YouTuber’s ‘Gold Pony’ Tests the 2018 Ford Mustang Ecoboost

Power, poise and polish — the new Mustang Ecoboost has all three in droves.

There’s a lot to love on the restyled 2018 Ford Mustang Ecoboost—an attractive restyled body, an extra 50 foot-pounds of torque, and an available paddle-shifted 10-speed automatic (if you’re into that sort of thing). YouTuber Andrew, aka Gold Pony, slid behind the wheel for a chance to test this year’s Mustang Ecoboost, and he had some solid observations.

“I’ve never driven an automatic Mustang,” Gold Pony said. He’s already tested the 2018 Mustang GT. He seems satisfied with the Ecoboost’s power output, and we’d have to agree. 310 horsepower and 350 lb/ft of torque is pretty impressive from a 2.3-liter four-cylinder, even accounting for the hairdryer bolted to it.

Automatic transmission performance

What about that new 10-speed automatic? To start with, the molded plastic paddles look and feel a little bit cheap compared to, say, the magnesium paddle shifters seen on other cars. But how does it shift? Is the 10-speed auto finally a worthy replacement for a good old clutch and shifter? Not quite. “There’s definitely a delay to the paddle shifters, unfortunately,” says Gold Pony. Looks like if you want responsiveness, you ought to opt for a regular old manual gearbox.

That’s not to say that the automatic Ecoboost is a slouch. When left to its own devices, the Ecoboost is capable of downright impressive acceleration, especially when taking advantage of the available line lock. Apparently, the 2018  Ford Mustang Ecoboost is capable of sub-5 second, 0-60 MPH times with the 10-speed automatic.

With wintertime Pennsylvania temperatures around 15 degrees at the time of testing, Gold Pony didn’t have much luck approaching those times, but he was still impressed by the Ford Mustang Ecoboost’s performance. We found his review to be very informative, and we highly recommend checking out his channel for more. His genuine enthusiasm made us excited to try the new & improved Ecoboost for ourselves.

Join the Mustang Forums now!

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

Instagram