My wife and I just returned from a nine-day road trip in my mew Mustang and I felt it was a good time to report on my experiences with the car. This is the first domestic car I’ve owned in over 40 years and my first Mustang, although I was a ‘Ford guy’ in my teens. My daily driver was a Honda S2000 until recently. We had rented a 2013 V6 convertible in Hawaii in November and I realized that I could have fun and be comfortable at the same time. I thought about waiting for the 2015 with the rumored independent rear suspension, but I love the lines of the current cars and finally decided to go ahead with it.

I did my research on the Ford web site and on truecar.com and settled on a V6 Premium convertible in Red Candy Metallic with a stone top and interior, the SelectShift automatic, the comfort package, and the reverse sensing and security package. Truecar.com provided a very aggressive target price and contact information for three dealers in the area. I went in to Lakewood Ford on January 3rd in the evening and met with the salesmen. When I showed them my printout from truecar.com there was no haggling. They actually gave a slightly better price than the target. When they attempted to enter my order on the 4th they found that Ford had already closed off orders for 2013s. The 2014 color had changed to Ruby Red Metallic, so they contacted me on the 7th to confirm that I wanted to proceed. I did and my order was entered on January 7th. I took delivery 52 days later on February 28th.



My first reaction was that this is a GREAT looking car. The Ruby Red color just seems to suck you in and looks different in each different light in which you see it. For me, the stone top and interior were definitely the right choice. The wheels look terrific and are very easy to clean. It would be nice if the top went down lower when opened, but I would not give up any trunk space or fuel capacity to achieve that difference. I devised a way to mount the front license plate in the lower grill opening so I won’t get ticketed for not having one but didn’t have to mess up the look of the front bumper. I’ve had quite a few comments on the look of the car and the color combination, and I never tire of looking at it.



The car provides a very comfortable ride that is, in some ways, even more comfortable than our 2006 Honda Accord V6 sedan. The high sidewalls of the 65 series tires absorb many of the bumps in the pavement. The seats are a fine compromise between comfort and support for aggressive driving. There is actually enough room in the rear that I could sit behind the driver’s seat adjusted for my 5’ 11” height. It is relatively quiet for a convertible, and I have been very happy with the top-down experience. I don’t feel as if I’m being blown all over the place. I could probably fine tune my driving position a wee bit if the steering wheel telescoped as well as tilting, but no big deal.

The V6 engine provides more than enough power for me. It is really quiet when you are cruising down the road, but when you put your foot in it there is plenty of music being produced. I appreciate the fact that it burns regular gas rather than the premium I used in my S2000, and I’ve seen the mileage top 30 MPG. Admittedly, when you are ‘enjoying’ the twisty roads the mileage drops off somewhat. I’ve used all three modes of the gearbox and appreciated the ability to stick it in second and leave it there on VERY twisty roads.

The handling has been a real surprise. I expected it to be good, but it is way better than that. I had found that it would handle individual curves very well, but I was interested to see how nimble it would be going through esses. It transitioned from left to right and back quite well and I was able to hang with the S2000s with no problem. Going through the tight curves in the Siskiyous of southern Oregon it settled into its stance and felt like it could go through them much faster. I can’t wait to run autocross with it.

The controls are generally very good. I miss having the ability to flick a steering wheel lever and get a single sweep of the windshield wipers, but that’s trivial. At the price of my car I would have expected to have a climate control system that maintains a temp rather than just heating and air conditioning. I find it odd that the lights stay on for 10 minutes after you’ve turned off the car, rather than 15 or 30 seconds, but as long as it doesn’t cause battery problems I’m okay with it.

The SYNC system works well, but hiccups now and then. I have a 32GB USB thumb drive with about 260 albums on it, so endless choices of music to listen to. The voice recognition is amazingly good unless there is too much background noise, such as when driving with the top down. A couple of days ago it suddenly decided it could not see the USB drive. I played music from my Android phone connected via Bluetooth and a little bit later it announced that it had found a new device. Everything had been fine since then. The hands-free calling capability has been welcome. It’s much safer than using a hand held cell phone, which is illegal in many areas.

Overall I’m delighted with this car and would not hesitate to recommend it to others. I’ve sold my S2000 and have not missed it, as much as I loved driving it. Ford has done a great job with this car and I just hope it delivers reliability similar to the Hondas I’ve driven for years.

 

Nice review! I wouldn't mind having a new V6 vert as a DD to keep the miles of my Boss. 305 hp V6 would be a very fun DD!

