Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine issue 115 | Page 42

2015 FORD
Mustang GT
A holiday surprise or just another Mustang?
WORDS Jim Sherman
When I was told that I was getting a
2015 Ford Mustang to review for a few days
my first thought was “prepare to be underwhelmed.” I wasn’t told what kind of Mustang so I waited to see for myself. Wednesday
night came and off I went to get the ‘Stang.
My good friend with a Chevy Corvette Z06
gave me a ride. (Can you imagine the torture
– riding in a Z06 only to get in a Mustang?) I
was hoping it wasn’t an Eco-Boost or a V6. Or
maybe I was secretly hoping it wasn’t there at
all and it was all a big joke.
Now let me explain my feelings about
the Mustang. I had an ’89 GT. It was black. I
loved that car. The feel of raw power from the
V8 inspired me. It was my first “performance”
car.
From that I bounced around through
Nissans, other Fords, a couple of Chevys,
AMGs and Subaru. Every couple of years or so
I would go to a Ford dealer in whatever state
(or country) I was residing at the time and try
out the newest Mustang GT. Year after year…
disappointment. Sometimes it was absence
of power, sometimes the style seemed to be
lacking, but mostly there were just better cars
to choose from for the same price point.
So there it was, sitting in the dark, a blue
Mustang GT. Because there weren’t any
streetlights I just hopped behind the wheel
and started finding my way around. This one
had the six-speed manual, Recaro seats and
Ford’s Sync. I had the key but no hole for it.
Push button start? Interesting. Clutch in and
push the button.

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What came to life was a decent sounding engine, Sync system with the mustang
logo. The seats are, shall we say, snug. You’re
definitely not going to slide around in these
seats. It’s like having a harness without having a harness.
A couple of practice shifts just to get
an idea of where the gears were and off I
go with a Z06 in trail. First thoughts – great
sound. Easy, predicable clutch. Great shifter
feel. Out of the suburbs we go and onto the
tollway. The gear ratios were comfortable in
traffic making the drive pleasant.
Oh look an opening in traffic…
Directional on (that’s the blinking light
on the side of the car that you activate when
you plan to change lanes for you Dallas drivers), drop to third and punch it. Now THIS is a
Mustang. It didn’t leap the way I was hoping
it would but it had great rolling acceleration
and again it was “comfortable.” While we’re
on that, the suspension was sporty but soft,
making for a great ride. Up through the gears
and the V8 sang me a familiar tune. Meanwhile, the Z06 was yawning behind me.
On-ramps and side roads are fun. As
expected the rear end gets happy when
turning from an intersection but the traction control can help with that. The steering
system has three modes – Comfort, Normal
and Sport. There are four modes for driving
– Snow/Wet, Normal, Sport and Track. In Normal or Sport (driving modes) control is predicable. In Track mode it seems like most of the