A Transient Historical past in Zero to 60 MPH

It’s simply the most effective factor to return out of Dearborn for the reason that 1932 V-8 Mannequin B roadster. However for all Ford’s speak of Whole Efficiency, it’s nonetheless clear that the Mustang has been designed and constructed to a worth. The need of assembly price targets meant that it needed to share a most variety of parts with different fashions within the Ford line. Out of this case sprang the benefit of a particularly large availability of choices for the Mustang, chosen from the Falcon, Fairlane, and Galaxie collection.

FULL MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE TEST RESULTS

You’d assume that dropping an anchor just like the 390 engine into the Mustang would overload the entrance finish and make it deal with like an actual canine, wouldn’t you? The puristi will look on the specs and hoot derisively on the 60.3/39.7 % weight distribution and let you know the rig won’t ever fly, proper? In reality, even we anticipated the Mustang 390 GT to plow like an Ohio farmer. It doesn’t. The automobile we examined had over 400 kilos extra weight on the entrance wheels than the final Mustang we examined—a 271-hp 289. There have been no primary adjustments within the Falcon-inherited suspension, but the Mustang 390 GT has stability and dealing with.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

The Mustang engine was all enterprise. No chrome air cleaner or valve covers. Simply plain outdated blue paint. Even the headers have been type of pale blue. Proper on prime was a super-tall aluminum, two 4-barrel inline consumption manifold with a pair of 540-cfm Holleys and a paper-element air cleaner. There it was, tunnel-port followers, proper in entrance of our very eyes. The true factor. “Properly, sure, that is your common 12.5 to 1 compression ratio, dry-deck, tunnel-port 302,” allowed Ford Man, nonetheless a bit defensive from the tire dialogue. “What number of do ya need?”

FULL MUSTANG TEST RESULTS

It could simply be that this time the stylists have achieved too good a job. Take a look at the Mustang Mach I, and also you anticipate miracles—drive it, and they aren’t forthcoming. The items are there—most of them anyway—however the sum is way wanting its elements.

FULL MUSTANG MACH I TEST RESULTS

To race or to not race? Ford has lastly determined. To not. With all of the stress from ecologists and auto-safety advocates, Ford was discovering it unimaginable to justify dropping 4 or 5 million on the tracks yearly the place individuals may see it. So no extra racing. That type of leaves the Boss 351 dangling from the top of the limb that has been lower off. The primary goal of its existence has been to satisfy the SCCA manufacturing requirement in order that the manufacturing facility racers would have one thing from which to construct a juggernaut for the Trans-Am. But when the manufacturing facility isn’t going to race them, who will?

FULL MUSTANG BOSS 351 TEST RESULTS

Whereas the Mustang II shares some commonplace compo­nents with the Pinto, it’s not simply one other model of that econ­omy sedan—not more than the unique Mustang was merely a Falcon. It has been constructed with the particular intention of coming into the market as a Tremendous Coupe and, when it comes to “really feel,” it’s successful. Versus the sterile practicality and cost-trimming measures so dispassionately evident in American-made financial system automobiles as much as this time, the Mustang II under no circumstances appears to be an affordable automobile.

FULL MUSTANG II MACH I TEST RESULTS

You’ll be able to’t deny its preliminary attraction—an excellent sobriquet from the previous, Carroll Shelby paint job, scoops, spoilers, white-letter tires, V-8 motor, and 4 on the ground. Sounds neat, however what you get is a mini Mark IV all dressed up in efficiency gear with nothing to make it go. Your mother-in-law deserves greater than 105.7 mph. To strangle a 302-cubic-inch motor all the way down to a sickly 134 horsepower is an incredible—however embarrassing—feat of recent know-how.

FULL MUSTANG COBRA II TEST RESULTS

First the unhealthy information: The massive motor’s gone. We are saying “massive” with tongue firmly planted in cheek, as a result of 1979’s 302-cubic-inch V-8 sucking life by a two-barrel straw was hardly what you’d name muscle sure. However, this 12 months’s plan is a smaller cylinder bore and fewer displacement to wring another mile out of each valuable gallon of fuel. The brand new, 255-cubic-inch (4810 cc) V-8 additionally trims 25 kilos off front-end weight. What this prices you is roughly 10 horsepower in contrast with the 302 V-8’s 140 internet horsepower output. Ford claims the change brings a fuel-economy enchancment of 1.2 mpg.

