2010 Mustang GT 2200km Test Drive

07-28-2009

Test Drive is a little bit of a stretch I suppose, more like rental that I treated as a test drive. During my recent trip home to the Atlantic Provinces, I resolved that renting an interesting car might make the experience a little more interesting. A bit of time on the interweb offered the 2010 Mustang Coupe (V6) from Budget rentals in the Halifax Airport.

Upon arrival and check-in with Budget I was pleasantly surprised when the clerk gave me the keys to a Red 2010 Mustang GT, as a V6 was unavailable at that time, game on, my trip just got more interesting. At the fore-front of my mind was the fact that this new car has a love or hate relationship with many online Mustang enthusiasts, and this would be a golden opportunity to compare, without the pressure of trying to be popular in the car magazines.

For the short list, the vehicle was as tested a 2010 Mustang GT with the only option being a 5-speed Automatic Transmission. List price for this car was $38,429.00 CDN

Link to Virtual window sticker below: (Adobe Document)
http://services.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/inventory/WindowSticker.pdf?vin=1ZVBP8CH1A5118337

Fun fact, if you take the above link and paste your own VIN in place you can see your virtual window sticker if your car is fairly new, pre-05 need not apply…

For anyone who doesn’t wish to hear me prattle onwards and see lots of photos, my overall assessment of the car is Positive. It is a great car and I give it high recommend, however I do not personally prefer this car over the previous 05-09 models, and I’ll relay that as the article progresses.

As first interaction most people have is with the exterior, I shall cover it first.
This is a really tough call, personally I enjoy the look of the 2005-09 cars much more but you just can’t ignore the work Ford has put into the new model. Things like the smaller grille area and headlights have grown on me, as have the little “fairings” that protrude from the lower front valence. The extra styling found in the fenders is quite pleasing to the eye and no one could ignore the massive “power bulge” the molded in to the hood, fantastic! It all comes together very well in person, that is until you reach the back of the vehicle, we all knew this would be a sore point didn’t we?

I believe it was Motor Trend who drew attention to the trunk lid not fitting well, and in person I see what they mean, but not without some explanation. If you were to walk a semi-circle around the back of this car, taking only 10 steps, things would look just fine for 8 of those 10. However some where near the middle you find an angle that makes it all look very wrong, and it’s mostly an optical illusion but the tail lights appear flat against the concave trunk lid, making it seem off.

It does in actuality fit well and keeps your luggage dry but you won’t be impressed if you push in on the bottom trunk edge, very flexible…

Another couple of nagging bits is the huge Texas belt-buckle sized emblem, its cheap plastic and makes awful crunching sounds if you push on it, I think the two piece design allows dust between the layers causing this. The other is the rear mounted “shorty” antenna it’s in a great place, but looks exceptionally poorly crafted.

Finally is the rear spoiler, it seems alright until you pop the trunk then the thin, unsupported tips become apparent. I think these guys might be susceptible to damage if used as a handle to close the trunk, like I caught a few family and friends doing.

I may very much like my Retro Mustang, but this new car gets a solid 9/10 in the exterior styling department, this car truly does look like the next evolution of the Mustang GT, that is, aside from the rear end…

I quick thought is the Wife described the rear as looking like an economy car, and from the right angle I think she may be on to something…

Logic would say move to the interior next, but let’s cover the dynamic parts first, it’s certainly more fun.

Here I’ll come right out and say good work, when you consider that this power plant is a carry-over, it is brilliant. It makes all of the right sounds all of the time, the 2010’s mufflers sound very good. Anyone who isn’t a Borla Stinger fan would be appeased with a simple High-flow catted mid-pipe swap, the tone is perfect just could use a little more volume, but it is damn close.

The tube that channels intake noise to the interior, while first assessed as a useless bobble, worked awesome, somehow they managed to transmit the growl of the exhaust to the front of the car. It’s silent at cruise but really encourages more throttle once you begin to open the taps, I’m quite impressed.

The 6,500 rpm shift point is noted as well and the Automatic transmission is quick. It may not have that neck snapping authority but it is perhaps the fastest shifting production Ford I’ve been in.

Power bulge!

The Automatic did add one neat element, disable the TCS, stomp both pedals and those Pirelli’s turn to glorious smoke, got to love paying for the extra rental insurances…

Fuel economy? On the highway it could easily see 30 MPG, but after 2200km of all types of driving we averaged 22.2MPG. (10L/100km)

The car handled the rough and narrow roads of rural Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with confidence and poise, but I did notice one thing. Compared to my old 84 Mustang with its terrible 2.3L engine, the 2010 was clearly much faster and handled better through the roads of my teenage years. But it was markedly bigger, massive actually, especially when sharing a shoulder-less two lane with an oncoming logging truck. On the flip side though, with the exhaust rumbling at part throttle load it did have presence, and people did take notice.

