RE: Ford Mustang: UK Review

[peter450]

LuS1fer said:

unsprung said:

I do enjoy your posts here and elsewhere.

However... It must be said that this thread has dredged up a lot of inaccurate and negative comments about the new Mustang. And about the current quality of pony cars in general. Can't say I blame the US manufacturers for staying away for the most part.

Thanks.

The quality thing is largely a load of rubbish. As I have previously mentioned, my 3rd gen Camaro had the worst "quality" interior ever and yet still managed to last 18 years. By contrast, I've seen "quality" BMWs with bits falling off after 10 years or less.
My 2005 Mustang is often said to be terrible but I can't say I've noticed, it has leather seats and plastics but so do most cars.
In fact, I often look in many European cars and think they lack a lot more quality.
My current 2013 Fiesta ST is quite lamentable in the quality stakes and that would be no reason for buying one - but it's great value and that is why they sell.

I confess I am no fan of the S550 looks and I fair quiver at some of the cars I've seen, notably a black convertible with black wheels and a horrendous beige interior and I'm not a fan of the interior design but the plastics don't bother me.

I think most people's perception of quality is around the look and feel as opposed to how hard wearing it might be. That said what you gain in one area you loose in another so that nice soft plastic interior comes with an inline 4 turbo under the hood as opposed to a great big v8. At this price point you take your picks

Personally I'd go for hard plastic interior and the v8, it's nice to have the choice these days as other than the 370z and 6 cylinder BMWs there's not really many 6/8 cylinder choices between the 30 to 40k these days

[The Moose]

HappyMidget said:

o £5k +vat. Not far off then. Was based on a vague conversion of a figure looked at a few months ago.

If it was based on a vague conversation a while ago then why say it with such conviction in your previous post?!

[HappyMidget]

The Moose said:

If it was based on a vague conversation a while ago then why say it with such conviction in your previous post?!

What part of "about" do you not understand? Did I say it would cost exactly £4k? No, I didn't, did I? It was a rough guide of which I wasn't too far out by all accounts. So get back in your box ok.

[5ohmustang]

djone101 said:

bennno said:

If I had the car and a whipple, what would fitting cost?

Fitting on its own is £924 inc VAT

Edited by djone101 on Sunday 1st May 10:18

That is a good price, cannot argue with that.

[Wills2]

Watched the Matt Farah video of the GT 350R, now that's a car! At $61k they should bring that over here

[Gibbo205]

Hi there


Well all the arguments aside I absolutely love driving mine, every time I get in I grin like crazy, I even find myself just going for random drives. It goes well, it actually goes round corners, its comfortable, sounds totally amazing and gets loads of positive attention everywhere I go.

















The car has it weaknesses or in my case had, since I've over-hauled the suspension and changed the car aesthetically to how I want it to look, but saying that with modifications and cost of car its cost me 40k.

All that is left is to fit some 20" lighter wheels and get rid of the god aweful Pirelli Pzero tyres the car comes with as standard which leave a lot to be desired. Oh and of course the Whipple super charger kit.

Edited by Gibbo205 on Sunday 1st May 14:14

[The Moose]

HappyMidget said:

The Moose said:

If it was based on a vague conversation a while ago then why say it with such conviction in your previous post?!

What part of "about" do you not understand? Did I say it would cost exactly £4k? No, I didn't, did I? It was a rough guide of which I wasn't too far out by all accounts. So get back in your box ok.

The actual cost appears to be circa 40% more than you said in your post (and that's being generous on the basis that your £4K was an ex VAT price).

That's not a rough guide - that's plain wrong.

If you instructed a mechanic to do a job on your car based on an approximate price of £4K and the bill turned up at the thick end of £7k I'm sure (like me) you wouldn't be best impressed.

[Matt Harper]

Gibbo205 said:

Hi there


Well all the arguments aside I absolutely love driving mine, every time I get in I grin like crazy, I even find myself just going for random drives. It goes well, it actually goes round corners, its comfortable, sounds totally amazing and gets loads of positive attention everywhere I go.

