The Mustang has been so popular for so long that, over time, it simply blew the old Barracuda, the Challenger, the Camaro, the Firebird and the AMC AMX and Javelin pretenders right off the street. It started the ponycar genre, and now, after 40 years of street and track competition, it's the only one left.There is nothing else that says modern American sporty car better than this new Mustang. Its combination of high style, performance, and handling with a light touch can't be beat for this kind of money, and early indications are that the quality should be far better than any previous Mustang. Ford is planning on building about 175,000 of these a year, and we think they're shooting low. Way low.
New Car Test Drive correspondent Jim McCraw filed this report from Los Angeles.