While I did rent this particular car from another rental company, I have seen comparably equipped Mustangs on the National lots before (albeit rarely) so I suppose YMMV on this one. Sorry for the iPhone pics.





2012 Ford Mustang V6 Premium Coupe - MSRP about $29K

I was looking forward to driving the new Mustang, which made the Car and Driver 10Best list (notably, leaving its V8-equipped sibling off the list). Ford advertises that the car will get 31MPG on the highway out of the 305-hp V6. Seems impossible, right? WRONG. This is hardly the "secretary special" that V6-powered Mustangs have been in years past. Highway cruising netted me a remarkable 32MPG at 70 MPH, and city driving was a reasonable 20. The real story here was the power though, this car is properly quick. Between 3 and 5000RPM's the power really hits hard, and in no time at all you're approaching "arrest me" speeds. I've driven the new 5.0, and that's a rocket ship, but for everyday use this car has more than enough get-up-and-go for freeway onramps and merging.

Equipment
The V6 Premium adds leather, the Shaker 500 audio setup, Sirius, SYNC, and the ambient lighting package (including MyColors adjustable gauge coloring). Oddly, my car was optioned with the $250-extra LED-illuminated "MUSTANG" door sills. The stereo is one of the best I've heard, really hard on the bass (highs, not as nice). The seats are supportive and the leather a nice texture, but I would have liked full power (too much to ask for as standard on an almost $30K car?)

Ride
Surprisingly, even with the huge 215/65/17 series tires, the ride felt jarring over rough roads. It was almost as bad as my daily driver which has a lowered suspension and a much lower profile tire. It was fine on the highway. Corners were handled well enough, but the high-profile all season tires weren't doing the grip any favors.

Other cool features
MyColors is neat to play with, allowing you to choose the color of your gauges, the color of the halo ring around the gauge clusters, and the color of the ambient lighting (footwells, cupholders, door panels) of the car. I also found adjustable steering weight hidden in one of the setup menus, with "Sport" being the most realistically weighted of the options (Comfort felt like a Buick, Normal felt, well, normal). Finally, the sequential turn signals are a nice feature, although not one you'll enjoy from the driver's seat.

Pros:

• Deceptively quick
• Reasonable gas mileage, especially on the highway (takes regular)
• Great looking car, from all angles (I prefer this to the Camaro/Challenger)
• Neat toys like the MyColors system
• Superb Shaker stereo
• Seats are comfortable enough, if lacking in adjustability
• Ford's rear view mirrors with integrated blind spot mirrors are still the best around, and work great with the Mustang's portly B and C pillars.

Cons:

• Small trunk
• Laughable back seat
• Forward visibility isn't great, between the limited adjusting seat and the giant hood scoop
• Ride quality leaves something to be desired
• I didn't like the climate control setup. It was hard to find a setting and temperature that I liked, and the lack of dedicated air-flow buttons was difficult to adjust while driving (you had to press one button continuously until you reached a combination of front defrost/upper vents/floor that you could live with.