How do you get away with it not having a front license plate?

[The Moose]

Gibbo205 said:

Hi there


Well all the arguments aside I absolutely love driving mine, every time I get in I grin like crazy, I even find myself just going for random drives. It goes well, it actually goes round corners, its comfortable, sounds totally amazing and gets loads of positive attention everywhere I go.

















The car has it weaknesses or in my case had, since I've over-hauled the suspension and changed the car aesthetically to how I want it to look, but saying that with modifications and cost of car its cost me 40k.

All that is left is to fit some 20" lighter wheels and get rid of the god aweful Pirelli Pzero tyres the car comes with as standard which leave a lot to be desired. Oh and of course the Whipple super charger kit.

Edited by Gibbo205 on Sunday 1st May 14:14

That looks awesome!!

Next year I hope to acquire one of these new Mustangs...fingers crossed its a GT350

[bennno]

djone101 said:

bennno said:

If I had the car and a whipple, what would fitting cost?

Fitting on its own is £924 inc VAT

Edited by djone101 on Sunday 1st May 10:18

Thanks. Whats best of whipple or roush? is fitting the same on either?

[djone101]

bennno said:

Thanks. Whats best of whipple or roush? is fitting the same on either?

The basic kit is the same price and we can get either.
I prefer the fit of the Whipple - looking at the Roush install there is some cutting and grinding of the block and front cover for clearance. Allow a couple of hours extra labour (£132)
Also the Whipple is front fed so the air path is simpler and cleaner under the hood.
Power should be similar I would expect.

Dave

[Chafford1]

The Moose said:

Next year I hope to acquire one of these new Mustangs...fingers crossed its a GT350

Geiger cars in Munich have 11 GT350s for sale- £64,000 - £67,000 at current exchange rates:

http://geigercars.de/nc/ford.html

Edited by Chafford1 on Sunday 1st May 20:35

[300bhp/ton]

bennno said:

Thanks. Whats best of whipple or roush? is fitting the same on either?

I don't know for sure on the 5.0. But most supercharger kits are bolt on. So you can fit them at home if you want. Or just pay any competent mechanic to do it. Probably 1-2 days work depending how quickly you work.

As for the kits. There isn't normally a best. Just a preference. Not sure what kits are available for the 5.0. But centrifugal blowers (look like giant snail shell or turbo's). These offer smooth power and the highest HP figures. But thrive on revs and won't give much low rpm gains. Pro Charger and Vortech are this type normally.

PD blowers (not sure these are available for the 5.0) like the Eaton Roots are often the cheapest and give the best blower wine noise. Good spread of power and lots of low end grunt. But tail off at high rpm. Often limited power gains and not the most efficient blower design.

Last up is the twin screw type blowers. These offer similar characteristics to both of the above. Although physically look more similar to an Eaton. Often slightly more money. Whipple and Kenne Bell are the ones to research.

www.kennebell.net

[unsprung]

300bhp/ton said:

bennno said:

Thanks. Whats best of whipple or roush? is fitting the same on either?

I don't know for sure on the 5.0. But most supercharger kits are bolt on. So you can fit them at home if you want. Or just pay any competent mechanic to do it. Probably 1-2 days work depending how quickly you work.

As for the kits. There isn't normally a best. Just a preference. Not sure what kits are available for the 5.0. But centrifugal blowers (look like giant snail shell or turbo's). These offer smooth power and the highest HP figures. But thrive on revs and won't give much low rpm gains. Pro Charger and Vortech are this type normally.

PD blowers (not sure these are available for the 5.0) like the Eaton Roots are often the cheapest and give the best blower wine noise. Good spread of power and lots of low end grunt. But tail off at high rpm. Often limited power gains and not the most efficient blower design.

