Test Drove a Mustang GT - drive review

[gnnut]

So last night, I went an test drove a 2024 GT (and an EB) My impressions, based on the GT
1 - BIG issue - understeer. When entering a turn, it had a lot of understeer. Turned the wheel, front wheels turned, and then half a second later, I got grip and movement. It's not quite as surefooted as I would have liked
2 - lack of torque - t the torque seemed to be lacking in this vehicle, especially at the low end. This EB seemed to have this issue as well. I know that I am spoiled coming from a line of cars that had more torque than HP and most had good bottom end torque, especially my last one that had 450 from 2500 on up and my F350 which has 800 Ft Lbs even lower. I am aware that this engine needs to be wound up to produce power and torque, but even then...it just seemed lacking.
3 - Numb steering - this might be the new system or maybe there was a mode I should have activated, but it did not communicate the road back to me like most of my other cars have. The last car I had that had steering this numb was a Lexus GS. Again, this could be a setting issue

The purely subjective - The two below are just from my preferences. Others (especially here) will probably disagree and that's fine.

just too small for so big a car. Don't get me wrong, the front seat is the perfect size, great seats, good headroom, plenty of room for my feat, but for car that big, it felt smaller on the inside than it should be...like a reverse TARDIS. The trunk opening could be a bit better and that would help out quite a bit

Too loud - it will attract the attention of every police officer in the area, or at least dirty looks from every neighbor, even if you are just using a light foot. For reference, I had a 5.7L boat that did not have mufflers and exhausted above the waterline that I feel was quieter. Combined with the fact that you need to be in the upper part of the rev range to start moving and I start seeing "displays of power" citations. As my wife said, it seems like this vehicle is the Huskey of the car world..."I must sing the song of my people" - FYI, I was on "quiet mode" of the active exhaust. Again, this is a preference I have, but I can see why some people woudl love it.

Now, it did have a number of very good things

• The suspension was firm, but not punishing. The sway bars kept it flat in the turns when it wasn't understeering. I could probably travel 3-4 hours in this car without having issues, but I am not sure a 12 hour drive would be feasible
• The accelerator had good travel and communicated where I was
• Transmission shifted quickly, but without jolting like some other "sport" automatics. It also downshifted to get into the proper rev range extremely fast without a lot of "gear hunting"
• As I noted above, the driver and front passenger had lots of room up front. Hips, feet, head room were all great
• Cockpit like interior. Driver controls are oriented towards you and makes it easy to check while still driving and paying attention to the road. It does lack a heads up display when I find extremely useful though.
• Touch screen layout - While it's different the mechanical switches and buttons I am used to, I feel like it was designed by someone who knew about cars instead of a computer engineer just designing another interface. Of all the "touch screen layouts", this one ranks number 1 or 2 IMO.
• Seats were good and supportive (leather), and felt good to sit in. While I miss a power recline and some other adjustments, I feel the inclusion of a mechanical recline to keep weight down a bit was the right call.
• for all the lack of communication back to the driver, the steering was still very precise and did not feel floaty. I felt the wheels turned when I turned the wheel, it was just missing that feedback of a mechanical connection.
• The steering wheel itself is probably the best one I have used in my test drives, and I've driven about 15 vehicles over the past 2 weeks.

So fake

So last night, I went an test drove a 2024 GT (and an EB) My impressions, based on the GT
1 - BIG issue - understeer. When entering a turn, it had a lot of understeer. Turned the wheel, front wheels turned, and then half a second later, I got grip and movement. It's not quite as surefooted as I would have liked
2 - lack of torque - t the torque seemed to be lacking in this vehicle, especially at the low end. This EB seemed to have this issue as well. I know that I am spoiled coming from a line of cars that had more torque than HP and most had good bottom end torque, especially my last one that had 450 from 2500 on up and my F350 which has 800 Ft Lbs even lower. I am aware that this engine needs to be wound up to produce power and torque, but even then...it just seemed lacking.
3 - Numb steering - this might be the new system or maybe there was a mode I should have activated, but it did not communicate the road back to me like most of my other cars have. The last car I had that had steering this numb was a Lexus GS. Again, this could be a setting issue

The purely subjective - The two below are just from my preferences. Others (especially here) will probably disagree and that's fine.

just too small for so big a car. Don't get me wrong, the front seat is the perfect size, great seats, good headroom, plenty of room for my feat, but for car that big, it felt smaller on the inside than it should be...like a reverse TARDIS. The trunk opening could be a bit better and that would help out quite a bit

Too loud - it will attract the attention of every police officer in the area, or at least dirty looks from every neighbor, even if you are just using a light foot. For reference, I had a 5.7L boat that did not have mufflers and exhausted above the waterline that I feel was quieter. Combined with the fact that you need to be in the upper part of the rev range to start moving and I start seeing "displays of power" citations. As my wife said, it seems like this vehicle is the Huskey of the car world..."I must sing the song of my people" - FYI, I was on "quiet mode" of the active exhaust. Again, this is a preference I have, but I can see why some people woudl love it.

