2018 Ford Mustang Review

ELANA SCHERR: When you're talking about the Ford Mustang, you aren't just talking about a car. You're talking about a legacy. There's more than 50 years of style and performance, everything from big muscle bruisers to everyday cruisers. In fact, the Mustang is so important that when Ford Motor Company recently announced it was going to stop making cars to focus on trucks and SUVs, the Mustang was the only exception. There's still a wide variety of Mustang's to choose from today. Everything from the top of the line GT 350 to the entry level, four cylinder turbo EcoBoost. Today we're going to find out how the EcoBoost fits in with Mustang's history. Broom-broom, Mustang. So I was pretty excited to go do a review on a Mustang, because who doesn't like Mustangs? Mustangs are cool. I mean, that's the whole reason people buy Mustang's is because they're cool. And on the surface, the EcoBoost Mustang, which this is, is every bit as cool as the Mustang that you would hope that it would be. It's got fantastic exterior looks. You can get in a lot of different colors. The interior in the 2018 Mustang is head and shoulders above any Mustang interior since, I don't know, Houndstooth in 1971, or something. It's really good and it's not something that Mustang has normally been known for. So there is a lot to like about this car. Unfortunately, this particular model, which is extremely highly optioned-- it's a premium performance package-- I didn't like it. I didn't want to say that I didn't like a Mustang. And right now you're probably like, eh, Elana, you're just grouchy because you're having a bad hair day. And really, you like this Mustang. And that's true, I am having a bad hair day. But we had the test team take it to the track and all of their findings kind of backed up what I felt about it. And they all have fantastic hair. So this is truth. This is a four cylinder, turbocharged car, 2.3 liter, 310 horsepower and 350 pound feet of torque, which is up from 2017, and it has a lot of power. On paper, that's great, right? I mean, this car runs a 13 second quarter mile, which is faster than most of the classic V8 Mustang's that you would have driven. But just being fast on paper doesn't mean that it feels fast. And I feel like this engine is always trying really hard. It has its best power when it's up in the RPM. And so on a road like this where I'm driving right now, and it's curvy, and there's not a lot of traffic, and I get to stay on the gas, this car is super fun. And you know, it feels great. It has a lot of passing power. But in sort of stop and go traffic on the freeway, you're always way down on the RPM. And it's kind of herky, jerky and sometimes it's a little slow to respond to. And it doesn't feel fast. It is fast, but it doesn't feel fast. That's the first strike against it for me. I know that there are some Mustang purists out there who are like, what, a four cylinder, a turbo in an American muscle car, how dare you. But there is four cylinder turbo history in Mustangs lineup. If you go back to 1984, there is the SVO Mustang. So there's a reason for this car to exist. It has grandparents. And this car does do a lot of the same things that the original SVO did. An engine isn't solely responsible for the feel and performance of a car. And in 2018, Ford put the 10 speed automatic into this EcoBoost Mustang. It's an option. You pay more for it. And I wouldn't. I would get the manual. This is the same 10 speed that's in the Raptor. It's the same ten speed that Chevrolet uses. And it's a really good transmission. It's also very tunable for the car that they're putting it in. And Ford tuned this transmission to go with the EcoBoost and keep it up in that power band that we were talking about. While that is great for performance, it's really unpleasant for sort of daily driving for traffic. The transmission wants so badly to please you, thinking that you're always wanting as much power as possible. So it's like working really hard. When I'm in a car that has different moods, I usually find myself driving in track modes, because I like them better. But in this car, I'm in the normal mode and it's still too stiff and too frenetic for me. And I don't understand why they didn't just put in a boring driving mode. I think that Ford wanted to rescue the base Mustang from the rental car reputation and to make it a performance car. Now, some of the things that I'm complaining about in this car might be specific to this trim model. Because like I said, this is a premium, which is great. Premium stuff is all this nice interior, a big screen, which I would absolutely recommend. I think that is worthwhile money spent on the Mustang. But this is also a performance package, which means it has stiffer springs and it has a different chassis tune. I don't know if that affects the transmission tune, but it might. And I wouldn't put all of that stuff onto the EcoBoost. It's possible that the very base Mustang without the performance package is a little easier to drive and doesn't have some of these things that I'm complaining about. So