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We Brits have waited over 50 years to get our hands on the Mustang, and while we will have to wait a little longer, until October to be precise, to drive a right-hand drive version on British roads, this is our first taste of the car in Europe. More importantly, this is our first encounter with the Mustang Convertible – a car that is a potent symbol of US motoring designed to win a small slice of the ever-popular soft-top market in the UK.
• Ford Mustang video review
It certainly has the looks to win fans here. Designed by Brit Moray Callum, the Mustang is low, wide and long and successfully takes the original Mustang’s design flair but moves it on a stage. Hallmark cues like the shark-like front, gaping grille and three-bar light clusters at the rear join a lower, sleeker overall look – it’s retro certainly, but not a chintzy pastiche.
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While the Coupe cuts an aggressive outline, the Convertible is slightly more elegant – especially when the roof is down. It peels back electrically in an Audi TT-like Z-fold and stashes neatly behind the rear seats, level with the boot lid giving a sleek appearance. When up and on the move, the Convertible is quiet too thanks to a two-layer roof with a 10mm thick insulation pad sandwiched in between.
Our only black marks are that it needs to be manually latched and there are large ugly gaps between the folded roof and the bodywork –allowing you to see the cogs and chains that haul the roof up and down. Ford’s argument is that keep this an affordable performance icon, cost savings had to be made somewhere.
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Speaking of cost, Ford’s American two-door drop-top costs £33,000 meaning it competes against the Audi A3 Convertible on price – and yet, with it measuring 4784mm, it’s more of a rival to an A5 Convertible which is still 158mm shorter and 60mm narrower.
Imported convertible versions of the Mustang have disappointed in the past; removing the roof from a large and fairly flexible chassis car has had disastrous effect on Mustangs of old. The difference is less obvious this time around, but if sharp reactions are a priority, the Coupe is a better bet.
There’s fully independent front and rear suspension for the first time – but chopping the roof off has made the car softer and far looser. Around town the body flexes over potholes; pick up speed on country roads and there’s more pronounced body wobble and shimmy. On smoother surfaces chassis it has a solid, heavy feeling to it but it always feels just a little too wide on European roads.
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We got behind the wheel of the Mustang Convertible that’s set to take the fight to key German rivals in the premium four-seat convertible market – the EcoBoost. With its 2.3-litre, twin-turbocharged four-cylinder engine matched to a six-speed manual box, it’ll no doubt please company finance departments more than the 5.0-litre V8 model thanks to its CO2 emissions of 184g/km and claimed 34.4 combined mpg. The V8 pumps out 306g/km, returns 20.8mpg and costs an extra £4,000 if you’re wondering.
The four-cylinder is an impressive engine and it’s easy to see why Ford is so confident that once the Mustang faithful have tried it, the four-pot will be loved almost as much as the V8 – an engine that has always gone hand-in-hand with Mustang ownership. Press the starter button and the engine sparks into life and settles into a muted background chatter, but pull away and there’s an appealing old-school four-cylinder growl. It doesn’t sound or feel as smooth as an Audi 2.0 TFSI unit, but the power deliverly is pleasingly linear.
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Like the Focus ST’s sound-simulating technology, the Mustang EcoBoost uses software to enhance the four-cylinder’s noise. A V6-like roar is pumped into the cabin, and while it does a good job, there’s no getting away from the fact that there’s a deficit of cylinders under the bonnet. After a while the noise can jar and annoy – but, that said, it’s usefully powerful thanks to 316bhp and 434Nm of torque. Squeeze the throttle and there’s a surge forward – it gets to 62mph in six seconds and tops out at 145mph.
For the Mustang’s £33,000, BMW can only offer the 420i convertible which makes do with a 2.0-litre petrol with 181bhp and gets to 62mph in 7.3 seconds. The EcoBoost is mated to a six-speed gearbox that’s great to flick between ratios (a six-speed auto that blips the throttle on downshifts costs an extra £1,500) and there’s decent feel through the brake pedal. It all bodes well for next year’s Focus RS that will use a development of the same engine.
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The Mustang’s other great forte is its kit list. As standard the Convertible EcoBoost gets 19-inch alloys, auto HID headlights, auto wipers, dual-zone climate control, leather seats, a nine-speaker sound system and Ford’s new SYNC 2 infotainment with an eight-inch touchscreen just like you’ll find on the new Focus and Mondeo. Options include sat-nav, heated and cooling seats, reverse parking sensors and an upgraded audio system – which are all part of the Custom Pack – for £1,795 and you can spec different coloured leathers, a black contrasting roof or black and silver ‘Shelby’ stripes too.
Inside, the Mustang’s backward glance to the 1964 original is evident. The squared-off dashboard has a flash of aluminium running horizontally across the middle, and the centre console is nicely packaged with some retro climate control knobs. A row of toggle switches is not only a nice touch but also includes a drive mode function (Normal, Sport+, Track and Wet/Snow) and different settings for the steering (Comfort, Normal and Sport), but while there’s noticeable changes between Normal and Track in the drive mode selector, flicking between steering modes just seems to make it heavier, rather than adding any meaningful feedback.
Behind the two front seats, there’s a pair of rear ones that can easily take children, perhaps adults on small journeys at a push, and two golf bags can be stowed in the boot. It’s just a shame that the interior quality is so patchy – the upper part has leather-covered squidgy plastics and there’s that flash of metalwork across the dash, but in too many places the plastics are scratchy and fall short of European rivals.
Click here to read our review of the Ford Mustang coupe...
- Model: Ford Mustang Convertible Ecoboost
- Price: £33,000
- Engine: 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo
- Transmission: Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
- Power: 312bhp/434Nm
- 0-62mph: 6.0 seconds
- Economy/CO2: 34.4mpg/184g/km
- On sale: Now