When Will Ford Make a Good Mustang?

In 1964 the Ford Mustang was brought out and it was an immediate success. The Mustang looked good, was inexpensive, and was quite fast. The engines ranged from a 2.8L I6 with only 101hp to a 7.0L V8 with 375hp. The first one was built on the 1960's Falcon chassis and frame, most of the parts were just from other Ford vehicles of the 1960's. The first Mustang was great, but in the 1970's and 1980's they got larger, much uglier, slower, and overall worse. They even made a Mustang 2, based off the exploding Ford Pinto. In 1994 Ford brought out the fourth generation Mustang and it was really quite bad. They had terrible suspensions and awful handling. The engines the Mustang used also should have been more powerful considering their size. The fourth generation Mustang was updated in 1999, but still had most of the problems that the 1994 ones had. In 2005 the Fifth generation Mustang came out and sold quickly at first. That was because of its styling.  It looked a lot like the first generation, but still looked very modern. The new Mustang also followed the same recipe as the original, a cool muscle car at an affordable price. Those are the good attributes of the new Mustang, but it still has some major flaws. The platform they used was from the Lincoln LS, but the rear end was switched out to a rigid axle to save money. That pretty much ruined the car.  It would have been better to stick with the independent rear suspension from the LS. The Mustang's 4.0L V6 engine is also pulled right out of the Ford Explorer and only has 210hp. The Mustang isn't a very good car to drive because there is almost no feel in the steering and suspension. The V6 version isn't fast either.  It takes around 7 seconds to go 0-60 mph, but it feels like a long time. For a car the same size as a Hyundai Sonata the Mustang has very little space inside. I know that it's not intended to be large, but they could have easily made the interior area larger and allowed more space in the trunk and back seats. There are lots of problems with the Mustang, fuel economy and safety aren't good either, but newer Ford products are much better. The next Mustang should be built off the new Ford FG Falcon, but that is unlikely.  While Ford chooses to make only cosmetic changes to their vehicles instead of using their modern platforms with independent rear suspensions, their handling will suffer versus their peers.