(Ch. 4) Day one

First impressions of the Boss

Just to add to the frustrations and challenges I had already faced with buying a new 2012 Boss 302 Mustang, sure enough, the car was delivered to the dealership…while I was in New Zealand. I was helpless to do anything about it for weeks, except stare at the lone camera-phone photo that the dealer took.



Photo: Butch Millican

****. How could I be so far away? Still, the car existed, in Kona Blue, and the dealer was sticking to his story that he would sell it to me. Everything was falling into place, but I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even though I couldn’t think of anything else that could go wrong, I didn’t release the deposit I had on the second Boss. Not yet.

Finally, on Saturday, June 25, Mrs. Pribble and I made the 230 mi. trip to McKinney, Texas to pick-up the car. That’s four hours on IH35 and another hour in Dallas, so yeah, it was miserable. But as we broke-through to the South Central Expressway and eventually saw the dealership, the excitement washed away the badness that had come before. I scanned the lot. “There it is,” I said jumping out of the truck almost before it had stopped.



This was the first time I saw my Boss. Actually, it was the first time I had seen any Boss. To me, it looked like a jewel, lying in the sand. The Kona Blue popped in the bright sunlight so much more than these photos show. It was brilliant. I knew that I had done the right thing to fight for this color.









We walked around the blue Boss, clucking and purring about how beautiful it was. And it was. It was so much better than I had even hoped. I was awestruck. My wife hugged the car. Then we went inside and there was another Boss! They still had the red one, on which I had initially and inadvertently placed my deposit. Even in the short time that we were in the dealership, the red Boss was getting a lot of attention and several people sat in the car. I made sure to snap the number plate (#722) for the registry. It occurred to me then, that I didn’t even know the number of my own car.

I set that aside for the moment and completed the transaction with the dealer. All of the work had really been done beforehand and everyone was on their game. I signed a couple of papers, made-out the biggest personal check I have ever signed in my life, and we were shaking hands and starting the car in less than 15 minutes. The only reason we were there longer was for chit-chat and taking photos. I have to credit to Butch Millican, Ron Rojas, and Bob Tomes Ford for a pleasant buying and delivery experience.

We left the dealership and set-off to see my pal, Charles Braden. As it happens, Charles and his family only live about 10 minutes from the dealership and in that short period of time that it took to drive there, I saw two people fumbling with their camera-phones, trying to snap the Boss while they were driving, and then before we got out of Dallas, I saw four other people visibly gawking at the car. One carload of people passed me and then swung their heads so violently to catch a look out the back window, that they looked like the little girl from The Exorcist.

Charles was excited of course. We crawled all over the car together, looking at all of the subtle details, and it again occurred to me that I didn’t even know the serial number of the car. Of course, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not buying the car as a collectible and besides, as others have said – if it isn’t #1, then it’s just a number. Still, for the Boss, the number is almost a name. So, we opened the hood and took a look at the punk rock girl’s dogtag:



#926

We went inside to cool-off and Charles had kindly put some pre-recorded Boss racing on TV. We visited for about an hour and then drove home. The drive was tiring and uneventful. I was still exhausted from a week of jet-lag, so it was all I could do to keep my eyes open and not crash my car on the first day. I tried to vary my speed from time-to-time, falling behind Mrs. Pribble and then dropping down a gear to catch back up. The car pulled effortlessly and sounded great doing it.

Much has been written about the special exhaust system on the Boss. It’s a four-way (quad) exhaust, with the main flow going out two tailpipes, but there are also two side pipes that exit in front of the rear tires. These side pipes help give the Boss exhaust a unique signature sound. However, these side pipes are also corked from the factory in order to meet noise standards. Some people have claimed that the exhaust is plenty loud as-is, but I would disagree. I found the exhaust was much more quiet than I expected. Too quiet, even. Luckily, the attenuation plates used to partially block-off the side pipes are easy to remove. So, on Sunday, I did just that.

