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Ford Mustang GT Convertible: Until Tires Do Us Part
FORD MUSTANG GT CONVERTIBLE
UNTIL TIRES DO US PART
Words by Marco Mancino / Photos by Richard Montagner
Enter a corner like a bandit and it is easy to lose ten years of life while straightening the front, making sure that the rear wheels create enough smoke to get you a ticket for the closest tire shop in the area.
The serum of youth is rapidly making effect. I stop on the side of the road and start opening the roof which consists in unhooking the main knob positioned in the center of the cockpit and press the button that lowers all four windows thus folding the canvas roof over the luggage compartment. At that point, to be picky and not to leave the opening mechanisms exposed, I have to go down and rummage through the trunk looking for the two plastic covers that have to be placed on both sides, always hoping that the life of their tiny joints can withstand my desire to drive topless. I jump into the cockpit with the agility of a decibel-hungry cat, fasten the seat belt and, still with all the windows down, I press the ignition button, that with its shape and red color reminds me that these days at the office are more fun than usual.
The V8 bursts and for a moment seems to overwhelm the tranquility that mother nature has impressed in these places far from the city and those strips of asphalt that are anything but suitable to give free rein to my personal entertainment. Having already the engine warm thanks to a motorway transfer of a couple of hours, I move the automatic gear lever in drive and enter the road, with an apparent calm that in no way reflects the turmoil of emotions that is boiling inside my chest. The roar of the 8-cylinder increases in volume as soon as the pressure on the throttle becomes more determined and it is as if I could observe myself through an image that accurately outlines one of the dreams of every self-respecting car maniac. The Mustang awakens sensations that nowadays are too much numbed and despite the 2.3-liter Ecoboost saves more in terms of fuel liters than fun, it is impossible not to resist the charm of the 5.0cc and 460 horsepower V8. With its mid-life update, Ford has added 30 more horses and for those who prefer to give up the manual gearbox there is the new 10-speed automatic.
The shape of the body remains unmistakable, as it should be. The front is the part that best communicates the stylistic updates, with a more tapered nose and rejuvenated headlights with a few and simple but effective other bits. The cabin remains the same, rather plasticky and with the aeronautical-like selectors in the lower part of the console. If the infotainment graphic appears obsolete, it is still able to offer a good sat-navigation system, connectivity for every type of smartphone and a good audio interface, but the only music I want to hear when sitting on the comfortable biscuit leather seats is the rough breath of its 5 liters, also grateful for having eliminated almost every filter between the engine compartment and the cabin. The long front bonnet is the prelude to the entry into the automotive nirvana of anyone holding the steering wheel. You can feel the generous size simply by keeping your eyes fixed beyond the windshield, above the long bonnet that certainly does not intend to leave any doubts about what lives beneath it, but not for this reason it becomes a problem, even when maneuvering where the rear camera assists the most difficult parking situations.
Whether you decide to drive it with kindness, maybe taking a look at fuel consumption (do you really care?), or recalling one of the sportier driving modes, the Mustang is all about driving involvement. You realize it as soon as the comfortable hill roads become narrower and offer you a ream of curves ready to bless or crush our American stallion. The steering is precise and, like the pre-restyling model, I prefer to keep it in an intermediate setting (the toughest one is too rigid), the MacPherson front suspension communicates perfectly where I put the bulky face of the car and allow me the freedom to play with the weights, especially when I feel confident enough to disable traction controls. Moving the nearly 1,800 kilos of the Mustang Convertible is not child’s play, but it all depends on how you decide to handle the gas. Enter a corner like a bandit and it is easy to lose ten years of life while straightening the front, making sure that the rear wheels create enough smoke to get you a ticket for the closest tire shop in the area. It is enough to enter a bend in a gentler way and sink the throttle on its way out to induce a pleasant pendulum of the tail, much easier to manage, even for less experienced drivers or as in my case that represent the most distant thing from Ken Block. The Mustang is no longer the black widow so eager to tear you away from earthly life, but a mature grand tourer capable of traveling hundreds of miles without regretting not having made a testament. At least until the tires themselves have had enough.
