2018 Ford Mustang Convertible

CARLOS LAGO: In the early 60s, Ford introduced a car called the Mustang that was so popular, Chevy decided to follow suit and introduced its direct competitor, the Camaro. And since then, really not much has changed MARK TAKAHASHI: No, the formula has definitely stayed the same. But man, the total sum has increased dramatically. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, we've assembled to the latest variants of these pony cars, as the way you should probably order them, with the V8. Now, these aren't performance package cars but these are the cars most people are going to end up buying. We've got them here to see how these two modern versions of the pony cars stack up. [CAR ACCELERATING] All right, Mark, it's up to you to sell me on the 2018 Mustang. MARK TAKAHASHI: It should be pretty easy because number one, I can see. Look, you can see turns. CARLOS LAGO: This is true but also listen. [CAR ACCELERATING] MARK TAKAHASHI: Oh, that sounds amazing. CARLOS LAGO: That sounds really good. I swear that's louder than the Camaro. MARK TAKAHASHI: It is. CARLOS LAGO: In this world of Camaro Mustang, loud wins. MARK TAKAHASHI: And this has an active exhaust option for you. You can do a quiet start if you don't want to wake up all your neighbors. But it sounds so rad anyway, I think they'd be cool with it, right? CARLOS LAGO: But tell me about this five liter because I see it's revving higher. How does it feel? MARK TAKAHASHI: It feels great. You know, it's kind of got some of that high revving personality of that GT 350. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: Which I really, really dig. CARLOS LAGO: Who doesn't? MARK TAKAHASHI: But just like the GT 350, the first time I got in this and started really driving it hard, I realized I was short shifting. CARLOS LAGO: Really MARK TAKAHASHI: I could let this wind way more out CARLOS LAGO: Because you've got so many more revs to play with than you would traditionally expect. You're used to a V-8 being kind of a low revy kind of thing. MARK TAKAHASHI: Right. CARLOS LAGO: But then when you have above 7000 RPMs, it's fun when you realize you can play with it. MARK TAKAHASHI: Oh, yeah. CARLOS LAGO: So you've got a big, digital display. How do you like that in the day to day use? MARK TAKAHASHI: I really, really like it. You know, and I get that some people are traditionalists. They want to see the old gauges. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah and it's optional though, right? MARK TAKAHASHI: It's an option. CARLOS LAGO: OK. OK. So you can have traditional gauges if you like. But yeah, I like that the tach moves like a bar graph when you're in the track setting, like we are now. MARK TAKAHASHI: So this is the new 10 speed auto. The whole point of that is, you know, quicker acceleration. You know, shorter gears, down low, teller up top so you get fuel economy. I dig that and everything, but this is a Mustang. It should have a stick shift, it should have six gears. And there's sometimes this little, weird delay between when you hit the up-shift and when it finally does. CARLOS LAGO: Oh, so when you're controlling the gears manually there's a bit of a delay? MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah, I've been in paddle shift mode ever since we set off here. So, see? It's not just that immediate. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: It's still really freaking good. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: But there's still that romance of muscle cars where you should have a stick. CARLOS LAGO: You want to be able to bang gears? MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: That's how you feel good. That's when you feel good is when you just shift it quick. This is not a performance packed car. MARK TAKAHASHI: No performance options on this except for maybe the exhaust. CARLOS LAGO: And the V8 engine. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yes. Yeah, I mean I like it. It's compliant it's still comfortable. The way this transitions out of a turn I really dig. You get on that power early and it starts straightening you out. It's happy. CARLOS LAGO: It seems like it's giving you a quite a bit over-steer on the power out but in a really nice controllable way. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah, I mean that's the thing. They tune that stability control really well where if you start getting it a little sideways but you're still on the throttle, it'll let you do it up to a certain slip angle. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: But once you lift out of it, then it will snap you right back in line. CARLOS LAGO: That's nice. MARK TAKAHASHI: Man, I mean I really like the way this comes out of turns. Just a little bit, little bit and it just starts, yeah. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: That little snap out of it. I really dig this car. CARLOS LAGO: How do those breaks feel? MARK TAKAHASHI: Solid. I mean these aren't performance upgrade brakes either. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: The pedal, it's you know, moderately firm. Easy to modulate, that's for sure. CARLOS LAGO: I just can't quite get over the sound this thing makes. MARK TAKAHASHI: Isn't that great? Let's go to like a normal mode, shall we? CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, you get your Rogers mode. MARK TAKAHASHI: This is the problem with this toggle switch. It only goes up. It should go down, as well. CARLOS LAGO: This is quiet. