Test drove a 5.0 Today
 

Well ladies and gents, you heard it right, I went and test drove a new Mustang GT 5.0 today after my Jiu jitsu class. I basically wanted to go and find out for myself just what all the hype was about. So here are a few thoughts:

Looks wise, its a Mustang, nothing different there. I was a little bit mad because they had one there yesterday that I was supposed to test drive w/ the brembo brakes, so I didnt really get a good feel of its braking ability today.

Power, it has it. But its extremely deceptive in the way it comes on (this one in particular had 3.73 gears), I didnt get to power through any turns with it, it was all highway for me today, but the power was definitely noticeable, although I must say, as far as "feel" is concerned, it didnt feel as fast as I thought it would.

Interior, not half as bad as people make it out to be, I actually kind of enjoyed it. Now keep in mind, the one I test drove was all decked out in leather, so it probably looked a bit better than the base model. Oh, and the back seat might as well not even be there :icon17:

Overall, the car itself is fun, but its not Z fun, and I wont be trading mine in for one. One major disappointment I found was that the exhaust note is ridiculously tame, at WOT, it was more quiet than my Stillen CBE/HFC setup, and coming from a V8, thats not acceptable. Now an aftermarket exhaust, particularly the magnaflow one I looked at, will make it sound great, but all stock, definitely not impressed with the sound. The car itself is fun, and if you're coming from a 4.6, or anything else that isnt a Z, the car would definitely be one to check out! Here are a few pics I took today.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00798.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00800.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00801.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00799.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00805.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00806.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00803.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00802.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...t6/p_00804.jpg

Thanks for the Write up, Good to hear the power wasnt there :)




DAN

no prob, haha, I never said the power wasnt there, it was, I could tell by watching how fast it got up to 80, but I guess being a larger car than my Z, it didnt feel like I was going as fast as I was.

Either way Z= Win :)


Mustangs are not bad, They are just like a belly button everyone has one.

Belly Button=A$$ Hole


DAN

so basically it's fast and powerful, but not enjoyable or fun to drive. a muscle car and not a driver oriented and nimble sports car.

by the way, what level in bjj are you at?

In a nutshell, couldnt have said it better. And I'm a purple belt :tup:

oh, one more thing I'd like to add: The shifter was AMAZING. Some of the shortest throws i've ever felt on a factory car, simply awesome.

And one other thing that really put me off.. The length of the clutch pedal travel, it felt 2-3 inches longer than my Z's, how can you have such an amazing shifter, but such a terrible clutch pedal?

so the z still wins :tup:
damn, purple belt! all i got is 2 stripes on my white belt :shakes head:

is it me or is that center console plain retarded? look at how the speedometer and tachometer are displaced sideways. instead, right in front of the driver, we get the fuel gauge, coolant temp gauge, oil temp gauge, and battery voltage! how often would you check your fuel level or battery voltage compared to how often you check the tach or speedo? why are the minor gauges front and centre, while the major gauges are thrown sideways in the peripheral vision and probably blocked off by the steering wheel? i guess it's at least better than the camaro where you can't even see the minor gauges unless you take your eyes completely off the road and get down to the centre console, leaving the car to pilot itself during those few seconds. it's such subtleties that american cars always get wrong again and again.

GM and Ford just can't get interiors right. At least in the USA. I'm currently in the UK, and cars from both companies over here are so much nicer (been that way for decades).

haha yeah, i've been doing bjj for 5 years now, which seems to be the average for advancement to purple. Now going from purple to brown is what takes the longest, brown to black can be as little as a year.

lol @ the antenna sticking up. How 80s.

I am currently facing a dilemma over which to choose between a 40th and a 5.0. The only thing that is better imo in the Mustang is the rear seats since the Z doesn't have one.

I love the Mustang but it is very civil compared to the Z. Even if the Z is slower it still feels more exciting in certain respects because you feel more involved.

I'm sure the new BOSS 302 will be a COMPLETELY different animal and probably put the Z to shame, but even though we lack almost 100hp to the GT the Z is still awesome in it's own right.

The GT doesn't match the feel of the Z in any respect... it's not a sports car, plain and simple. If you want the sports car feel... Z all the way. If you want muscle with lots of room to improve... GT for sure.

My problem is I want them both and at this time I can't have them both... and as diehard a Ford guy I am I don't know if I'm willing to part with the Z so I can get into the GT.

But damn I hate the VQ... I want more power. :mad:

The Mustang is a far more practical car between the two.

Yeah, I hate that. :icon18:

Red, thats just what I wanted to hear to kill off the temptation. Thanks man!! +1

You said you're a ford guy, so you may want to shoot me for saying this, but why not check out a Corvette and have the best of both worlds?

