12/18/2004
My thoughts on the 2005 Mustang GT
I had the opportunity to drive a brand new 2005 Mustang GT. I was it's first driver :-D.
Looks
The car looks great just sitting there. I think the stance of the GT is great. It does need the spoiler-delete option though. The car doesn't carry the same proportions as the SN-95s. The doors look a lot smaller and the car looks a lot more beefy. I hope it does considering it's bigger in every dimension. The tires have a huge amount of sidewall. I am surprised that the car comes with 235/55's. I suppose that is to allow for the optional 18" wheels in 06 which will have a smaller sidewall.
Feel
The car has a great feel to it when you open the door and sit down. The car I was in had the IUP. The seats felt great. They are much improved over the standard GT seats, although, I think I would still take my 01 seats over the GTs. The door didn't feel like it weighed a ton to close and shut with the just the slightest amount of effort.
There is a whole lot more head room in the car. I sit straight up in the car and I didn't even come close to hitting my head on the roof -- I do that in the 01 quite a bit.
The shifter is in an excellent place. It sits nice and low on the console, however, the throw is still much too long. An aftermarket shifter is in order for this car. More on this issue later. The e-brake looks funky but it works
All the gauges and buttons are in the exact spot you would expect them to be in a mustang. I do miss the pull out light knob though. I grabbed for the light switch and tried to pull it out. Whoops.
The gauges are all easily visible with the tach and speedo clearly visible.
Visibility
The visibility in this car is much less than the SN-95's, however, the mirrors do an excellent job at covering the blind spots in the car. It is hard to look over your left shoulder and see behind you in the car. You are better off using your mirror. The hood seems to extend further in front of you than the SN-95's. At first it felt like I was sitting behind the wheel of a Vette.
Startup
The car started up smoothly. The tach jumped to two grand before finally settling down to idle and all the dummy gauges proceeded to take their proper place. I flipped the lights on and headed for the gas station. The dash lights came on blue. I didn't feel like trying to learn how to change them, so I left them as is. The dummy gauges are worthless. If the computer can see the real numbers; I should be able to too!
Steering, Brakes, and Clutch
The steering response has more feel than the SN-95's, but it still felt a bit vague. Excellent improvement though. The brake pedal had a very mushy feel. The brakes did stop the car well, however, the pedal response was not nearly communicative as it is in the 01. The car doesn't dive forward nearly as much as the SN-95's under hard braking. A definate plus! The clutch was very mushy as well. The clutch also had way too much travel. The overall feel was much lighter than any SN-95, but again, was not nearly as communicative. This is not a plus.
Handling
The car has a very stiff ride. Ford has really done a good job at finally giving the mustang chasis some much needed strength. It makes SN-95's feel like mush. The car handled well in the corners and in a straight line. The rear end was very predictable with the live axle. That being said, it was still a live axle. The IRS in my 01 has spoiled me. That reason alone is enough for me not to consider the 05 I suppose that means I'll have to wait for the Cobra.
Power
The power of the 05 surprised me. It felt a lot like my 98 did. The 05 did feel like it fell on it's face near redline while the 98 would pull all the way to it's 7,000 rpm redline. The two are equally smooth as far as power output goes. In a race between the two, I would have to say the 98 would be faster only because of it's seemingly longer power band.
This car is also screaming for 4.30 gears. I think 4.56s would be too much for this car unless it was only seeing track duty.
Exhaust
I am going to have to be the oddball here and say that I did not like the stock exhaust in person. There was nothing distinct about the stock exhaust sound. The tone was much too bland.
NVH
This car made non of the usual mustang squeaks or rattles which was nice. The cabin was free from wind noise up to 80 mph. The tires and the transmission loved to talk to me though. The tires would sing from about 40-75 mph. This surprised me a bit as I would expcet more quiet tires on a production car. I can understand non-OEM performance tires wanting to sing a bit, but there was a lot of noise from these tires. That being said though, I'm used to tire noise so it didn't bother me at all. The transmission would sing between 1,400-2,500 RPM. The transmission noise I expected since they are still using the TR-3650 in the new Mustangs and that is what that tranny does. The shifter felt much more smooth than my 01 ever did with the stock shifter. There were no issues with getting the car into or out of any gear. All the gates seemed a lot more positive than my 01, although that's not too surprising since I received one of the early run TR-3650s. If you do not like the noise that the current transmission makes, DO NOT get an aftermarket shifter!
The ride quality was good. It was what I expected from a live axle car. It felt just like my 98, only much more solid!
Conclusion
This is a solid car. Ford did really well when putting this car together. It's not perfect, but there is no car that is perfect. For $25,000, you can not purchase a better quality automobile! An IRS would have been nice though. I would also like to still see real gauges.
Anecdotes
At the gas station, everone looked at the car. Also, over half the people who looked at the car also had to do a burn-out as they left the station. Silly people.
Mods
Gears first!
SFCs second; one can never be too stiff!
Exhaust third even though I didn't care for the stock exhaust; it is livable for a little while.
Cliff Notes (all categories out of 5)
Looks: 6 (not a type-o)
Feel: 5
Visibility: 3
Startup: 4
Steering: 5
Brakes: 3
Clutch: 2
Handling: 4
Power: 5
Exhaust: 2
NVH: 4
Conclusions: 4 (gimme an IRS and real gauges)
If you have any other questions about how I think this car compares to an SN-95, let me know!
