A Brief History in Zero to 60 MPH

It’s simply the most effective factor to come back out of Dearborn for the reason that 1932 V-8 Mannequin B roadster. However for all Ford’s speak of Complete Efficiency, it’s nonetheless clear that the Mustang has been designed and constructed to a worth. The need of assembly price objectives meant that it needed to share a most variety of elements with different fashions within the Ford line. Out of this case sprang the benefit of a particularly extensive availability of choices for the Mustang, chosen from the Falcon, Fairlane, and Galaxie collection.

FULL MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE TEST

You’d assume that dropping an anchor just like the 390 engine into the Mustang would overload the entrance finish and make it deal with like an actual canine, wouldn’t you? The puristi will look on the specs and hoot derisively on the 60.3/39.7 % weight distribution and let you know the rig won’t ever fly, proper? In fact, even we anticipated the Mustang 390 GT to plow like an Ohio farmer. It doesn’t. The automotive we examined had over 400 kilos extra weight on the entrance wheels than the final Mustang we examined—a 271-hp 289. There have been no fundamental adjustments within the Falcon-inherited suspension, but the Mustang 390 GT has steadiness and dealing with.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST

The Mustang engine was all enterprise. No chrome air cleaner or valve covers. Simply plain previous blue paint. Even the headers have been form of pale blue. Proper on prime was a super-tall aluminum, two 4-barrel inline consumption manifold with a pair of 540-cfm Holleys and a paper-element air cleaner. There it was, tunnel-port followers, proper in entrance of our very eyes. The true factor. “Properly, sure, that is your common 12.5 to 1 compression ratio, dry-deck, tunnel-port 302,” allowed Ford Man, nonetheless a bit defensive from the tire dialogue. “What number of do ya need?”

FULL MUSTANG TEST

It might simply be that this time the stylists have carried out too good a job. Have a look at the Mustang Mach I, and also you anticipate miracles—drive it, and they aren’t forthcoming. The items are there—most of them anyway—however the sum is way wanting its components.

FULL MUSTANG MACH I TEST

To race or to not race? Ford has lastly determined. To not. With all of the stress from ecologists and auto-safety advocates, Ford was discovering it unattainable to justify dropping 4 or 5 million on the tracks yearly the place folks might see it. So no extra racing. That kind of leaves the Boss 351 dangling from the top of the limb that has been reduce off. The principle objective of its existence has been to meet the SCCA manufacturing requirement in order that the manufacturing unit racers would have one thing from which to construct a juggernaut for the Trans-Am. But when the manufacturing unit isn’t going to race them, who will? FULL MUSTANG BOSS 351 TEST

Whereas the Mustang II shares some customary compo­nents with the Pinto, it isn’t simply one other model of that econ­omy sedan—not more than the unique Mustang was merely a Falcon. It has been constructed with the particular intention of coming into the market as a Tremendous Coupe and, when it comes to “really feel,” it’s successful. Versus the sterile practicality and cost-trimming measures so dispassionately evident in American-made financial system vehicles as much as this time, the Mustang II by no means appears to be an inexpensive automotive.

FULL MUSTANG II MACH I TEST

You may’t deny its preliminary attraction—an excellent sobriquet from the previous, Carroll Shelby paint job, scoops, spoilers, white-letter tires, V-8 motor, and 4 on the ground. Sounds neat, however what you get is a mini Mark IV all dressed up in efficiency gear with nothing to make it go. Your mother-in-law deserves greater than 105.7 mph. To strangle a 302-cubic-inch motor all the way down to a sickly 134 horsepower is an incredible—however embarrassing—feat of contemporary know-how.

FULL MUSTANG COBRA II TEST

First the dangerous information: The large motor’s gone. We are saying “large” with tongue firmly planted in cheek, as a result of 1979’s 302-cubic-inch V-8 sucking life via a two-barrel straw was hardly what you’d name muscle sure. Nonetheless, this yr’s plan is a smaller cylinder bore and fewer displacement to wring yet one more mile out of each treasured gallon of gasoline. The brand new, 255-cubic-inch (4810 cc) V-8 additionally trims 25 kilos off front-end weight. What this prices you is roughly 10 horsepower in contrast with the 302 V-8’s 140 internet horsepower output. Ford claims the change brings a fuel-economy enchancment of 1.2 mpg.

