Ford Mustang GT Convertible 2018 Review

Muscle cars like the Ford Mustang GT are often thought of as pretty one-dimensional. A one-trick pony, if you’ll pardon the quip.

Mention Mustang to the old-school set and they’ll likely recall tales of ‘drags’ down a secluded back-road, the big V8 administering a brume of tyre smoke and noise as it fought to keep its lively rear-end in check. Good times… but hardly relevant in 2018.

Fact is the Ford Mustang has come a long way in the 54 years since the first example went on sale. A hell of a long way.

The modern Mustang – Ford’s first global pony car – is a properly accomplished car, and it has to be if it’s to survive a world in which faster infotainment processing is the new cubic-inches and climate control is more highly valued than a Detroit Locker.

The key is rightly blending the new with the old. Giving the Mustang the street smarts it needs to survive while retaining its look, sound and feel.

Get too high-tech and you lose the guy that “always wanted a new one”. Don’t adapt and the younger crowd won’t look twice. It’s an art form.

It’s also an engineering and marketing balancing act you get one chance to nail; and for what it’s worth, we reckon the 2018 Ford Mustang has nailed it pretty damn well.

Details of the new Mustang have been available for a while. Rather than bore you with the shopping list again, we’ll run through the quick and dirty of Ford’s 2018 Mustang upgrades.

For the Mustang GT variants on test the biggest news is an uptick in power. Larger cylinder bores up capacity to 5038cc (from 4951cc), and join port and direct fuel-injection and a four-mode active exhaust system.

This bring the outputs of the naturally-aspirated 5.0-litre Coyote V8 to 339kW at 7000rpm (+33kW) and 556Nm at 4600rpm (+26Nm). Beyond 4500rpm, the Mustang hauls ass; and sounds bloody good doing it.

Combined fuel use actually jumps 0.1L/100km (to 12.7L/100km ADR Combined) when compared to the old six-speed auto. We hung around the 14-litre mark on test, which isn’t too bad.

But really, if you want to save fuel, buy the four-cylinder EcoBoost variant or wait for the Hybrid in 2020, assuming it comes Down Under.

The optional 10-speed automatic transmission (+$3000) puts power to the rear wheels which are now braced by a new cross-axis independent set-up that Ford says improves lateral stiffness and therefore handling.

Revised damper valving features on models not equipped with Ford’s optional MagneRide magnetorheological adaptive dampers (+$2750), the system borrowed from the Mustang GT350 to independently adjust each corner up to 1000 times per second.

A tri-mode 12.0-inch screen takes-on instrument cluster duties for 2018, and joins an 8.0-inch SYNC3 infotainment array with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth, digital radio, sat-nav and a reversing camera.

Safety tech now includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane keep and lane departure. The ‘Stang now scores a three-star ANCAP rating  – one more star than its predecessor.

Bigger cylinders, more safety tech, extra gear ratios and increased bling. The new Mustang certain offers a lot more equipment, but none of it comes cheap.

The range is now priced at between $4000 and $9000 more than the outgoing model. For the GT variants tested here, that’s a sticker price of $66,259 and $74,709 (plus on-road costs) for the Coupe and Convertible respectively.

Ford recently announced a move to a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty which replaces its long-running three-year/100,000km deal. The program includes free map updates, loan cars and roadside coverage.

Service intervals are 12 months or 15,000km (whichever comes first), and tally $2385 for the first five years.

Redbook says a three-year-old Mustang GT retains 78 per cent of its new price when sold privately, or 70 per cent when traded in.

However, the material quality, especially inside, is still a bit tom tit. Acres of cheap black plastic and hard-touch surfaces fill the cockpit, in which the relationship between the driver and primary controls is less than a perfect fit, mostly because of Ford’s high-set seating position.

Get settled in, however, and it does reward. Select the right mode (this is crucial – more in a moment) and the Mustang complies willingly to instructions issued by the right foot, steering on throttle to billhook its way through corners with a level of dexterity closer to the Track Pack sampled at this year’s Australia’s Best Driver’s Car.

The Ford Mustang coupe is a more agile accomplice here; the twist and scuttle shake of the convertible is a less than ideal formula with which to accurately dice up a complex series of corners.

The Torsen LSD puts power down effectively, and really helps curtail the Mustang’s tail-happy attitude. Be warned, though: if you’re dialled into Sport+ or Race mode it’s still pretty easy to side-step the tail, or turn those sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres into clouds of blue smoke.

It’s the Mustang’s newest – and perhaps most crucial – element that proved its Achilles heel on test: the 10-speed automatic transmission.

From a cold start and at walking pace in Drive and Normal modes the shift from first to second gear (approximately 15-20m from setting off) produced a moment of free-spin following by a tremendous thud into gear.

It happened every morning with both Mustangs we drove, each with approximately 5000km on the clock, doing little to fill us with confidence.

We also found the transmission extremely busy at commuter speeds, constantly hunting for the right ratio. In Drive and Normal modes the tranny is far too eager to downshift, and determined to run back to top gear (10th) at speeds over 80km/h as soon as pressure on the throttle is reduced.

Driveline shunt and a little fuel surge was also noticeable during suburban and freeway driving, the transmission seemingly indecisive in matching the correct ratio with the availability of torque.

Work through the various drive modes (from Normal to Sport, Sport+ and Race) and there is an improvement. Holding gears longer in its more aggressive drive modes, and again with the shifter set to Sport, and the Mustang is a more decisive beast, but only when you’re really pressing on.

Here, the transmission better responds to the throttle, holding gears longer and shifting in step with the driver’s intentions, steering wheel inputs and road speed to choose the right cog for the job.

In-gear acceleration is impressively strong, and in Race mode brings a bold, brassy exhaust note fitting of a muscle-car.

Unless you’ve got a runway at your disposal, however – or a damn good lawyer – it’s best to use the steering wheel paddles and run it out in second or third gear. Anything more is pushing loss-of-licence territory.

My tip: use Rain mode for commuter driving. It softens throttle response and slows gear selection down, allowing the engine – not the gearbox – to manage proceedings.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Mustang’s 10-speed transmission stands the test of time. We’ll be curious to hear from customers and to read other reviews to see if the issues we experienced are commonplace or simply a quirk of the hard life both press cars were subjected to.

That (important) issue aside and it’s obvious the Mustang has what it takes to hold its own in a narrow market segment – at least until HSV’s Chevrolet Camaro arrives.

It’s sharper than before, and the 2018 Ford Mustang GT also has the performance and presence to attract an audience far broader than the traditional muscle-car enthusiast.

That the Ford Mustang can continue to do that more than half a century since its original launch is testament to its enduring appeal.

>> Ford Mustang GT: International Launch
>> Ford Mustang GT: Local Launch
>> Australia’s Best Driver’s Car 2018: Ford Mustang GT Track Pack