I test drove a 16’ Ecoboost Mustang today, which was also the first S550 Mustang I have driven. Here are some of my thoughts:
I was SHOCKED by the turbo lag of the Ecoboost, in a bad way! Now, I drove an automatic with 3.15 rear gears, but I went WOT once from a near stop (rolling) and once from about 25mph and both times you could take a nap while you waited for the throttle to kick in. It was completely surprising to me based on my experience with my wife’s 13’ 2.0L Ecoboost Explorer. I routinely spin the tire from a stop, particularly when turning, in her car (usually results in her smacking me!) and it accelerates much more immediately from a stop and at speed. Now, once the Ecoboost Mustang got going, the acceleration was really good, strong and linear. And my God the car is so quiet and smooth you look down and go, holy cow, I’m going 80mph! It is a completely different experience than a V8 performance car. And one other thing I noticed, while the exhaust note is muted, it has a solid and surprisingly deeper tone than I expected. It does not sound tiny at all.
What the car lacked in immediately gratifying acceleration, it almost made up for in ride, feel, ergonomics and features. I was really impressed by what comes standard in a mid $20k Mustang: quality cloth power adjustable seat with power lumbar, SYNC, leather wrapped steering wheel, steering wheel controls, etc. Honestly, unless you just must have a touch screen and leather, there is no need for a Premium. Visibility out of all windows was great and I really liked the view over the pronounced hood creases. It gave the car some great character from behind the wheel. Speaking of the wheel, it was nice and small in diameter, with a thick rim, and was very easy to adjust to my liking. Steering feel was solid, to the point where I did not notice it in either a good or bad way. For reference, I drove my lowered and rather aggressively aligned Cobra there, so not thinking it was too light or uncommunicative is a big win.
The best attribute to the car has to be the ride. The car rode oh so smooth, particularly over a very bad/pronounced set of railroad tracks. When I go over those tracks in my Cobra, I slow to a near stop and the bumps are teeth rattling, the Ecoboost Mustang rolled right over them at 30mph like it was nothing, barely made a sound. WOW! The car was planted and smooth on a sweeping curve with a pavement transition and over all kinds of pot holes, patches, cracks, etc. (our roads are terrible around here). There is nothing I can think to complain about from a ride perspective. Obviously I did not get to push the car to the limits and feel the dynamics in those situations, but for normal/spirited driving on local roads, it was fantastic!
Two ergonomic issues bothered me. One, the bottom seat cushion power tilt is literally only tilting the cushion about the axis where it meets the bottom of the back rest. This is great for providing support under your thighs, but not the best for finding the perfect driving position. In contrast, my wife’s Explorer seat tilts the entire seat assembly backward. Perhaps this is how the Mustang works if you get a Premium? Second, and this one drove me nuts, there is no place to rest your right elbow while driving! They put the emergency brake on the driver side in order to improve the ergonomics of the cup holder and shifter, pushing it towards the passenger seat, making it easier to reach drinks from the driver seat and getting it out of the way of the shifter in a manual. I get it, but your elbow rests right on top of the emergency brake lever! Perhaps if the lever was not two feet long they could have extended the console up a little to give you a place to rest your elbow. As annoying as this is, the rest of the cars ergonomics were great. Hopefully the aftermarket will make a something to fix this little nuisance.
In summary, the S550 Mustang is a great car overall, but the Ecoboost Mustang just didn’t have enough throttle response for me. Perhaps, a manual transmission with the performance pack 3.55 gears would do better, but I don’t think it will cure the turbo lag. My wife’s Explorer doesn’t have 3.55 gears or a manual and it has better throttle response. I think it is just the way Ford tuned the Mustang, which is disappointing. I guess if you are willing to tune your car straight off the lot, it could solve the problem. I know a lot of people are doing this, but there are also a lot of people who are not willing to void a warranty on a brand new car. For me, the Ecoboost is a no go in stock form. Hopefully Ford will make some tweaks in the coming years because it is oh so close, oh so close.