FULL MUSTANG COBRA TEST HERE

Press on the Mustang’s gasoline pedal, and nice issues occur. An authoritative growl from below the hood is accompanied by screeches of rubber behind the automotive. This Mustang is in the mean time the quickest machine made in America, and our inside sources on the Ford Motor Firm recommend that efforts are afoot to maintain Mustangs and Capris that approach.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST HERE

The third-gen Mustang GT marked the beginning of a protracted climb out of the Darkish Ages for American carmakers. Two oil shortages within the earlier 10 years and the ratcheting up of emissions requirements had diverted engineering sources into constructing smaller, extra environment friendly vehicles. By 1983, although, the Camaro/Mustang efficiency race was on once more. That rivalry was, like now, about extra than simply straight-line pace, so Ford additionally retuned the ’83 GT’s suspension for higher dealing with and widened its Michelin TRX rubber for extra grip.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST HERE

Now that the year-old redesign of the Ford Mustang has some miles on it, each Ford and the Mustang’s obsessed clientele are prepared for just a few essential adjustments. A Mustang Cobra making greater than 300 horsepower is definitely welcome. And at last banished from the ’96 Mustang GT is the traditional overhead-valve 4.9-liter V-8, which—in varied guises—has powered Mustangs since their inception. Sure purists could wail and gnash their enamel over this one, however it’s a transition we like.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST HERE

Who ever thought a manufacturing unit Mustang would command a worth of $28,000? Extra shocking, who might have imagined {that a} Mustang would have an unbiased rear suspension? Properly, the 1999 SVT Mustang Cobra lays declare to each these surprises and makes a robust case that the latter (abetted by a brand new 320-horsepower model of the four-cam, aluminum-block 4.6-liter V-8) justifies the previous.

FULL MUSTANG SVT COBRA TEST HERE

The Mach 1 earns its silver medal as a result of it’s brute enjoyable. Drop the hammer, and with no particularly refined approach, 60 mph is yours in a scalding 5.2 seconds, simply 0.7 second behind a $34,750 SVT Cobra and the quickest time on this take a look at by a full half-second. The primary two shifts of the notchy field go away skid marks, and the fourth shift places paid to 151 mph.

FULL MUSTANG MACH 1 TEST HERE

It doesn’t occur typically, however the hens within the henhouse typically kill the fox. That’s apparently what occurred over at Henry’s glass henhouse in Dearborn. The GT’s 4.6-liter SOHC modular V-8 now options 24 valves quite than 16. The three-valve heads allow a rise of 40 horses and 18 pound-feet of torque, though each enhancements are realized at loftier revolutions.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST HERE

Bear in mind when 540 horses have been sufficient to win Indy or set a Bonneville document? The Shelby lunges ahead with a fearsome roar once you mash it, the acceleration making you startlingly heavy within the seat. Even so, Ford thought our 12.9-second quarter-mile was sluggish by a half-second, however after two take a look at classes in imperfect circumstances—and after letting Ford’s personal sizzling shoe take the wheel—we have been unable to higher the occasions. Ford figures the automotive ought to run 12.5-second quarters, possibly faster. Possibly so—we await the proof. In the meantime, it’s no faster than a Chevy Camaro SS, which is about $17,000 cheaper.

FULL MUSTANG GT500 TEST HERE

The 412 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque, the latter on a gloriously flat curve that peaks at 4250 rpm, are achievements. It’s sufficient to knock out a 60-mph dash in 4.6 seconds, and the quarter-mile in 13.2 seconds at 109 mph, that are kind of Camaro SS occasions. Lastly, a Mustang engine that doesn’t should eat mud from a small-block.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST HERE

Two. That’s what number of occasions this writer appeared beneath the 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca to ensure some artful Ford worker hadn’t changed the stable axle with a fancy-pants independent-rear-suspension setup. It’s not as if the Boss have been all of the sudden devoid of axle hop or radically extra expert at navigating off-camber curves and uneven pavement than are different present Mustangs, however Ford has finessed the stick axle to the purpose the place it now not spoils an in any other case good time. Nonetheless, we needed to be 100% certain the corporate hadn’t slipped us a ringer.

