Ford Mustang's New Look

Ford Mustang, an auto dress-up doll, has got its newest round of design and horsepower adjustments from Jack Roush and his team at Roush Performance.

To make sure people have an understanding of your pony is no mail-order boulevard queen, Roush qualifications are omnipresent: R fender badges adorn the sides. Inside, embroidered floor mats, a Roush center console button, a Stage 1 dash medallion, and a graphic of Jack Roush’s signature on the dash serve as continuous reminders of what you paid for. Did we mention the windshield banner? Stage 1 badging is current front and rear, and the R-badged faux gas cap is finished with Jack Roush’s signature graphic.

Stage one chiefly is an exterior look package, placing or putting the 6th-generation Roush “R6” aerobody package. Using corner fascia aero pockets with driving lamps, a high-flow lower grille, a custom hood scoop and a front chin splitter, the look from the front is absolutely aggressive. Revised rocker panels, a three-piece rear decklid spoiler and rear fascia side splitters continue the “R6” impact to the tail, where a rear aero valance with race-inspired diffusers exists. Dual chambered, chrome exhaust tips finish the appearance.

Stage 2 sets 505 lb-ft of torque and a supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 rated for 565 hp below the hood. The forced induction comes service of an R2300 supercharger with Eaton’s TVS patented technology. Regular car parts inside the Stage 3 include a specialized gauge cluster, Jack Roush’s signature graphic on the dash and a Stage 3 dash medallion. A serialized Stage 3 plaque and a chassis build plaque reside under the hood.

Stage 3 alternatives consist of two 20-inch wheels options -- a trunk-mounted tool kit, chrome or hyper black, four different brake packages (red two-piston sport, red four-piston performance, black four-piston performance, or six-piston competition), a Roush dual-chamber “off-road” exhaust system and Roush laser cut hood struts. Even though the tuner market for Mustangs will be around no less than as long as Ford’s pony stays in production, one may ask what effect factory models like the amazing Boss 302 will have on their bottom line. Not to mention the Shelby GT500, which beats Roush on horsepower, if not on the utter amount of namesake symbols and badging.

For Stage 3, Roush’s team reached deep into its miracle bag of Mustang parts and developed an assortment of suspension pieces targeted at raising the pony car’s dealing with to a level befitting that of the intense exterior mods. Twin-tube shocks with distinctive valve rates; a larger, stiffer front anti-roll bar; and increased spring rates all conspire to improve the Stang’s handling prowess. Roush says its chassis engineers spent thousands of hours in development and testing: specific attention was paid to the suspension bushings, which are optimized for more conformity over low-speed bumps; the jounce bumpers are created to act as a spring assist. Ultimately, the Stage 3 handling package involves a set of 18- by 10-inch cast aluminum, five-spoke wheels shod with Cooper RS3 ultra-high-performance summer tires that were co-developed by Performance and Cooper Tire.

All 2013 Roush Stage Mustangs are readily available for coupe and convertible models and both automatic and manual transmissions. They also are all 50-state legal and covered by Roush’s 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and other car parts. The 2013 Roush Mustangs are anticipated to start displaying on dealer lots by late April 2012, but pricing has not been announced.