ARCADIA, Calif. — If you want a traditional gasoline-powered pony car, you’ll soon be down to just one option: the 2024 Ford Mustang.
Still, engineers and designers at Ford gave the seventh-generation stallion a number of unique features that they hope attract new buyers and help it stand out, even as the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger will be discontinued — nameplates that have long battled the Mustang for market share.
Journalists had the opportunity here this month to drive the latest Mustang, which goes on sale in the next few months. Here are four cool features.
Ever dream of drifting like Vaughn Gittin Jr.? Now even novices have that opportunity. Ford added an electronic drift brake as part of the vehicle’s optional High-Performance Package. The e-brake replaces the traditional parking brake on those models. Simply lift up, and the brake locks the rear wheels, allowing you to drift through corners. Release it, and you’re instantly back to regular driving.
What’s the point of having V-8 power if you can’t let the neighbors hear it? Ford is offering a remote rev feature that unleashes the car’s signature growl with the tap of buttons on the key fob. Users must start the car by pressing the lock button and then the remote start button twice. After that, according to a video posted by Ford, they must press the unlock button and the lock button, in that order. Repeating that step fully engages the feature, with the revs spiking at 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 rpm. The feature is available on all V-8 Mustangs with an automatic transmission, as well as the 2.3-liter EcoBoost models with Active Exhaust.
For safety-conscious city dwellers, Ford added an exit warning feature that alerts occupants about slower-moving targets, such as bicyclists, who may be going by when you go to open the door and exit the vehicle. The feature, available on all models, uses radar sensors on the rear of the sports coupe to identify objects traveling at least 4 mph. It remains active up to three minutes after the ignition is turned off, Ford says.
One of the most striking changes between the seventh-generation Mustang and the model it replaces is a much larger, customizable interior screen. A curved digital display on higher-trim models is made up of a 13.2-inch center screen and 12.4-inch instrument cluster that’s angled 10 degrees toward the driver. Users can choose among five instrument cluster themes: Normal, Sport, Tract, Calm and Fox Body, an homage to the third-generation Mustang of the 1980s. The Fox Body mode’s digital gauges even glow green at night, like the physical gauges used to do. Users can also adjust various graphic colors and customize certain center stack features.