So I love this car!! Absolutely everything I wanted. Power everywhere, insane acceleration, yet perfectly behaved as my daily driver/commuter car. Quiet and refined when you want it to be, raucous and raw and intense when you want some excitement. Comfortable, nicely-arranged cabin, nothing particularly cheap except for the seatbelt holders. First weekend the average MPG readout was 10.8, now it’s up to 14.8. I’ve put 500 miles on it so far.

Everyone loves the glass roof. SYNC is awesome. The Shaker 500 is muddy and mediocre at first, but it starts to sound OK once I’ve been listening to it for a while and my ears have had time to adjust. The garage door opener works perfectly with my rolling-code unit as well as the fixed-code unit at my parents’ house.

Steering is wonderful! Good, linear brakes. Tracks beautifully through corners, no push! Switched out the fog bulbs to Hoen Endurance type, which are very yellow and give it a cool Le Mans GT-class look.

Tragically, a huge rock bounded out from the side of a truck as I was passing it on the highway a couple days ago, a couple chips in the front bumper are the result.

Now here’s my assessment of the MT82:

Overall, I am very satisfied with the operation of this gearbox. The clutch is an absolute delight, pretty much perfect. The box itself can be a little inconsistent. Sometimes it will go into gear with a nice little click-clack, other times there is a pronounced “double crunch.” I’m not concerned about it at this point. My Subaru gearbox exhibited this sort of inconsistent behavior throughout its life without any significant failure.

Skip-shift was engaging pretty often the first couple of days I had it (driving like a bit of a poosy), but it was a no-drama affair. I didn’t even realize it engaged sometimes, shifter just went from 1st to 4th without issue.

I assume lots of people who complain about GRINDING are actually experiencing the occasional “crunch” that I am experiencing. Those are two verrrrrrrry different things. I missed a shift the first day I had it and was rewarded with awful screechy grrrrrrrrind. Totally driver error. The crunchiness/notchiness under regular driving does not bother me. I have not had any actual grinding since my mistake on day one. Do I wish that all the shifts were completed with that nice little click-clack? Yes, but again, I’m not overly concerned at this point. This box does like to be shifted in a very particular way. You have to be firm and decisive, it’s doesn’t like lazy, low-RPM shifting.

I don’t believe this crunchiness is a sign of a catastrophic design flaw/something that will get worse or fail over time. I’m definitely OK with the way it is now, and will most certainly not be taking it in to the dealer.
At this point, I give the Mustang 9.5/10. Hope it serves me well with continued fun for many years! Good job, Ford!

 

Great looking car and nice review! Congrats and enjoy it!

 

Beautiful car! Love the new Stone interior....much better looking that last years stone.

I have never experienced any issues with my MT, even after 19,000 miles. But as you say, it likes a firm shift.

Enjoy!!

 

Congrats on the beautiful ride man! I wish I could have afforded the glass roof. Maybe I could have but I didn't want to stretch myself too thin.

What exactly do you mean by crunching? All I ever get is is a nice little snick-snick of positive engagment. I guess I got lucky?

 

Thanks for the write up. I agree with your points, especially on the tranny. My experience is the same as yours. I have owned MANY stick shift cars(love um) and done mechanic work most of my life, I can't remember ever having one that always shifted like butter. This Mustang is pretty much the same, it works fine. I only have about 700mi. so far, but I am very satisfied(even if it's a V6)....................

 

She's a beaut! Enjoy!

 

Beautiful car. Great review...especially the comment about the stereo.

 

Nice choice of colors. I love the kona/stone combo. As well as the 19" nickels.

 

Nice review, great car!

Where at in SC are you? I'm in Charleston.

 

RE: Insane Acceleration

You know, I used to feel that way too. I had just moved up from a 220hp SHO, and 412hp was just mind-bendingly fast.

Now, I'm starting to think, "I need to go faster..."

 

Love the color combo with the Glass Roof. I had been waiting to see your car come in, and it didn't disappoint. Good luck with it! It's a beauty...

PS, any pics with the fog bulbs on? I'm thinking about getting them for my Escape fogs (will pair up with 5000k HID low beams, Lamin-X yellow tint on the fogs and high beams).

 

I have the stone and Kona Blue combo too. I really like it and often get compliments. Only difference is my car is a vert. Best of luck enjoy your new ride.

 

Congrats and great looking combo! Love the glass roof too, makes it look very airy inside.

 

Congrats, you are now officially allowed to complain about anything wrong with the 2011+ Mustang, lol ;-). Wait, what is that? You still think certain people no longer on this forum are over-reacting to a certain tranmission issue? Imagine that...

 

Your car is beautiful, enjoy!!

 

I agree, never had one that was flawless including the many foreign cars I've driven.

On an off topic note, I have a lot of family living or buried in Gonzales. I used to spend my summers there when I was a kid. I was there in '09 for a family reunion.

 

good writeup... well put impressions of the transmission.

Can you share a pic with your yellow fogs on? I like that idea.

 

Great combo! Very nice, you'll love the glass roof even more as time goes on too. Best part about mine. And to think, i almost didn't spring for it.

 

Thanks guys! Enjoying it more and more each day.

The ones I took don't do the Hoens justice. Definitely more impressive than this in person. I have a decent camera (D40X), I'm just not an awesome photographer. I tried stopping it down and playing with the white balance, but the color still doesn't come out right. It's a nice, true yellow. Very similar to the older HID-equipped Lexus models that had factory yellow fogs. Not quite there, but as good as can be expected without having yellow reflectors. Makes you very visible and imposing.

Go for it. They're only $40. Installation was a bit of a pain (passenger side mostly), and I have long thin fingers. Someone with fat hands would have a hell of a time, I think.

 

More like this, amirite?



Don't let the camera set the white balance. It will never get it right at night. Set it to 5000k since that's pretty close to the HID temperature (~4600k IIRC), and then it'll look a lot better.