Now, it did have a number of very good things

• The suspension was firm, but not punishing. The sway bars kept it flat in the turns when it wasn't understeering. I could probably travel 3-4 hours in this car without having issues, but I am not sure a 12 hour drive would be feasible
• The accelerator had good travel and communicated where I was
• Transmission shifted quickly, but without jolting like some other "sport" automatics. It also downshifted to get into the proper rev range extremely fast without a lot of "gear hunting"
• As I noted above, the driver and front passenger had lots of room up front. Hips, feet, head room were all great
• Cockpit like interior. Driver controls are oriented towards you and makes it easy to check while still driving and paying attention to the road. It does lack a heads up display when I find extremely useful though.
• Touch screen layout - While it's different the mechanical switches and buttons I am used to, I feel like it was designed by someone who knew about cars instead of a computer engineer just designing another interface. Of all the "touch screen layouts", this one ranks number 1 or 2 IMO.
• Seats were good and supportive (leather), and felt good to sit in. While I miss a power recline and some other adjustments, I feel the inclusion of a mechanical recline to keep weight down a bit was the right call.
• for all the lack of communication back to the driver, the steering was still very precise and did not feel floaty. I felt the wheels turned when I turned the wheel, it was just missing that feedback of a mechanical connection.
• The steering wheel itself is probably the best one I have used in my test drives, and I've driven about 15 vehicles over the past 2 weeks.

So fake, we are not taking our cars out in the NE/Midwest right now! I cry bullshit on your post!

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[clfreemn]

My ‘24 GT is my true intro into V8 muscle. The 650 is amazing! In normal mode, this car is as comfortable as my sedan. I am in sales, covering a 450-mile radius. Average over 50k per year. My primary car is a Toyota Camry. Very good choice for the job. Since buying my GT, I have been driving it most of the time. Again, the most surprising thing to me is the dramatic difference in her personality at the touch of a button! Active exhaust is a big part of that. She starts up in quiet mode. My neighbors appreciate it. On the highway, she can be as tame or as wild as your spirit desires… at the touch of a button!

Last summer my wife and I drove from Kansas City to Charlotte NC to take advantage of the Ford Performance Racing School offer. What a day! Defiantly recommend. The drive was fun and comfortable. Over 1000-mile trip. We did break it up, but still was much more comfortable than we expected from a sports car of this level. Absolutely love this car.

 

[Bikeman315]

So fake

So fake, we are not taking our cars out in the NE/Midwest right now! I cry bullshit on your post!

Quite a 1st post. And an ignorant one at that. @Stonehauler has been around even longer than me. Neither he, nor his post is fake. You on the other hand should consider joining another forum.

 

[Stonehauler]

Lack of torque is by design.
They don’t want some young kid to punch it & get killed.
Did your test drive the GT Mustang include 315 gears, 355 gears, or 373 gears?
My 2020 F150 Limited ,450 horse, 510 pounds of torque has 355 gears and I believe Off the Line It will take my 2024 GT Mustang with 315 gears . But after 107 miles an hour the governor will turn the big Limited off & restart.
i’ve never had it over 90 something but my 2014 F150 Lariat would turn off after 107 miles an hour , driving to Vegas. Then it would restart
The GT Mustang is governor to 155 miles an hour!
The Dark Horse is something like 168 mph.
You mentioned you have test driven about 15 vehicles over the last two weeks.
Number 16 should be a School Bus.
They’re very roomy. Seats are very large.
Just Kidding.

Most people don't really get above 100 MPH, even on the Chicago expressways, unless they are itching to get pulled over. Even here, I doubt many have actually exceeded 100 MPH outside of a track or other controlled environment. That said, I know people do. A VERY long time ago(25+ years), I was traveling rapidly down a very straight and empty highway with only empty cornfields on either side of me, only to get passed by a very rusted out Taurus that was doing at least 20-25 MPH better than I was...at that point, I backed off, set the cruise control to the speed limit and just relaxed. Rarely is there a need to get anywhere that fast.

