2010 Mustang EcoBoost V6 or V8 ? - will it come down to sound or power ?

03Stangr

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Oct 14, 2007
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Since we all know by now - or soon will, Ford has approved their new V6 EcoBoost engine capable of up to 415HP for the 2010 Mustang. From watching and reading stats on this engine, I personally feel it’s going to come down to Sound or power. Do we want both the V8 growl and that power, or will the EcoBoost have a close enough V8 growl to it.

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We know that this engine and it’s internals are capable of up to 415HP. After all it is born with twin turbo chargers. Just taking a close look at the crank, cam and pistons tell me that it’s got some quality internals. I also know by personal experience that you can even take Fords 3.8L V6 and get it to have a V8 growl. I’ve done it and I even had a Ford Mechanic think it was a V8 until he opened up the hood. I installed the right upgrades, tuned it myself and ended up with 300hp at the flywheel and 230 at the rear wheels. Naturally aspired and the right true dual exhaust helps anyone achieve the same.

The question here then, is the EcoBoost going to have that V8 growl right off the showroom floor or will we need to tweak it a bit to get the sound we’re after. Maybe some of us just simply want a V8 regardless of how much power we can get out of the new EcoBoost. Most of us will most likely need some time to learn how to work on it without messing with what they’ve done as well. We will also have a new 6 speed select shift with manual mode automatic transmission that’s mated to this beauty now as well. Ford announced on the 18th of Feb. that they upgraded it already with Larger rear gears, better torque converter and stator etc.. and the transmission itself.

I’ve grown up working on OHV engines with the good ol’ single cam so long it’s going to be hard to switch. I remember my first cars, one had a 265 and one had a 289 K code engine in it. I loved how easy they were to work on. I loved how much hp and torque you could get at the rear wheels with right parts. After my first Mustang I was a Ford man to make a long story short. Can anyone tell us why Chevrolet put the distributor at the rear of the engine, making it as hard as possible to change timing, points, rotor, cap, etc..? The only cool thing was the little window to adjust the points.

Then the OHC engine came along. Hmmm, some like these engines and some don’t. With the right internals (especially Connecting rods, pistons, valve springs & rockers/hardened pushrods) any OHV engine will be capable of adding Super Chargers, Turbo Chargers or Nitrous. Don’t expect to add power add-ons and keep stock internals unless you like to blow up internal parts just to see how far you can push them. In fact some have added Super Chargers to Stock SOHC engines, added more boost than their stock internals could hold, and then whined because their internals blew up.

So if we push the internals of stock engines beyond what they were designed to hold up to, we can safely say that the engine will soon have the correct internals in it, it will be sitting in the garage for a while or at a shop charging you up the rear end. I’d rather just avoid all that frustration and upgrade the internals first before considering power adders. Of course you can’t forget about the rear end gears either. I’ve learned that the hard way when I was a teenager. If you’ve got so much torque heading on it’s way past your transmission that you end up twisting drive shafts, breaking Ujoints, breaking ring and pinion gears or even busting welds on your ladder bars etc.. that’s going to put a huge dent in your wallet.

Personally, I feel if the test drive goes well - and I’m pretty confident it will, I going to find myself purchasing my first Twin Turbo Charged V6 Mustang. Again, from what I’ve seen and heard, this engine won’t have a problem sounding like a V8 with the right upgrades including complete exhaust system if necessary. After market parts and Tuners, will most likely be available as well for us, that’s a safe bet.

Soooo, how many of us are going to be willing to switch to a V6 that is capable of V8 Power and get better mileage at the same time and how many of us will stick to a V8 ? That's my question.
 
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I think it will come down to pricing. If the TTV6 hits the $30K+ plateau as the SHO Taurus is at $38K with its Ecoboost/AWD that may change things. If Ford was able to sell the 2010 Mustang with the TTV6 at $25-28 it may sell like hot cakes. I don't see how they will be able to make an affordable TT Mustang, while they are currently selling a $28K 315HP V8. I think something like... V8 315, $28K, V6TT 350hp $32K, V8 5.0 400HP $36K.

If i could get a 2010 Mustang with the TTV6 for $25K i would go out an buy one tomorrow.
 
the fact that the ecoboost engines are currently only "supposed" to be able to handle 415hp i would chose the new 5.0...400hp from the factory, a good tune, exhaust and a shot of n20 i'm sure we'll be seeing 475-500 rwhp without much issue..growl and muscle to back it up...

that and i dont think we're going to see just a standard tt v6 model for under 30k...probably be released as a special model like a bullit or boss or something like that.
 
the fact that the ecoboost engines are currently only "supposed" to be able to handle 415hp i would chose the new 5.0...400hp from the factory, a good tune, exhaust and a shot of n20 i'm sure we'll be seeing 475-500 rwhp without much issue..growl and muscle to back it up...

that and i dont think we're going to see just a standard tt v6 model for under 30k...probably be released as a special model like a bullit or boss or something like that.

