I just picked up this real cool book at Borders entitled "Mustang A New Breed of Pony Car 2005" and in it Thai-Tang (the new Mustang Chief Engineer) says "a real "sleeper" in the Mustang line will be the V-6 equipped with the five-speed manual. The V-6 manual is also a really nice package as far as performance feel, the transmission's internals have been changed with more precise machining of the gear set to provide smoother operation." It goes on to say "When equipped with this upgraded Tremec T-5 five-speed manual the V-6 can be a hoot to drive. It's fairly quick and predictable like its GT sibling. The V-6 is much more fun to drive than the previous version, after getting our management team through it, they were surprised and delighted by the performance of the V-6. The performance feel is terrific and we over-achieved our objectives for the car.". Ford estimates the 0-60 acceleration of the V-6 manual about about 7 seconds and 7.5 seconds for the five-speed automatic. With slight less weight on the nose than the GT, the V-6, which has a 53/47 percent front/rear weight distribution, feels nimble and spirited in cornering.
It goes on to say that the 15.7/1 steering ratio remains the same for both cars (V-6 vs. GT) and says that the steering sytem is the same with the same boost curve, T-bar and gearing.
An interesting side note states "Like the GT, particular attention was paid to the sound coming from the exhaust. Although the V-6 is designed to appear to a more female and younger audience, it was felt that the exhaust note should be deeper and slightly more aggressive to reflect the changes beneath the hood. As a result, there's a bit more bark and rasp to the exhaust. It's interesting to note that the single exhaust proved to be a bigger challenge in exhaust note tuning. It was the V-6, and not the GT, that exceeded pass-by noise standards in initial testing. This note in early prototypes was dialed back significantly in subsequent test rides. Thai Thang notes that with just one exhaust and 4.0 liters of displacement, the V-6 is pushing much more air (which makes noise) through the exhaust than the V-8's dual exhaust, making it a bigger challenge to get the sound right. The increased performance, new look, and sound of the V-6 are expected to broaden the car's appeal to younger male buyers who may not be able to afford the GT, or more importantly, the insurance on a V-8 sports car.
Personally, I think Ford (specifically Thai Thang) knew what he was creating here by putting in the 4.0 in the "secretary's car" and I think we have many more performance surprises to come out in regards to performance for our V6 (a thread on the S197 talk forum said that our V6's were not a muscle car era car).
It goes on to say that the 15.7/1 steering ratio remains the same for both cars (V-6 vs. GT) and says that the steering sytem is the same with the same boost curve, T-bar and gearing.
An interesting side note states "Like the GT, particular attention was paid to the sound coming from the exhaust. Although the V-6 is designed to appear to a more female and younger audience, it was felt that the exhaust note should be deeper and slightly more aggressive to reflect the changes beneath the hood. As a result, there's a bit more bark and rasp to the exhaust. It's interesting to note that the single exhaust proved to be a bigger challenge in exhaust note tuning. It was the V-6, and not the GT, that exceeded pass-by noise standards in initial testing. This note in early prototypes was dialed back significantly in subsequent test rides. Thai Thang notes that with just one exhaust and 4.0 liters of displacement, the V-6 is pushing much more air (which makes noise) through the exhaust than the V-8's dual exhaust, making it a bigger challenge to get the sound right. The increased performance, new look, and sound of the V-6 are expected to broaden the car's appeal to younger male buyers who may not be able to afford the GT, or more importantly, the insurance on a V-8 sports car.
Personally, I think Ford (specifically Thai Thang) knew what he was creating here by putting in the 4.0 in the "secretary's car" and I think we have many more performance surprises to come out in regards to performance for our V6 (a thread on the S197 talk forum said that our V6's were not a muscle car era car).
amnit: 
