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2005 Mustang GT (S197) - Modern Detroit Muscle in the UK

In early 2007, the opportunity arose to swap our Ford Focus daily driver for a modern 2005 Mustang GT. My girlfriend George decided we simply "had to have one", so that was it!

This page is a log of our trials and tribulations of buying and owning an S197 in the UK.

- Matt


Introduction - A little background information

For 2005 Ford released a superb retro-styled Mustang GT and Convertible which took its cues from the Muscle Car glory days of the 1960s. While on the surface many of the design elements hark back to the earlier cars, underneath the 2005 Mustang was very much a new car with the same basic design configuration and underpinnings that made the Mustang world famous.

Powerful front-mounted 6-cylinder and 8-cylinder Vee engines, manual or automatic transmissions driving a solid (or live) rear axle. While critics may scorn the ‘archaic’ or ‘outdated’ solid axle design, clearly Ford know a thing or two about getting this suspension configuration to work very well. Most reviews comparing the drivability of the Mustang with its peers (the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger which both have IRS systems) put the Mustang at the top of the tree for driving pleasure.

What does S197 mean?
The Ford engineering project name for the 2005 Mustang was called the “S197” and it’s a name that’s stuck for people who know about the late model Mustangs. Similarly the 1995 to 1999 Mustang has the engineering project name of “SN95”.


2007 - From four-pot wheeze to V8 roar!


** More information being added - Please come back soon **