The other day my lovely wife bought a Ford. It’s nice. (They sold her a car that’d already been sold; then made up for it by giving her a car with more options than the one she originally tried to buy and eating the difference. Thanks Ford!).
While she was beating the dealer until they cried negotiating I looked at the other show-room vehicles. And I found the Ford Mustang (genes and all).
I was thinking Steve McQueen, and Bullitt. Really.
The drivers’ door wouldn’t close (on the showroom floor) and then I saw the dash:
Seriously, nobody in the US (or Canada, eh), needs 1/2 of this speedo. Yes, there’s a stretch or two of Texas highway that are 85, but 220? Drop this car out of a C-130 and it wouldn’t do 220.
I get marketing. You want to sell this car as a True Sports Car with a lot of Speed!!! Here’s the thing: as my eyes slowly age I don’t want to have to squint at the 1/2 inch to discern the difference between 35 and 45 while knowing this bad boy won’t go over 160, and never near 220. I don’t need a big HUD to tell me, but this display is just dumb.
Thanks,
a guy who’d buy a Mustang but not one with this silly detail in it.
Good grief. Why don’t they just stop screwing around and put a Mach meter in it.
I wouldn’t buy a Ford on a bet, having been burned by them over the years as company cars.
But here’s an explanation about the speedometers in all cars (not just Fords). http://bit.ly/13U8ImU
I agree that the ‘stang speedo is useless. Digital gauges are much more precise and easy to read than analog, assuming that the value being displayed is changing slowly. If I really want to know how fast I’m going, I’ll look at the GPS nav unit that lives on top of my dash.
Digital instrumentation can be done well, but none of the automakers are in that league. Given the iPod revolution, your next car should have several useful and informative digital dashboard display options to choose from instead of 4 or 5 archaic needles.
This looks like the gt500 model. It reached speeds in tests of 202 miles per hour. I agree that no where in America allows you to go that fast on the road. Unless you are racing which is what the gt500 is made for. This car can beat cars that are twice or three times its price (starting at $53,000) and you dont argue that the lexus LFA or Lotus Elise is unessisary when this car has and will destroy them on the track.
The CLK400 I had in New Zealand had a speedo that went to 240… but that was km/h.