EcoBoost Mustang: Stairway to GT Heaven?
YouTuber Savagegeese took some time to inspect Ford’s best-selling Mustang, the base EcoBoost model, to divulge its success.
The Ford Mustang is one of the best-selling and most loved muscle cars in the world. A history filled with American ingenuity, V8 exhaust notes, and movie-star cachet. With models like the GT350 and GT500, it is also an enthusiasts’ dream. The thing is, most Mustangs are not sold to enthusiasts. They are not sold with V8s and performance packages. The vast majority of Mustangs are base-engine cars bought by normal folks who want a normal car that feels a little more special than a Camry. What about their Mustang? How good is it and why do they buy it?
The team at Savagegeese took some time to inspect and give a full review to Ford’s best-selling Mustang, the base EcoBoost model, to try and answer that question. So how does the 2020 EcoBoost stack up in the eyes of engineering and performance enthusiasts? Well, it’s complicated and that’s what makes it worth a watch.
First off, the base impression of the EcoBoost Mustang is that it’s not great. The manual transmission is a great option, but the gearing doesn’t match the character of the engine. The 300 horsepower on tap is solid, but not overly exciting. The interior is nothing amazing, and the stereo is just plain bad. All-in-all, the Mustang of the rental fleet gets a rental-fleet rating of “it’s fine.”
But a big part of what we love about Savagegeese is their ability to really step out of their own heads and look at the car from the perspective of the people who actually buy and own the thing. When that happens, their impression of the car really opens up. If you want a cheap car that you can drive every day, and you don’t have the training or experience to deal with a massively powerful engine, the EcoBoost Mustang is actually a pretty great car.
The interior is comfortable and spacious, with plenty of storage space. The trunk is massive, the rear seats are actually usable, and the four-cylinder delivers surprisingly good fuel economy. And then, if you want to have a little fun on the way home from work or impress a friend, it will do a burnout and bark tires between gear shifts.
It also serves as a great platform to teach drivers about the balance and driving dynamics of a rear-wheel drive car without being dangerous on the street. No it won’t get your blood pumping like a proper V8-equipped car will, but for all your friends who are curious about Mustangs but are “scared of too much power,” this could be the Mustang that turns them into true enthusiasts. For that reason alone, it may just be perfect.
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