I think it will come down to pricing. If the TTV6 hits the $30K+ plateau as the SHO Taurus is at $38K with its Ecoboost/AWD that may change things. If Ford was able to sell the 2010 Mustang with the TTV6 at $25-28 it may sell like hot cakes. I don't see how they will be able to make an affordable TT Mustang, while they are currently selling a $28K 315HP V8. I think something like... V8 315, $28K, V6TT 350hp $32K, V8 5.0 400HP $36K.

If i could get a 2010 Mustang with the TTV6 for $25K i would go out an buy one tomorrow.

Both are good points. Since we don't have the prices yet or what the HP/Torque ratings will be it's going to be hard to forecast at this point which model will be advantageous. Nor will it make sense for Ford to have a V6 of this caliber and have the 4.6 available at the same time. Personally speaking of course, I feel like it would make better sense if Ford introduced Both the V6 EcoBoost and the 5.0 at the same time while dropping the 4.0 V6 and 4.6 V8. Again, this is only my opinion.

If the EcoBoost and 5.0 come out at the same approx. time frames and the 4.6 leave as well at that point, that would make more sense to me. I'm assuming (I hate assuming though) that the HP rating for this EcoBoost Mustang will be around what the Taurus is at approximately 365hp but the ability will be there to get more HP out of it with options from either Ford Racing or the after market.

The same will be true for the 5.0 of course. It's always been that way and I doubt it will change. Ford will always have the competition in mind when introducing options and models. I sure can’t wait to see what happens in 2010. Knowing what’s coming, I would not buy one of the early April 2009 released models. I can see why some will though. There will always be performance parts available to get more HP/Torque. I’m just not in that much of a rush. I love the Mustang I have, but I’d like to hand that over to my son at some point.

So ultimately, I think the EcoBoost would be the best V6 option and the 5.0 will be the best V8. Then the Shelby GT500 family remaining the same for the most part. I love the new Super Snake 427 at 750HP by the way. If I only had that kind of money - darn!

I do sort of doubt that the Mustang will cost as much as the Taurus SHO since the Mustang would not likely be an All Wheel Drive car etc... time will tell… Thanks for the input
 
03Stanger, I would not expect to see a six-speed manumatic in the EcoBoost Mustang, assuming Ford actually builds one. If they do offer one it would not be the same transmission you referred to that will be in the Taurus SHO. The Taurus SHO is AWD with a transversely mounted engine/transaxle. The Mustang is REAR wheel drive. They are completely different chassis so I doubt many parts would interchange, especially not the transaxle. I would expect (hope) that a Mustang with the EcoBoost V6 would be available with a six-speed manual though. I have to believe the output of the SHO is electronically limited to 350 ft lb to protect the transaxle and AWD components. If they use, lets say the GT500's Tremec six-speed, there would be no reason to limit hp or torque from the EcoBoost.
Here's my prediction: Ford will announce a new Shelby GT350 with the 3.5L EcoBoost. They will offer another SE Mustang, maybe another Bullitt or Mach 1, with the Coyote 5.0L before it becomes the standard GT engine. They will not build a Boss 302, at least not while Ole Shel is still around. For those who remember the 70s Ford was still building Shelby Mustangs until the Boss cars came out with better engines and lower prices than the Shelbys.
 
03Stanger, I would not expect to see a six-speed manumatic in the EcoBoost Mustang, assuming Ford actually builds one. If they do offer one it would not be the same transmission you referred to that will be in the Taurus SHO. The Taurus SHO is AWD with a transversely mounted engine/transaxle. The Mustang is REAR wheel drive. They are completely different chassis so I doubt many parts would interchange, especially not the transaxle. I would expect (hope) that a Mustang with the EcoBoost V6 would be available with a six-speed manual though. I have to believe the output of the SHO is electronically limited to 350 ft lb to protect the transaxle and AWD components. If they use, lets say the GT500's Tremec six-speed, there would be no reason to limit hp or torque from the EcoBoost.
Here's my prediction: Ford will announce a new Shelby GT350 with the 3.5L EcoBoost. They will offer another SE Mustang, maybe another Bullitt or Mach 1, with the Coyote 5.0L before it becomes the standard GT engine. They will not build a Boss 302, at least not while Ole Shel is still around. For those who remember the 70s Ford was still building Shelby Mustangs until the Boss cars came out with better engines and lower prices than the Shelbys.

We all know that the Taurus SHO has an all wheel drive train. It may not be configured the same as the Taurus but FORD has announced that their Six Speed Select Shift Automatic will be in 100 % of their line up within 5yrs. I do have a special account that lets me see things like this from within Ford so I'm not just talking out of my hat here.