In my opinion, the word iconic gets tossed around far too liberally within the motoring world. For a car to be an actual icon, it has to transcend the insular world of car geek culture and proffer an instantly recognisable identity within the broader culture. Love it or hate it, the Volkswagen Beetle does this. The Porsche 911 does this as well, while Ferrari, arguably, does not – Ferrari itself is iconic, yet fanboys can argue for all of time about the defining model and the uninitiated tend to lump them all together in one rosso-corsa basket. While my American upbringing may constitute a slight cultural bias, I would argue that the Ford Mustang is one of those rare cars that can be considered a true icon. To wit, the 2015 Mustang is instantly recognisable from just about any angle.

I’m seated in the car on the Sunset Strip, having just finished a greasy breakfast and a quick press briefing at Mel’s Diner, itself a sort of California landmark. Passersby routinely slow and crane their necks for an extended look at the car. Climbing into the cockpit of the Mustang for the first time, one is greeted by the type of quality interior that, while not luxurious, is comfortable, easy on the eyes and, at least as tested, loaded up with technology. The back seat looks like a torture chamber designed for badly behaving basketball players, but I won’t be clambering back there anytime soon. And while the rear is hard on adults, I know from experience that you can fit an infant car seat in the back of a 2010 model, and the new Mustang is no different. Sitting in a Mustang is fine enough – but one needs to feel the pony run, especially if you’ve ever seen the classic action film Bullitt.

Here’s why: Bullitt contains perhaps the greatest chase ever staged on film, gloriously lacking in CGI nonsense and neon-clad tuners. The movie stars a highland green 1968 Ford Mustang GT, piloted over the steep, undulating hills of San Francisco by a grim-faced Steve McQueen. Imagine a series of sheer, oversized skateboard ramps made of asphalt and you’ve got a decent idea of the terrain that makes up San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighbourhood. It’s an audacious spot to stage a race, and Bullitt manages something that modern Hollywood tends to miss in its car chases: a measure of believability. McQueen’s GT slides, shimmies, leaps and rolls its way through this urban jungle, oblivious to ­oncoming traffic. This is both how I drive in my dreams and precisely how I hope no one ever drives around me in ­waking hours.

At a similar pace, the 2015 Mustang might seem a tad less cinematic, with almost none of the astounding slip and body roll that makes the 1968 so engaging to watch as it skitters over the tarmac. While the 2015 looks every bit the hero with its 1968-inspired fastback profile, I find it to be a very stable, planted car that, while not the least bit nannying in its interventions, gave me enough control to fly through the desiccated rises of Angeles National Forest, channelling my inner McQueen without risking life and limb. This is a much more refined Mustang, and yet I’m grinning like a maniac behind the wheel.

We’re headed uphill, winding our way through terrain that looks more like the Old West than La-La Land. The Mustang has plenty of push thanks to its 2.3L EcoBoost, a blown four-cylinder engine that puts out 310 horsepower and 434Nm of torque. It’s enough to make me a believer and, as the grade of the mountainside grows ever steeper, there’s always enough twist and raw power to take everything from long arcing turns to abrupt left-handers at speed.

I don’t know if anyone else shares this view, but I find going uphill fast on a snaking roadway exceedingly fun in a proper driver’s car. For one thing, you have a heightened ability to decelerate that, by my reckoning, affords you the privilege to drive even faster than you might on the way down. I’m holding the throttle much longer than I might in a less balanced car, and dabbing the (enlarged for 2015) brakes liberally where needed. The Mustang offers little complaint and, aside from a slight jounce of the rear suspension under duress, the clear limitation here is my ability and a theoretical awareness of the speed limit.

Later in the day, I’ll switch to the V8-loaded GT and its stiffer ­suspension will show me none of the wiggle that the not-quite-base car exhibits out back when pushed. Part of me misses that bit of ­unintentional feedback, but suffice it to say one could shave some time off an Angeles National Forest run in the V8 GT. You’d also claim any drag races, but that doesn’t make the four-cylinder Mustang any less fun to drive. I know the purists are rolling their eyes at me now, but I don’t care as I’ve met significantly less impressive V6s in my day. The EcoBoost doesn’t have the mighty roar of the V8, but its twin scroll turbo mitigates lag quite effectively, causing one to wonder what the eventual V6 iteration will have up its sleeve (no news from Ford, other than that it’s coming).