FULL MUSTANG BOSS 302 TEST HERE

With a automotive like this, you inevitably give attention to the numbers. The $54,995 GT500 coupe turns in a zero-to-60-mph dash of three.5 seconds. Ferociously tall gearing means third gear is sweet for 140 mph and first gear is lengthy sufficient to succeed in freeway speeds. Even so, the quarter-mile passes in 11.8 seconds. Slam a redline shift from second to 3rd, and also you’ll hear the rear tires chirp. We additionally noticed a fair 1.00 g on the skidpad.

FULL MUSTANG GT500 TEST HERE

With a six-speed guide sprouting up between the seats, the V-8 makes very quick work of the primary three gears. The accelerative rush is such that the considerably tacky Floor Velocity label on the speedometer makes some sense, and the needle swings into triple digits in a short time. Zero to 60 mph is achieved in 4.5 seconds, and the quarter-mile lights tripped in 13 flat; our Mustang additionally hit 150 mph in properly below 30 seconds. Additionally, there’s no Muzak model of the Daytona 500 performed via the audio system within the Mustang. The GT’s V-8 soundtrack, though extra subdued than we anticipated, is generated solely by combustion occasions and never electrons. We got here away from this hushed GT occupied with refinement, not tinnitus.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST HERE

Not that the brand new Shelby isn’t fast, however it’s not a devoted quarter-mile eater, both. The bottom GT350 reaches 60 mph in 4.3 seconds after a considerably tough launch and does the quarter-mile in 12.5 seconds at 117 mph. Maybe not gorgeous numbers nowadays, however the take a look at automotive did weigh 3796 kilos. With its 18-pound carbon-fiber wheels and stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, the R (at 3710 kilos) makes it to 60 in 3.9 seconds and thru the quarter-mile in 12.2 seconds at 119 mph. Guess what? Porsche 911 GT3 drivers don’t leap up and down about drag-strip occasions. Stats that matter to them extra are skidpad grip and braking distances. There, the 350 and 350R pull 0.98 g and a startling 1.10 g, whereas stopping from 70 mph in 152 toes and 146 toes. Ford’s priorities turn into clear once you test the track-sheet knowledge.

FULL MUSTANG GT350 TEST HERE

The Ford Mustang’s punchy turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four EcoBoost engine was obtainable with its personal Efficiency Pack for the 2018 mannequin yr, and like immediately, comes with a 10-speed automated. For those who recall, the final EcoBoost we examined was a 2015 instance that had 4 fewer gears to fiddle with. The additional speeds assist in a straight line, because the 2018 EcoBoost goes from zero to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds flat. That is an enchancment of 0.2 seconds over the 2015 mannequin.

FULL MUSTANG ECOBOOST TEST HERE

We have been in love with the Ford Mustang Bullitt since we first noticed it on display with Steve McQueen. As an alternative of creating us pine for our personal, Ford despatched one for a 40,000-mile long run take a look at, and we not too long ago received our automotive out to the take a look at monitor. It makes good use of its 480 horsepower on the way in which to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. It is slower than the much less highly effective GT to 60 mph as a result of the Bullitt comes with a candy guide transmission with a cue-ball shifter, a concession that is well worth the half-second loss.

FULL MUSTANG BULLITT TEST HERE

A 480-hp all-motor throwback, the Ford Mustang Mach 1 is what’s leftover now that the Bullitt and Shelby GT350 have been discontinued. The Mach 1 has 20-hp greater than the usual Mustang GT, makes use of the six-speed guide transmission from the GT350, however will even provide a 10-speed automated. Our take a look at automotive used the right six-speed, and sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires for a 4.3-second acceleration run to 60 mph. Though not as fast because the GT Efficiency Bundle 2 or GT350, the Mach 1 trailed behind by solely a pair tenths of a second.

FULL MACH 1 TEST RESULTS

Fords use of the Mustang identify for its all-electric crossover was controversial. The twin-motor Mach-E we examined has 346-hp, however not like earlier Mustangs, you’ll be able to’t hear any of it. It tipped the scales at 4856 kilos; the heaviest Mustang ever. It is 5.1-seconds to 60 mph beats the 300-hp fifth-gen Mustang GT and went from 50–70 mph in simply 2.8 seconds. We managed 350 miles of freeway vary on this all-wheel-drive Mustang, and whether or not you agree with the identify or not, saddle up as a result of the Mach-E gained our EV of the 12 months award for 2021.

FULL MACH-E TEST RESULTS