WarBird69

A review of my first (and probably only) new car purchase after 500 miles:

Exterior: There are few words to describe my thoughts on it... stunning, superior painted stripes, georgous... 'nuff said!

Interior: VERY happy with my choice on leather so far. Even with warm seats... it only felt like a warm back massage or something. I actually relaxed a little. Didn't burn my hiney through my BDU's or anything today after work. Love the new car/leather smell! Still on the fence about the chromogenic mirror with compass. Compass is pretty useless IMHO, but the mirror is pretty cool. I'm having difficulity finding a comfy driving position... but I'm sure it will come. I really wish the steering wheel was telescoping... it would help a lot. The satin dash really breaks up the monotony of the all black interior. Not sure if I'm sitting too high, too low, too far up... ugh. I can't wait to get some of my MGW interior parts installed...along with some chrome piping on the door. Also having trouble getting the radio sounding "just right". Definately sounds better than the base radio in my 02 'Stang that is for sure.

Driving experience: WOW. This thing can get up and go! I've only gotten on her a little bit, just to feel her out. Even a half-arsed gas punch going 20 MPH threw me back in my seat, made the engine roar, and the gas gauge sink lower. I can't wait to get some miles on her and lay a trail of rubber somewhere.... just because I can!
Seats are comfy...even on a long (7 hour) trip. No sliding on the leather going around corners like I've heard. My butt stayed firmly in place. The large side mirrors makes tight manuvering (like in a drive-through) a little cumbersome compared to other cars I've driven... but I'll adapt. Perhaps my seat height has something to do with it...
The utter smoothness of the transmission totally takes me by surprise. I've never been in a car that didn't jerk a tiny bit while shifting...not even a Cadillac. This thing rides like the last Caddy I drove (or even better than!) 1995 Coupe DeVille. It will take a long time for me to learn which gear I'm in since I can't feel the car shift.

Other thoughts: Still amused my fogs weren't hooked up. Hope the bulbs/wires aren't damaged from driving 500 miles with them dangling by the radiator. I have an appointment Wednesday to get them fixed/put back in place. If this is my only problem I have... then I'll be a very happy camper!

Summary: If gas wasn't so expensive I'd be out driving now.

twokidsnosleep

Nice summary, glad you are still pleased with the car.

Waiting on my 07 GT vert until August 16 hopefully. Unsure of mags and interior colors (despite others attempts to educate me here).
Three questions:
1. what wheels did you order??
2. have you tried an mP3/ i-pod in the stereo yet??
3. Is the interior colour combo what you expected??
Many happy trails in your stang
Scott

mail906

Nick - I enjoyed your thread, and since I just clocked 500 miles and my 1st oil change, I thought I’d share my observations as well.

Fit/Finish: I am very pleased with the vehicle. Ford has done a good job of mass producing the product to a high quality standard. On close inspection (at home), I have found that the vehicle has 3 or 4 factory scratches on it. It’s black so maybe it’s easier to tell. Most obvious is a pair of matching scratches on the top of the front bumper generally under the fog lights. I believe this has to do with the installation of the front grill. I can live with these imperfections as I have yet to attempt to wax them out or mitigate them. I much prefer keeping it away from the hands of the dealer’s service department.

Exterior: I’m thrilled with the appearance. Spoiler delete is the best choice I made when ordering the car.

Interior: The vehicle has the IUP, Premium Trim Package (PTP) and the charcoal dash panel. Quality is great and I’d recommend the PTP to anyone.

The car came with a slight scratch on the face of the Shaker 500. No biggie but it’s there, and to me it’s not worth having the dealer mess with the dash. And of course, the carpet sucks. What was Ford thinking? It’s so cheap it’s a bad joke. This is really my only harsh criticism of the product.

And on a minor note, the front seat fold-forward mechanism sucks. It’s easy to put the seats forward, but how are you (or my kids) supposed to get them back? Hold the lever, fight the tension and try to guess what position the seat back was in? The design needs some improvement. Also, cockpit heat could have been better controlled with more insulation or the like.

Performance: It sounds great and runs strong. I’ve been careful with it, but I’ve taken it to 4,500 rpm in 2nd and have also taken it up to 80 or 85 mph on the road. It has plenty of power. The throttle-by-wire concept is flawed and yes, there is a slight delay both in acceleration and idle run down. I intend to solve this problem at some point while balancing warranty considerations. The 5 spd. shifter is getting better with age, but it could be better. The remote design (i.e., ½ attached to the transmission and ½ attached to the vehicle body) is the problem. For my purpose its fun and it works, but if I intended to ride it hard, it would have to go.

Shortcomings: The vehicle needs collapsible exterior mirrors.

So those are my thoughts. It’s a great car and it’s been a lot of fun for my wife (a good stick driver) and my twin 12 yr. old daughters. Best of all is all of the help and great advice I’ve received from fellow Mustang owners on these boards. Thanks.

