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Post by Martin on Oct 3, 2019 23:25:48 GMT
A Mustang GT Premium convertible to give its full title. That means a 5.0 V8 with 460hp, 420 lb ft, a 10 speed automatic. GT Premium spec includes heated/cooled electric leather seats with memory, full digital dials, keyless entry & start, CarPlay etc and this one has a pack which adds voice activated sat nav, some trim changes, 12” digital dials and a heated steering wheel and an active sports exhaust. Which sounds brilliant. Even with the roof up it’s great and when it’s down, you get full on muscle car roar without any of the awful pops/bangs/crackles that is all too often the case. It starts off loud even when the engine is warm, settles down nicely on the motorway, sounds good when pulling away and gets better as the revs increase (7,500 red line). There’s plenty of configuration, and the driving modes include track and drag strip modes as well as wet/snow, normal, sport and sport+
It has the standard 18” wheels which look too small but I’m glad of them as it’s pretty firm as it is and the Motorways around LA make ours look smooth. The magneride option would be the first thing I’d tick if ordering one. The steering is ok to poor depending on which mode it’s in, but it corners quickly and stays very flat. Traction is good, but it’s not going to see a wet road this week. The gearbox is rubbish, too many gears (10!) which means you get hesitation too often and changing manually with the paddles is really difficult to do without making jerky progress, especially when changing down into 3rd and 2nd. Leave it in 2nd or 3rd and it’s a lot better, as you get the benefit of a NA V8, otherwise it has to be in Sport Auto which gives you rev matching and means you’re more likely to be close to the gear you want.
The interior is OK, not a patch on Audi/BMW/Mercedes and not even a match for the Golf, but its character helps it get away with it, there are plenty of soft touch materials and what you touch is generally OK. Manual release for the roof is a bit old school and the rear windows aren’t one touch, but not a big issue. The cooled seats are ideal in this weather, had them on all the time when the roof was down and helps cool the seats down quite quickly when you’ve left it parked with the roof down for a short time.
Its all about that engine though, wouldn’t be the same with the 4 pot, I don’t think I’d forgive some of the negatives.
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Post by Martin on Oct 3, 2019 23:28:23 GMT
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Post by rodge on Oct 4, 2019 1:03:57 GMT
I’d like to try it with the V8.
I had a 4 pot last year and it was ok. It did take away from the experience even though it had decent economy and didn’t struggle to stay with any traffic.
The 10 speed gearbox- I’d agree with that. It was ponderous and I really thought it had about 3 gears too many. It didn’t go into 8th at all and skipped a lot of gears, even when accelerating hard.
Loved the seats though, especially in 100f summer California heat.
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Post by Andy C on Oct 4, 2019 6:18:44 GMT
Great colour and great scenery
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 4, 2019 7:12:41 GMT
For someone who has professed their hatred of stray cables, what is that I see ahead of the gearstick? (or shifter, to give it its American name)
... and what's the current price of fuel in the USA?
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 4, 2019 8:05:20 GMT
Having always wanted a Mustang I think the current one has dated quite badly now. I'd take the Dodge Challenger now.
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Post by Martin on Oct 4, 2019 11:43:01 GMT
For someone who has professed their hatred of stray cables, what is that I see ahead of the gearstick? (or shifter, to give it its American name) ... and what's the current price of fuel in the USA? I don’t like stray cables, but I like the basic sat Nav even less and it’s a poor design, should be a storage compartment there or even better, wireless CarPlay. Petrol is about $3.50 a US gallon away from the motorway ($4.30+), still cheap despite the terrible exchange rate. That’s just under £3.00 or 77p a litre. |
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Post by Martin on Oct 4, 2019 11:48:04 GMT
Great colour and great scenery Red Rock Canyon. There’s a one way tourist drive that’s 14 miles of great road, twisty and well surfaced, but unfortunately it has a 35mph limit!  |
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Post by Tim on Oct 4, 2019 15:39:34 GMT
The 10 speed gearbox sounds like complete overkill and I think hasn't been highly rated in the Ranger either.
Since the Mustang has gained some extra power and a louder exhaust (surely one of the reasons for considering it) I'm keen to have another test drive as the pre-facelift one was a little lacking in go and noise.
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Post by Martin on Oct 4, 2019 16:07:07 GMT
If the UK version gets the same exhaust, you’ll find it sounds a better and is a lot louder. My next door neighbour has a prefacelift and it sounds good, but nothing like this one.
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Post by Tim on Oct 4, 2019 16:16:37 GMT
Probably the same then, I had a look at some vids and it has a race mode that appears to be anti-social and a 'good neighbour' mode for those 5am departures.
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Post by PG on Oct 4, 2019 18:40:52 GMT
That just looks so "right" in the California sunshine. With that car, I trust your holiday is just basically one long road trip  |
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Post by Roadsterstu on Oct 5, 2019 19:34:31 GMT
That looks lovely in that colour. A V8 manual would be excellent, if it's still available? And 12" dials?! Or is that the size of the screen that incorporates the dials? I mean, pizza sized dials?!