 

liked reading through your review. made me plan a vacation cruise.

 

Same set of circumstances here; except I dumped an SL500, and have not had even one regret.

 

Thanks for the kind words, folks. The nice people on this forum and in my local Mustang club make owning my Mustang just that much more enjoyable.

 

Nice review. Regarding the headlight delay; if i recall correctly that is a changeable setting. Mine only stay on for something like 30 seconds.

 

Thanks. I'll look into that.

 

Good report.

My drummer buddy has an S2000 and is a bit snooty about it so I wondered how you liked the adjustment. The Mustang is no 2 seater open roadster, but mine handles really well through the twisties. For its size it surprises me how well. Firm enough but doesn't beat on you. Bit of body roll but not excessive by any means.

My last corner carver was a Jensen-Healey/Lotus roadster years back and took these same roads with it so I have sort of a base line. Though Don Healey designed great handling roadsters, it seemed to have more body roll than today's roadsters (it was a '74). The Honda is quite a machine but I don't want the cramped style anymore and one ragtop for 15 yrs was enough for me. Dang wind blew half my hair off!

As for the wipers and climate, mine has a single wipe by pushing down on the lever (pull to me is the washers). For the climate, I adjust mine all the time - just to have to think of it as 'analog'.

 

Beautiful Mustang Gary. Your report is very good, and I find the addition of a telescopic wheel would definitely help. We are close to the same height. We are taking ours on a westward trip in Sept., because as you said they are very comfortable on the road.

 

Good choice on color and I like the wheels!

 

The headlight delay adjustment is only on those cars that have the autolamp feature that turns on the headlights based on light level. Mine doesn't have that feature, but the headlights will automatically turn off ten minutes after you turn off the ignition. Interestingly, if I am listening to the stereo and turn off the ignition it will keep playing for ten minutes.

My washer is a push button on the end of the stalk. It may be possible to get a single sweep with a quick push of that button. I'll have to try that.

After this road trip I am convinced that this was a good move. I can't say that the S2000s were pushing through the twisties as hard as they could, but my Mustang had no problem hanging right with them. The Mustang was so much more comfortable, quiet, and roomy than my S2000 would have been. Fortunately, my S2000 friends are not snooty. They welcomed us in the Mustang. For that matter, I am still a member of the S2000 club and edit the club newsletter.

 

You can adjust the settings for the autolamp so it doesn't stay on that long. Check out your manual

 

But mine does not have autolamp. I did find that info in the manual and it can be adjusted up to three minutes. For the cars without the autolamp feature you can leave the headlights switched on and they will come on when you open a door and will go off automatically after ten minutes. They will not turn on automatically based on light level and there is no adjustment for the delay in turning off. I've already cycled through the settings in the car and autolamp is not one of them.

 

A premium should have the autolamp function. There should be the letter A all the way to the right on the light control if you have autolamp.The 10 minutes after you turn off the car is the PCM going into battery saver mode. It shuts everything off.

 

Only V6 models with fogs get the autolamp feature from the factory (base w/Tech-Sync and Premium w/MCA or Pony pkg).

 

PonyOx is right. My light switch does NOT have the A. I don't have either the MCA or the Pony package, so no fog lights and no autolamp.

And TheReaper is right about battery saver mode. My stereo stays on if I turn off the ignition and don't open a door, but shuts off after ten minutes. That delay is not adjustable.

 

It's obvious you're really enjoying your new Mustang, which is great to read. She sure is gorgeous. She seems to have a pretty good wheel/tyre/fender gap, thanks to those high profile tyres, too. Usually I look at a stock Mustang and think how much better it'd look lowered on bigger wheels, but yours in an exception

I'm looking forward to trying a (base/rental) V6 'vert when we come to the US next year for the 50th celebrations.

Keep the thoughts and contributions coming

 

Nice review... well-written. Beautiful ride, too! Ruby Red was the best looking Mustang color (IMO) on the lot- but I wanted a red interior, which isn't an option with Ruby Red (you can order it with Race Red though- go figure).

I'm coming from a BMW Z4 Coupe myself, and only have one regret- which would be the size (the '14 Mustang is a relatively BIG car). However, the size is put to good use (my 6' tall brother rode in the back seat on an hour long trip, and said he felt really comfortable back there).

I went with the Electronics Package primarily to get the dual-zone auto temp controls, and I'm really happy I did. You're correct- the base model should come with the auto temp control (or at least it should come with the Comfort Package- not the Electronic Package).

Enjoy the ride!