I spent 8 days In Hawaii recently and we rented a "convertible" at the request of my wife. We were given a 4K mile 2.3L EcoBoost Mustang.
1. Interior
All black leather with heated and cooled seats. Climate control. Decent quality seats and materials. There were some fitment issues with the plastic trim inside the convertible top which would not come unclipped partially after lowering and raising the top.
I enjoyed the ventilated seats. Car was comfortable and the wheel was nice. My main complaint is the arm rest area where you would normally put your elbow is so far from the wheel you cannot rest your arm on the center pad or door panel and drive.
2. Exterior
The car looks decent. Wheels shod in pirellis were nice looking and the tires performed well on the mountain and curvy ocean side roads we took.
3. Drivetrain
The car had the EcoBoost 4cyl and the 10speed auto with several modes including track and drag modes.
Just leaving the car in drive the transmission shifted up quickly usually below 2k rpm. Sport mode was the sweet spot keeping the engine in light boost.
The EcoBoost 4 rated @ 310hp 350lbft was a gem in the power department. From 1200RPM to 6k RPM it is strong. Tons of power everywhere.
Putting the car in sport mode and driving semi aggressive leaves you with some abrupt and jerky shifts as the 10speed shifts cogs every second it seems.
Flooring the car in sport mode and the combo is perfect. The power comes on hard at 2k RPM. The trans bangs gears home hard enough to bark the tires going into 2nd and 3rd without the jerkiness felt at half throttle. 0-60 comes quick enough. I'm guessing in the mid 5 second range.
The car isn't super fast, but it will Shame previous 2v and 3v V8 cars from the not so distant past. It has more power everywhere than the previous modular cars.
Manual mode works excellent and provides very rapid up shifts in sport and sport plus modes. I did not try the track or drag modes.
Efficiency:
We averaged about 25mpg over 600mi in the car with a 60/40 hwy/city mix.
Overall impressions:
It's a better mustang than any of the pre 5.0L V8 cars. It's a decent driving car, engine is phenomenal, but a little noisy (DI)
It's a good car to rent, but probably a terrible car to live with. I realized on day 2 why I gave up sports and pony cars as commuters years ago. They are fun until you need to put something in the trunk.
The 10speed needs further refinement for daily use and mildly aggressive driving. It's great at WOT, however.
Next time I'll rent a Jeep Wrangler so I have some room for more beach supplies.
1. Interior
All black leather with heated and cooled seats. Climate control. Decent quality seats and materials. There were some fitment issues with the plastic trim inside the convertible top which would not come unclipped partially after lowering and raising the top.
I enjoyed the ventilated seats. Car was comfortable and the wheel was nice. My main complaint is the arm rest area where you would normally put your elbow is so far from the wheel you cannot rest your arm on the center pad or door panel and drive.
2. Exterior
The car looks decent. Wheels shod in pirellis were nice looking and the tires performed well on the mountain and curvy ocean side roads we took.
3. Drivetrain
The car had the EcoBoost 4cyl and the 10speed auto with several modes including track and drag modes.
Just leaving the car in drive the transmission shifted up quickly usually below 2k rpm. Sport mode was the sweet spot keeping the engine in light boost.
The EcoBoost 4 rated @ 310hp 350lbft was a gem in the power department. From 1200RPM to 6k RPM it is strong. Tons of power everywhere.
Putting the car in sport mode and driving semi aggressive leaves you with some abrupt and jerky shifts as the 10speed shifts cogs every second it seems.
Flooring the car in sport mode and the combo is perfect. The power comes on hard at 2k RPM. The trans bangs gears home hard enough to bark the tires going into 2nd and 3rd without the jerkiness felt at half throttle. 0-60 comes quick enough. I'm guessing in the mid 5 second range.
The car isn't super fast, but it will Shame previous 2v and 3v V8 cars from the not so distant past. It has more power everywhere than the previous modular cars.
Manual mode works excellent and provides very rapid up shifts in sport and sport plus modes. I did not try the track or drag modes.
Efficiency:
We averaged about 25mpg over 600mi in the car with a 60/40 hwy/city mix.
Overall impressions:
It's a better mustang than any of the pre 5.0L V8 cars. It's a decent driving car, engine is phenomenal, but a little noisy (DI)
It's a good car to rent, but probably a terrible car to live with. I realized on day 2 why I gave up sports and pony cars as commuters years ago. They are fun until you need to put something in the trunk.
The 10speed needs further refinement for daily use and mildly aggressive driving. It's great at WOT, however.
Next time I'll rent a Jeep Wrangler so I have some room for more beach supplies.
