Faster Fords

Not long after die first Ford Mustang rolled out of the factory, tuned versions of the pony car started to appear. And more than 50 years on, that's still the case. The new Mustang doesn't arrive here until November so you've still got time to order a few hot-up parts to make your new ride gallop along a little faster.
CTB Performance Accessories in Auckland is now the official NZ distributor for Ford Performance Racing Parts, and can supply go-faster kits for both the four- and eight-cylinder Mustangs. The parts can be ordered from your local Ford dealer and are either fitted there, or at CTB's Auckland workshop. And as it's an official Ford deal, all parts carry a warranty.

A Stage One kit for the V8 GT bumps power up by seven kilowatts to 310 with a sports exhaust that really is more about sound enhancement. The kit also comes with a GT strut tower brace and new air box for $4255. Stage Two involves the same hardware but with an ECU retune on the dyno to take power to a claimed 360kW and costs $6555. The third stage involves a Ford Racing/Roush GT Supercharger kit with drive shaft hoop and half shafts upgrade, along with a dyno tune and new exhaust and air box to net
467kW. It ain't cheap though at $20,700. But it'll be less expensive than the Shelby models and Honda Civic R, which aren't available in RHD anyway.
For the four-cylinder turbo, a similar Stage One kit with exhaust, filter and tower brace takes power from 233 to 240kW, and costs $4255, but the better option is the Stage Two kit with an engine retune taking power to 290kW for $6555. All prices include fitting and warranty for three years/100,000km. The Stage Three supercharger kit however carries a one year/20,000km deal.
Dynamics can be enhanced too with a Ford Racing Handling Pack which includes new front and rear shocks, lowering springs, new upper strut mounts, a jounce bumper kit, new sway bars and a rear toe link kit, all for $3323.
If Mustang's not your tiling, and you like the feisty Fiesta ST, you can get the Mountune MP215 Fiesta ST upgrade which retunes the engine to deliver better performance, with a quoted 158kW, up from 134. It's claimed to cut half a second from the 0-100 km/h sprint, down to 6.4s and the in-gear pull from 50-100km/h in fourth is said to improve from 6.4sec to 5.7. The retune doesn't affect the warranty, and the upgrade costs $2400.