18 | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2015 | MID CITY NEWSPAPER GROUP
MUSTANG CONTINUED FROM Page 17
What’s Not So Good
Pull-up emergency brake is on the wrong side of the center console and set up to be useless (not enough tension on the cable) for making 90-degree course corrections. Performance Package (with more aggressive final gearing, firmer suspension settings, upgraded brakes and cooling system, plus extra gauges, not available with the base V6. GT’s optional six-speed automatic does rev-matched downshifts, but doesn’t bark the tires on full-throttle upshifts. All muscle cars with automatics should do this. Under The Hood
The Mustang is an unusual bird (er, horse?) in that it alone offers three available engine choices. Camaro and Challenger come with either of two engines — neither of them unexpected or unusual for cars of their kind. Base Mustang coupes (and convertibles) come with what you’d expect: a biggish V6 (3.7 liters) that makes a pretty solid 300 hp. You should re-read that. The base Mustang’s V6 engine makes as much or more horsepower as most classicera Mustang V8s made, back in the day. For instance, a 1965 GT’s 289 (5 liter, roughly)
AUTOS
“High Power” V8 made a rated 271 hp. The turbo’d 2016 Mustang is a high-line street car, with AC, power windows, cruise and plenty of insulation. It’s also capable of 32 on the highway, and its city number (22 with the six-speed manual, 21 with the optional six-speed automatic) is better than the old SVT Cobra R’s highway number. On The Road
The first thing you notice, from behind the wheel, is that you don’t feel as though you’re commanding a U boat and viewing the world from a periscope. In the Camaro, you do. You sit hunkered low, your eyebrows just barely parallel with the door tops, the claustrophobic feel enhanced by the Chevy’s “chopped” roofline. In the Mustang, you can rest your left elbow on top of the door sill with the window down. Thanks to deep overdrive gearing, the Mustang is as relaxed at highway speeds as your spinster aunt’s Camry, and if you don’t indulge yourself too much, the car is capable of better than the EPA rated 15 city/25 highway (manual; automatics score 16/25). Which is astounding, when you stop to think about it. At The Curb
The designers did a top drawer job making a modern-looking car that’s also instant-
ly recognizable as a Mustang. Inside, too. Check the dual breadbox dashpad; the retro font on the gauges. The chrome ball vents and metal-finish toggles. But what you really notice is that nothing looks cheap or cheesy. This is a nice car, pony car or muscle car. It’s also a well-packaged car. It has a decent-sized trunk (13.2 cubic feet vs. Camaro’s 11.3) and significantly more legroom up front, for the driver (44.5 inches) than the Camaro’s got (42.4 inches). Even the back seat is more accommodating in the Ford, especially width-wise. It gives your passengers 52.2 inches of shoulder room back there vs. 50.4 in Camaro. Bottom Line
There’s an old country song — about a different car — that could just as easily be sung about the Mustang: Long and lean, every young man’s dream... she turned every head in town! Eric Peters is the author of “Automotive Atrocities” and “Road Hogs” and a former editorial writer/columnist for The Washington Times.
2016 Ford Mustang specifications: Base price: $23,895 as tested (GT convertible) $41,895. Engine: 5 liter V8, 435 hp Transmission: six speed manual or six speed automatic. Length: 188.3 inches Width: 75.4 inches Wheelbase: 107.1 inches Curb weight: 3,705 lbs. Luggage capacity: 13.5 cubic feet EPA fuel economy: 15 city/25 highway Where assembled: Flat Rock, MI