Scott -
1. I ordered polished aluminum wheels (64W) and they're fantastic.
2. My girls have tested the Ipod/Shaker interface and it was easy although we have not used it much. I'd suggest satellite radio; we use it more than anticipated.
3. Can't help on the interior question. I ordered mine triple black, and that's how it came.

WarBird69

1. Standard 17" wheels. Love 'em. The changes for 07 definately look GREAT with Alloy. Not too dark, not too bling-blingy.
2. Haven't tried my MP3 player with the car yet... I need to get on the ball and update it anyway. I only listen to one radio station around town...so not a huge priority right now.
3. Yup...the interior is all black with satin IUP, just like I pictured it. If you're having problems deceiding on an interior color combo, go see it in person.

EDIT: Also thought of a few more things I've noticed:

The display for the Shaker 500 is... strange. It has two rows of information...cool. On the bottom row, the "middle" of the letters/numbers is faded out almost to the point it can't be seen. An example would be the middle of an 8 or 2 or 5 or 6 (and so on). This only affects the bottom row, and is a nuscance when trying to navigate to a certain track on a CD and I can't tell if I'm 10, 16, or 18.

Did I mention I love the exterior appearance? I've already gotten a lot of comments (all positive!). I almost feel vain for having such a hawt car.

shaun_beauchamp

Hey Nick,

That feeling never wears off! I've had mine for 10K miles already (got it in April) and I just ran out of money, so it's parked. I'm doing a track day this weekend now that I have enough miles to "know the car" a little. Every time I hammer the gas I still feel like this thing is new!

tom_vilsack

This flaw still happening in the 07's? (everyone else?) i rented a 05 a while back and this delay really threw me off.Besides driving me nuts,i felt it might prove to be a danger in some situations...

Does ford have a fix for this,or is there some type code do it yourself fix?

95SVTCobraVA

Knew he would like it

Cheese302

well i have had my car for a week and a few days now and i just passed the 1000 mile mark.

1. MP3 player. Works great, sit the ipod right in the small cupholder with my cell phone easy to get to to adjust, and sounds good.

2. the car is awesome.

3. THere are already two small rattles forming in my dash and a/c vent. nothing major, and they come and go, but they are there which is odd.

pitpup

... you probably think this thread is about you, 'bout you!

(oh wait, it is... YOU started it. My Bad. Give Carly Simon our sincerest apologies...)

WarBird69

Question since I haven't had a chance to play around under the hood any...

Is the carbon trap still inside the intake like was the case on the 05 'Stangs? If so, it is safe to remove, right?

Sonic Boom NH

I read about this throttle by wire problem of a hesitation, at least with the manuals. I have a 2006 GT with approx. 600 miles and I have yet to have any hesitation whatsoever with idle or stepping on it.

When I step on it, it goes no hesitation whatsoever. If I hadn’t known it was actually throttle by wire and someone asked me I would tell them it was a mechanical link. When I come to a stop and press the clutch in the idle goes normally down with no hesitation at all.

Those of you with the hesitation, has it been there from day one? If so maybe if you disconnect the battery and leave it disconnected for 5 minutes or so, and/or turn your headlights on until completely off then reconnect the battery maybe that would help?

The reason for leaving the battery disconnected a while and/or turning the lights on is to insure all the “juice” is drained out of the computer, specifically capacitors, so that the computer actually resets itself and NOT retain any “learned” memory.

I read on this site or another site there was a procedure that might get rid of the hesitation. I don’t recall it correctly so please don’t take my word for it and perhaps do a search but I believe the procedure was something along the lines of:

Place key in ignition and turn to the on position (where you get the warning lights etc) do NOT start the vehicle.

Next slowly move the gas peddle from its resting position all the way to the floor or WOT (wide open throttle) position.

The above, I believe, recalibrates the throttle by wire positions. It won’t hurt anything to try that, but it may not help either.

steevr

At 600 miles, I really love my '07 too. I had a couple of 80 mph runs on the highway and a couple of half throttle accelerations up to 3,500 rpms. After the first oil change at 1,000 miles, I plan to reanact the father/son commercial (only with me, the Dad driving and no one else in the car). Two dissappointments with fit and finish. The first is the film on the fog reflectors from day one. The other I noticed at the end of the first day I had the car. I have two small dents in the rear bumper one the edge of the bumper where the bumper turns from vertical to horizontal. Looks as if something fell on the bumper at the factory BEFORE the bumper was painted. The paint is perfectly painted over the dents in the plastic. I asked the dealer if there was any way to get another bumper already painted Redfire from the factory. He said ford would be happy to replace it but the bumper comes unfinished and would have to be painted. I like the idea of my factory bumper paint matching perfectly, so I'm not going to mess with it. Because it's on the curved part of the bumper, it's hard to notice. That's why I didn't see it until the end of the 1st day and believe me, I went over the car pretty well at delivery.

I'm lovin it.

karman

No carbon trap.
Sonic Boom NH I believe this is the throttle reset thread.
http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showth...light=throttle

The other thread is about how to reset computer AFTER you have a reason to disconnect the battery.