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. There's a lot less bass going on now. CARLOS LAGO: Ford clearly defines quiet differently than I might. [TIRES SQUEAL] MARK TAKAHASHI: This mid-cycle refresh is a little bit more than the typical mid-cycle refresh. I mean, they have the adaptive suspension, they have a lot more safety features, cool options, like the instrument panel. I really like this. [CAR ACCELERATES] CARLOS LAGO: This is the 60th annual. MARK TAKAHASHI: I know, I like them. CARLOS LAGO: But because you can do things like this-- MARK TAKAHASHI: Oh. [CAR ACCELERATES] Oh, no lift. CARLOS LAGO: And on top of that, it also has red matching. So it's basically an automatic. And so this is the Camaro SS that we all know and love. MARK TAKAHASHI: Love? CARLOS LAGO: Love. That's what makes a Camaro a Camaro. MARK TAKAHASHI: Wait, that's Subaru. CARLOS LAGO: Ssh. So we're down five horsepower and a couple pound feet of torque, I forget. MARK TAKAHASHI: It's completely irrelevant at this point. 460 versus 455. CARLOS LAGO: Well, I was also going to make the point that this car is about 50 pounds lighter. So the whole power and torque deficit comes out about even. MARK TAKAHASHI: I think so. CARLOS LAGO: When you get down to it. What I like about this car, what I like traditionally about Camaros is the handling balance. This is a big, meaty car. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: With a ton of low end grunt. With a ton of power that you can do that, which is terrific. MARK TAKAHASHI: It just sounds like you're going to break something. CARLOS LAGO: Well, you know traditionally, you would break something. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yes. CARLOS LAGO: And so what I like is that they actually took the time to build that into the system so you don't have to worry about breaking anything. MARK TAKAHASHI: Right. Ooh. CARLOS LAGO: It's just so satisfying. MARK TAKAHASHI: It really is. That is impressive. CARLOS LAGO: Now, getting back to like the dynamics part of it, yes, this car has no visibility. It's basically a window-less van. MARK TAKAHASHI: I don't know, the visibility bothers me. I don't have a really good grab handle here. CARLOS LAGO: Does this look like the face of somebody who cares? MARK TAKAHASHI: Fair enough. [TIRES SCREECHING] But here's the thing, do you think there's a dynamic difference between these two cars that is a deal breaker one way or the other? Because I, personally, I have just as much fun with both cars. CARLOS LAGO: That's the truth of it. Isn't it really? The difference is the badging on the hood and that's basically it. MARK TAKAHASHI: Right. So what are we fighting for? CARLOS LAGO: We're not. Well, the Camaro is obviously better. MARK TAKAHASHI: No, no, no. It just, no. No, the Ford is less flawed. CARLOS LAGO: It's really one of those things that like we've always been at war with Eurasia, right? MARK TAKAHASHI: Yes. CARLOS LAGO: It's just this constant rivalry that goes back and forth. But fundamentally, you end up with the same vehicle with minor variations. And so it comes down to, basically, what's your preference? I prefer that, which is great. But I'm sure there's qualities in the Mustang I would also like, as well. But this is a fine handling vehicle that handles with a delicacy and a light-ness that kind of belies its size, right? MARK TAKAHASHI: Well, the styling, too makes it look chunkier and heavier than it is. CARLOS LAGO: Yes, absolutely. From the six speed manual to the red match buttons that toggles on the steering wheel, the standard Camaro SS, I'm going to say, bare bones, it's pretty much what you'd expect in this kind of car. I like the interior layout, I like the way things were arranged. Like this is a very classical panel right there with the double bubble gauge. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah, and this coved out section here is kind of you know, heritage Camaro stuff. I like the design, I really, truly like the design. I think it's pleasing to look at but in practice, it's got some issues for me. CARLOS LAGO: The big issue, of course, is the visibility. And then, there's just a couple of like, weird annoying things. Like the way the screen seems to be angled inwards so it looks like it's sloping down. Doesn't effect how you use it, it just looks weird. And then you have a problem with these center vents. