mjbarnet

If you don't write for a living you sould consider a career change. Excellent write up!

Tony Alonso

Thanks for your insight. I will be interested to see how people experience a car with a broken-in 5.0 and several thousand miles on the odometer (seat-of-the-pants).

Old Shadow

Good personal review. Thanks!

69Mach1-409

Nice write up!

I'm going to wait for the 'rush' to die down, then go find one to test drive.

jeff s

Thanks for taking the time to share your impressions.

csledd

Nice write up, if I were to share my test drive experience it would be about similar.

One thing I would add is I enjoyed the "less muscle car like" of the car. After daily driving my car (full exhaust, cams, 4.10 gears) you get tired of smelling like gas (no cats) every where you go, my leg aches from the clutch sometimes, and shifting isn't nearly as smooth or easy. It's no where near like driving a cloud!

smfgt10

OK my 2 cents on the exhaust thing... as for the 11 I cant say yet, but with my 10 -- The quietness in the cabin is extremely deceptive of what you sound like... Ive had more people than I can count on both hands comment to me about the sound of my GT when I roll out of the lot at work. questions about how the power it and "that thing sounds mean as hell" etc. etc. and its all stock. I didnt realize what they were talking about until I took mine into the dealer for a service and was standing in the lot behind it when they fired it up and drove it around the building.. my mouth literally dropped open and I got goosebumps from that rumble .... like WOW thats what it sounds like when I take off in that thing?? My salesman laughed at me, but I did point out to him... just how often do you think I get to hear my car driving away without me in it? lol I never really understood the head turning thing until that point .. combine the sound with the look and ya it makes more sense to me

Automagically

Hey, sorry I haven't been on to answer some of the comments or explain much, I will comment more tomorrow, it's pretty busy this weekend.

I did want to make a quick comment here about the 2010 exhaust. I didn't really note that I had to test drive a 2010 with an FRPP exhaust to actually hear the exhaust note. Even then, it was very quiet, and that's what I love about the 2010+ MY. I believe that the stock exhaust sounds good on the 2010 by the way the 2011 sounds, it might even be a little louder outside. Just gotta roll the windows down. Besides, I won't have a salesman yapping at me while I drive either.

Thanks for everyone's comments, I really will get back to commenting tomorrow.

Automagically

I agree here. I now see the difference in soft touch vs. hard plastics. When I first got into a 2010 a while back I was blown away since the first thing I thought was "Is this a european car?" On a reality note, it just seemed far beyond any of the American interiors I was used to and seemed that someone finally did their homework for once. I hate American companies that don't take a moment to realize the product they are building is for whom in which they are going to be delivering to. I hardly ever see companies these days put a thought into what the customer might actually like as opposed to what they will just spring on the customer. Anyway, I feel like the BMW interior is incredibly nice with all the leather trimming on the doors and elbow rests, aluminum door handles, classic gauges. I am a very big Aston Martin fan so I like that our BMW has a similar look to it. Think there are just certain luxury/non-essential features the BMW interior offers that most cars don't. Not to say that I don't like those non-essentials I do, but it's just a luxury. I love the dash in the 2010 as I feel it's a better homage to the late 60's dash as a retro-mod style of dash, a clean updated version of the past. I also enjoy the car's old school gauges. So it's still a little hard to compare but if you were to put the BMW interior into a Mustang it'd just be a Maserati or Martin. It's pretty much that close. To me anyway, I think I am blinded by my joy for an American car that makes sense.


Unfortunately only for about 15 minutes or so. Since I wasn't in there to buy, I didn't expect the sales person to take me on the backroads or anything. The worst part was that I was in the midst of Friday traffic on a very busy interstate and so my attention was scattered with my awe for the 5.0 and the idiots in traffic.
I do not own a 2010, I'd take one though! I have driven the 2010's before. Solid car. Might be "slow" to some but I think it's still a great car.


Outward visibility in the 335 is killer! Still, I'm an American muscle car guy at heart so i like that long aggressive hood and higher belt line. For it being my wife's car, I couldn't have picked a better car other than a 99 Honda Civic, that car feels like the bottom of the windshield rests on the road. I agree on the quality of materials but I am not confused with what the Mustang is either, it still has to be applicable to a larger public and affordability is key to a certain extent. I would like to see a leather package like the Corvettes have now as an option. OK, OK don't haze me for this but I'd like to see the suede DBS style interior also, I know, it's too Italian/British for a Mustang, but I like it, at least in theory I like it!


I don't really want to say it's too European, it's just much more confident. It's almost like it's one less factor you have to worry about while driving hard. I used to be the same way, it had to give me that muscle car feel but I really like the way this new Mustang is going. The steering I think won't be for everyone though. It's almost too smooth. So weird to not have the hydraulic feed back. I told the sales guy when we parked it that I was most blown away from the steering, I knew the engine would be killer but this steering has my brain in a pickle.


Thanks! I would say yes to the sound tube being a little more aggressive sounding, or do some modification like some of the other posters have noted. I will certainly have my windows down a lot when I get mine. I am ready to park it in my parking garage and start it in there with all the echo, oh so sweet.



