The reason they are doing it is to warm the public to the idea of more power, same price, better fuel mileage without taking away their beloved V8s. I'm sorry but 300-320 hp from the 3.5L with twin turbos would be retarded. 30-50 hp out of Twin Turbos? Come on now. They have to lower MPGs granted this is well in advance, that is the reason as well for offering it next to the V8, so it does not alienate the core enthusiast. Because today, a lot of people buy a V6 Mustang because "it's a fast car, right ?" even if it has a 6 and they have no clue of the real perfrormance. If you alienate the core "gatta have a V8" crowd, you risk turning the Mustang name into......... well just look at the Mustang II. Sure it sold well then but look at it today, you jump from 1973 to 1982 on the same page when you list Mustangs by year on eBay. It was not as strong of a name until the Boss came back in 1982. They took a hammering when they were going to go FWD in 1989, the Mustang nuts convinced them not to. These are touchy people they are messing with, so to persuade them, they need to watch their step.

 

That in a car that was coming in weight wise under 3400 lbs would be very desirable.

 

As I understand it, they'll offer a turbo V6 side-by-side with a NA V8 in the GT at first, to see how the market reacts. Ditching the GT's V8 altogether isn't yet set in stone.

 

I assume it is the TT 3.5L that the MKS is getting. 340HP

It like a modern day Grand National

 

#1 They are affraid of the loss of the V8 as most expect it in a Mustang even though the Turbo V6 can be made to perform as well or better than most V8 options. They hope a better performing V6 turbo with better milage will catch on. Thery may offer both at first to show the V6 is the equal or better of the two.

#2 The CAFE is not in yet but they have to plan for the future and right now Ford looks to be into the V6 in a big way. They have even considered a possibility of it replacing the V8 in the half ton F150. This is to be determind yet.

#3 2-4 MPG Means a lot to a company that has to find 17 MPG more to get to the 35 MPG average. Yes even 50,000-60,000 cars means a lot. Even Chevy is looking into making a smaller Vette with a 4.7 V8. All the cards or in this case cars are on the table and in play.

Things will start to change in 4-5 years and then it will start to change fast.

Lets face it Honda gets a fleet average of around 23 MPG and they have to find 12 MPG to reach 35 MPG and they have no large trucks. Ford and GM are around 17-19 MPG average based on the numbers I saw with the trucks.

We will see unibody light trucks, more hybrids, Many more turbo's, More small V8, The V6 and 4 cylinders, will be more important, we will see more3 cylinders, smaller and ligher vehicles over all.

The V8 will not be dead but it will smaller and not as widely available.

New technology will be made available that we had not though possible or affordable today. Car prices will rise between $1500-6500 in todays money just for the changes.

THe goverment can come in and change or delay things but it will be limited.

Either way Ford claims the V6 Turbo can get more mileage than the V8 and they feel it is the way to go. Time will tell if they do go this route in a big way or not.

 

Where do you get your numbers from? The current CAFE standard is 25mpg for cars and trucks combined. Neither GM nor Ford has paid a fine. List of CAFE fines. The current fleet gets around 29mpg average. Domestic Fleet MPG

All this information comes from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration which I assume is credible since they are the government agency in charge of giving CAFE fines.

 

I know about the Boss motor, bore spacing is a tad bit shy of the old FE motor' bore spacing. I wish they'd unveil the damn thing already. I keep hearing about a mod motor variant for the 5.0 engine, but nothing solid. I've heard big bore and standard stroke, slightly bigger bore with a slightly bigger stroke, and standard bore with bigger stroke for the 5.0. Can't reliably do a big bore version of the mod motor without going to a siamese cast iron block or changing the bore spacing ( although the latter would be nice and could net some nice gains in airflow)