7th Jan 2011, 13:38
Heck, just do a two year lease on a 2011, and then trade into the new one when it comes out with more power! Why wait?
10th Jan 2011, 12:34
The Mustang is not a proper sports car, not even the GT. Just a powerful engine doesn't make a sports car. Sports car and Mustang doesn't belong in the same sentence. 0-60 times are great, but that's it.
Got to just laugh hearing people sweet talking this car and about how great it is. It can outgun many cars out of an intersection, but take it to a track and you'll be passed by about everything on 4 or 2 wheels. Everything from old souped up Civics to Ford Focus. The Mustang has a chassis from the sixties. It's just junk. And interior quality and build quality is just a laugh.
I owned a previous generation Mustang GT and looking back, I realise that I didn't have a clue thinking that this was a proper sports car. The new one is even faster 0-60 but the handling is still the same big joke.
10th Jan 2011, 14:27
The new Mustang handles as good as it accelerates. Obviously you've never researched the numbers on one, let alone driven a new one. The only joke is the remark about being passed by a Civic and a Focus on the track.
Please, if you haven't taken the time to actually thoroughly look at the latest offerings from Ford as far as the Mustang goes... save your comments. Having a .95g reading on the skidpad is an amazing feat for ANY car under $50K these days, never mind one that starts in the mid $20K range. The Mustang trounced the Camaro and Challenger in every test even before it had the new 5.0 liter engine. Now it is faster, and it still outhandles most cars in its class. Having driven a few, I can attest to the fact that this is the most amazing Mustang ever produced. Even the build quality has improved by about 500% over previous generations, and the chassis is anything but from the 60's, as it has been totally redesigned quite a few times since then, and then gone on to be a top seller in virtually every generation of the car.
Stick with your little econobox wannabee race cars or whatever you think is a "proper" sports car, if you think the Mustang is so outdated and old fashioned. I'll soon see you in my rearview mirror as you quickly shrink away into oblivion.
10th Jan 2011, 19:59
The new Mustang is getting such great reviews, because it's just as great on the corners as in a straight line. Its handling is way better than the Camaros and Challengers.
Now I know you're saying "but the Challenger and Camaro are just more piece of crap American cars that can't handle well!!!" Which is not true about the Camaro (not defending the Challenger because it actually is a heavy boat around the corners). OK fine, I'll humor you.
I believe it was Motortrend that took a 2011 Mustang GT (starts at about $28k) and pitted it against an expensive European 'sports car', the 2011 BMW M3 coupe (starting at about $55k). So how did the Mustang fair against an exotic European sports car that costs TWICE as much as the mustang? Well in the various 'normal' tests (figure eight times, lateral accel, 0-60, 1/4 mile, braking, etc) the Mustang actually BEAT the M3. Now you're still saying " uhhhh... but it still can't go around corners!". Well next they took the two onto a road course just to test the handling. After being driven by the same driver right after each other, the Mustang was just 0.1 second slower than the M3! So not only is the Mustang just as fast as a M3 (INCLUDING HANDLING), but it also costs HALF what the M3 does. So much for your precious imports.
And a Honda Civic? Really? Let me start off by saying that front wheel drive cars handle very poorly. When you go around a corner and turn your steering wheel, your front tires don't just move left and right, they also pivot. Going around a sharp turn, only about 70% of your front tire's tread is actually contacting the pavement. So in a FWD car, you lose traction to the same tires your trying to apply power to. This results in an inability to throttle out of turns and just speed around a turn anyway. Add the fact that on FWD cars, your drive wheels have to be smaller anyway because they turn and can't rub your wheel wheels. AND add in torque steer to anything FWD with a decent amount of power, and you have a car that handles poorly.
Let's take a moment to look at the Japanese imports that seem to be the FWD favorites of tuners. Even when these Japanese companies build a sports car they ALL either make it RWD or AWD. For example: Nissan (GT-R and 370Z), Toyota (LFA and supra), Honda (S2000 and NSX), all Subarus (including the STI) are AWD, Hyundai (yes I know it's Korean, the Genisis is RWD). Have you noticed a theme here? NONE of these Japanese sports cars are FWD. NONE. This trend continues into American and European cars as well. As a matter of fact, I don't believe Ferrari or Lamborghini have EVER made a FWD car.
Just because you bought a 1993 Honda Civic hatch for $800, and put a cold air intake and a cat back exhaust and cut the springs, does NOT mean it's a sports car or handles worth a damn.
10th Jan 2011, 21:10
A Civic should never even be mentioned next to the powerful word Mustang! Ew! At least in the sixties, we didn't have to deal with disposable trash that the Civic is.
11th Jan 2011, 08:35
But the Mustang IS an econobox! It's just a extremely cheaply made car with a powerful engine. The G reading for the Mustang is what a 25 year old Corvette does.
Looking for a proper sports car? Try out the new Corvette, and post back later. It can run in circles around the Mustang.
The Mustang is really for the people that have little money, but want something that's fast out of intersections. The Mustang V6 actually makes more sense than the GT as a daily car: Better balanced, better mpg, more quiet and actually more driveable. The GT, especially the one with 'sports suspension' is uncomfortable without being really sporty, it just bounces around with its low tech suspension.
6th Jan 2011, 17:22
Yes the car was a blast, but hold your horses (pun intended)!!!
I've been hearing rumors, and looked into it a little, that Ford is going to make direct inject gasoline systems standard equipment for the new 5.0 Mustangs! Expect anywhere from an 8%-12% increase in power throughout the entire power band AND better MPGs! Ford is being very hush-hush about it, and hasn't released official word on it, but has strongly hinted at it. Probably not for the 2012 model year, but maybe for 2013.
Can't wait to get my hands on one! Same car with another 30-50 horsepower, and gets around the high compression ratio issue for a supercharger. Brilliant.
Looks like I might have to fight the urge to buy one of these stallions for just a little while longer...