• Chassis, Safety

• Ford Mustang Overview

Safety and standard equipment haven’t been denied in getting an all-new Mustang. Four-wheel disc brakes come with every pony car, with 11.4-inch front vented rotors on V-6s and 12.4-inch vented front discs with twin-piston calipers on the GT. Four-channel anti-lock braking is available, as is traction control that can be deactivated with a dash-mounted button. Ford’s Personal Safety System of dual front with passenger weight-sensing technology is standard; side airbags are available.

The new architecture sports MacPherson struts and a three-link live axle with a Panhard rod. Ford promises the Mustang will ride better than any of its ancestors, which is kind of like promising that yours truly will use a word processor more efficiently than Shakespeare. When it comes to braking and handling, however, the boasts become larger: Ford says they’re nothing short of world class.

As for the live-axle rear end, Ford execs tell us that the tuner crowd needs the durability of the setup so they can continue to tune the ’Stang’s engine line-up for racing and other not-so-street-legal events. “We talked to a lot of Mustang owners as we were developing this program,” said Hau Thai-Tang, chief engineer. “They are a very passionate group, and a lot of them told us — very strongly — that the all-new Mustang had to have a solid rear axle.”

Sounds logical to us, and also sounds less expensive to engineer and build, a critical point for a relatively low-volume production number like the Mustang.

But there’s one thing no one will need convincing to accept in an all-new Mustang — and that’s the skin. The new car tosses off past Mustang references like Dennis Miller run amok in the design studio, hangs them all together with aerodynamic concessions to modernity, and in the process makes a new vehicle that even a second grader can tell is a Mustang — and a hot-looking one, at that.