FULL MUSTANG COBRA TEST RESULTS

Press on the Mustang’s fuel pedal, and nice issues occur. An authoritative growl from underneath the hood is accompanied by screeches of rubber in the back of the automobile. This Mustang is for the time being the quickest machine made in America, and our inside sources on the Ford Motor Firm counsel that efforts are afoot to maintain Mustangs and Capris that approach.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

The third-gen Mustang GT marked the beginning of a protracted climb out of the Darkish Ages for American carmakers. Two oil shortages within the earlier 10 years and the ratcheting up of emissions requirements had diverted engineering assets into constructing smaller, extra environment friendly automobiles. By 1983, although, the Camaro/Mustang efficiency race was on once more. That rivalry was, like now, about extra than simply straight-line velocity, so Ford additionally retuned the ’83 GT’s suspension for higher dealing with and widened its Michelin TRX rubber for extra grip.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

Now that the year-old redesign of the Ford Mustang has some miles on it, each Ford and the Mustang’s obsessed clientele are prepared for just a few essential adjustments. A Mustang Cobra making greater than 300 horsepower is definitely welcome. And at last banished from the ’96 Mustang GT is the traditional overhead-valve 4.9-liter V-8, which—in numerous guises—has powered Mustangs since their inception. Sure purists could wail and gnash their enamel over this one, however it’s a transition we like.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

Who ever thought a manufacturing facility Mustang would command a worth of $28,000? Extra stunning, who may have imagined {that a} Mustang would have an unbiased rear suspension? Properly, the 1999 SVT Mustang Cobra lays declare to each these surprises and makes a powerful case that the latter (abetted by a brand new 320-horsepower model of the four-cam, aluminum-block 4.6-liter V-8) justifies the previous.

FULL MUSTANG SVT COBRA TEST RESULTS

The Mach 1 earns its silver medal as a result of it’s brute enjoyable. Drop the hammer, and with no particularly refined approach, 60 mph is yours in a scalding 5.2 seconds, simply 0.7 second behind a $34,750 SVT Cobra and the quickest time on this take a look at by a full half-second. The primary two shifts of the notchy field go away skid marks, and the fourth shift places paid to 151 mph.

FULL MUSTANG MACH 1 TEST RESULTS

It doesn’t occur usually, however the hens within the henhouse typically kill the fox. That’s apparently what occurred over at Henry’s glass henhouse in Dearborn. The GT’s 4.6-liter SOHC modular V-8 now options 24 valves quite than 16. The three-valve heads allow a rise of 40 horses and 18 pound-feet of torque, though each enhancements are realized at loftier revolutions.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

Keep in mind when 540 horses have been sufficient to win Indy or set a Bonneville file? The Shelby lunges ahead with a fearsome roar whenever you mash it, the acceleration making you startlingly heavy within the seat. Even so, Ford thought our 12.9-second quarter-mile was sluggish by a half-second, however after two take a look at classes in imperfect circumstances—and after letting Ford’s personal sizzling shoe take the wheel—we have been unable to raised the occasions. Ford figures the automobile ought to run 12.5-second quarters, possibly faster. Perhaps so—we await the proof. In the meantime, it’s no faster than a Chevy Camaro SS, which is about $17,000 cheaper.

FULL MUSTANG SHELBY GT500 TEST RESULTS

The 412 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque, the latter on a gloriously flat curve that peaks at 4250 rpm, are achievements. It’s sufficient to knock out a 60-mph dash in 4.6 seconds, and the quarter-mile in 13.2 seconds at 109 mph, that are roughly Camaro SS occasions. Lastly, a Mustang engine that doesn’t must eat mud from a small-block.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

Two. That’s what number of occasions this writer appeared beneath the 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca to verify some artful Ford worker hadn’t changed the stable axle with a fancy-pants independent-rear-suspension setup. It’s not as if the Boss have been out of the blue devoid of axle hop or radically extra expert at navigating off-camber curves and uneven pavement than are different present Mustangs, however Ford has finessed the stick axle to the purpose the place it not spoils an in any other case good time. Nonetheless, we needed to be 100% positive the corporate hadn’t slipped us a ringer.

FULL MUSTANG BOSS 302 TEST RESULTS

With a automobile like this, you inevitably give attention to the numbers. The $54,995 GT500 coupe turns in a zero-to-60-mph dash of three.5 seconds. Ferociously tall gearing means third gear is nice for 140 mph and first gear is lengthy sufficient to succeed in freeway speeds. Even so, the quarter-mile passes in 11.8 seconds. Slam a redline shift from second to 3rd, and also you’ll hear the rear tires chirp. We additionally noticed a fair 1.00 g on the skidpad.

