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Your support makes all the difference.The Ford Mustang is one of those rare cars where you don’t really need to know the price or how fast it goes or even how much petroleum it guzzles because you have a vague idea of all those things just by looking at it, and they don’t matter much anyway.
Because you look at it and you just want it. In that sense it isn’t a car, but more like a work of art. No one buys a Grayson Perry vase to put flowers in, do they?
Or need to understand exactly what’s going on with a late piece by Giacometti to want it on the sideboard. So you don’t need to know that much about the Mustang. So I could leave you gazing at the pictures to prove the point, and leave things at that. They’re taken at a famous football ground, by the way, for reasons I shall come to.
Except of course that I am paid to go the extra mile, if you’ll pardon that crashing cliché. Actually, “crashing” adds another crashing cliché doesn’t it, but now I really am wandering all over the track aren’t I? Anyone would think I had little to add to the sculptural self-expression of the Mustang, a car that speaks so eloquently for itself.
Eloquent indeed, that V8. It does talk to you, this car. There is an authentic American rumble to it, and to the muscle it promises, and delivers, in a surprisingly civilised fashion, most of the time.
Like a Texan in a business suit and cowboy boots. On the other hand it can brawl, too. The dash is loaded with old-fashioned “toggle” switches as on a Mini (new or old), and one allows you to set the degree of sportiness you’d like right up to “track” mode, which just renders it uncontrollable on a unlicensed road.
The Spec
Ford Mustang 5.0 V8 GT
Price: £39,995 (£41,680 as tested)
Engine capacity: 5 litre petrol; 6-sp auto gearbox
Power output (PS @ rpm): 416
Top speed (mph): 155
0-62 mph (seconds): 4.8
Fuel economy (mpg): 20.9
CO2 emissions (g/km): 299
The little icon for that setting is a crash helmet – and there’s a reason for that. I was also perfectly content with the six-speed manual gearbox taking care of the transmission; almost unbelievably in this age, and with this much power, a six-speed manual gearbox is an option.
On the passenger’s side of the dash there’s a little plaque, not so different to one you might see stuck on the wall of an art gallery, that says “Mustang. Since 1964” and I counted no fewer than 11 “galloping pony” logos dotted around the car. There’s one for each gorgeously glossy black 19-inch alloy wheel; a prominent one on the steering wheel and front grille; two on the kick plates; and one on the “heritage” plaque.
Most charmingly, the pony appears via “puddle lamps” mounted on the door mirrors pointed down at the road at night. It makes you and your Mustang feel even more special. Yet there are no blue Ford ovals by the way, and I did miss having some reminder of the actual progenitor of this automotive legend. A work of art without a signature, then.
The Mustang is fast, well put-together (or apparently – only time will tell with American build quality), surprisingly wieldy and responsive for such a big old thing, and oozes desirability. It’s a real “look at me” automobile, and it struck me as a fine car for a footballer – in the shade Ford call “Grabber Blue”, it might suit a Chelsea, Everton or Leicester City player for a toy. It’s a 2+2, as you’d expect without that much room in the back, but a decent enough sized boot for a Wag’s shopping and a Premier League star’s kit.
They’d find it less sophisticated than a BMW M6 or any Porsche. It’s less classy inside than a Bentley – more a post-modern classic than showpiece for Victorian arts and crafts.
It is slower than a Maserati Giuilia or a Nissan GT-R, broadly speaking rivals. Maybe the Jaguar XK offers the closest challenge. Yet the Mustang is, as if it matters, cheap in comparison with any and all of the competition – £39,995 for this modern take on the classic theme. It looks like it’s worth double that.
There’s also a smaller engine (2.3 litre) version that goes perfectly well and is even cheaper, plus convertible versions that only add a few thousands more.
Like the Mini, the Fiat 500 and Fiat 124, the retro Mustang combines the best styling cues from the old days and the technology added to meet the demands of modern motoring. The Ford Mustang is in a class of its own; unique; an original. Art for art’s sake.
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