2005 Ford Product Highlights

Ford recently hosted a special event to let journalists in my area drive some of the Blue Oval family's newest and most interesting vehicles. Ford, and its subsidiaries Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, and Land Rover, have some impressive new products for 2005. Some have been in our press fleet for a while, and some have yet to appear there. And a couple are about as likely to be in my driveway as a UFO is to land there. So my intention was, of course, to concentrate on what I'm least likely to see at home.

On the drive to the event, I spied the first 2005 Mustang that I've seen on the street. First thought: It looks a lot like the 1969 Mustang, as was intended. It also looks much larger than the 1993-2004 Mustang. The GT350-style quarter windows are a very nice touch. Definitely a looker.

So, the new Mustang was on my short list of must-drive cars. Not surprisingly, it was on everyone else's, too, and I didn't move quite quickly enough to be first in line. So what to do when almost all the cars are out? Well, here's the Lincoln Town Car. This one isn't quite a standard model. Limo drivers I've talked with love their Town Cars for their reliability and dependability, and have been known to call them ``bulletproof.'' This one really is bulletproof - as in armored, with inch-and-a-half thick windows as well. I open a rear door to get in the back seat. There is an old cliche about the door of a luxury car sounding like the door to a bank vault when it closes - this one brings that to life. Heavy as a bank vault door, too - watch your fingers and feet. Once inside, it's like any other Town Car, soft, cushy, and comfortable, with plenty of room. The view is a little distorted through the thick sandwich material of the windows, and the pillars are a little wider than usual. Allegedly, the car can withstand rounds from an assault rifle at close range. Sounds like a perfect taxi - for downtown Baghdad. I get to drive it back, about 2 miles. This car weighs 7,000 lbs and feels it. ``Nimble'' and ``quick'' are not in its vocabulary. But, then, with all the armor, I don't suppose out-running the bad guys was in the design spec....

By the time we get back, a Mustang GT is available. It takes about ten feet to fall hopelessly in love. Ford got this one absolutely spot-on right. Best Mustang yet, by a country mile. And not only does it look like a proper Mustang, with classic styling cues and proportions, it sounds and goes like one, too. I have a chance to get on the gas a bit. As with many newer, higher-revving engines, the new Mustang's 4.6-liter, three-valve-per-cylinder, aluminum-alloy, single-overhead-cam V8 develops its maximum torque and horsepower at relatively high engine speeds (300 hp @ 5750 rpm, 320 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm), so it doesn't have the low-end grunt of some of the older pushrod V8s - which may lessen owners' tire and clutch budgets - but it's very strong. And the chassis is a great improvement over that of the old Fox platform. Even though the new Mustang still has a solid axle in the rear, the suspension has been extensively reworked. What, previously, were aftermarket modifications to improve ride and handling are now standard equipment. The results are immediately apparent, especially on the rolling, chuckholed roads built on subsiding landfill on which I am driving. There is still room for improvement for the hardcore enthusiasts who live for track days, but right off the showroom floor, the 2005 Mustang is near-perfect for everyday use in the real world.

Ah, serendipity. What should be available when I get back? The `05 Saleen Mustang S281. Steve Saleen is a noted Mustang tuner, and this is his latest creation. If it's a little wilder looking than the stock Mustang on the outside, it a lot wilder under the hood. The first two things I noticed after getting in were two small gauges on top of the dash. As I recall, one said ``boost p.s.i.'' and the other ``temperature.'' Okay...that means that this was not merely a Saleen S281 but a 281 SC. SC, as in SuperCharged. 400 horses worth of supercharged with an innovative twin-screw supercharger and dual-stage water-to-air intercooling. Makes a regular Mustang feel like an armored Town Car in comparison. The suspension is beefed-up to handle all that power, so it's considerably firmer than a stock GT there. And for hotrod Mustang fans with a need for true excess, there's always the Saleen 281E. That's ``E'' as in ``Extreme,'' and extreme as in 445 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque.

Once back from driving the Saleen, the next question was ``What do I have to do to get a ride in the GT?'' Not, not the Mustang GT, the Ford GT - the limited-production tribute to the Ford GT40 that was victorious at the 24 Hours of LeMans in the late 1960s. ``Put your name on the list and wait'' was the answer, so I did that and tried a couple more cars until my turn came up. They were:

