brycerichert

Overall, great car. I can't believe this is a product of America. I'll have videos and pics up later on... unfortunately the thing has to sit in the garage all weekend while we go camping.

Handling: Tight, but feels like the tightness is sitting on top of a boat. Hard to explain. 0-60 runs, the front up the car goes way up... I know it's designed for the dragstrip folks and the weight transfer that supports that endevour, but please... I need to dump a couple grand into this suspension fast in order to take it to a track.

Shifter.. way better than I expected from factory. Nice and short, not quite as short as my bimmer, but short enough that it's not worth going aftermarket. However, when going in reverse, it rubs up against the console side waaay too much. Design flaw?

Power... great power from 2500.. runs out at 6500. 6 is worthless at 60-70 obviously. I have 3.73's on mine. This thing rockets, but because of the suspension, the front feels VERY untidy during acceleration. 2-3-4 in the powerband on this thing is great! (that's coming from a supercharged bmw guy who only had power up top.)

Fit and finish. Kinda week. Too much plastic, the compartment on the doors, you can almost cut your finger on that cheap plastic. The lights and stuff look cool; it will take some time to learn how to use all the stuff. Audio and phone teaming was pretty straight forward on an iphone.

Hood closing is week... holding it up and dropping it from a foot or two will not close it. you'll have to press down on the top of the hood... HARD. Too bad they couldn't put some type of emblem there to save on the paint job.

Brakes... great on the street... stops and gets wiggly a little towards the end, but the Brembos work. At the track, won't know for a few weeks. Seems the pads come out pretty easy, but if you are changing pads at the track, if you are going thicker, you'll still need to take out the caliper to push back the pistons, so it's not really "quick" unless you are changing out same thickness pads.

Sunroof.. worth it, The kids love it.. wife loves it.

Electronics package... totally worth it. I know you give up the 1000 shaker for it, but the 500 is MORE than enough if you are 40is like me.

Leather seats? A total joke on the 400A package. Feels like some sort of cheap vinyle knock-off. Terrible. I hope the 401 package is better material. I couldn't get 401A because of the combinations I wanted.

Stance... this thing is a 4x4 with the 19's. There is an entire key length between the fender and the top of the tire. Maybe that's to give room for the generous suspension squat on take off.. ha ha.

So much more to say about this car. Power is amazing for being stock; the front end just can't handle it, unless you are going straight, which most Mustang folks will I suppose.

BTW... first tank of gas..... 7mpg ha ha.. it was fun!

28.

very nice. Kona's with saddle are getting pretty popular. Congrats.

shotzy

Beautiful car.

Coming from a 06 BMW m3 vert myself. I agree the suspension is first on the list of upgrades. Mine will be done next week with gears to follow shortly after But it really is to bad you weren't able to get the 401a. I think the interior is as good if not better than my M. Not sure if you had a clutch stop on the BMW but it is very easy to make one for this car. About $10 at home depot and really transforms clutch feel.

Good luck with it. I am sure once you get everything all dialed in you will really love this car.

Twin Turbo

Congratualtions!

I love these early photos with proud dads and their children. The Mustang suddenly becomes one of the family.

My daughter (not quite 6) says she'll be getting my car when she's older, which means I need to buy another for my boy (aged 18 months) and another for me!

Congrats again, that's a beautiful family you have

Freshmeat

My almost-six son claimed mine as well and I haven't even picked it up yet!

MRGTX

Nice write-up. We all bring our own biases, I guess.

I'd never look twice at a BMW (aside for a nice 2002 tii) and find the design priorities of modern flabby Euro mobiles to be exactly all of the stuff that I don't want to pay for. Just my opinion. The design priorities of the Mustang (i.e. engine over interior) are A-OK with me but I can see how it might upset some people with delicate butts.

The suspension will certainly garner some attention if the description above holds true. I found the base model to wallow a bit (but still vastly better than my '09)... and I assume the Brembo models will only be better... so I'll have to see for myself.

David Young

Nice!!! Mustang.

Five Oh Brian

Hi, Bryce,

Thanks for the business! Glad we could get your GT here in a timely fashion. Nice to hear your perspective coming from a Vortech supercharged BMW. The Mustang has gotten so much better over the last couple of generations, so this may be the first Mustang model that will really win over former euro/asian car buyers. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on your GT after you've had a couple of days on the track. I'm one of those drag racers who love the solid axle and loose suspension and weight transfer, so it's always interesting to hear about road racing mods for a different angle on our favorite pony car. Thanks again for the biz - much appreciated!

whysoserious

Great write up! Also, thanks very much for the detail pictures of the suspension and other components. I had a thread earlier about the unique Brembo-car lower control arms and your picture clearly shows them. Thanks again!

Phorty

Awesome! Some really nicely optioned cars popping up every day. Love the saddle and glass roof. I'll surely have some good choices when looking for a used one in 3 years!!!

stangfoeva

Nice Congrats!

Lancel

How old is your car by the way? I notice your axle is clean as can be, none of the insta-rust like some of them.

Double-EDad

This is the second former-BMW owner complaint (that I’ve seen) about the lack of tightness/firmness of the GT suspension. With all due respect (and I mean ALL due respect), may I remind everyone that the BMW coupe that sports a DOHC V-8 and just over 400 HP (414 I think?) is the M3, which costs about 2X what a GT 5.0 coupe costs.

Comparing to a 335i? That E92 is about 1.5x the cost of a GT coupe, and gives up about 100 hp to the 5.0! So with all that money saved there’s probably room to replace a few springs and struts to custom tailor the Mustang’s suspension to each individual’s taste.

As a former 540i (E39) owner, I don’t feel much difference between it and the GT, but the 540i was bigger & didn’t handle like a 3.

shotzy

Isn't it something that so many BMW drivers are buying these now. It really says something about the improvements made on these cars. We are not complaining as much as saying if you plan to go from a BMW to the mustang you should expect to put some money into the suspension.

I am thrilled with my car and as soon as I can really romp it thru the turns I will like it even more.

xlover

i cross shopped my 2010 against a 335i and a G37 all similar power and features (leather, NAV, htd seats, manual). All things considered for what i wanted the mustang was the best overall package. I thought the BMW interior was the best but not 10k better than the stang. Plus the mustang won out on style and that V8 rumble. My buddy that came with and I thought the G37 was a POS, no hate to any owners out there just not at all my cup of tea.

Double-EDad

Agree, and meant to make that point myself. Who’d have dreamed 5 or 6 years ago that the Mustang would even be compared to any BMW (favorably or not) let alone taking some of their customers? It’s all good!

Paul_C

Well said. And this is something I found interesting, and a bit annoying, as I was doing my research on the 2011 the last few months. The automotive press - Motor Trend, Car and Driver, and all the rest - when reviewing the Mustang, can't seem to get over their muscle car (or pony car, whatever) fetish, as if there are only 3 cars in the world - Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers. AARGGH. I craved seeing comparisons (positive and negative) with the 370Z, Genesis, and other comparably-priced performance cars. And perhaps (gasp) even the mighty BMW and Audi. It's a new world, thank goodness.

starbai

I just realized these cars dont have a center arm rest.

Double-EDad

What the Deuce?

starbai

lol sorry for the randomness... i was looking through his pictures and i just wondered. where you guys rest your right arm... is that center console high enough since theres no actual center arm rest?