KDS777

Just spent 3 days with a rented 2018 Mustang convertible in Galveston……..9000 miles on the odometer and it looked and drove like new for me. It was mid 40’s (110 F) and humid !! Always had the top down while driving at night, and again for 2-3 hours in the AM……but we couldn’t do it in the afternoon.

It had the 4 cylinder ECOboost (300 HP) and a 10 speed automatic, 18” alloys, power top, cooled seats, basically a full load except for nav... MSRP here in Canada is in the mid $30’s + taxes………next time you think about the cost when paying for a rental car, try and get something that you my want to buy in the future for the long term. This was only $65 US per day plus taxes (versus $39 for a econobox) and the unescapable fees (which are brutal at IAH……this added $100 to my bill for the 3 days).

PROS

- Attractive lines from every aspect. Looks way better than it costs. The best of the retro muscle cars out there. Make mine yellow, orange, white, or blue.

-Very comfortable to drive, yet reactive and reassuring when pushed, even in the suspension’s NORMAL mode. Not an all out sports car, but so close it’s worth it.

-Some amazing noise and structural dynamics going on here. With the soft top closed at 80 MPH highway speeds you have no sensation of sitting inside a convertible. I am stunned. Every aspect of the design seems to have been tailored to reduce wind noise and signs of torsional flex. This car is solid and quiet with the insulated top.

-A very high level of interior equipment. There was always a switch/link available for something I wanted to do. More on that later.

-Comfortable interior cockpit seating, and well thought out ergonomics all around.

CONS

-The 4 cylinder ECOboost engine. Too herky jerky in the low rpm torque band when starting out, as well as running at <2000 rpm. Rough edges are apparent from the big four cylinder when driving, and the exhaust isn’t anything to write home about. This unit is a great small truck engine IMHO. Get the now discontinued V6 from last year, or a V8 GT. Unless this car for example dropped from $35K to $27K CAD……..it’s a 4 banger and needs to be priced accordingly to put up with those annoyances. Or, you get a used rental car, say 18 months old and with <40KM, which is also perfect value.

-When changing some settings in the SYNC system, it takes 25 seconds to close your screen. For example, you click save when going from the Spanish to the English language as I had to. On your phone, or laptop, you click save, and it is virtually immediate within a second.

-Over 35MPH and with the top, as well as windows down, the seatbelt flaps quite fast in the wind flow, directly on top of your left shoulder. I am 6’ 1” and had the seat adjusted to sit on the bottom of the vehicle floor. Drove me nuts.

-10 speed automatic trans in the manual shift mode was typically slow (in microseconds) like most everyone else’s are, unless they are using a DSG of course. So, I used “D” 95% of the time while there. The shift logic was fine, and unless you were trolling around slow or at low RPM, it worked well with the 4 cylinder. This transmission would be really slick with the V8.

-The number of switches and electronic aids available is ridiculous. I used NORMAL mode for 95% of functions (suspension, shocks, steering, sound, transmission, etc) and left it at that. Manufacturer’s that practice extreme option “bundling” on the order form turn me off from the product. That’s the case here with Ford’s practice of having packages. I want XXXX, but not the, for example, 4 other things you tell me I need pay for, in order to do so.

Thanks to the modest expenditure of $300 for 3 days, I’ve given myself the ownership experience and saved $35K. Yeah, still I’d buy one, but not with the 4 cylinder ECOboost engine, unless I could steal it.

Redwood839

I actually kinda liked the EcoBoost option over the 5.0 It's a bit jerky down low but it's a fun car. Plus, you can't beat the turbo whine.