I was SHOCKED by the turbo lag of the Ecoboost, in a bad way! Now, I drove an automatic with 3.15 rear gears, but I went WOT once from a near stop (rolling) and once from about 25mph and both times you could take a nap while you waited for the throttle to kick in. It was completely surprising to me based on my experience with my wife’s 13’ 2.0L Ecoboost Explorer. I routinely spin the tire from a stop, particularly when turning, in her car (usually results in her smacking me!) and it accelerates much more immediately from a stop and at speed. Now, once the Ecoboost Mustang got going, the acceleration was really good, strong and linear. And my God the car is so quiet and smooth you look down and go, holy cow, I’m going 80mph! It is a completely different experience than a V8 performance car. And one other thing I noticed, while the exhaust note is muted, it has a solid and surprisingly deeper tone than I expected. It does not sound tiny at all.
What the car lacked in immediately gratifying acceleration, it almost made up for in ride, feel, ergonomics and features. I was really impressed by what comes standard in a mid $20k Mustang: quality cloth power adjustable seat with power lumbar, SYNC, leather wrapped steering wheel, steering wheel controls, etc. Honestly, unless you just must have a touch screen and leather, there is no need for a Premium. Visibility out of all windows was great and I really liked the view over the pronounced hood creases. It gave the car some great character from behind the wheel. Speaking of the wheel, it was nice and small in diameter, with a thick rim, and was very easy to adjust to my liking. Steering feel was solid, to the point where I did not notice it in either a good or bad way. For reference, I drove my lowered and rather aggressively aligned Cobra there, so not thinking it was too light or uncommunicative is a big win.
The best attribute to the car has to be the ride. The car rode oh so smooth, particularly over a very bad/pronounced set of railroad tracks. When I go over those tracks in my Cobra, I slow to a near stop and the bumps are teeth rattling, the Ecoboost Mustang rolled right over them at 30mph like it was nothing, barely made a sound. WOW! The car was planted and smooth on a sweeping curve with a pavement transition and over all kinds of pot holes, patches, cracks, etc. (our roads are terrible around here). There is nothing I can think to complain about from a ride perspective. Obviously I did not get to push the car to the limits and feel the dynamics in those situations, but for normal/spirited driving on local roads, it was fantastic!
Two ergonomic issues bothered me. One, the bottom seat cushion power tilt is literally only tilting the cushion about the axis where it meets the bottom of the back rest. This is great for providing support under your thighs, but not the best for finding the perfect driving position. In contrast, my wife’s Explorer seat tilts the entire seat assembly backward. Perhaps this is how the Mustang works if you get a Premium? Second, and this one drove me nuts, there is no place to rest your right elbow while driving! They put the emergency brake on the driver side in order to improve the ergonomics of the cup holder and shifter, pushing it towards the passenger seat, making it easier to reach drinks from the driver seat and getting it out of the way of the shifter in a manual. I get it, but your elbow rests right on top of the emergency brake lever! Perhaps if the lever was not two feet long they could have extended the console up a little to give you a place to rest your elbow. As annoying as this is, the rest of the cars ergonomics were great. Hopefully the aftermarket will make a something to fix this little nuisance.
In summary, the S550 Mustang is a great car overall, but the Ecoboost Mustang just didn’t have enough throttle response for me. Perhaps, a manual transmission with the performance pack 3.55 gears would do better, but I don’t think it will cure the turbo lag. My wife’s Explorer doesn’t have 3.55 gears or a manual and it has better throttle response. I think it is just the way Ford tuned the Mustang, which is disappointing. I guess if you are willing to tune your car straight off the lot, it could solve the problem. I know a lot of people are doing this, but there are also a lot of people who are not willing to void a warranty on a brand new car. For me, the Ecoboost is a no go in stock form. Hopefully Ford will make some tweaks in the coming years because it is oh so close, oh so close.
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