SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Howl like a Coyote: 2016 Ford Mustang 5.0 GT a/t

Haulin’ Badass

Posted: 10 June 2016

The cheat sheet

Price: R839 900
Engine: 4951 cc, quad-cam, 32-valve, naturally aspirated V8
Power: 306 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 530 Nm at 4250 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 4.8 seconds
Maximum speed: 260 km/h (governed)
Real life fuel consumption: About 12.5 l/100 km
Tank: 61 litres
Boot: 382 litres
Warranty: 4 years / 120 000 km
Service plan: 5 years / 100 000 km

Warning: Don’t buy a Mustang V8 GT if you’re naturally shy – gate guards keep you talking longer than is really necessary, gardeners and school kids hang over fences to get a better view, supermarket workers join the Zimbabwean car guards to look and take selfies, and little old white ladies studiously ignore it.

This young fan was much more direct. She hugged its bonnet and declared: “I’m in love.”

Italians craft exotic cars. Other Europeans and the British build boutique machinery. Germans “do” corporate power in splendid dinner jackets. But only the Americans successfully encapsulate Badass. Look to Chrysler’s pair of SRTs - the 300C and Jeep Grand Cherokee as examples.

There’s now a third; Ford’s 2016 Mustang with its throbbing, 302 cubic-inch V8 that pulses out 306 kilowatts and 530 Newton-metres to blast through the traps in 4.8 seconds. That’s Aston-Martin, Maserati and Porsche territory, Elmer.

If that’s too rich for your blood, there’s an alternative. It’s a little-bitty, 2.3-litre, four-cylinder EcoBoost motor that makes do with just 233 kW and 430 Nm to complete the dash in 5.8 seconds. That’s pdq too. Just sayin’.

Ford calls this V8, 4951 cc, engine “Coyote.” It was developed to replace the old 4.6, while retaining most of its measurements and fittings, and to fit with existing tooling and assembly requirements. Built to compete with GM’s 6.2-litre LS3 Camaro motor and Chrysler’s 6.4-litre Hemi ESF, it comes very close - thanks to sophisticated engine design and its own style of Soul.

It features new four-valve DOHC cylinder heads, with camshafts shifted outboard, allowing for a compact roller-finger follower setup with remote hydraulic valve lash adjusters and improved intake port geometry.

Ford's first implementation of cam-torque-actuated (CTA) Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing (Ti-VCT) in a V8 engine, it allows the powertrain control module to advance and retard intake and exhaust cam timing independently of each other, so providing improved power and fuel economy with reduced emissions.

The local model range is simple. We get the two engines already described, two body styles (fastback and convertible) and two six-speed transmissions (manual and automatic). Choices are both motors in fastback - manual or auto, or both motors in convertible – automatic only.

While standard Mustangs perform and handle pretty decently, Ford SA decided to spare its customers any sleepless nights spent lying awake and wondering, “if only?” In the US, buyers are offered an optional, $2500, Performance Pack. FMCSA threw it in free so you don’t have to ask for it.

It consists of uprated front brakes (352 mm for 2.3 and 380 mm for 5.0) with four-piston calipers for the smaller motor and six-piston Brembo grabbers for the V8, special 19-inch wheels and tyres (255/40 all ‘round for the 2.3 and 255/40 fronts with 275/40 rears on the V8), heavy duty front springs, special chassis tuning, a higher-capacity radiator, limited slip differential, a K brace that links the front suspension towers to the cross member in front of the firewall and, for fastback only, an upsized rear sway bar.

As indicated by the zero to 100 km/h time, this thing hauls ass. It also sits flat through the tightest bends, thanks to anti-squat and anti-dive geometry, and hangs on forever. The automatic box works well and manual override (sporting modes and paddles) makes it even better. Part of the reason for its tidiness is classic balance - 53:47 percent, front to rear, for 2.3s and 54:46 percent for V8s.

Performance is always desirable, but safety and toys count too. Apart from the expected dual-zone automatic air conditioning, automatic wipers and HID headlights, powered everything, electronic braking and handling aids, Sync2, eight airbags (the front passenger gets a knee bag too), MyKey, rearview camera, keyless entry and start (sadly, the starter button looks painted and cheap), climate controlled leather seats with eight-way powered adjusters, and Mustang-themed puddle lamps (thankfully, the horse runs forward) there are some driving customisation features as well.

A pair of matched toggle switches allows you to select steering weight (normal, sport or comfort) and response modes (normal, sport+, race and snow). A further pair controls ESP switching and hazard lamps. So where’s ordinary sport mode, you ask? Good question: It comes on anyway when you pull the shift lever back a further notch, so why duplicate it?

As they say in the ads, that’s not all. Track Apps provide accelerometer, acceleration timer and braking performance read-outs on the instrument panel, while vee-eight manual cars boast a couple of exclusives.

Electronic Line Lock applies the front brakes while letting the rear wheels run free – so you can light up the tyres. When they’re ready to compete, Launch Assist gets you underway without losing traction. These two features are intended for racing use only. And racing voids your warranty. Just sayin’.

It isn’t very practical as a family car because the back seat is designed for tiny people. On the other hand, it’s possibly the most beautifully sculpted parcel shelf in all Motordom. Further, the boot is decently sized and accessible. And the backrests fold down to extend cargo area. The Americans wouldn’t tolerate anything less.

There are some quicker and more powerful mid-life crisis machines out there, but most of them cost a lot more. And but a tiny handful possess this one’s style of Soul.

Test car from Ford SA press fleet
We drove a 2.3 convertible in 2020

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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