FULL MUSTANG SHELBY GT500 TEST RESULTS

With a six-speed handbook sprouting up between the seats, the V-8 makes very brief work of the primary three gears. The accelerative rush is such that the considerably tacky Floor Velocity label on the speedometer makes some sense, and the needle swings into triple digits in a short time. Zero to 60 mph is achieved in 4.5 seconds, and the quarter-mile lights tripped in 13 flat; our Mustang additionally hit 150 mph in nicely underneath 30 seconds. Additionally, there’s no Muzak model of the Daytona 500 performed by the audio system within the Mustang. The GT’s V-8 soundtrack, though extra subdued than we anticipated, is generated solely by combustion occasions and never electrons. We got here away from this hushed GT eager about refinement, not tinnitus.

FULL MUSTANG GT TEST RESULTS

Not that the brand new Shelby isn’t fast, however it’s not a devoted quarter-mile eater, both. The bottom GT350 reaches 60 mph in 4.3 seconds after a considerably tough launch and does the quarter-mile in 12.5 seconds at 117 mph. Maybe not beautiful numbers nowadays, however the take a look at automobile did weigh 3796 kilos. With its 18-pound carbon-fiber wheels and stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, the R (at 3710 kilos) makes it to 60 in 3.9 seconds and thru the quarter-mile in 12.2 seconds at 119 mph. Guess what? Porsche 911 GT3 drivers don’t bounce up and down about drag-strip occasions. Stats that matter to them extra are skidpad grip and braking distances. There, the 350 and 350R pull 0.98 g and a startling 1.10 g, whereas stopping from 70 mph in 152 toes and 146 toes. Ford’s priorities grow to be clear whenever you examine the track-sheet knowledge.

FULL MUSTANG SHELBY GT350 TEST RESULTS

The Ford Mustang’s punchy turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four EcoBoost engine was obtainable with its personal Efficiency Pack for the 2018 mannequin 12 months, and like at present, comes with a 10-speed automated. In case you recall, the final EcoBoost we examined was a 2015 instance that had 4 fewer gears to fiddle with. The additional speeds assist in a straight line, because the 2018 EcoBoost goes from zero to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds flat. That is an enchancment of 0.2 seconds over the 2015 mannequin.

FULL MUSTANG ECOBOOST TEST RESULTS

We have been in love with the Ford Mustang Bullitt since we first noticed it on display with Steve McQueen. As an alternative of constructing us pine for our personal, Ford despatched one for a 40,000-mile long run take a look at, and we just lately received our automobile out to the take a look at monitor. It makes good use of its 480 horsepower on the best way to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. It is slower than the much less highly effective GT to 60 mph as a result of the Bullitt comes with a candy handbook transmission with a cue-ball shifter, a concession that is definitely worth the half-second loss.

FULL MUSTANG BULLITT TEST RESULTS

A 480-hp all-motor throwback, the Ford Mustang Mach 1 is what’s leftover now that the Bullitt and Shelby GT350 have been discontinued. The Mach 1 has 20-hp greater than the usual Mustang GT, makes use of the six-speed handbook transmission from the GT350, however may even provide a 10-speed automated. Our take a look at automobile used the correct six-speed, and sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires for a 4.3-second acceleration run to 60 mph. Though not as fast because the GT Efficiency Bundle 2 or GT350, the Mach 1 trailed behind by solely a pair tenths of a second.

FULL MUSTANG MACH 1 TEST RESULTS

Fords use of the Mustang title for its all-electric crossover was controversial. The twin-motor Mach-E we examined has 346-hp, however not like earlier Mustangs, you’ll be able to’t hear any of it. It tipped the scales at 4856 kilos; the second-heaviest Mustang ever behind the Mach-E GT Efficiency. It is 5.1-seconds to 60 mph beats the 300-hp fifth-gen Mustang GT and went from 50–70 mph in simply 2.8 seconds. We managed 350 miles of freeway vary on this all-wheel-drive Mustang, and whether or not you agree with the title or not, saddle up as a result of the Mach-E gained our EV of the Year award for 2021.

FULL MUSTANG MACH-E TEST RESULTS

Imagine it or not, the electrical Mach-E GT Efficiency is the third quickest Mustang we have ever examined, behind solely the 2013 and 2020 Shelby GT500s. That is additionally regardless of it being the heaviest Mustang ever at 5001 kilos. Its mind-bending acceleration comes from a pair of electrical motors that immediately ship 480 horses and 634 pound-feet of torque to all 4 wheels. The catch is that the Mach-E GT Efficiency’s acceleration occasions are much less spectacular after about 80 mph, with it edging the 346-hp Mach-E by solely 0.9 second by the quarter-mile. Nonetheless, the mightiest electrical Mustang will beat most V-8 fashions to 60 mph, which is price bragging about, proper?

FULL MUSTANG MACH-E GT PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS