The 2024 Ford Mustang Lineup Is Missing 3 Things
The Ford Mustang lives to ride another day in a dwindling market. It’s a blessing for modern muscle car enthusiasts watching Stellantis and General Motors close the book on their Mustang-fighting models. However, Ford omitted a few things in the 2024 Mustang lineup that has fans scratching their heads.
The 2024 Ford Mustang might be a welcome sight, but it’s lacking in a few areas
The 2024 Ford Mustang arrives to the relief of pony car fans everywhere. Unless you’ve been living under a Flat Rock, you’ve heard that the Mustang’s principal competition, the Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro, are headed to the drag strip in the sky. Despite the death of its closest rivals, the Mustang carries on into its seventh generation.
Still, everything isn’t perfect for the Blue Oval’s thoroughbred. The upcoming 2024 lineup has at least three foibles with ruinous potential.
- No Shelby model for 2024
- No manual transmission for the EcoBoost models
- Not one supercharger in the bunch
The most glaring of omissions in the 2024 Ford Mustang lineup is the lack of a Shelby badge. However, it’s not the first time Ford hasn’t delivered a GT350 or GT500 to please the Blue Oval faithful. 2023 went without a Shelby model after the GT500 left production in 2022. Of course, Ford might be playing to the “absence makes the heart grow fonder” adage. A Shelby-badged S650 model is, without a doubt, an inevitability.
While it’s a shame that we have another model year of Mustang sans Shelby badge, there are things to celebrate. The 2024 Ford Mustang GT offers a six-speed manual transmission. That means continued grab-a-gear thrills for Mustang fans. However, the manual transmission isn’t available for all pony car drivers.
No, Ford left its Getrag MT-82 six-speed manual transmission out of the new EcoBoost models. Unfortunately, the missing manual means the 10-speed automatic box is the only option for drivers who want the most affordable, most efficient Mustang in the stable. Therein lies another issue. With no manual in the 315-horsepower 2024 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, the most affordable ‘Stang with a stick is the GT, which starts at $43,305. Ouch.
Finally, Shelby or not, there’s no V8 with forced induction in the Mustang’s lineup. The current range-topper, the Dark Horse, develops 500 horsepower from a naturally aspirated 5.0L Coyote V8. It’s a far cry from the 760 ponies of the 2022 Shelby GT500. Still, the S650 Mustang is young. Just a colt, really. Several of these nitpicks will likely sort themselves out in the coming years.