Well, I had a hard time judging how the ride felt given the traffic conditions but now that I think about it, I didn't notice a whole lot of jitter or instability. It just felt as firm as I would expect a GT car should. Not jarringly tight just firm and confident. My 335 has the sports pack and it's not jarring but close. It's so tight but firm that it's tough to say it's jarring, it sucks to the road with little to no body roll. The Mustang still sit's more like an American car with some room for suspension travel. So that said, the Mustang with 20's on it feels less stiff than my BMW. I think even with lowering springs the Mustang would be comfortable. I liked that the Mustang didn't really sink when I go on it in 1st and 2nd. Just stayed straight and solid. Sorry if any of that description was still a bit ambiguous. The gears are what took a second to get used to, I didn't notice a whole lot of difference between the action of the 2010's 5 speed and the 2011's 6 speed. The 2011 might have been a smidgeon easier but certainly a little bit shorter throw. The gates were a whole lot closer though, it will take a bit of time to get used to, it's no Chevy shift gate, it's tight. Reverse was a non issue though. Yeah, it's pretty Nissan, but I was like meh, no skin off my back. I certainly enjoy the 5-Sp, reverse being in the mix but it's a new day and age, happy to see the 6-Sp in a Mustang.


Thanks man! My wife wanted me to wait. I wanted to wait also but after reading skewed reviews and needing some disambiguation of certain issues, I wanted to know for myself. While I was at the dealer some younger kids were there and another salesman pulled around in an Automatic 2011 to show them the car. My sales buy had the manual pulled out front for me before I got there.


I certainly agree, it was certainly a new paradigm for American Muscle. I have always thought Mustangs were the best cars to learn stick on besides maybe a late 90's Civic and the new Mustang is no exception. It will make my transition from an Auto to stick that much easier. Funny thing though, the sales guy decided to ask me if I knew how to drive a stick after we got on the car and were on our way, haha, now I wish I would have told him, what the hell's a stick?
OK, so the "like a cloud" comment might have been me taking it a bit far there, sorry, hehe. I just have never felt a car feel so light and nimble like that, especially for it's size.

Overboost

I recently went and looked at the 335s to see if they were worth a serious consideration, and a friend of mine has been toying with a 335 or V6 Mustang as a replacement for his MS3. A few things I noticed:

- Interior is nice, but I'm referring to the seats and door panels. The dash is VERY spartan and plain. I much prefer the Audi dash layout, or the Mustang of course. It just seems like they've massaged over the same basic layout and don't really want to make changes until the public pushes them enough.

- Overall driving, the 335 is a great all-around ride. My friend and I had just come from driving an Evo X, and that car is strictly performance, no refinement. The 335 is a great mix of both without compromise. The one we drove was an auto, but had the sports pack and cold weather options, so the car was optioned up pretty well.

This talk about soft-touch vs. hard plastic is getting to be a huge issue, and I'm not really sure why. I'm fine with hard plastics, but don't make the door panels look like milk crates. I like the leather (or cloth) inserts on a door panel to break up the textures and colors and make them more appealing to the eye. A touch of brushed aluminum, chrome, or carbon fiber (real) make it even nicer. I don't think I'm part of the minority, but does anyone go around caressing they're dash throughout the day? I sure don't.

Some of the areas I pay attention to most are *****, levers, and buttons. I worked at an auto auction, and we'd see GMAC lease turn ins with worn ***** and ones that felt like a 5-year old had spun it every chance they got and worn out the feedback inside it, so it was a wobbly cylinder. Others would have buttons with worn off paint, showing the white base behind it. Ford has done a great job of avoiding this. The ***** have a purposeful feel to them, and the buttons are chunky, but comfortable to push. They don't feel floppy, and it's somewhat easy to figure out what buttons to push for the HVAC. Steering wheel controls are placed with purpose, and grouped together properly. You shouldn't be able to order a cappuccino from your steering wheel, but the buttons on there should be useful for repetitive functions.

Automagically

I'm with you, on all regards. I don't really care about the soft touch vs. hard touch. No one really niticed until magazines started making it a stir. I was just noting that I can understand the difference, not that it was really a a care issue.
BMW doesn't have to change anything until it's requested, this is true. Our car is an 08 and I was looking at the 2011 and it's identical to my interior. I also agree that the dash is super plain. I still like a simple layout. I even like the Audi layout, too bad VW's is identical. I could understand since they are sister companies but really?

You bring up a great point and I have to say it's the most important. The buttons, *****, etc. After installing stereos for a living in college, I got to see how crappy interior parts were from most car manufacturers. It's my biggest pet peve with auto man. today. I thought the new Mustang's dash offerings looked and felt so much better than any previous GM I had been in and was much more on the Acura level of touch/feel/functionality. That pushed me over the edge, back to Ford. I didn't want to really become an import guy but when the offerings are as bad as they are, I didn't feel I had a choice, but I needed some reason to get back into an American car, especially with a V8.

I don't want anyone to think I believe BMW is some holy grail but I think many manufacturers need to be better about knowing their competition and why it is their competition. Look at Hyundai. Ford did that with the new Mustang and look at the product!