2018 Ford Mustang first drive: More powerful than ever
There are now two powertrains available for the Mustang: GT V8 and EcoBoost. Gone is the V6, in a move that does away with fragmented variants of the car. It’s pretty simple: Do you want more power or do you want more versatility?
Each is available in two transmissions: 10-speed automatic or six-speed manual. The 10-speed automatic is a first for a Mustang; it’s a carried over feature from the F-150 Raptor. Car aficionados will also lean toward the manual transmission, but the 10-speed automatic is just as impressive, it not more so, with its agile power shifting. You can let it do all the shifting automatically or take control yourself with the paddle shifts.
GT V8
With the GT, the 5.0-liter V8 engine provides 460 horsepower and 375-pound feet of torque. Compare that to the 2010’s V8 315 horsepower output, and you can see how the power wars has been both a good and a bad thing. You can get a ton of power for very little price now, even if it is overkill.
The raw power is hard not to miss on the GT. Turning it on and the quad exhaust comes to life with a menacing growl. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t rev it multiple times just hear the growl over and over again.
Going from 0 to 60 on the GT takes under four seconds. I put that to the test on the winding roads of Malibu multiple times and I can attest to it chewing up the road quickly.
I drove the GT model from Marina Del Rey all the way to Malibu, a 28.3-mile scenic drive on the Pacific Coast Highway, but being unfamiliar with the modes and whatnot, I kept it in Normal mode. This is not the best experience for this car, but that was my fault for not knowing. I soon found out you have to drive it in Sport mode to really enjoy the drive. Normal mode is quite janky in shifting through gears, with the odd quirk being extrapolated in slower traffic where some of the gears hang for longer. The issue was resolved in Sport mode, but it’s unfortunate Normal modes isn’t quite as adaptable.
Speaking of modes, you can switch the Mustang to any number of modes, including Normal, Sport, Sport+, Track and MyMode, which let you adjust the drive, steering feedback and other options to your preference.
Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/11/26/2018-ford-mustang-first-drive-more-powerful-than-ever/