Lancel

Today I took delivery of my 2011 Mustang GT 5.0. As it turned out the dealer was able to find a lender for me, and I was able to get the car without a cosigner at a pretty good interest rate actually, but I before I go on, the weird part: My lender is Wells Fargo, who owns Wachovia, who is my bank, who DENIED MY LOAN APPLICATION due to insufficient credit history, even though it goes up to Wells Fargo staff to approve and was for the exact same car, VIN and everything. So in effect, they denied me Friday, then approved me today.

PICS! Since I realized that I didn't have one to post yet, so I took this.

Note to self: Learn to hold iPhone properly to take pictures. Also take pics before it's pitch black dark outside. A concept.

And now... the car. OH MY GOD, the car. I was so in love with it I didn't even pay attention to the odometer, and you know what? I decided I really didn't car as I drove it. It's just... so incredibly fun. I'll get more into that later. 94 miles according to the waiver I signed. His email about sending a driver to get it now makes more sense. I suspect it was driven to the dealership under its own power.

That's right, screw you, trucks. My car does not need your kind.

Better pics come tomorrow. But now I will review the car.

This is above and beyond anything I have ever driven before, except possibly my dad's Corvette, but even then the LS3 is different. I know you people have heard it before, but I'll reiterate, this car LOVES to rev. And I don't mean it like you have to actually rev it to get power, I mean that the car just naturally wants to rev, and it doesn't take much gas for it to rev. That may be a partial byproduct of 3.73 gears. The shifter is short, very nice for raking through gears, the clutch disengages at maybe 70% to the floor? Pretty close to the floor anyway. So far working the clutch has been my bane. The gears are very close together, but you get used to it pretty quick. I've missed the gate here and there, but never engaged the wrong gear, I put it in, left the clutch down, thought for a half second, and then tried putting it in the desired gear again. You really have to get used to going through the gears though, as with that 3.73 axle you very quickly have to shift.

Now, on shifting, a thing I want to tell everyone:

PUTTING IT IN REVERSE: This was extremely annoying at first, and I sat there for a good three minutes trying to put it in reverse when I was leaving until finally my sales rep walked up and showed us how to do it. Put it in neutral. PUSH DOWN on the shifter. And I don't mean pull back, I mean PUSH IT DOWN TOWARD THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, then up left. You're now in reverse. It's not intuitive, but once I knew that, I was like "... Wow, I'll never miss reverse again."

The car is an absolute dream. The 401A interior is very comfortable, and I went the whole trip back home without adjusting anything because it was just so comfortable. Electronics Package I'm starting to think is worth it, though I didn't do much with it. One of the seldom mentioned attributes of the EP is the screen resolution. The picture was much sharper than YouTubes do it justice, and sharper than the latest Kenwood. I didn't get to play with it much, I was too busy driving. The shifter *** is also quite slick, probably going to get hot and cold a lot, but I really, really like that shifter ***. It feels so direct.

My Corvette-driving Dad rode back with me, and just from the ride he told me that the car had more power than he really expected. Of course my tire-burning TC-inducing escapade might have helped that. I also let him drive it some, and his personal opinion was that he loved the gearing and the short throws of the shifter, in fact he was very much floored that a pony car was performing that well. He enjoyed running through the gears and found it remarkably easy and quick to shift.

I'm still working on driving it more effectively, I seem to be letting the clutch out too quickly, particularly noticeable in 1st and 2nd. I've killed the engine several times already, and the thing revs so fast in first that I barely have time to think about how I got it in 1st before I needed to put it in 2nd, and the rest of the gears basically follow suit, though to a lesser degree than 1st.

There is still so much more to this car that I need to figure out, but all signs point to this being an extremely awesome car. Even my Vette-loving Dad couldn't help but get excited about the car, it's just really that much fun to drive.

Daylight pics will be in tomorrow, now here's a really crappy pitch black pic from my cell phone. The sun and the moon was not available for lighting. I have rambled far too much. But just remember, PUSH THE SHIFTER DOWN to get to Reverse.

jeff s

Congratulations, and great pic!

laserred38

Ahh I hate the down-left Reverse. I could never get it in ANY German car I've driven except for an RS4. And I like your little "teaser" pic. Kinda like when they first revealed the 2010s haha!

Lancel

It works pretty well on the Mustang at least. It has enough resistance to where it won't push down unless you want it to, and the gate for reverse is quite a ways left and forward. 1st is MUCH closer.

pony racer

congrats, lance.

been a long time coming..

laserred38

I always felt like I was going to break the shifter pressing down on it like that. Not intuitive at all. I've never had a problem with up-right or down-right reverse cars. I haven't driven a 2011 yet though.

super6stang

Now that's funny.

David Young

I'm happy you finally got you a Mustang and your wait is over.

csledd

Congrats!!! How dare you tease us with that pic haha

Automagically

I see pixelated non-HID headlights, looks like a Mustang and possibly Brembo package wheels....awww..this is just like trying to watch **** on the fuzzy channels.

laserred38

Nope. He has HIDs...

Lancel

Ahh, you may think it's non-HID, but actually the camera wobbled a bit and created an afterimage. I was taking the pic one-handed, other hand had the packet of stuff it came with.

Today I spent thirty minutes just practicing starting out with a clutch, and then another thirty minutes driving it to work after I felt relatively comfortable with that. It didn't help much, I still stalled twice. I'm slowly getting more used to the clutch though. Going to be driving in late and working late to avoid the crowds on the road for quite a while.

And thanks you all!

Now here's some daylight pics.

laserred38

Red Candy looks really good with the Brembo Pkg. Good choice!

HokieCodeMonkey

Wow that's a good looking red. Looks so bright in those pictures I almost thought it was Race Red.

28.

Very nice.. Congrats.. Mine was supposed to arrive today. Called my sales rep and the line was tied up. Anyways they're supposed to call me as soon as she can.. =(

Lancel

It's a really great looking red in person. Even the pics don't quite do it justice, there's slightly less yellow in person.

I agree on the wheels, the brembo rims go very well with Candy Red.

coffeejolts

CONGRATULATIONS, LANCE!!!

It took me over a week to get comfortable with the transmission / clutch. Most of that was me. I hadn't driven a manual since the mid 1990's, so it took some time to get comfortable behind the wheel. But, a little of the problem was the shift gates. After about week of driving, they loosened up a bit and it became a lot easier to get the car in gear.

Did your car have any writing on it indicating why it was held?

Lancel

Not that I know of. The car was cleaned out, washed and ready when I arrived. Only thing I saw that was wrong was that the driver side floor mat was upside down for whatever reason.

super6stang

GET OFF THE NET!!!! There's a 5.0 in your driveway!

Lancel

I would, but I can't get off my job. Cursed work. If only I didn't need it to pay off said pony.