So here's some good news to brighten up the greyness of January, certainly for anyone in the market for a muscular coupe. Ford has released British pricing for the new Mustang, launched a configurator and opened the order books. And it's considerably cheaper than many people expected.

Okay, so obviously enough, the Mustang is still considerably pricier than a direct translation of its US dollar 'tag into quids; but we're still looking at a 300hp rear-drive coupe for £28,995 in four-cylinder EcoBoost form, and one equipped with a V8 engine for £32,995 before options. The autobox carries a £1,500 supplement, and Convertibles are £4,000 more than Coupes, meaning the priciest V8 GT Convertible auto will set you back £38,495. (For a bit of perspective, the BMW 420i M Sport cabrio officially lists at £37,910.)

UK spec is also far more generous than in the US, with all British Mustangs getting 19-inch alloys, leather seats, the bigger brake package, xenon headlights, Sync 2 connectivity and a nine-speaker audio system. According to the online configurator, options beyond colour and trim choice are limited to 'premium' audio with navigation (£795), climate controlled seats (£495) and reverse parking sensors (£295). There's also a 'Custom' pack that includes all of this and adds blingy nickel-effect alloys for £1,795.

Photoshop artists haven't quite got Essex here

We've also got CO2 numbers for the first time - of obvious relevance to anyone planning to run one as a company motor. They're predictably high, but they're not catastrophically bad, for the EcoBoost at least - the manual four-cylinder Coupe has an official rating of 179gk/km (although the slushy autobox pushes that up to 228g/km). The V8 is, ahem, less good - with the manual Coupe version scoring 299g/km, and with the auto doing better at 281g/km.

The new Mustang is a far more advanced prospect than its crude predecessors, and will get here with its steering wheel on the right side. 'Bargain' is an over-used term in the motor industry, but in bang-per-buck terms both the EcoBoost and the GT look set to be unbeatable.