My brother has one (LS3) and it makes the Z feel as slow as a honda.

I actually cross shopped the C6 with the Z back in '09. I loved the power of the Corvette but to me the Z was the better buy. I think it's a much nicer car on the inside than the 'Vette is, even though the 'Vette is quite the performance machine.

Honestly the Z is really a car that fits me... I just lust for more power (and a V8!).

I am a diehard Ford guy, but I'm a car-guy first. I'm not a fanboi of one brand like many tend to be.

Satisfied with my Z with no plans to trade in until after it's paid off (to me the value of a car is in how long you drive it after it's paid off). Besides by then there will be some cool Government Motors I mean Communist Motors I mean General Motors econo boxes out. Powere to the worker the worker supports the state!

supercharge the z. you then get the sporty feel and handling, in addition to the raw power and muscle. then you wont think twice about the mustang

He is waiting to see the results on that, things are a bit early for most to jump on the forced induction route currently.

I felt the same way when I drove a friend's GT 500 last year. It was stock and very quiet. Interior was boring, and I felt like the car was being held back. A new CBE would have really opened the car up to attention, though.

Your review doesn't surprise me. However, I've been seeing some new Mustangs on the road that are already sporting aftermarket parts, if the sound of the exhaust note is any indication.

Thanks for the review Red!

No problemo gentlemen, I'd like for someone else to go test drive one and see if they feel the same way about the points I hit on.

It just the cheap a$$ interiors that I hate about all the domestic cars.

Assuming everything works out with the GTM and Stillen kits over the next few months (and I still have the Z) I will be supercharging. But get this through your thick little skull... I will never stop thinking about the Mustang. :tup:

This is a great perspective. A lot of cars these days are hella fast, but how many are sporty? A Miata has a sporty feel. Regardless of how fast you're going, that is a sports car. The Camaro didn't feel all that sporty when I drove it. For me, the Z is the best of both worlds.

Well the Mustang is sporty, it's just not a sports car. A lot of people seem to miss that fact when they try to compare it with the Z. They are two entirely different cars that produce different driving experiences. A regular GT is not going to drive much like a Z at all.

Now if you were to take something like the BOSS 302 and compare that to feel of the Z it'd be a much better comparison as the 302 takes the regular GT, strips away all it's civilization and adds some power to boot.

I still enjoy both cars very much and want to own them both... at the same time.

dammit just go get a ferrari or something. perhaps the new 458 italia. if that doesn't cure your mustangphilia, i don't know what will :icon14:

i'll tell you what though fellas, that 5.0 engine has LOTS of room to improve, a quick browse of a few mustang sites and i'm seeing guys gaining 40hp and 50+ ft/lbs with an intake/tune combo. Ford also built that engine for forced induction, so for a high horsepower build, you wont need to build the block like you do with our cars.

Power is nice, but as I turned the VDC off and powerslid through the traffic circle by my house a little bit ago, I realize that I don't need much more power for fun. ;)

Disclaimer: I live in some mythical area where powersliding through a traffic circle is not against laws and regulations. Shado will deny all aggressive wrongdoings in court. Brewed in Milwaukee, Wisconson

It's tuned to run on 87 octane so you can really pick up some power throughout the range with a tune... just advance the timing a bit for 91 or 93 and you're making a good bit more power. :tup:

I was just doing some reading up on one of the forums today and it seems that a few guys have commented on some transmission problems they're experiencing, if I were to buy one, i'd let the first year bugs work themselves out first.

hey M4A1, how is the auto in the Mustang btw? does it shift as fast as the Z? Supposedly the fastest stock times were posted with an auto.

Actually, the 87 octane was almost a selling point for me with the Camaro, and I suppose it would be with the Stang. It's a point for practicality.

crazy thing is, if you go from premium to 87 in the mustang, according to the 5.0 dealer manual, it only goes down to 402hp and 372 ft/lbs, not bad at all.

The auto in the 2011s is pretty stout. It's a modified 6R80 used in the F-150 raptor and shift-times could be easily compared to the 7AT in the Z... obviously the main differences being the extra gear on the 7AT and the fact that the 6R80 is rated to a much higher torque spec than our 7AT.

The manual is a Getrag MT82. The only complaints I have really found have been clunky shifting (direct input transmission, doh!) and a rear end clunk (driveline slack). Probably mostly the same things that people complained about with our 6MT.

BTW there are rumors abound that the 2012 or 2013 might get a dual-clutch auto.

outstanding, nice to know. And about that dual clutch... :yum:

and I've just about had it with clunky transmissions, do you think the auto could handle 600+whp?