Ford Mustang review

Prod the start/stop button and the V8 fires into life. It’s not overly raucous but it’s loud enough to bring a smile to your face, though the active exhaust means you can programme the car to start in Quiet mode at certain times to avoid upsetting the neighbours. Or if you don't like them, there’s a Sport mode which boosts the noise to max…

The driving position is good, the seats comfortable and supportive though you’re sat quite low. First challenge is figuring out the electric handbrake, designed to resemble a traditional mechanical one. Push it down to release, pull it up to put it back on. Simples.

Otherwise there’s a reassuring weight to all the controls, from the steering to the pedals to the six-speed manual shifter.

The first thing that strikes you when you get on your way is the softer-than-you-might-have-expected ride. Mind you, our test car also had the Magneride adaptive damping system, a £1,750 option (standard on Dark Horse), which monitors the road ahead and automatically tweaks the setup to reduce any crashiness.

Quit stalling and tell me what that V8 is like!

As you wish. It gets less power over here than it does in the US, where Mustangs get 473bhp and 415lb ft of torque (479bhp and 418lb ft of torque with the active exhaust). Over here you're looking at 440bhp and 398lb ft.

The Dark Horse suffers even more, with Americans getting 493 horsies and us Brits only 447bhp and 398lb ft for. Blame emissions regs for that one.

But in truth? You don't really miss that extra power. It remains as brutish as ever, and although you have to work that V8 lump quite hard, it rewards you when you do. The power delivery could be smoother, though: it's all rather civilised below 2,500-3,000rpm before you get the shove you were looking for. Good for usability, less for getting your g-force kicks.

This is a muscle car, therefore it can't corner. Right?

On a twisty road the Mustang is far from the keenest handling car to drive, much like the Mk6. It feels heavy and lacks the precision of a dedicated sports car, but the body control is kept nicely in check.

You get the sense Ford understands its limitations, so rather than fight a losing battle it's lent into the slow in, fast out V8 muscle car vibe. Wisely, we reckon.

Does it get any party tricks?

The reason for that electric-cum-mechanical handbrake is Drift mode. To activate it you need to head to the MyMustang control menu, click through to Track Apps, and then click on the Drift Brake, which puts the car in Track mode. Feeling the adrenaline yet? Pulling up on the handbrake then locks the back wheels. Aaand skid.

Delving into the touchscreen also allows you to active launch control and tweak the RPM settings. But that’s not all. There you can also turn on and off rev matching, designed to mimic heel and toe driving by predicting gear shifts and raising the revs accordingly, thus reducing any jerkiness as you downshift.

In addition to Track there are five other modes including Normal, Sport, Slippery, Drag Strip and Custom, which tweak steering, handling and powertrain response settings. On top of that there’s also built-in tools that allow you to measure acceleration and lap times and braking performance and all that jazz.

Er, those are track car gizmos. Is it cut out for lap times?

Good question. Our experience on road suggests not. At 1,837kg (and the convertible's 39kg on top of that) it's no lightweight. Nor, as we've already touched on, the deftest around a winding road.

But it's no slouch either. Equipped with the six-speed manual, the hard-topped GT claims 0-62mph in 5.3 seconds, while the automatic does it in 4.9s. 

And anyway, if you were even remotely bothered about going on track, you probably want the Dark Horse with its seven extra brake horsepower plus Tremec six-speed gearbox with improved cooling and a limited-slip differential. That's a mite quicker over 0-62mph (5.2 plays 4.4s), but don't go expecting lap records unless your name is 'The' and your surname is 'Stig'.

We digress. Sprint times aren’t the goal here, it’s about the experience. A Mustang is meant to slap a broad, Cheshire cat grin on your face (and others around you - and it certainly gets plenty of attention).

The suite of driver assistance systems will do their best to ruin that experience, of course, persistently telling you to keep your hands on the wheel when they’re already there. So you'll do the complete opposite as you jab away at the screen to turn them off.

I've got to ask... will fill-ups blow a hole in my wallet?

Needless to say, efficient the Mustang is not, with Ford claiming 23.5mpg and emissions from 274g/km CO2. Real world we saw 22.4mpg – pretty much exactly what Ford predicts, and incidentally pretty much what we averaged over six months in our long-term Jaguar F-Type. But heck, this is a 5.0-litre V8, what did you expect?