Each side pipe is secured with just one bolt and two nuts. I jacked-up the car and removed the side pipes.





Oh, look at all of the exhausts that were trying to escape out of that little tunnel. Amnesty International would not approve at all. Give those exhausts their freedom!

Removing the disks made a huge difference! The sound of the car is glorious – a loud, growling trumpet sounded from one of the four Mustangs of the Apocalypse! And yet, I can lug the car around my quiet neighborhood without any fuss. It really is a brilliant factory exhaust. I’m sure some will want to modify it, but I just don’t see the need.

Quick notes and first impressions from the logbook:

• The Recaro seats are a perfect fit for me (5′ 11″, 175 lbs.). Completely supportive and comfortable. They did not fatigue me in any way on the four hour drive home from the dealership and I expect that they will perform admirably at the track.
• The steering wheel is good, but not perfect. It’s handsome looking and the mouse fur is comfortable, but the rim needs to be thicker and the wheel needs to be just a little smaller in diameter. Also, when at 9 and 3, my palms fall directly on the spokes of the wheel, which have no grip. Looks great, doesn’t feel quite right. Radio controls are nice.
• The shifter is balky. It is an extremely tight short shifter, but it’s definitely not slick. Many owners are reporting trouble with the 1-2 shift. I’m actually getting hung-up on the lame 5-6 shift. That’s not a performance issue for me, but it is annoying. Also, the Boss does come with the skip-shift feature. I thought I would hate this, but since I do, in fact, drive like a little old man most of the time, I’m finding that it isn’t bothering me. The shift **** itself is nice, though it doesn’t fall as easily to my hand as I would like.
• The steering and clutch are light. Very light. This might be my biggest surprise of all. I was expecting a muscle car that required…you know, a little muscle. Nope. If this were an automatic, my mom could drive this car. I would prefer too light over too heavy, but I would be happy with another 10% effort on the steering and clutch. The electrically-assisted steering does have some adjustability, but I haven’t tested that yet.
• Pedals are setup nicely for heel-toe downshifting, but there is no dead pedal. Sigh. C’mon guys.
• The chime that sounds when I put the key into the ignition, sounds like my washing machine.
• The tilt-steering lever sticks out from the bottom of the steering column, so that when I am getting out of the car, as my leg swings under the steering column, my knee cap smacks right into it. Bloody painful! I suppose I could tilt the steering wheel all the way up when I get out of the car, but I have never been that guy. I like things to stay where I set them. The lever should be relocated to the side of the steering column. While they are at it, they can go ahead and add a telescoping adjustment feature, too (Hint: put that lever on the other side of the steering column).
• I don’t like the funhouse rear-view mirror. Why are all of those skinny clown cars chasing me? Help!
• Not that I had any choice in taking them, but for $500, I expected the floor mats to be made of Panda fur. They aren’t.
• No surprise, but the back seat is a lie.

I can (and will) nit-pick all day. This list is only scratching the surface. I expect to do a more detailed review after I have driven the car for awhile. But make no mistake, this is a fantastic car. I simply love it.

jimmy

(Ch. 5) Week one

Five-Oh, first track day, coffee talk, and the Boss bites back!

The first week with the new Boss was nice, but a little bland. Of course the car looks, feels, and sounds great. And in the Texas Summer heat, it has been nice to be in a brand new car with an air conditioner that can blow snow right out of the vents. But as for driving, all I had done was the long highway trip from McKinney to Austin and then my daily commute to work.

The problem with cars of this performance caliber is that they can only be wrung-out for a second or two on the street before suddenly being deep into “go to jail” territory. I already have enough trouble staying out of jail, because among other reasons, I have a brother who is a cop and he thinks it’s funny to pull me over, hassle me, and otherwise get his payback for all the rotten things I did to him when we were kids. When he found out I was getting a new car, he put out a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) to his department:



Very funny. Police attention was already high this week, even without my brother’s help. On Thursday, I was having lunch with some friends and afterwards, we walked outside so that I could show them the car. There were a couple of police cars parked nearby and when I started showing my friends the car, the Sheriff’s deputies walked-up on us and started asking questions.





