2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

Five-point-oh vee-eight – bring it on! Is Shahzad Sheikh’s Mustang lust finally satiated?

By Shahzad Sheikh

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

At last! After waiting like, what seems FOREVER, I finally get to drive the all-new 2015 Ford Mustang GT with the good old 5.0-litre V8 (essentially the same unit from the previous Mustang).

Watch my video review by clicking below

I’ve already tested the AED175,000 2.3-litre four-cylinder Ecoboost version – read that review here or watch the video below – so I won’t go over too much detail on the basics of the car again in this review. Suffice to say (and confirmed in the video above) the one thing that stands out for the 2015 MY Mustang is the greatly improved levels of refinement, quality and reduced noise / vibration / harshness.

Watch my video review of the 2015 2.3 Ecoboost Mustang by clicking below

Read my review of the 2.3 Ecoboost Mustang here

The interior too is a revelation that is not only superbly put together and nice to behold, but also stacked full of features and suprise-and-delight touches like the toggle switches. However, as with the Ecoboost, I still struggled to get comfortable in the seat for some reason.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

On the outside this Triple Yellow finished car was certainly an attention-grabber, although there is no real way to tell the difference between the V6, Ecoboost 4 and the V8 apart from the GT badges on the V8 and also its bonnet scoops. These are going to get built-in indicators for next year, though since you can only see one side from the driver’s seat I noted, really that’s just a fun gimmick, rather than serving any practical purpose.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

Yeah, yeah, but how is it to drive?

Okay, so straight off the bat, it feels, as I suspected it would, much more like a muscle car than the 2.3 Ecoboost. From the grunty deeper more thrummy engine noise, to the more instantaneous torque and the slidey-widey back end that’s happy to abandon all grip from standstill (particularly if you’re in the Sports or Track mode) and launch into lurid powerslides on demand. Traction Control? Pah!

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

One of the downsides of building-in ‘track apps’ and such like into the instrument panel is that you’re tempted to time it from 0-100kph where normally I wouldn’t do any sort of performance testing on press cars. The problem with that is that in our hot weather right now, the best I could get in three runs was 5.9 seconds, which on paper is four-tenths slower than the four-cylinder car! Having said that US mag Motor Trend has clocked it as 0-92kph in 4.4 seconds, so I estimate 4.7 would be its optimal time for the 0-100kph run.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

And then there’s the ‘Line Lock’ App – ‘what’s that’ I hear you say? Click the video at the top of this page for a demo, but essentially it holds the front brakes to allow you to do a burnout in your Five-point-oh. However there’s a whole series of things you have to do to activate it, and quite frankly, it’s easier to just switch the traction off, hold the brakes and slam the throttle for whoopee smoke and screech!

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

I’d love to have tried this car in manual form, and I feel certain that would improve the experience, but the six-speed auto was all we got, and it’s slightly at odds with my experience of the six-speed auto in the 2.3. In the smaller engine car the box was best left to its own devices and seemed pretty mean about my access to ratios. In this GT however, it’s more generous and is actually better to use with the paddles. I do wish the paddle-changes had a more satisfying feel and the changes more of a thunk to them though.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

Then there’s the handling, it builds on the philosophy adopted by the Ecoboost in that it’s dialled up to mimic muscle-car traits. That is, there’s a bit of roll and float as you manhandle it into a corner, whilst the back end stays planted up to a point, before eagerly getting involved in the party (although that latter bit is where it’s different to the Ecoboost, which feels more planted at the rear).

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

Trust the car though, the grip is there at speed and through corners, more reliably so than the old car. And yet it’s got a brutish, bullish attitude – albeit it a little contrived. And talking of that, the engine noise is also a bit artificial. Yes it does sound like a V8, but in the same way all the cars in the Sony Playstation game, Driver, sound like V8s.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

Of course with the body being so much stiffer and better insulated, not to mention aerodynamic, hence killing wind noise and road roar, you don’t get much of the engine noise either. In fact at normal speeds around town or cruising on the motorway, you’ll forget you’re in a V8. Open the windows though and you get the glorious growl back. I have heard this car with a louder aftermarket exhaust and that sounded fantastic, so I guess that would be the thing to do.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

The steering (in sport mode) is accurate and nicely weighted if not quite feelsome, brakes are strong and overall this is both an easy and enjoyable car to drive, best when blatting about town rather than tackling the twisties, plus it’s a muted but comfortable inter-city cruiser.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

Verdict

Now that I had finally got my hands on this car, I wasn’t about to hand it back without a proper test, and this became even more imperative when I was struck by an odd and conflicting reaction to the 2015 Ford Mustang GT.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

In order to work through the rising confusion I fully gave this pony car its due covering around 800km and spending about 16 hours behind the wheel of this thing during which time I achieved 14.1L/100km fuel consumption – which is actually better than I got in the four-cylinder 2.3!

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

The problem is that EVERY single time I’ve driven a V8 version of the fifth generation 2005-14 Ford Mustang, I’ve ended up desperately wanting one. And everything I know about this all-new Mustang seemed to confirm to me that I would indeed want it just as much if not more. It should all add up to the perfect formula.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

And that’s the problem. It does. After all this time behind the wheel I came to conclude that the 2015 Ford Mustang GT is a significantly better car than its predecessor and every measureable manner. I would happily and enthusiastically endorse and recommend it to anyone else, and yet, for the first time ever, I don’t want one myself.

This initially left me utterly puzzle and perplexed, until the obvious hit me in the face. It’s too good now.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

I like old-skool. It’s the little personality traits and the odd flaws and foibles that others some owners might complain about, these actually used to appeal to me: the unfettered and unfiltered soundtrack, the lairy road manners that needed to be tamed, the torque-tastic axle tramp and judder, the tininess that telegraphed the outside world into the cabin, the interior you didn’t have to be too precious about, and even something as simple as how the body would rock and want to rip itself off its chassis when you just sat and revved the engine.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

The new car was weeded all that silliness out, and to be fair, that is the correct thing to do, that is progress, that is advancing technology, that is… well… making a better car. If, unlike me, you’re not stuck in the past and you really want a Ford Mustang, go get it, you’ve never had it better.

2015 Ford Mustang GT Video Review

2015 Ford Mustang GT – The Specs

Price:
Manual Coupe: AED190k ($52k)
Auto Coupe: AED195k-200k ($53k-55k)
Auto Convertible: AED220k ($60k)
Engine: 5.0-litre V8, 435bhp @ 6500rpm, 400lb ft @ 4250rpm
Performance: 0-100kph 4.8secs, 265kph, 9.4L/100km
Transmission: 6-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Weight: 1681kg

Let us know what you think of the 2015 Ford Mustang GT

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