it into place though since t56s were not stock.
This same concern is principally what keeps me from seriously shopping for a 2011+ GT to someday replace my 02 GT. I like enjoying the occasional track day without fear of serious mechanical failure.
The problem is, while I understand they are willing to build Mustangs regardless….the market to which the Mustang targets is fairly different from the Camaro. If you go to the website, the Mustang is targeted towards young people as a modern lifestyle car..popular and good looking. The Camaro….well that was similar, BUT NOT to such an extent. And in a way, that is good also.
The problem is, while Ford continues to build the Mustang and says it will do so, this comes from a company that has THE MOST RECALLS and QC issues of any other…….
I owned a ’13 Boss 302. Loved everything about the damn car, excluding that shite Getrag unit. It was a commonality at the track to have multiple owners bitching about it. Had I kept the Boss (had to sell for med bills, thanks USA healthcare!) I would’ve swapped a proper Tremec in. Such a cheap-ass copout by Ford.
I looked it up and the Mustang and Caddy are the *only* American-branded passenger cars available with a stick. Of course, that’s partly because most American brands don’t offer many passenger cars at all. But even if you add in trucks and SUV/CUV, the only other American-badged vehicles with manual transmissions for 2025 are the Bronco and Wrangler/Gladiator.
Bring on the Mustang sedan! I want a semi affordable RWD sedan with a *Clarkson impersonating Americans voice* V8 motor
The fact that it’s been sixty years and there’s no sedan sibling to the Mustang is mind-boggling. By the late 90’s/ early 00’s there should have been something!
Think of how many Mustang owners had kids and traded their Mustang for a BMW throughout the late 80’s until today!
I literally just traded in my mustang for a bmw last weekend to have a better road trip vehicle for me and my kids
I’d love an M340i or even full fat M3….they’re just way more money than I should be tying up in a car, especially when the cost of BMW ownership is factored in. I nearly bought a 330i a couple of years ago but deep down I just feel like I need a straight 6 to get the full fat Bimmer experience.
I got a cheap E90 328i with the NA I6. My only regret was not being able to find a manual but I needed a car immediately. With the exception of the mpg, my lord I can’t go back. F30s and G20s just don’t drive the same.
I’m keeping my eyes out for just a better 6MT E90 or E92 at this point. Cannot recommend enough, find a well kept one for $10-$15k and keep the rest aside for maintenance
If a Mustang sedan ever sees the light of day, I expect it will be along the lines of the BMW 4-series Grand Coupe.
This. Or the Audi A5 Sportback, the Porsche Panamera, the AMG GT, etc: all sloped-back sedans made from two door coupes.
Well, the OG mustang did have the Falcon sibling. My first car was a 67 Falcon and kept it on the road because of all the parts it shared with the mustang. You could even get one with a V8!
The LTD LX from the 80s came close since it was a Fox platform with a 302. Ford just never went all the way. Perhaps the lack of success when they made the Cougar a sedan and even a wagon during the 70s turned them off on the idea
This. It’s why I’m so glad the Mach-E is 5 doors. Just upgraded to the premium extended range AWD ’24 with the Lightning motor from the ’21 standard that I leased when it was impossible to get cars.
Yeah it’s a family SUV they stuck that Mustang name on, and some styling. But it’s quick, I can put my kid in the car seat in the back, and I still get the whiff of midlife crisis fun that makes it all worthwhile.
And that new motor is really torquey!
I hope that they see the lesson in this for the V8 car.
I’m a known Ford man, but have to say Ford isn’t being that heroic here. Heroic would be making some other cars/vehicles with V8s and/or available manuals. Crowing about putting them in a favorite weekend toy is kinda expected, esp. when it’s in a now otherwise unoccupied market niche.
Sure, I know the rebuttal is “we’re talking global here of course” but still…
I didn’t really pick up on any vibe that they thought this was a heroic decision. Just that there is a constant, lingering fear that the regulatory landscape will produce an environment where they can no longer build these cars anymore.
Most of us I think sort of accept this as an eventuality and so many auto makers have just thrown in the towel and accepted it before it’s a reality.
So it’s nice to hear we have at least one that is dedicated to keeping it going as long as we can.
For sure…I get that in many parts of the world, V8s are a very special treat that face a lot more exogenous threats than here in the states, but I’m thinking esp. of the manual situation we face.
I’m pretty sure the full-sized Bronco offers one, right, but otherwise, nothing else in the Ford lineup allows you to row your own.
“Heroic” would be Ford making other actual “cars”, like they used to. Not CUVs/crossovers/whatever.
It was sad when they canned all of the other cars for the US market, and it only got worse when they released the next generation of them for the global market and they all looked great. Now even Ford Europe is turning in their Fiestas, Focuses, and Mondeos for Pumas, Escapes, and Capris.