IRS in the new Stang, be careful of what you wish for

[shatner saves]

Exactly.

I want IRS and I am willing to pay for it, I just don't want to have to buy a SVT Mustang to get IRS and have to pay $10,000 - $15,000.

If the Mustang comes standard with a live axle and there are Stangers that want a live axle, I could care less, just as long as I can get a decent IRS for $1K or less, I (and tens of thousands of of other Mustang owners) will be happy.

It wouldn't (and probably won't) have to be an option on the GT. It will probably be a special edition of some kind, maybe the next mustang bullitt. After all, Steve McQueen was a big road race guy and the car chase in "buillitt" wasn't noteworthy for it's depiction of drag racing.

 

[65conv50]

90% of Mustang owners don't care about racing, drag or road. They just want a car that doesn't hop sideways when you hit a bump while taking a corner. Something a live axle is hard pressed to deliver.

Absolutely correct. Most buyers don't know or care what the design is - - they just want the ride and handling that a live axle cannot give in normal, around-town driving.

 

[351CJ]

351cj, Id be willing to bet the reason for such a low sales rate after test driving is that they never intended to buy the car. The majority of test drivers are joy riders who are wasting the salesmans time.

According to this Ford salesman, that is not the case. First he is not considering joy riders. Specifically he is talking about lost Mustang customers who are legitimate prospects. Most of the time they come in to look at the Mustang with high expectations, based on the Mustang name & reputation. The majority are looking @ V6's as 65 - 70% of Mustang sales are V6's. So these are not joy riders who are looking to rag on a GT or Mach 1. Why they reject the Mustang is: ergonomics and comfort. The primary complains are the seating, how the drivers seat is not in line with the steering wheel, hard to reach the controls, cheap looking interior poor ride comfort and bad road manners.

 

[63_Fairlane]

We have been through all of this before.

The IRS on the Cobra is a rigged system. It has interent flaws in its mounting system and cannot be compared to a proper chassis mounted IRS.

Go out and find a used 89 to 97 Tbird or Cougar in good condition and take it for a test drive. You will find it has a compliant ride and will seriously out handle a stock Mustang given comparable tires. Considering it is a heavier car, makes its abilities all the more impressive.

The Cobras wheel hop is exacerbated by its nose heavy weight distrubution, which has finally been corrected on the 05.

Finally, Please kill this thread and all others relating to IRS. It's been done to death.

 

[Omegalock]

You solid axle guys are dead wrong.

On a couple of the other forums a salesman at a Ford dealer has posted extensively his experiences selling Mustangs. Of any car on his lot, Ford / Lincoln / Mercury dealership, the car that has the lowest sales rate after a test drive is the Mustang.

Why, because its a dated car that rides like crap. Most of those female customers you refer to test drive a Mustang and then go buy something like and Eclipse that has IRS and much better ride and manners out on the street in the real world.

90% of Mustang owners don't care about racing, drag or road. They just want a car that doesn't hop sideways when you hit a bump while taking a corner. Something a live axle is hard pressed to deliver.

And you think that the IRS on a car that was as rickety as the SN95 Stang would have appreciablely increased Mustang sales even if it added another 1000 bucks across the board? No. I'm not saying the difference is not there. I'm saying the difference to the average person is so negliable that they will not pay a premium for it. Well bolstered leather seats are nice they appreciablely improve the driving experience. However the average person is not going to be willing to pay another 1500 bucks or so for something on a 18k car just to get that little improvement.

 

[Omegalock]

I'm not woman (well, at least not till next year when I get the operation done) and I'm not going to buy a v6.

I have lived in few different places in my life, from north of the 55th parallel to south of the Mason-Dixon line. In all these places, the roads were far from straight and anything but smooth.

I think it's important to reiterate, for the benefit of the live axle die hards, that very few of the IRS folks are suggesting that ford dump the live axle all together. Speaking for most of them, I'm fine with it being on the GT. The new live axle should work quite well actually. However, if you want a car with the best attributes of ride and handling, a good IRS setup is the only way to go (and you shouldn't have to pony up $35k msrp for an '06 cobra to get it).

If you doubt that, I challenge anyone to show me a proven example of an IRS equipped passenger car switching to live axle. The only thing i can recall that even comes close is the old datsun 510's. The sedans had IRS, and a reputation for excellent handling, and the wagon had a live axle for higher payload capability. I think there were some hondas and subaru's like that too.

True yet there are some in the IRS camp that want the IRS standard and for some reason want to force the people who want the cheaper equipment to pay more. Which is totally bass ackwards of how any car company works.
I want the IRS to be an option as well across the board. If you want to pay the extra cash for a better ride...feel free.
However I'm just saying I fully feel more people would jump on the live axle aka cheaper camp than the IRS. I think Ford knows this that given the option between the two a well setup live axle and a well done IRS but with a 1500 price gap between the two their average buyer will opt for the cheaper cost of the live axle.
That is all I'm saying.

 

[shatner saves]

True yet there are some in the IRS camp that want the IRS standard and for some reason want to force the people who want the cheaper equipment to pay more. Which is totally bass ackwards of how any car company works.
I want the IRS to be an option as well across the board. If you want to pay the extra cash for a better ride...feel free.
However I'm just saying I fully feel more people would jump on the live axle aka cheaper camp than the IRS. I think Ford knows this that given the option between the two a well setup live axle and a well done IRS but with a 1500 price gap between the two their average buyer will opt for the cheaper cost of the live axle.
That is all I'm saying.

Sure. I think it's great that ford listned to it's core customers with regard keeping the live axle. The problem is that there are more than a few that would rather have IRS.

The other problem with it is perception. There are a lot of performance minded buyers (ie protential GT customers) that get really excited talking about the new mustang until you mention the live axle. I can think of a few people, some of them being e36 M3 owners, that might have seriously considered getting into one but won't even try it because of the live axle. I'm not saying it's correct or even fair, but the bias is definitly there. Ford would do well to bring out an option or an affordable (non cobra), high volume special edition equipped with IRS, possibly a bullitt.

Thanks.

 

[Rootus]

M3 owners probably wouldn't be looking at a GT anyway, they're used to cars costing $47k. Give them the IRS with the Cobra.

Dave

 

[shatner saves]

e46 m3's cost 47k. e36 m3's could be had for considerably less. And the performance potential per dollar is not lost on them. Nor is the improved chassis and interior.