You can take the car out of Michigan, but can you take Michigan out of the car? The sixth-generation Ford Mustang is the most UK-ready pony to have trotted out of Ford’s factory since the first one rolled off the production line in 1964. It has been around for a few years now, so is this American legend a better used buy than a European coupé such as the Audi TT or Mercedes-Benz C-Class?
Its scale is still unmistakably vast and its style echoes those past generations of Mustang that varied rather haphazardly from howlin’ wolf to flaccid puppy. You can have it as fastback coupé or a soft-top convertible and you can choose a 313bhp 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine or a 410bhp 5.0-litre V8 (raised to 444bhp in 2018). Standard is a six-speed manual gearbox, but there are also two automatic versions: early models had a six-speed ’box, while post-2018 facelift models get a 10-speed unit.
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Standard Mustangs come with keyless entry and start, selectable driving modes, LED headlights, 19in alloys, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone climate control, a rear parking camera and a limited-slip differential. Option packs include a Bang & Olufsen stereo upgrade, climate-controlled seats and sat-nav.
The Mustang is brawny and butch and feels the fairly heavy car it is. Its steering needs more effort than most performance cars’ these days and it doesn’t turn in to corners as quickly as its rivals, but it grips well and can be provoked into entertaining angles.
The V8 car is fast, after an initial lethargy, while the lighter four-pot model has a decent turn of speed without feeling threatening.
The 10-speed automatic gearbox is snappy and can flick through multiple gears in one go, but its occasional habit of switching ratios indecisively is annoying.
There’s a huge range of adjustment to the steering wheel and seat, meaning even the tallest drivers can get comfortable, although some might want the seat to be a little lower. Visibility isn’t great, due to the sloping roofline and thick pillars.
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My 2010, S-197 5.0 V8 Mustang was dire
Drop dead gorgeous to look at, in Cardinal Red with black stripes, to die for wheels, sounded glorious with it's "axle backs", admiring crowds wherever it went. It was the worst car to drive, not helped by it's agricultural Tremec 5 speed manual, I have ever (ever) had. And it liked a drink, without the commensurate performance. Regularly do 440 miles round trip, after once in the Mustang never took it again. Lesson personally learned on the shallowness of "looks" alone - though my XK8 drives a dream aswell as (IMO) being a good looker.
The legend
No, no it doesn't,we'd all like a Mustang like Steve McQueens car from the film Bullet, it was all male testosterone, it snarled aggression, today's car just isn't, it's like BMW's reiteration of the Mini, it looked like a Mini but sadly wasn't.
What a ridiculous comparison.
What a ridiculous comparison. The S550 is probably the best Mustang since the 70s classics.
Peter Cavellini wrote:
Eh?