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Ford Mustang GT | Road Test
It has a tough-as-nails image and causes heads to turn day or night, but is it a mere showpony or does the 2010 Ford Mustang GT have the bite to match its bark? Damien Reid finds out PHOTOgRAPHY Bahr aL-aLum Karim
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Ford Mustang GT | Road Test
‘At around $8,300 less than the Camaro and $15,000 under the Dodge, it’s brilliant bang for your buck’
I
t might be the last from a long-awaited trio of US muscle to hit these shores, but there was no shortage of fanfare when the 2010 Ford Mustang cruised into the UAE for the first time last month. A police-escorted convoy of current and older ’Stangs motored down Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road 20 deep, filling two lanes on their way to the autodrome circuit during afternoon rush hour headed by the 2010 GT and Cobra models. This was the local reveal to media as well as current and prospective owners and, like the car itself, was unashamedly extrovert in its approach leaving no one in doubt that the new kid on the block had arrived. Following in the wake of the Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro, the new Mustang rounds out the industry’s fascination with 1970s-inspired pony cars which offer V8 grunt and rear wheel-drive in low-slung, two-door bodies that are characterised by a long front overhang and short rear tail. The good news for those in the hunt for this style of car is that the Mustang is the most affordable of the trio with prices starting at $38,000 for the 4.6-litre V8 hardtop and $44,800 for the convertible. Compare that to the expected $46,300 for the Camaro and $53,000 for the Challenger and on paper the ’Stang looks like a no-brainer, although with full options the hardtop is $43,500 and the convertible $46k. When Lee Iacocca introduced the original Mustang in 1964 it was to counter-attack the runaway success of the Chevrolet Corvette, which was winning both on the race track and in the showrooms. Ford came to the party with a more affordable option by basing it on the current Ford Falcon saloon car of its time. Initially offering a six-cylinder engine only, Ford’s engineers simply dropped a new, sleek coupe body onto the pedestrian chassis and mechanicals of its family saloon and they never looked back. Iacocca had done the impossible and knocked the Corvette off its mantle. Of course it wasn’t as good as the Chev, but ◊
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• Exceptional robustness and service life • Excellent traction on all types of terrain • Sidewall marking in full white lettering
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BFGoodrich is a group company of Michelin
ALL TERRAIN T/A
Ford Mustang GT | Road Test
∆ it was almost as good and a damn sight cheaper. In a nutshell that also describes the positioning of this model in comparison to the Chev Camaro and Challenger. It’s not as good and I doubt anyone from Ford would disagree as it produces less power from a smaller V8 and doesn’t have the same handling finesse due to its solid rear axle instead of the independent rear suspensions used by the others. However at around $8,300 cheaper than the GM product and $15,000 less than the Dodge, it’s still brilliant bang for your buck – just the like the original 1964 model. Its eye-catching lines won many admirers, including the police who pulled up on our photo shoot to have a look – and a listen. If only the GM guys bit the bullet when it came to the Camaro’s exhaust note instead of walking the middle road trying to please everyone. In the battle of aural pleasure it’s definitely Mustang 1, Camaro nil. Ford’s engineers know that Mustang people like noise and to hell with the neighbours, so that’s what you get. A fullblown V8 sound that keeps getting better the harder you press the accelerator. When it came to corners and braking though, that’s when things went a bit wrong. This particular car felt like it had suffered some heavy use by previous journalists as the discs were warped and the brake pedal had a very long travel, which basically meant we had trouble pulling the thing up to any speed above 120km/h. I’m sure it does better when it’s in tip-top shape, but on this occasion the test car was feeling a little jaded.
Funky mood lighting looks great, but you can still lose things in the dark
RIVALS - BUY ME A PONY
Engine Power Torque Transmission Price On Sale
DODge CHAllengeR
6.1-litre V8 425bhp 570Nm Five-speed auto From $54,350 Now
CHev CAmARO
6.2-litre V8 426bhp 569Nm Six-speed manual From $46,500 Now
‘That’s what you get, a full blown V8 sound that gets better the harder you press the ’ The brakes are also called in for extra duty on this model because virtually every car with auto transmission these days has either steering wheel-mounted paddle shifts or a tiptronic-style + and – option on the lever for quicker gear changing. Yet despite it being a five-speed ’box, the Mustang’s 1980s-style T-bar meant that you couldn’t click through the gears as intuitively as others, so you relied more on the brakes to slow the car down instead of the engine compression from down changing. This possibly accounted for the premature brake wear on the test car’s pads and discs. Power comes from Ford’s all-alloy, 24-valve, 4.6-litre V8 engine which develops 315bhp at 6000 rpm and 440Nm of torque at 4250 rpm with the five-speed auto. It’s not the liveliest V8 powerplant as it takes ◊ september 2009 WWW.AUTOCARmAg.COm 47
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Road Test | Ford Mustang GT
‘Typical styling cues such as the triple-bar tail lights look as distinctive today as they did in 1964’
Rear quarter glass window, triple-bar tail lights, big fat, centre-mounted gT-badged fuel cap, it has to be the mustang After 45 years, the classic proportions of the gT are still relevant
At the heart of it all, now we want the Cobra
FActFILE Vitals
∆ a while to get its 1600kg mass rolling, but for most it will do fine and is an improvement on the previous unit thanks largely to a new cold air induction system mounted behind the left- side headlight. This ram air effect gives the car more power and torque and helps lift its redline by 2500rpm to 6500rpm, while the other slight mechanical mod is a half-inch increase in diameter of the exhaust pipes to 3.5 inches per side adding to its luscious note. With the optional 19-inch rims, a body reportedly 31 per cent stiffer than the outgoing model and a slipperier shape reducing front end lift by 23 per cent, it felt well weighted on the road although it wasn’t keen on sudden directional changes. The traditional styling signatures of the original ’Stang have been successfully carried over to the 2010 model without being a parody of the old car. Typical cues such as the triple-bar tail lights, rear quarter-glass side windows, centre-mounted petrol cap and, of course, the grille with the iconic pony badge in the centre still looks as muscular and distinctive today as it did in 1964. The retro theme on the outside is even more accentuated inside with a dash and dials that look as if they’ve been lifted straight from the 1960s with two large dials and four smaller units housed in the centre. Giving it the modern-day edge, though, is the heavy use of mood lighting offering blue backlit dials matched to illuminated blue highlights along the door trim and in the hood lining, while contrasting red lighting illuminates the pedals and footwell as well as the internal door handle recess. Look down on the sill panel and the word Mustang is also backlit in deep red. While all this looks great, they forgot to put a proper cabin light in there aside from two small downlamps. For reading they are okay, but drop your keys under the seat and you might as well wait for the sun to come up before you look for them. If you keep in mind the fact the Mustang was built to be a budget-priced American muscle car and not an outrightly quick or sophisticated sports car, it kind of makes sense and at the price you’d be hard pressed finding more muscle for your money. That’s how Iacocca planned things for the original and it went on to be the most successful Ford ever. Forty five years later, facing renewed competition from the Camaro and Challenger, Detroit’s blue oval brigade is hoping history will repeat itself. L
FORD mUsTAng gT
Engine Power Torque Transmission Length Width Height Wheelbase Kerb weight 0-100km/h Top Speed Price On sale
4606cc V8 315bhp at 6000rpm 440Nm at 4250rpm five-speed automatic 4778mm 1877mm 1425mm 2720mm 1604kg 5.3 seconds 230km/h From $38,000x Now
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