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 5, 2019 20:08:32 GMT
That looks lovely in that colour. A V8 manual would be excellent, if it's still available? And 12" dials?! Or is that the size of the screen that incorporates the dials? I mean, pizza sized dials?! 12" digital display........ make it the hardtop and it would be the car I'd like to take for a drive down the west coast and eastwards to the Grand Canyon. Somehow I doubt I'm ever going to cross that one off the bucket list...... same as I think I may never get to Hong Kong due to the disturbances there |
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Post by Roadsterstu on Oct 5, 2019 20:17:03 GMT
That looks lovely in that colour. A V8 manual would be excellent, if it's still available? And 12" dials?! Or is that the size of the screen that incorporates the dials? I mean, pizza sized dials?! 12" digital display........ make it the hardtop and it would be the car I'd like to take for a drive down the west coast and eastwards to the Grand Canyon. Somehow I doubt I'm ever going to cross that one off the bucket list...... same as I think I may never get to Hong Kong due to the disturbances there I'm sure the drive down the West Coast of the USA is fairly attainable, Chris. Hong Kong, currently, I agree. But flying to LA and renting a Mustang should be doable, if you fly as cheaply as posdible and save by using budget motels. |
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 5, 2019 20:24:19 GMT
I'm doing the first part of the West Coast trip in November of all times as I got what I consider to be a good deal on a week in Vancouver (7 nights cheaper than 6, for starters). I would like to do the Boeing factory tour near Seattle and the rest of the west coast south of the Canada-USA border some time too, but that will require some more saving and probably more holiday from work than I would be entitled to in one go.... it may be a trip to do as soon as possible after retirement starts, presuming that I will be able to afford to retire one day - unless I get lucky and get another work trip to California and can combine it with some holiday so that the firm pays for the flights. However that's not likely to happen any time soon, if ever (certainly not with the present job)
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Post by Martin on Oct 5, 2019 20:45:12 GMT
That looks lovely in that colour. A V8 manual would be excellent, if it's still available? And 12" dials?! Or is that the size of the screen that incorporates the dials? I mean, pizza sized dials?! 12” screen. Dials in comfort, with a couple of other different displays ie Track and Drag |
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Post by Martin on Oct 5, 2019 21:40:55 GMT
12" digital display........ make it the hardtop and it would be the car I'd like to take for a drive down the west coast and eastwards to the Grand Canyon. Somehow I doubt I'm ever going to cross that one off the bucket list...... same as I think I may never get to Hong Kong due to the disturbances there I'm sure the drive down the West Coast of the USA is fairly attainable, Chris. Hong Kong, currently, I agree. But flying to LA and renting a Mustang should be doable, if you fly as cheaply as posdible and save by using budget motels. Or skip a year (you had a long haul last year as well iirc?), have double the budget and at least 2 weeks which should get most, if not all of your trip done. I’m glad we went to Hong Kong a couple of years ago. Not somewhere I’m bothered about going back to, it’s 4th on our Far East city list, but it was on our bucket list so good to get it ticked off. |
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Post by Roadsterstu on Oct 5, 2019 22:39:19 GMT
I'm doing the first part of the West Coast trip in November of all times as I got what I consider to be a good deal on a week in Vancouver (7 nights cheaper than 6, for starters). I would like to do the Boeing factory tour near Seattle and the rest of the west coast south of the Canada-USA border some time too, but that will require some more saving and probably more holiday from work than I would be entitled to in one go.... it may be a trip to do as soon as possible after retirement starts, presuming that I will be able to afford to retire one day - unless I get lucky and get another work trip to California and can combine it with some holiday so that the firm pays for the flights. However that's not likely to happen any time soon, if ever (certainly not with the present job) Book that Mustang then! |
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 6, 2019 12:32:01 GMT
I don't need a car in Vancouver and it is the wrong time of year to see if I can drive a rental car across the border into the USA on a road trip!
Edit: on this trip, a day outing to Calgary is further up the list than hiring a car
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2019 22:06:46 GMT
I hope you make it Chris,even if it's just for a couple of days. Way back in Saudi Arabia I used to walk past the exotic car showroom after work sometimes. It pissed of the Filipino cleaners no end when I did the five year old on the window. Made such a nuisance of myself I actually got to drive a few exotics. The Diablo I expected to love tbh but it scared me more. All the locals with their slammed full size 4X4X mahoosive lorries screaming from junction to junction and very limited vis just was NOT pleasant
I hope you get the car for a while and enjoy it.
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Post by bryan on Oct 15, 2019 16:44:22 GMT
I don't need a car in Vancouver and it is the wrong time of year to see if I can drive a rental car across the border into the USA on a road trip! Edit: on this trip, a day outing to Calgary is further up the list than hiring a car I don't think you'll do Vancouver to Calgary in a day! It took us the best part of a week to drive stopping at Jasper and Banff in the Rockies. Vancouver Island maybe more attainable. Boeing museum great as is space needle in Seattle. Border crossing a nightmare make sure you have right documents, it is different to air boat arrival esta, i94 I think it's called. Mistake took 3hrs at the border!! |
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 15, 2019 17:40:06 GMT
Calgary would have to be a flight. One of the guys on the photo trip to Berlin recommends that I try to do Whistler instead, even though I don't ski... he is American but lived and worked in Vancouver for a few years
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