Ford offers a manual transmission, as is its duty, but I opt to test the six-speed auto since that’s the obvious favourite here in the Middle East. There’s a set of paddles mounted handily enough on the steering column, but, after a few minutes, I find myself reaching for them less and less. Not because you can’t craft an exciting driving experience for yourself, rowing your way to automotive glory at the helm of this capable transmission, but because you can also just flick on Sport mode and let the adjusted shift points and throttle response work in concert. Sport mode holds gears longer when you start to ease off, which means that every time I accelerate out of a turn there is ample torque at, er, foot. Conversely, I find myself switching back to Comfort mode around town, where the higher engine speed proves to be more vexing than useful.

The wheel is slightly smaller than the outgoing model, and feels ­balanced and responsive – it’s ­startlingly easy to set your line and carry momentum through the turns. In the footage from 1968, you can see McQueen working the wheel frantically, narrowly oversteering out of a corner to keep after the bad guys. Bullitt’s blunt instrument is exhilarating to watch, but the 2015 Mustang is a surgeon’s scalpel by comparison, carving up the road like a top surgeon with an impending tee time.

The Mustang’s front and rear suspensions are new for 2015, and I find the car to be more ­intuitive and stable than the 2010 model I last spent quality time with. The 2015 is stiffer, with better ride quality and handling. There’s an old joke about how Detroit builds cars that excel at going very fast – in a straight line. This is not a car that requires a ­caveat. Suspension geometry, springs, dampers and bushings have all been honed for performance, leaving no doubt that Ford has taken this car’s half-centennial very seriously. Dearborn has sold nine million Mustangs in continuous production over 50 years and, while not every iteration has been kind to that legacy (one of the Mustang engineers I meet while testing the 2015 Mustang spends a good chunk of the goodbye dinner trying to convince another journalist that the so-called “Fox Body” ‘Stangs aren’t atrociously ugly – understandable considering he spent years restoring one), the new car would be a great one by any name.

At the apex of the line, the V8 GT ­dials up the power and ­performance, but feels very much like the same modern pony car I began the day in. With 435hp and 542Nm of torque, the GT feels and sounds more ­aggressive, with a wide open snarl that will turn heads in even the most rarefied motoring company.

This is the Mustang of choice for the muscle-car ­maniacs, but the ­EcoBoost is sure to be a crowd-pleaser as well, even if its name might not resonate with the average Middle East car buyer.

The optional and standard goodies are too numerous to list here, but the suite of included track apps ought to appeal to the new digital generation of car lovers. Mustang now offers Line Lock mode, which puts repeatable smoky burnouts at your fingertips in case you feel like buying tyres more often. We didn’t get to try it out, as the City of Los ­Angeles apparently frowns on this particular brand of hooliganism, but I did learn about Line Lock’s low-tech predecessor: apparently the Mustang engineering team ­previously employed a length of 2x4 (wood), powered seat controls, and a set of channel locks on the rear brake lines to achieve the same ­effect. I’m all for progress, but I’d still like to see the old method in ­action.

If they remade Bullitt today, I wouldn’t be remotely tempted to see the new film. Some things just shouldn’t be rebooted, since they can’t be improved upon. And yet, the never-ending arms race that is automotive design demands near-constant reinvention regardless of how much we might love the originals. As Shawn Carney, the power-train noise, vibration and harshness engineer for the 2015, can attest, the reworking of an icon can attract a lot of attention from on high: “Most engineers don’t typically have Bill Ford looking over their shoulder – he’s got other things to do, but on this project we heard from him directly.” I don’t know what Ford said to the design team, or whether they listened, but the ­results are laudable.

weekend@thenational.ae