Its 460 horses are perfect for where I am and in relation to the weight of the car itself. They allow it to be agile enough not to suffer the generous dimensions of the 2+2, where the small seats at the back are really sacrificed. What instead manages to make it really reactive are the 569 Nm of torque, but if you believe that they come in the form of a rude kick in the back, you will have to think twice. The automatic gearbox, as anticipated at the beginning of the article, is the new 10-speed and although it is silent and fast in automatic mode, it requires a bit of practice once you decide to act on the gears by yourself. It can often happen, especially the first few times, to climb a gear and still not have the answer you expected from the engine. It’s all a matter of habit and once you realize that you can travel at 90 kph in tenth gear, you’ll understand that in this case you can do without tinkering with the paddles and letting the Mustang take control of the gearbox.
Once I have crossed a quite tortuous stretch of road able to leave me for a moment stunned halfway between amazed and the surprise of the excellent behavior of the ‘Stang between similar changes of direction, I manage to pull out the wilder side of the 8 cylinders and let the tachometer needle runs free towards the red line. It should be noted that the instrumentation in front of the driver’s eyes is composed of an entirely digital display, which varies according to the driving mode or the needs of the driver. However, the Mustang is not a car designed on the basis of absurd gadgets. We must work hard to resist the most childish desire to finish the rear tires with the Line-Lock mode, a sort of burnout devilry that allows you to rape your tires in a white cloud. Nice, okay, but I get a similar effect by turning off traction control and revving enough until the moment I leave my left foot from the brake pedal and insist on the gas with ignorance, so the rear wheels start spinning and a hellish noise enters the cockpit, with the photographer who has to move away to prevent his camera to be assaulted by stones chips.
I lighten up enough to allow the tires to bite the asphalt and thanks to minimal corrections on the steering wheel I sling towards a valley that within a few minutes will be anything but a quiet place to walk. After a few kilometers and with the fuel gauge needle that seems to approach the bottom of the tank faster than I move away from the last fuel station, I realize that I am in front of a perfect American for us Europeans. Leave some materials alone and in this case keep in mind that we are talking about a price range that is clearly lower than its direct rivals. The handling is phenomenal, both in the city than far from it where you can really take advantage of the V8 and therefore justify having it preferred to the 2.3cc with its 310 horses. Furthermore, torque is distributed between the two rear wheels and it is here that the Mustang rises to the chair finally proving to be a car that does not fear corners. It may seem strange to the usual sports cars snobs, but that’s the long story short. The driving precision is directly proportional to the emotional involvement, the result of a mix between sound and speed. Adrenaline is not considered an optional, but it starts flowing in your veins from the moment you give life to the engine, until you stop.
Sometimes I am almost convinced that it is the perfect car, but it is not. Or rather it could be for me, but not for everyone. Some dynamic aspects are still to be blunted and a good engine is not enough to make it the best in the middle of a thousand others. The fact remains that it is always one of the most admired, the one that arouses more curiosity and appreciation, tickling the most sensitive strings of every enthusiast. The 5.0 badges on the sides, the two pairs of exhausts at the back and the stallion (a mustang) that gallops like a maniac in the middle of the front grille intimidate, but not quite like when you see it approaching in the rearview mirror. The same happens when you are at the wheel, but it happens in an even more amplified way, let alone if the weather conditions are favorable and allow you not to tinker with those pieces of plastic that you must always insert close to the canvas roof, which is also perfectly soundproofing once closed above your head.
The Mustang is one of those cars that makes farewells very hard and leaves a touch of melancholy, but at the same time I have to be grateful for having quenched my thirst for driving and to discover new places for the pure and simple pleasure of spending time with it. It is a car that knows how to create a particular bond with the one who drive it, or who lead it – as one would say for a faithful horse. It has the ability to be forgiven for its faults, shifting your attention to its merits, which moreover, revolve around what most interests a proper driving enthusiast. A recipe based on sound and drivability, without neglecting performance like 250 per hour of top speed and a 0-100 kph in 4 seconds and a half, all in the comfort of a generously sized passenger compartment (in this case the biscuit leather seats create a nice contrast against the metallic gray of the body). Ford has thrown the Mustang into countless motion pictures and the Steve McQueen’s American dream is not at all prohibitive, because with about fifty thousand Euros it puts you in the role of the leading actor in a movie that concerns you very close, your life. And the Mustang makes you feel alive and real like few other things in the world.
FORD MUSTANG GT CONVERTIBLE
Layout – front-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – V8 cylinder 4.949cc
Transmission – 10-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 460 hp @ 5.500 rpm
569 Nm @ 4.600 rpm
Weight – 1.771 kg
Acceleration – 4,5 sec.
Top Speed – 249 kph
Price – from € 53.500
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