The only thing that really bugs me is the external cables. I really, really hate these as there is no excuse for ships to have external cables. Populated space is filled and swarmed with microdebris that constantly collides with shields and armor. Having loose cables (which also are static because Freelancer has no physics engine to simulate loose parts) that are pretty much not covered when moving forward (and strafing) is the last thing you'd want to do with these things being absolute weakpoints in the design. They also do not add much in terms of aesthetics unless you really want steampunk-ish ships in a science fiction setting.
Otherwise the model might be an improvement, although I don't see a need to replace the current arrow. Rather more skin variations as those are literally racing ships.