Volvo XC90 V8: If things had worked out differently, I would have driven the latest version of Volvo's SUV the week before, at the press introduction in Phoenix, Arizona. But some annoying little virus in my body had other ideas. Oh well, here it is. The first question I had for the Volvo PR rep was ``whose V8 is it?'' as Volvo has never had a V8 car engine and I couldn't think of a Ford engine that would fit. ``Ours, it's a 60-degree, transversely-mounted design'' he replied. ``Explain,'' I said, '' developing a completely new engine is an expensive proposition. Especially for limited use. And 60-degree dohc 32-valve transversely-mounted V8 sho sounds like something I've heard before.'' Ever the wise guy, that's me. And, yes, development was done with the assistance of Yamaha, who helped Ford out with a similarly-designed engine for the old Taurus SHO, but this is not a warmed-up SHO engine. And, yes, it could fit in other Volvos. It has more horsepower but a bit less torque than the twin-turbo inline-six used in the XC90 T6 (and the S80 T6). Like any XC90, this one feels not at all like a truck but like a larger, taller Volvo wagon. A very pleasant vehicle.

Jaguar Vanden Plas: This is the new premium version of the long-wheelbase XJ sedan. Like all XJs, its aluminum-intensive construction gives it light weight, for improved ride comfort and performance. The regular (if such a word can apply to a luxury sedan) XJ is a comprehensively-appointed luxury car, with a leather and wood interior in the manner that Jaguar does best. The Vanden Plas is just like it, only more so. A soothingly-luxurious mobile place in which to unwind after a long day on the trading floor at the commodities exchange. No chauffeur required - if you can afford it, this is much too pleasant a car to let someone else drive.

Finally, just before it was time to go home, it was time to get into the GT. A little background is in order. In the early 1960s, Enzo Ferrari, in need of financing for his various racing teams, had some apparently-serious talks with Ford regarding Ford buying Ferrari. Or maybe he was just playing with the Americans, because the deal fell through at the last minute. Ford's visions of entering European endurance racing took a sudden detour, but, hey, if you can't buy `em, beat `em. Ford embarked upon development of a car to compete in European-style endurance racing, with the goal of winning the prestigious 24 Hours race held at LeMans, France, which was essentially a Ferrari benefit in the early 1960s. The car was the GT40, so-called because of its height - 40 inches - and the fact that it ran in the GT Prototype class. It took a couple of years of expensive and frustrating development, but Ford finally met its goal in 1966. And the winning streak continued, at LeMans and elsewhere, until rules changes at the end of 1969 made them obsolete.

The Ford GT is most definitely not a GT40 replica, and that's a good thing for those well-heeled people who have bought one. First, the GT is best thought-of as a look-alike four-thirds scale tribute to the GT40 as it is considerably larger and built in a very different manner. The GT40 was fabricated, in the manner of racing cars of its day, with a central monocoque chassis of riveted and welded sheet steel. Much of the chassis rigidity was due to the two wide torque boxes used both as door sills and fuel tanks. All GT40s had right-hand drive and a right-hand gearshift lever, which made entry and exit for the driver a bit tricky. As did the wide sills. They were race cars, so creature comforts - and space - were minimal. Yes, there were a few made for the street, and a number of replicas of varying degrees of fidelity to the originals, but none of those were much better in the accouterment department, either. Although its proportions are close to those of the GT40, the GT is 18 inches longer, and four inches higher. It has a space frame made of aluminum extrusions, castings, and stampings, and is made for use on the street- and the odd track day or time trial. Its 3,500-lb curb is a thousand pounds more than that of the GT40 Mk II that won LeMans in 1966, but its 550-horsepower 5.4-liter supercharged dual overhead cam aluminum alloy V8 is comparable to or perhaps even stronger than the 7-liter pushrod stock car V8 in the Mk II.

The GT in question was the development car, which had been clocked at 207 mph in testing, almost exactly the same top speed as the GT40 MkII in LeMans trim. Journalists were not allowed to drive as it was privately-owned - by Steve Saleen. How'd he get the development car? Perk of the job - among his other interests, he is in charge of GT construction. And, hey, if it was my car I'd be more than a little hesitant about letting journalists drive it, too.

Although the GT, at 44 inches high, is pretty low, entry is surprisingly easy. As on the GT40, the doors are cut nearly halfway into the roof. And the GT is an American-spec left-hand drive, right-hand shift car, with the fuel tank in the central backbone tube. No dicey climbing over a wide sill with a gearshift lever waiting to impale the unwary. The driver, a Ford PR representative, was about six-four and fit fine. How is it? Not exactly luxurious, but far above a race car in comfort. How fast? We tried to stay as legal as possible, but it still made the Saleen SC281 SC feel like an armor-plated Town Car. Sitting so low to the ground only enhances the effect of speed, acceleration, and deceleration. I can only hope that those lucky (and wealthy) enough to own a GT don't keep it in a hermetically-sealed collector's case but take it out and use it. A fine time trial car, with a great stereo, too - and I'm not talking about electronics, if you know what I mean.