Came For The Sunshine, Stayed For The Grunt

The only car I've used an order-form checklist to buy.  Maybe too much bling in those wheels...

When Road & Track tested the S-197 Mustang, I was impressed.  I'd always wanted an American V-8.  This one was all-aluminum, with OHC's, 24 valves, and variable valve timing.  A convertible was on my Bucket List.  Could this be my twofer?

In the later part of my Exile To Sensibility I'd had a "bang for the buck" spreadsheet going (hereafter, b.f.t.b.).  It captured acceleration, braking, lateral G's, and slalom times from Road &Track road tests, divided by sticker price.  My idea was the most performance for the least money.  The Corvette C-6 anchored one end.  The Mazda Miata anchored the other.  Hot hatches and sports cars came and went in the middle (Golf GTI, Mini Cooper S, Porsche Boxster, Nissan 350Z).  An aside: Road & Track no longer publishes as many full road tests as it did in the "aughts" and before.  I've been a reader since 1958.  The magazine's relevance to anything has steadily declined.  I can get through current issues in an hour, including ads.

 One more pre-shopping question needed an answer: would I HSAX again?  If yes, the choice looked like a Mitsu Evo IX.  If no, the Mustang checked my Bucket List boxes.  I decided no.  As a road car, the Mustang was 80% (or more) of a Corvette for 50% of the money.  I couldn't justify the extra cost.  Other desirable cars couldn't match the b.f.t.b. numbers of the Evo and the Mustang, which were close, as were their sticker prices.  The Evo was the better canyon-carver.  But the Mustang's top went up and down--the better to hear that V-8.  "My, convertible, what big cubic inches you have!"

My dealer has a Roush franchise, so I looked at them.  Three strikes: 1) the entry-level car was mostly a body kit; 2) the "good" Roush approached Corvette money; 3) but it lacked the Corvette's independent rear suspension.  So the Mustang GT it was.  I ordered 18-inch wheels and a 3.55:1 axle.  And a Power Pak, which was a reflashed e.c.u. chip plus low-restriction intake and exhaust.  I checked the spoiler-delete box.  Boy Racer body parts are OK with me if they're functional.  If not...not.  As for finish, I'd long hankered after the Italian Look: red exterior, beige leather interior.  The cost of the Ford Racing suspension seemed a bridge too far for a street-only car.

Within months of my car's delivery, the Bullitt Edition came out.  Uh, oh...  It turned out that the Bullitt had the same specification as my car except that it added the Ford Racing suspension.  Which lowers the car 1.5 inches.  The Bullitt is prettier--it's hard to find a better-looking mass-produced car than the '05-'09 Mustang coupe.  (One reason I bought in '08 was that I feared Ford would soon change the styling--and they did.)  But, while the Bullitt is the best-looking S-197 Mustang yet (and probably ever), its sleek top didn't drop.  So my buyer's remorse was brief.  (But read on if you're not already dozing off.)

Ford publicity shot of the 2008-2009 Bullitt Edition.  The best-looking American car in 40 years, in my opinion.
And it fixed everything that was wrong with the standard S-197 Mustang GT.

So how has my Bucket List car worked out?  It's a weekend toy that never sees rain or snow.  Winter traction and a ridiculous trunk are non-issues.  Gas mileage?  I don't need no steenking gas mileage!

On the debit side:

I failed to note that the Michelins on the R&T test car were not a Ford specification: my car was delivered with all-season Goodrich T/A's.  Ugh.  The 18-inch wheels are insufficiently snubbed by the stock GT shocks.  If I could have a do-over, it would be the Ford Racing suspension, or 17-inch wheels, or both.  The brakes are only OK, probably due in part to the tires.  There's more cowl-shake than I expected.  The steering is typical Ford: precise, linear, and dead.  The car goes where you point it.  But it fails to return much feedback about what's happening at the slip angle.  I cannot understand why, in 40 years of trying (?), Ford has not managed to impart more steering feel and to give us a gas gauge that doesn't read "almost full" until it reads "almost empty."  The instruments are over-styled and hard to read.  (This was another thing fixed on the Bullitt.)  The "power bulge" hood, which helps to make the car look so good when viewed from the front, is annoying from the cockpit: forward visibility could be better.

On the credit side:

 The engine is smooth: not just V-8 smooth, but turbine-smooth at high revs, which it loves.  With the Power Pak chip, it breathes right up to the rev-limiter.  Although it has more body roll than I like, it will "take a set" after I've unloaded the front end on corner-entry; I can then feed in the power and it will plant and go. The gearbox has good ratios and short, positive, easy throws.  The ergonomics are fine: it's easy to heel-and-toe downshifts.  The controls are intuitively arranged.  Like most American cars, the a/c and sound systems are superior  (I wish the interior fan had a "completely off" setting).  The tactile feel of the buttons and levers is not up to my Honda, but the fit and finish are fine.

I bought the car at the beginning of the current muscle-car era.  315 horsepower was impressive when the S-197 Mustang came out; it's anemic now.  My salesman has tried to get me to trade up to a 4-cam, 5.0 liter.  It's tempting but hard to justify for a toy used only for touring.  The  car already leaves routine traffic behind effortlessly.  I was never much for street racing and am less so now.  But it's a lot of fun  to do a "roll-out" start and run the engine up to the red line in 1st and 2nd.  3rd if there's room.
       
Overall, looking back over 50 years, it seems to me that "the more things change, the more they stay the same."  But they're converging.  You can't mistake the Mustang for an import, even a big one.  It's a blunt instrument.  But it is, by a wide margin, the best American car I've owned.  The engineering is world-class.  It has a rear axle that stays put when driven hard.  If I were going to the Dragon, I would  take my Civic Si (and have).  For me, taking a Mustang to the Dragon is like taking a broadsword to a knife fight.  But on fast sweepers, it is huge fun (and would bury the Si).  From a dead stop, the car just hooks up and goes.  It rarely sees Interstates, but shines on them.  It stays planted at way above prudent closing speeds.  If I had to get to, say, Boise, in a hurry, I'd throw the extra suitcase in the back seat and take the Mustang.  The original meaning of Grand Touring was "fast road car, capable of covering long distances at high speed in comfort."  That's exactly what the Mustang GT does.