The car was excellently balanced and it took a fair bit of careless throttle over rough roads to get the rear to step out of line, being a rental I was merciless. I was only able to willfully bottom out the suspension once, a non-transitioned section where 2” depth (x15ft long) of pavement had been removed; 50km/h did overcome (BANG!) the shock absorbers. Under normal conditions a reasonable person would have dropped their speed to a crawl, and never experienced this condition.

Wrapping things up with an exploration the interior draws this extended road test to a close. I actually took down a list of items about the interior that caught my interest or ire so I’d remember them all.

Overall the new interior takes some getting used to over the older layout, but it does make the Mustang seem more polished, like the interior of a European Import. And I think that is what Ford was going for, not that I like it, but it will likely be quite popular and that is what makes money these days.

The next few items will appear very nit-picky to most people but coming from a 2009 and hopping into a 2010 you’d probably have the same changes jump out at you. And honestly we are comparing Mustangs to Mustangs here, it’s the subtle differences that make a car unique.

The seats are familiar Leather from the GT500 and Bullitt of previous years and feature a nice contrasting “baseball” stitching, they were good before and still hold true.

Finally since 2004 we see the return of an interior power trunk release, it’s kind of just bundled in with the TCS/Hazards next to the shifter, but it’s great to see it again. I’d have it moved inside the dash or armrest but that’s just me.

The shifter (auto) is a decent design and is fairly ergonomic; the O/D off button is a little too far down and doesn’t have that easy tap of the thumb use. I am however told the 05-09 shifters were worse so I’ll call it an improvement.

The radio system is much more integrated, and the Sirius functions like it belongs there, the original Shaker systems seemed a little “made to work” But the Sirius was much more finicky with signal, could be a geographical thing, or perhaps it is something else.

The gauge faces are bold and bright, offering a modern appearance, sadly the needles are too thick and will totally obscure the tach/speedo markings often giving an imprecise +/- 5 km/h visual glance.

Gone are the two separate stalks on the steering column and instead is a single multi-function switch on the left side, like the old pre-05 cars. My only annoyance was just having gotten used to the 2009’s two stick arrangement; I swatted the ignition key ineffectively looking for the wipers once.

Speaking of wipers, they are the spring-less design from the Gt500 and they got a lot of use during my trip, mainly due to the 8 (of 10) days of rain. Further due to the power bulge cowl had a habit of covering the outside of the windshield in humid fog, I hope that is just another geographical thing.


While I did remark at the loss of the two center round HVAC vents, the new design offers a covered high mount 12V plug and a neat little shelf on the dash pad that might as well have “Radar Detector Here” stenciled on it. That I thought was a keen idea.

 

Moving down the center stack, I was immediately put off by all of the new buttons, there is just too many of them, which made quick reference and adjustment annoying. I’m sure this is what the modern Mustang owner wants, but is it really necessary to require operation of the blend door by cycling 1 button multiple times through all positions until the LED’s on the diagram match with what you wanted? HVAC should be nothing more that 3 large rotary knobs and 3 buttons Rear Defrost, Re-Circulate, and A/C. I noted we had heated seats in this model, they seemed to have two positions OFF and Ouch, not that you use them much hidden behind the shifter and all.

This model features Microsoft Sync, anyone not familiar with the system is encouraged to look of google for a quick primer, but it was fairly easy to make my Blackberry work as a hands free via the vehicle sound system. It appears to have a number of great options that I didn’t really explore with a rental. Aside from being a little choosy with its voice commands, it worked quite well.

The console is probably one of my final and larger gripes, it looks very nice and has a cover for the two cup holders I despise from the 05-09’s, but it looks like something that will break one day. Fox owners know what I’m on about here…ashtray cover style…

 

 

The armrest is gone, you now have a flat console I don’t like it, period. The latch for the console storage is now lockable, which is fantastic but the spring opening button simply doesn’t work properly, an un-needed driving distraction. My test car started out with only 6000km’s and it already had scratches to the chrome applique, this doesn’t speak well for a lifetime ownership car. The storage bin does have 12V point, AUX jack, and a USB port but overall capacity seems quite reduced.

Also noted was the trip computer’s display was in blue rather than Ford’s nearly trademark green LED, many popular features remain but the loss of the fuel consumed heading was lamented. The trip computer and its menus, are manipulated with three buttons now located under the headlight switch, the “mood lighting” control is now buried in the digital menus making on the fly adjustments cumbersome. Another quick note about the mood lighting feature, is the lighted sill covers that greet you when the door is opened, nice touch but my example showed signs of moisture in the lettering, surely not a good sign.

Since you suffered this thing out so far I’ll sum up, overall this is a great Mustang, it has lots of great features and wide appeal. While this would not be my first choice in a Mustang to purchase, it does carry the brand well, I prefer a simpler more muscle oriented interior but creature comforts do sell cars. Reviewing my observations a keen observer will note most of my concerns are a number of small non-important issues that really don’t matter. That should be the main thing to take from this review, there are no serious problems with the car, and although the rear end may be ugly, it is a car worthy of the Mustang name.

 

It was a blast to run this thing through the twists, turns and straights of all 2200km I covered in NS and NB, I honestly can’t think of a better rental car to do it with…