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah, they're really great for cooling down your knuckles but nothing else. What I do like is when you turn that bezel, it adjusts the temperature. That's really cool. I think that's kind of almost-- CARLOS LAGO: It's clever. MARK TAKAHASHI: --Audi-esque in its execution. But they need to be up here. I mean, they're right on your knuckles. CARLOS LAGO: The important stuff, like the speedometer is easy to read. You have big, analog gauges. You have a head up display that's configurable. All the important controls, steering wheel, shifter, clutch, pedals, all fall to hand and foot really easily. The drive mode selection stuff's really easy to use. It's this stuff like interior storage and like the wireless charging pad being back here, which-- MARK TAKAHASHI: What? CARLOS LAGO: --is just strange. MARK TAKAHASHI: That means you're going to forget your phone in here all the time. CARLOS LAGO: I don't know why you would use that because if you have a nice, smart phone here you're going to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, which requires being plugged-- MARK TAKAHASHI: --the USB. CARLOS LAGO: --into here. But this compartment isn't big enough to fit most modern smartphones. MARK TAKAHASHI: Right. From the passenger side, and I noticed this when you were throwing us around on track. Is the passenger doesn't have very good grab handles. There is nothing for me to hold on to here and this is hard plastic, right in my elbow. That's something that you don't have to deal with in the Mustang or at least your passenger won't have to. CARLOS LAGO: So overall, it's a lot of stuff that doesn't really matter when it comes to driving quickly but stuff that does make this car a little bit not so nice on the day to day commute. MARK TAKAHASHI: It's not completely different. It's a mid-sucker refresh, they have some new features here and there. But most importantly, is this digital instrument cluster. CARLOS LAGO: The optional gauge cluster, right? MARK TAKAHASHI: It is. It's so cool. If you switch drive modes and it kind of gets this racy kind of tack bar across the top. CARLOS LAGO: I like that bar graph tach. That's really cool looking. MARK TAKAHASHI: It is. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. MARK TAKAHASHI: The difference between this and the Camaro, I think, there's less flaws. CARLOS LAGO: OK MARK TAKAHASHI: Number one, we can see out of it. CARLOS LAGO: That's nice. Yeah, I really appreciate being able to see outside of the vehicle. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. It doesn't feel like you're wearing the suit of armor and you're just peeking through a little tiny mail slot. Materials quality, I think is slightly better. Like, my elbow points are nicely padded. And for you probably you might be bumping into that a little bit. CARLOS LAGO: I like that I have a grab handle. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: When in panic mode. I don't have one on the left side but I have one on the right side, which is I think better than the Camaro. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: But I like the general layout of this interior. It feels a little bit more airy, it feels a little bit more open. And it'sl probably to do with the increased visibility. But also the way the center stack is designed here, this just has a nice flow to it. MARK TAKAHASHI: And look, the vents are up top. CARLOS LAGO: The vents work. And they've been able to you know, keep the influence of like the 60s design elements-- MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: --in the dash but also add the modern touches that still make it work. MARK TAKAHASHI: The dual dash thing now. There are some things that still bother me, like this little dash topper here and this center of thing up there. Those are carryovers and they really seem out of place because everything else seems to be quite a bit better. CARLOS LAGO: So this car and the Camaro both have an optional exhaust volume options. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yes. CARLOS LAGO: This one has the option, the Camaro doesn't. MARK TAKAHASHI: This one, compared to the Camaro, goes to 11. CARLOS LAGO: I think it passed it. MARK TAKAHASHI: This is rad. [THROTTLES GAS LOUDLY] (GRUNTS)| CARLOS LAGO: That's ridiculous. MARK TAKAHASHI: Even better is the quiet mode. [THROTTLES GAS QUIETLY] Ooh, that's quiet. You can schedule when it's going to be quiet. So between midnight and 7:00 AM, I have it set for quiet. So no matter what, I don't have to hit that button. CARLOS LAGO: Your neighbors don't hate you. MARK TAKAHASHI: They do but not for this. CARLOS LAGO: What I really appreciate is the amount of interior storage you have in this car. MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: From you know, you only have two cup holders and stuff like that, but you have center pockets. And the center console is a bit bigger. And just things in here feel a bit more livable, day to day. If there isn't like any enormous performance differences, it's certainly like more-- MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah. CARLOS LAGO: --attractive for the commuter. MARK TAKAHASHI: But in the back, the trunk is way more usable than Camaro, too. It has a lower lift over, it's a bigger trunk it's, it's way more useful. So if there's one thing about muscle cars that's important, it's fun. And in my opinion, both the Camaro and Mustang do fun equally well. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, I love the acceleration in both. They both have fantastic transmissions and they're both a lot of fun to slide around. MARK TAKAHASHI: That said, I think the Mustang does everyday life better. CARLOS LAGO: I agree. The Mustang is an easier car to live with everyday but for some reason I still enjoy driving the Camaro more. MARK TAKAHASHI: That's what we think. Let us know what you think. For more information on the Camaro, the Mustang, or any of its competitors, head over to edmunds.com. And if you want to see more videos like this, hit subscribe. [MUSIC PLAYS]