ZGrand

I went to the Atlanta Autorama yesterday. Great show with hundreds of classic cars, lots of Mustangs, and scores of vendor diaplays. They were also doing an all-day autocross event, with lots of cars participating. BFGoodrich had two bone stock 2018 Mustang Ecoboost automatics shod with G-Force Sport Comp 2 A/S tires running all day long. You could sign a waiver and get a ride in the passenger seat as they navigated the course. A middle aged man and young woman in her 20's were the two drivers.

There were lots of purpose-built autocross cars running -- Camaros, Corvettes, and some classic American iron. The average time seemed to be in the 43-47 second range. The fastest I saw was a purpose-built C6 Corvette runnnig 41's. Lots of serious-sounding cars had trouble breaking 50 seconds. It seemed strange -- the Mustangs were so quiet.

My ride in the Ecoboost was with the female driver. She was consistently running 47's, while the male driver was running high 45's and 46's. Keep in mind these were bone-stock automatics with all-season high performance tires. I was pretty impressed with the acceleration and handling of the '18 Ecoboost, and with the ability of my female driver. (Though not her knowledge of the car - she didn't know if the car had Magneride or even that the automatic was a 10-speed. She said, "I only use first and second".)

I still would opt for the GT if I were in the market for a new car, but the Ecoboost really surprised me.