Ford Mustang

With more than 10 million cars sold across a production run stretching more than 60 years, the Ford Mustang has a firm spot in popular culture. Which means almost everyone has their own idea of what it should be.

Whether it’s a boulevard cruiser, something to lazily rumble its way down a motorway or simply a way to wake the neighbours on a Sunday morning, it probably is to me what it isn't to you. But there has always been one constant: it's one of the cheapest ways to bag a new V8 coupé.

This S650 generation is no different, with prices starting from £55,725 for the base GT model. Even the more powerful Dark Horse variant - from £67,995 - appears temptingly priced, considering its suite of track-oriented upgrades.

Ford hopes this, and the fact that it is now only available with a V8, will continue the pony car's evergreen appeal among loyal customers, while also helping it to attract fresh, younger buyers.

To appeal to the latter, this is the most tech-rich Mustang there has ever been - coming with twice the computing power of the last one, a drift-inducing electronic handbrake, the capability to receive over-the-air software updates and the ability change its digital screens (up to 13.2in in size) to a retro 1970s look.

You can think of the S650, then, as more a comprehensively and technologically overhauled piece of American muscle that draws on six generations of experience in trying to be the best of the breed. Have they succeeded?

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