Ford Mustang 2.3L EcoBoost

People outside the US want an American Mustang, not a Europeanised car. But at the same time it’s a sports car in its engineering.” So says Moray Callum, global boss of design for Ford. So here’s the first Mustang that you’re able to buy with its steering wheel on our side. But when Callum’s team designed it, they didn't have us in mind. There was no way they were going to dilute the basic brief of a Mustang, one of America’s great coupés, an unbroken line of cars going back 50 years. Maybe a line kinked by the cruddy little 1974 Mustang II, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt because it’s so clearly back on course now.

To our eyes, it’s a big, confident-looking car. There’s none of that billowy, over-panelled look that taints so many American coupés. The proportions are right, and the wheels pushed well outboard. Surfaces are taut, and details full of loving precision. The silhouette and reverse-rake grille shout Mustang; the tail-panel graphic and triple-slash rear lights likewise. A set of creases sharply drawn out of the bodywork two up the bonnet, more atop the front and rear wings and through the doorhandle give the thing an ebullient character but stop short of getting messy. American but not dumb. Yeah, I know it’s often a TGtenet to paint Americans as dimwits and their cars as crude, but this is also the nation of Silicon Valley and Manhattan.

And the nation of wide streets and big parking spaces. There was always the danger their car would feel too big, so I’m paying attention to the matter as I drive through California. It might be priced like a BMW 2 Series, but it’s the size of a 6 Series. Sure enough, you are aware of the width when tracing down a narrow road, but at least you’ll now be on the right side of the car. Plus the suspension is fluent enough to soak up road bumps that would have bounced an old Mustang left and right. So the quantity of road it needs is little more than its own width.

To propel it down that road, we get a choice of two engines. Ford says twothirds of those sold in Europe will be the 4cyl EcoBoost. It’s a 2.3-litre job making a useful 230kW. But the one that makes a Mustang a Mustang is the 5.0-litre V8, doing 318kW. Both come with a choice of two 6spd transmissions, a manual or an automatic with paddle-shifters. In the US, there’s a Performance Pack that serves up a shorter final drive for better acceleration, plus a stiffer chassis, better tyres on 19in
rims, more braking and a diff. Those are the versions I’m testing here, because the good news is we get it as standard.

In Britain the 4cyl will be pitched around the R540k mark when it lands next year. Here that’ll net you a 228i, but falls short of a M235i. For the V8, we estimate you’ll need to find another R70k or so, plus extra for the auto option. On all those, there’s another step up for the convertible.

I start in the V8, because, well, you just would. It’s a smooth and refined engine, pulling neatly from the bottom of the dial to the top at 6500 rpm. I wish it spun higher, but the mid-range geniality does compensate. Bubba bubba. It’s not crazy-fast, having as it does to motivate some 1700kg, so you can find yourself with your foot right down for surprisingly long spurts. But, hey, that’s when you’re getting the noise you came for.

Another reason you can use so much of the power is the steadfast grip and traction. The new Mustang has, at looooonglast, proper independent rear suspension. It adds weight over the old live axle but, boy, it’s worth it. Last-gen Mustangs were crazily tail-happy, even in the dry. This new one is very well balanced and loves to be leaned on. The original plan was to have kept the original front suspension, but it proved such a mismatch when they drove the very first prototype that they decided to redo it to match the ability of the rear. The new design a strut with double ball joints allows for bigger brakes without having to compromise the geometry and hence the steering feel.

It is good steering, too: nicely weighted, stable in straights but progressive off them. Most importantly, when you’ve really got the bit between your teeth, the promised feel ponies up impressive for an electrically assisted set-up. At the limit, the front and rear grip are beautifully balanced, and there’s a real confidence and connection between you and the car.

But before the limit, you’re always working through a layer of rubbery compliance. The car has to take up the slack before answering any command. You’re always wishing it was tighter or, rather, that there was another level beyond Performance Pack. Before long, there will be. That ought to address the dampers, too. Hit a sharp crest or dip through a corner now, and it gets its knickers into a mild twist as it feels every one if its kilos.

The 4cyl engine is about 100kg lighter, and you feel that blessing straight away. That damping issue goes away, and the whole car feels lighter on its feet on tight, difficult, interesting roads. It’s better able to answer the steering, even during other exigencies like braking, crests or dips.

The EcoBoost’s overall urge is lower than the V8, of course, but not disastrously a second-and-a-bit slower to 100kph. It makes lots of torque, is functionally lag free in the mid-ranges but then loses interest beyond 5500 rpm-ish. Ours had a few flat spots, too. The hi-fi’s speakers are deployed for a sound-cancellation system that takes out some of the chatter and adds nicer harmonics, all without sounding artificial. It doesn’t give you a fake V8, just a sweetened four.

Whatever the engine, this is a terrific GT. The 19in tyres pass over even coarse tarmac and concrete with impressive hush, and there isn’t a lot of wind noise, either. The ride isn’t hard but does get a bit shuddery over big lumps. Call that another grumble at the dampers. The standard seats are comfy enough, though for serious cornering you’re a lot better off with the terrific optional Recaros. The
boot’s a good size, but it’s really set up for two: the back seat has tiny legroom and even less headroom.

Sitting in front, the flat dashtop and shallow windscreen again put you in mind of the breadth of the thing. The dash is more retro than the outside, but most of the switches have a far better-crafted feel than Mustangs of old.

Thing is, this Mustang is just a car, one that must face up to the best of the world’s R500k-R700k coupés. Right then, the switches feel and look just fine, and the definition of the touchscreen is OK, too. Some of the dash and door plastics don’t quite strike me as up to snuff, but I have a suspicion there’s a Pavlovian response going on: I’m getting the visual stimuli of an American car, so the plastics must be rubbish. Well, some are, but most are acceptable. But it falls miles short of
some R500k cabins. An Audi TT dash this very definitely isn't. Instead, it snares you by its style, because you’ll never think you’re in just another German coupé derived from just another German saloon.

And that’s the thing. When the Mustang was an exotic visitor with its wheel on the wrong side, you were curious about its strangeness and prepared to overlook its flaws. Now, it’s going local, moving into our streets late in 2015. Time to get serious.

Is it, in other words, a sane choice over here? Yes. Different from an A5, SLK, 2-Series or 370Z, but they’re all different from each other. What matters is this is a Mustang. But a Mustang done right.