(and no, I did not see them pulled over or wrecked later on, I assume they got to where they were going)

 

[Stonehauler]

So fake

So fake, we are not taking our cars out in the NE/Midwest right now! I cry bullshit on your post!

The place I live actually is fairly mild weather wise. Due to the proximity to the coast, we actually are in the same hardiness zone as Atlanta, GA, despite being much further north.

I'm originally from near Chicago and it really doesn't get cold (as I define it) here. We only get the occasional Nor'Easter that dumps 20 inches of snow, but mostly it's 6-12 inches for the entire winter. Now, my relatives in Michigan get a lot more...My aunt in Northern MI off of Lake Michigan says they measure it in feet (half a foot, a foot, 2 feet of snow) and my cousin just across the line from Toledo says it's about as bad as the Chicago area...some years nothing, others 3 inches every other day. My SIL had snow two days ago, while it was 70+ here.

Daily driving a mustang all year round, with a few snow day exceptions, is quite common here.

 

[steyr]

I feel similarly to you, OP. My GT was a very fun car. Could definitely tell the lack of torque compared to the Challenger Scat Pack I owned before it. It isn't in the same league as my Hellcat in that regard, though, so it's pointless to compare.

In track mode the car was very loud. Actually considerably louder than my Hellcat. It had a really nice exhaust note. Ford also did a great job with the A10 on the S650. The ZF in my Scat Pack and Hellcat shifts so smoothly you can barely tell when it shifts aside from the tone change. The A10 in the S550 I drove was a gear hunting machine. In the S650 Ford tuned it really well and it is almost as smooth as the ZF.

 

[LouG]

Most people don't really get above 100 MPH, even on the Chicago expressways, unless they are itching to get pulled over. Even here, I doubt many have actually exceeded 100 MPH outside of a track or other controlled environment. That said, I know people do. A VERY long time ago(25+ years), I was traveling rapidly down a very straight and empty highway with only empty cornfields on either side of me, only to get passed by a very rusted out Taurus that was doing at least 20-25 MPH better than I was...at that point, I backed off, set the cruise control to the speed limit and just relaxed. Rarely is there a need to get anywhere that fast.

(and no, I did not see them pulled over or wrecked later on, I assume they got to where they were going)

I tend to cruise at 10 - 15kmh over our ridiculous 100 kmh limit, and stay alert for Waze and detector warnings. But when I overtake I'll travel at whatever's necessary. The problem is, the Mustang gets to 160 - 180kmh quicker than my old car got to 140. It took some getting used to.

 

[LouG]

OP - Any vehicle can exhibit "understeer" to a certain degree in certain situations. Yes, this can run the gamut from minor to major. This happens in every NASCAR race on every track. They don't call it understeer they call it "Tight". I'm referencing NASCAR vs. another form of Motorsports due to the weight of a "Cup" car and the fact there is a V8 engine residing in the front. Cup car is about 500-600 lbs. lighter (w/driver) than a 24' Mustang however it's still heavy in context i.e., race car.

I think the expectation you set may be to high for heavy front engine V8 car. You basically stated a complaint that is heard on radio "chatter" every weekend in NASCAR. Those cars are setup to do one thing and they still struggle to find perfection. As a matter of fact, many times they're far from perfect. Half a million dollar car far from perfect - How can that be?

I remember an old episode of Top Gear where Stirling Moss (I think) demonstrated to Clarkson how to make any car understeer or oversteer at will.
Those old guys with analogue cars knew their stuff.

 

[DavidinGA]

What rear end did the one you test drove have? 3.15 - adds to lack of tq for sure!

 

[Cucurú]

understeer.
lack of torque -
Numb steering -
just too small
Too loud - Huskey of the car world...

• The suspension was firm, but not punishing.
• The accelerator had good travel and communicated where I was
• Transmission shifted quickly, but without jolting
• driver and front passenger had lots of room up front.
• Cockpit like interior.
• Touch screen layout - ranks number 1 or 2 IMO.
• Seats were good and supportive
• for all the lack of communication back to the driver, the steering was still very precise
• The steering wheel itself is probably the best one

Maybe a Mustang is not the right car for you?

Maybe he should try a Camaro. Oops! I forgot they don't make those anymore

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