Last up is the twin screw type blowers. These offer similar characteristics to both of the above. Although physically look more similar to an Eaton. Often slightly more money. Whipple and Kenne Bell are the ones to research.

www.kennebell.net

Very useful, that snapshot of the different types. An online search will yield massive amounts of content and commentary on these types. For example.

Speaking anecdotally, I'd guess that most Mustang owners, when they add a supercharger, they choose a positive-displacement unit which mounts in the V where the intake manifold is. The result is lots of low-end torque. Launch can be mental.

However... I would offer that the centrifugal supercharger is my preference because:

a) its particular physics allow for the lowest possible intake temperatures

b) there is no avalanche of torque down low; instead, power builds as you climb through the RPMs; this may feel more familiar to you; it may give you more all-weather control; it can be a less strenuous event for the rest of your powertrain.

However, it's worth repeating: there is no wrong choice. All depends upon your preferences, your use cases.

Obviously, you will be working with a skilled and knowledgeable UK provider and/or installer. I would nevertheless devote time to reading online. As you know, there are forums solely for Mustang. And they have entire sections dedicated solely to forced induction.

In addition to the usual big names in Mustang performance, I would look for insight from regional stars like Livernois Performance Engineering (here). There are many others.

[irocfan]

Matt Harper said:

Gibbo205 said:

Hi there


Well all the arguments aside I absolutely love driving mine, every time I get in I grin like crazy, I even find myself just going for random drives. It goes well, it actually goes round corners, its comfortable, sounds totally amazing and gets loads of positive attention everywhere I go.

How do you get away with it not having a front license plate?

easy - don't get caught!!! <grin> Seriously though quite a few of my Irocs only had the front plate put on for the MoT, otherwise I just thought it looked better without. Didn't get pulled once

[HappyMidget]

Just to add to the above about different SC technologies:

PD Valley (Eaton): Massive losses from heating the charge as the intake is used to pressurise the charge (air/water I/C between sc and chamber)

Twin Screw (Whipple/KB et al): Charge compressed in the screws so less heat losses (air/water i/c after compression)

Centri (ProCharge): Turbo style centrifugal compressor so also compresses the air but can run an air to air i/c in the piping to keep charge temps down

What really now changes the game is a very good interchiller from Aus that uses AirCon cooling to chill the Air/Water intercoolers in the Eaton and Twin Screw S/C's to achieve almost sub zero IAT2 temps compared to +40c ambient temps. Just think of a twin charged system with a decent FMIC coupled Turbo with an interchilled SC, nice dense charge air straight into the cylinders....

[5ohmustang]

He probably has a sho and go under the splitter.

[lord trumpton]

LuS1fer said:

Kawasicki said:

Is the Eco version of the Mustang quicker than a mk2 RS? I'm surprised!

The Ecoboost is marketed as a performance car and has 305hp.
The general idea is the aftermarket will cater to it and it will appeal to the turbo brigade with remaps and turbo upgrades.

Admittedly the eco would appeal to me more for those very reasons. A few tuning bolt on items and a remap would make it a pretty fast car and dare I say it more economical

I've never been a fan of huge guzzlers; I'm definitely a turbo rush fanboy having spent my twenties dicking about in Cosworths' and RS Turbos'.

[croyde]

Someone said earlier that they thought £36k is a lot of money for the Mustang once it is here in the UK .

After spending a nice afternoon chatting to the sales guys at a Ford dealership in LA I think you'd find that we are paying about the same as our US friends.

After all the UK Mustang is the top of the range 5.0 in the US.

Premium and Performance pack minus a few things for the bloody Euro laws.

Sticker prices in the US were around $52k and then there's 9% sales tax.

[bridgdav]

croyde said:

Sticker prices in the US were around $52k and then there's 9% sales tax.

You are a few thousand over the equivalent US price for a UK spec car..

AND

Nobody in the US ever pays Sticker price for a new car. (Limited editions excepted)