It seemed pretty clear that my punk rock girl was getting too much attention in conservative Williamson County and I needed to get her off of public streets. So, on Saturday, I took the Boss to her first track day. I went to Harris Hill Road (H2R) as a guest of my pal, Ryan English. Also joining us was Aaron Sontag, who was along for some instruction in Ryan’s Miata, as well as being on camera duty.

My plan for the morning was to just take it easy and feel-out the car in a safe environment. I wanted to really start bonding with her. I also wanted to see what the car would be like to drive on the track with almost no track-prep whatsoever. The Boss 302 supplement to the Mustang owner’s manual has two pages of recommended track preparation, which includes things like changing to uprated brake fluid and installing optional accessories from the Ford Racing catalog. I’m sure I will eventually do most of those things to enhance my track driving experience, but Ford claims this car is designed for the track and is track-ready. The whole point of me buying this car is to have something I can drive to the track, drive on the track, and then drive home again, with minimal fuss.



I’m trying to adjust the shocks, but I can’t see, because I forgot my glasses.

I set the tire pressures to the recommended track settings (41 psi hot) and I set the shocks to their recommended track settings (5, all the way around). Actually, I made Ryan crawl in the trunk to adjust the rears, because I couldn’t see them at all. Except for torquing the lug nuts (and other common sense stuff, like emptying the car), that was my track prep. The one and only thing I was worried about was how the stock brake pads would hold-up. In order to meet standards for low noise and low dust, street pad performance is heavily compromised. On the track, they tend to wear quickly and I personally have run street pads down to the backing plates during a track event. The Boss is a fast, heavy car which should be murder on pads. Interestingly, in the recommended track preparation section of the supplement, pad replacement isn’t mentioned at all! However, there is a very lengthy brake pad burnishing procedure outlined for race track driving. My plan was to follow that procedure and report on the brake performance. Unfortunately, I was not able to do that, so I went on the track with no pad bed-in or burnishing, other than from the normal brake use during my work commute.



I followed Ryan out on to the track, where we took it easy for our first session. Ryan figures he was eventually driving to 80% in the Miata, but the Boss never broke a sweat. Turn-in was good and the car felt planted. The car also felt like it was cornering flat, but photos show that there is still some lean, which is no surprise considering the off-road ride height. I set the steering to Sport Mode, which felt good, but not great. I still want for more steering effort and more road feel. Still, the steering was precise and I could very easily place the car where I wanted it on track.

There are two places on the track that require heavy braking from mid-level speed (~100 mph), so I took it easy on those sections. I engaged ABS a few times, but only for a split-second before releasing. Ryan said he could smell my brakes after coming-in for a water break, but the brakes never gave me any warning signs and certainly no outright failures, such as pads fading or fluid boiling. I should also note that it was about 100 F on this day. I never had any engine cooling issues, though we kept the sessions short (for our own cooling) and engine stress was low.



We took a break and then went-out for another session. We decided to keep the same pace, but with the cars and drivers warmed-up, we actually picked it up a little. For the first two sessions, I kept the AdvanceTrac stability control on. I wanted to see how intrusive it was. Honestly, I never felt it at all. I’m certain it was there (because as soon as I turned it off, I got loose a few times), but it was not abrupt or unsettling in any way.

The second session went much like the first. We ran at a quick, but relaxed pace. I was only using 3rd and 4th gears, so the shifter was a non-issue. Good pedal placement and a lightweight flywheel allowed for really nice heel-toe downshifts. Just as I suspected, the Recaro seats were perfect. The car was very comfortable and very easy to drive. I did notice the weight of the wheels on a long sweeper with undulating pavement. The chassis showed no sign of the live axle boogeyman, but the suspension was having a little trouble trouble coping with the bumpy track. I think lighter track wheels would help with this. We finished our second session and took another break.

