2005 Ford Mustang First Drive

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Introduction

Ford Mustang -- 2005 First Drive: There was a time, once, when the Ford Mustang symbolized everything Americans loved about their cars. Powerful. Fast looking. Practical enough to be convenient and impractical enough to be fun. Affordable. It could gallop like a wild horse and a regular guy could afford one.

It was the people's icon of American car culture. We wrote songs about it, stars drove it in the movies; we gave it names and pinned it up on our bedroom wall. It was the legend and romance of the open road, made available at the corner Ford store.

And then it stopped. The Mustang stopped its gallop and started commuting. It stopped being something we would aspire to own and started becoming something we wouldn't own - its long and heavy doors, plastic interior and ill-fitting componentry a turn-off in an automotive world that prizes perfection of fit and finish and super dependability.

Gallop

Finally, 40 years after the original and goodness knows how many years since the last major redesign, the gallop is back. Here, in the fall of its 40th Anniversary, the soul of a car company in need of inspiration has returned, the spark behind the idea that a car could be - should be - something more than just an appliance is once again grumbling and bucking along the boulevard. The 2005 Ford Mustang has what this car company needs - a spirit than makes a statement about its driver, from the way it looks to how it sounds.

From top to bottom, the new 2005 Ford Mustang is a vast improvement over the outgoing model, a vehicle that is tantalizing in its imagery, delicious in the sights and sounds it conjures, yet short in terms of the cold, clinical perfection all cars are measured by in the 21st century. And that will hurt the car's success, though how much remains to be seen. But things should fit tightly together. Plastics should go together, and feel nice when you touch it. To not have it that way is a crime when one considers the brilliant simplicity of the interior design, the comfort of the cabin, the improvements to the ride and handling and the stunning style of the car.