:cheers:
~Hat
My thoughts on the 2005 Mustang GT
I had the opportunity to drive a brand new 2005 Mustang GT. I was it's first driver :-D.
Looks
The car looks great just sitting there. I think the stance of the GT is great. It does need the spoiler-delete option though. The car doesn't carry the same proportions as the SN-95s. The doors look a lot smaller and the car looks a lot more beefy. I hope it does considering it's bigger in every dimension. The tires have a huge amount of sidewall. I am surprised that the car comes with 235/55's. I suppose that is to allow for the optional 18" wheels in 06 which will have a smaller sidewall.
Feel
The car has a great feel to it when you open the door and sit down. The car I was in had the IUP. The seats felt great. They are much improved over the standard GT seats, although, I think I would still take my 01 seats over the GTs. The door didn't feel like it weighed a ton to close and shut with the just the slightest amount of effort.
There is a whole lot more head room in the car. I sit straight up in the car and I didn't even come close to hitting my head on the roof -- I do that in the 01 quite a bit.
The shifter is in an excellent place. It sits nice and low on the console, however, the throw is still much too long. An aftermarket shifter is in order for this car. More on this issue later. The e-brake looks funky but it works
All the gauges and buttons are in the exact spot you would expect them to be in a mustang. I do miss the pull out light knob though. I grabbed for the light switch and tried to pull it out. Whoops.
The gauges are all easily visible with the tach and speedo clearly visible.
Visibility
The visibility in this car is much less than the SN-95's, however, the mirrors do an excellent job at covering the blind spots in the car. It is hard to look over your left shoulder and see behind you in the car. You are better off using your mirror. The hood seems to extend further in front of you than the SN-95's. At first it felt like I was sitting behind the wheel of a Vette.
Startup
The car started up smoothly. The tach jumped to two grand before finally settling down to idle and all the dummy gauges proceeded to take their proper place. I flipped the lights on and headed for the gas station. The dash lights came on blue. I didn't feel like trying to learn how to change them, so I left them as is. The dummy gauges are worthless. If the computer can see the real numbers; I should be able to too!
Steering, Brakes, and Clutch
The steering response has more feel than the SN-95's, but it still felt a bit vague. Excellent improvement though. The brake pedal had a very mushy feel. The brakes did stop the car well, however, the pedal response was not nearly communicative as it is in the 01. The car doesn't dive forward nearly as much as the SN-95's under hard braking. A definate plus! The clutch was very mushy as well. The clutch also had way too much travel. The overall feel was much lighter than any SN-95, but again, was not nearly as communicative. This is not a plus.
Handling
The car has a very stiff ride. Ford has really done a good job at finally giving the mustang chasis some much needed strength. It makes SN-95's feel like mush. The car handled well in the corners and in a straight line. The rear end was very predictable with the live axle. That being said, it was still a live axle. The IRS in my 01 has spoiled me. That reason alone is enough for me not to consider the 05
I suppose that means I'll have to wait for the Cobra.Power
The power of the 05 surprised me. It felt a lot like my 98 did. The 05 did feel like it fell on it's face near redline while the 98 would pull all the way to it's 7,000 rpm redline. The two are equally smooth as far as power output goes. In a race between the two, I would have to say the 98 would be faster only because of it's seemingly longer power band.
This car is also screaming for 4.30 gears. I think 4.56s would be too much for this car unless it was only seeing track duty.
Exhaust
I am going to have to be the oddball here and say that I did not like the stock exhaust in person. There was nothing distinct about the stock exhaust sound. The tone was much too bland.
NVH
This car made non of the usual mustang squeaks or rattles which was nice. The cabin was free from wind noise up to 80 mph. The tires and the transmission loved to talk to me though. The tires would sing from about 40-75 mph. This surprised me a bit as I would expcet more quiet tires on a production car. I can understand non-OEM performance tires wanting to sing a bit, but there was a lot of noise from these tires. That being said though, I'm used to tire noise so it didn't bother me at all. The transmission would sing between 1,400-2,500 RPM. The transmission noise I expected since they are still using the TR-3650 in the new Mustangs and that is what that tranny does. The shifter felt much more smooth than my 01 ever did with the stock shifter. There were no issues with getting the car into or out of any gear. All the gates seemed a lot more positive than my 01, although that's not too surprising since I received one of the early run TR-3650s. If you do not like the noise that the current transmission makes, DO NOT get an aftermarket shifter!
The ride quality was good. It was what I expected from a live axle car. It felt just like my 98, only much more solid!
Conclusion
This is a solid car. Ford did really well when putting this car together. It's not perfect, but there is no car that is perfect. For $25,000, you can not purchase a better quality automobile! An IRS would have been nice though. I would also like to still see real gauges.
Anecdotes
At the gas station, everone looked at the car. Also, over half the people who looked at the car also had to do a burn-out as they left the station. Silly people.
Mods
Gears first!
SFCs second; one can never be too stiff!
Exhaust third even though I didn't care for the stock exhaust; it is livable for a little while.
Cliff Notes (all categories out of 5)
Looks: 6 (not a type-o
)Feel: 5
Visibility: 3
Startup: 4
Steering: 5
Brakes: 3
Clutch: 2
Handling: 4
Power: 5
Exhaust: 2
NVH: 4
Conclusions: 4 (gimme an IRS and real gauges)
If you have any other questions about how I think this car compares to an SN-95, let me know!
:cheers:
~Hat