After one of the first sessions, we parked at the clubhouse and not wanting to use our parking brakes after coming off the track, we drove our front wheels into some gravel to keep the cars from moving. I didn’t drive-in deeply enough and when I got out of the car, it started to roll backwards. So, Ryan and I got behind the car to push it back into the gravel. I stepped forward and put my leg against the hot tailpipe! **** it hurt, but I didn’t say anything, because I was embarrassed that my car would bite me, right in front of my friends. How am I going to tame this shrew?



She bit me! That kinky little girl bit me!



For our third session, I had Ryan drive the Boss. He climbed into the car and said, “You are out of gas.” What? I had only gone out a couple of times! Sure enough, the fuel light was on. Oh God, she has a drinking problem, too. Of course she does. I see now that she is going to drink away all of my money. The computer still showed almost 30 miles, so Ryan drove for a few minutes. Being a member at H2R, Ryan knows the track like the back of his hand, so riding with him always reminds me of the correct lines, instead of the way I hack through the track. After the refresher course, I dropped him off at his car and I went to go get gas.



When I got back, it was my turn to drive Ryan around the track. This time, I turned the AdvanceTrac stability control off and I started to hustle the car a little bit more. I have been a quattro driver for a long time and I’m used to being able to pin the accelerator very early in a corner exit. Well, I didn’t always respect the loud pedal in the Boss during corner exit and the back of the car came out on me a couple of times. It wasn’t too bad and I managed to recover without spinning, but I will need to learn some respect in that area, making sure that I have my wheel pointed straight when I gently roll-on the throttle. Remember, respect this girl or she will bite.



For the last session of the day, my passenger was Bo Rivers, the owner of the track. He was excited about the Boss and it was the first one he had seen and certainly the first on track at H2R. He was impressed with the noise, the acceleration, and the apparent balance. Now, Bo wasn’t wearing a helmet, so I was taking it easy, but when I went through Turn 1, which is a fast, off-camber kink after the front straight, he commented about how fast we had gone through. I was surprised, because I wasn’t even trying. I certainly wouldn’t try to show-off for Bo, who is a much more experienced driver than me. We had gone through at about 85 mph, but he said most cars couldn’t do that, especially on street tires. Inside, I was beaming with pride at the abilities of my new car.

Soon after, Aaron, Ryan, and myself packed it in and went to Milt’s Pit BBQ for the traditional post-H2R lunch.


Aaron comments on design elements of the 2010+ Mustang redesign.

On Sunday, I took the car to Cars and Coffee, an informal, monthly show-and-shine open to just about every kind of enthusiast car. There are classic hot rods, sports cars, European exotics, and American muscle cars. The event is organized just enough to make it safe and comfortable for everyone. I had never been to one, but since I probably had one of the first few Bosses in Austin, I thought it would be nice to show it off for people to see, especially while it was still nice and new.

When I drove-in, I was directed to an area with other Mustangs. I parked and then caught-up with my friends Andrew, Kang, Shawn, Mike, Michelle, and Mo. Andrew had brought his Cobra and Kang had brought his 911, remarkably, the only one at the show! We walked around a bit and enjoyed the interesting offerings. A live band played and it was a really nice way to spend a Sunday morning, except that it was basically like standing on the surface of Mercury. Even the shade offered very little relief. Cars and Coffee will be a lot more fun this Fall.

Just as I suspected, I had the only Boss 302 and it was getting its fair share of attention. But about an hour later, a black Laguna Seca showed-up! I chatted with the owner and he said that he had only had the car for about two weeks. After a space opened-up, I shuffled my car so that it was next to the LS.



It was a big first week for me and The Boss. We had a short road trip, daily work commutes, a track day, and a show and shine. I continue to adore this car and it is as good as I had hoped. Actually, it’s better. All the things I thought would be good are good, but the few things that I thought would be a concern, were washed away in the visceral joy of driving her. I am especially looking forward to more track time and letting this Mustang run.

J I M M Y