before you cross this car off of your list, I would definitely do a test drive. Like, you go drive a base model EcoBoost Mustang and see if maybe it suits your needs better than it suits mine. Let's talk about some things that I like about driving the Mustang. I already mentioned that I think the interior is fantastic. And the handling is really good as well. Again, this is a performance package and I think it's a little bit stiff for daily driving. But it is extremely fun for roads like this. Some of the earlier Mustangs in this generation, I felt kind of rolled around on the chassis when they were in turns, and kind of moved a lot when you were on and off the brakes. And there's none of that in 2018. One of the things that struck me about this car is all of the options on it and how much that raised the price. This one as equipped, $41,000. Now, you can get a V8 Mustang for less than $41,000. In fact, you can get a V8 Mustang with a premium package so that you get the good interior stuff for less than $41,000. And that is what I would do if I was looking for that whole Mustang lifestyle. Getting into the EcoBoost, I had expectations that this car did not meet. Mainly, that it was going to be sort of easy to drive and very comfortable. But it met expectations that I wasn't even asking it for. And I think that there's a certain kind of shopper who might really love this car and might not be considering it. And you should be. And that is are you looking at the Subaru BRZ? Are you looking at the Miata? Are you interested in a two-seater, high revving small engine? Is that your thing? Because this car is great in that category. It has more horsepower than the Subaru. And it has more trunk space than the Miata. And it would really feed all of those desires. If you're just wanting something you can flick around the canyons, and you feel sporty, and you've got style-- and this does that with kind of more of everything. So that's where I would be looking if I was interested in one of those cars. Mustang has never really been known for having spectacular interiors. The 2018 model can change that. Although, it's still not the Hearst Castle or anything. I mean, you know, you're not going to throw a banquet here. But it's not embarrassing either. I mean, there's some really nice details that they've done. It looks excellent. I think the styling is good. It isn't too compact all around you. They've worked really hard to add brightening elements to it both in details, like these sort of metal trims, or optional metal turned plastic pieces here, and around some of the gauges and stuff. In the menu here, there's a whole section that has to do with the ambient light color. And this is something that car manufacturers are starting to do I think because it's fun, but also because it sort of brightens up the interiors of cars, especially if you're driving at night. And so they'll put these little lighting bars in the dashes, sometimes in the cup holders, and in the door. The whole front half of the Mustang is very comfortable. You've got plenty of room around you. You've got room for you and a passenger. You're not going to be bumping into each other. It's very easy to reach all of the important controls. A lot of controls are on the steering wheel, which I find very convenient. And the ones that are over here are usually things that you wouldn't be messing with while you were driving anyway. Normally, I haven't been particularly impressed by digital dashes, but Ford did a really good job on this one. So this has the optional leather. The leather is nice. It's soft, it's comfortable, it looks good. The stitching is nice and it has some perforated details. The seats themselves are very narrow. They're comfortable for me, but they have these side bolsters that might be uncomfortable for a larger person. So this is definitely a car that you would want to test sit-in before you made the purchase. At this point, people know that the four passenger part of a Mustang is not a promise that they really plan to keep. There's no leg room back there. Not only is it uncomfortable once you're back there, but it's really difficult to get in and out. I mean, you basically have to fling yourself out over the seat. There isn't a huge amount of storage in the Mustang. It has the two cup holders. It has a slot for the phone. It has reasonably sized door pockets. And it has a little center console that's deeper than I expected it to be and has another USB port in it, as well as a 12-volt charger. The center stack on the Mustang is not super interesting, but it's not hard to use either. And the screen is a good size and easy to see while you're driving. It's funny, because the four cylinder Mustang has performance that's as good or better than the V8 cars from the 60s. But we still wouldn't really consider it a performance car. I'd really cross shop it with other four cylinder, fun two-seaters if you want a little bit more room and a better daily driver. For more information on Mustang, go to edmunds.com. For more videos like this, please subscribe. And follow us on social media.