The Morning Call and Mcall.com's view

The SVO Mustang is the most sophisticated of all Mustangs. It not only features a four-cylinder fuel-injected, turbocharged and intercooled engine that produces as much horsepower and torque as larger V-8s, but a suspension system that will impress all driving enthusiasts and a sporty though not conspicuous look about it.

But, then, many people will ask, ”how come I never heard about it?” Well, here again is one of those cases of a low-production special model that somehow got lost in the shuffle. Usually these cars get a one-shot ad campaign and there really aren’t enough of them in stock to get dealers excited. So, sophisticated and daring they may be, but not destined to become household names.

Although the SVO was introduced in the fall of 1983 as an ’84 model, I don’t think it ever found its true buyer – or, at least, not enough of them. The SVO is really a sports car, but for some reason sports car drivers never really took up on it. Also, the SVO has no doubt been undercut by the Mustang GT, a traditional V-8-powered performance car with a strong following. But regardless of what reason, the SVO remains an undiscovered jewel. Unfortunately, this might be its destiny, since Ford Motor Company is talking of dropping it from the lineup at the end of this model year.

The SVO gets its name from Ford’s Special Vehicle Operation, a sort of souped-up think-tank formed in 1981 to, among other things, develop special limited-edition, high-performance vehicles. The SVO Mustang was the first of these special vehicles and, perhaps, the last. There was to be a Thunderbird SVO but this project never took wing. So, who knows what the future will bring. But in the meantime there is still the Mustang SVO, a moderately-priced killer of higher-priced sports/performance machinery.

The SVO is based on the Mustang, not only one of the most successful cars of all time but a car that never seems to age. The current body styling of the Mustang was introduced in the fall of 1978 and aside from some moderate changes carries basically the same body today. The Mustang is truly the Dorian Gray of cars. Perhaps somewhere in an attic at Ford Motor Company is a ravaged portrait of the original 1979 Mustang but the actual model still looks young. The SVO is distinguished from other Mustangs by its functional air scoop, flush aero headlights, smooth front end and single or dual rear wing spoiler (the single is standard, the dual is optional).

Another tipoff to SVO identification is its big, wide wheels and tires, even more so than the GT. Goodyear P225/50 VR ”gatorbacks” are mounted on 16-inch wheels. Now when is the last time you heard of 16-inch wheels on a new car? These low-profile wide tires not only contribute to the SVO’s awesome looks but contribute greatly to the SVO’s impressive road handling characteristics. It is a mean car on curves, corners and cloverleaves. I t remains flat under all conditions. If you have the ability, it will take you through whatever you want.

The suspension features a modified MacPherson strut setup up front and a four-bar link design (featuring four longitudinal arms) in the rear. In addition Koni adjustable gas-pressured shocks – two up front, four in the rear – are used. The rack-and-pinion steering system will go from lock-to-lock in 2.46 turns, about as tight as you find these days.

Driving the SVO isn’t that difficult for the experienced driver but it is not really the type of car you would want to use to teach someone to drive. Steering is very quick and doesn’t leave much time for daydreaming. The clutch on the five-speed manual transmission requires a lot of push and is fairly tricky. Combined with the turbocharged engine (with its characteristic fraction of a second lag), it can make life miserable for someone who does not take his/her driving seriously.

With a wheelbase of1 0.5 inches, overall length of 180.8 inches, width of 69.1 inches, height of 52.1 inches and curb weight of 3,247 pounds is not a big car, but, then, sporty or sports cars usually aren’t. The two front seats are multi-adjustable, articulated sports seats and will accommodate drivers and passengers of all shapes and sizes. If they aren’t extended fully back, adults can seat in the rear on short rides. Better yet, forget rear seat passengers; fold the rear seatbacks down and give yourself a nice, big cargo carrying area. Perfect for a couple on a vacation. As could be expected, the SVO has a stiff ride. But this really isn’t a drawback for a sports car.

As mentioned, the SVO is powered by a fuel-injected, turbocharged and intercooled four-cylinder engine. This engine measures 2.3-liter/140-cubic-inches and produces and impressive 200 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 240 foot pounds torque at 3,200 rpm. This is a lot of power these days for any engine but somewhat amazing from an engine only measuring 140 cubes. No doubt this is stretching things out a bit. The engine, fortunately, is well beefed-up to handle the stretch. In fact, Ford claims the engine has an upper end of 6,500 rpm.

The entire purpose of this engine, of course, is to provide performance for the SVO. After all, this is the type of car it is. By manipulating the five-speed correctly and squashing the accelerator, the SVO will go from 0-60 mpg in less than 7 seconds. Now that’s fast. Top speed should be somewhere around 130 miles per hour. However, I’ll let someone else check this one out. If one can refrain from shoving one’s foot through the floorboards most of the time, fuel mileage is quite decent. But this is the purpose of a turbocharged four-cylinder engine – performance when needed and fuel economy when driven normally. The test car averaged 17 miles per gallon for city driving and 25 mpg on the highway. An interesting feature of this car is a fuel recalibration switch. This device allows the use of either unleaded regular or premium by recalibrating the tuning of the engine. I would recommend the use of premium but this would help if the car were in an area where it wasn’t available.

The test car had a full price of $15,646, including a delivery charge of $374, which certainly isn’t a bad price for all the SVO offers. This price included everything – all of the performance equipment mentioned plus air conditioning, electronic AM-FM stereo with cassette and premium sound system, power windows and door locks, tilt steering wheel, interval wipers, fog lamps, power four-wheel disc brakes, tinted glass, leather wrapped controls and several other times. In other words a complete car. There are only a couple of options available and they include a sunroof, leather upholstery and dual wing rear spoiler.