Matt tests the new Ford Mustang Ecoboost on one of Malibu's bumpiest canyon roads. With the new IRS and the torque shove of a turbo, could this be the perfect canyon carver Mustang?
Glad to hear you like the EB more now Matt! Like you said at the end, the GT is still the best but for those like myself that need a less expensive Mustang, the EcoBoost is a great compromise. Looking forward to the Drive video.
6 лет назад
Just bought one last week with a manual. Freaking amazing car.
I wish ford would put more aluminum in the mustang for weight reduction like they did in the new F-150 , now that would be a fast car , imagine a mustang that weights 3000-3200lbs !!!!
Slickpete83 Having owned a 2009 Pontiac Solstice, where apart from the front and rear fascia; the whole car is hydro-formed aluminum. I can say, the major downside of aluminum is they dent much, much easier. I've had to deal with more door dings on my Solstice and RX8 than I can count. On the other hand, I have a 2000 Corvette, and it has zero dents or dings. Fiberglass all the way!
Just drove one of these, same setup except for the tires,most impressive thing about it was the brakes. Good pedal feel, great immediate stopping power, certainly handled the mass of the car well. Overall it has potential but in stock form it's just not exciting in the way a Mustang should be, especially with the automatic.
A few months ago, I test drove a nearly-base EcoBoost Mustang and a nearly fully loaded GT back to back. The EcoBoost was very surprising. It's an incredibly well-rounded and practical car for the price, and and at the speeds I was driving it at, reminded me of my E46 on coilovers.
Great Run !!!!!! Wow you really pushed the car pretty hard. Nice narration too. Thanks for posting. I Love this car w/ the Automatic. Looks like a lot of fun to drive & being able to back off the throttle for some decent fuel economy is a big plus.
I'm probably in the minority here but I like the turbo 4 more than the V8. I know the car has tuning potential, it's lighter and more nimble, and I find it's a throwback to the original SVO (same displacement and engine config).
Matt what king of formal driving/racing training do you have and or recommend? I am always impressed at how you can drive at eight tenths and still talk to us about the car.
Septimius13 I've done several racing schools, loads of track days, a few private instruction days, off-road school, rally school, a few Lemons and Chump Car Races, some autocrossing, a bunch of karting, and I've driven 120-150,000 miles per year for the last 10 years in various sports cars in a huge variety of situations. I recommend the Bondurant School, Skip Barber (as long as you're in the road cars, not the formula cars so much), and absolutely Dirtfish or Team O'Neill Rally school. Rally school probably made the biggest difference in skills.
Jason I own a 2011 v6 and honestly I honestly don’t know why they would bring back the v6 when the eco boost does everything better. The only thing I prefer in the v6 is the exhaust sound.
Great review and loved how you translated what the car feels like.. I can tell the chassis-improvements amazed you nicely. As a Belgian this Ecoboost is my first choice, with manual offcourse ..not sure yet on the color though,but I'm waiting for the anual carshow to get a fair price and some extra's on it, so plenty of time to think about those things. I'm pretty sure this engine will be a european succes from the start. Can't wait to jump in! Thanks for sharing!
anon1561 The RS is coming in four colors: White, Black, Gray, and Blue. I'm going with blue. As far as I know, Yellow is not a planned production color.
these guys act like 200-300 hp is not a lot, remember the days when the fastest car in the world only made 350 hp? realistically that is a lot of power, its not as much as higher performance cars but that doesn't mean it isn't a lot of power, furthermore its more about what you can do with that power more over how much it has.... jay leno is known for stating that you can do a lot with 13 horse power, let along 200-300 hp. Look up jay lenos review of the fiat topolino if you want verification
"Theeuhhh,andduhhh,um, uhhh" is all I could hear....why?....I don't know!...aggravating?...yes....the perfect journalism he does with Automation is sooooooo classy and on point, I don't see why all,ALL his short films aren't done that way.....Matt please get it together on EVERYTHING!!!!!
Audiwan Kenobi The whole point of this is that it's done in One Take. When you edit a film, you cut out all the "um's" but the whole point of these films are that they are not edited.
at the bump for the IRS demo, I got an image of Peter Griffin turing to the camera with a dramatic zoom and saying "Mustang" in the way he says "Roadhouse"
I like the Ecoboost Mustang. Drove a convertible one around Florida for over 1800 miles and loved it. It does lack the sound track, but felt like a scaled up Mazda Mx-5 with more power. However I have no idea what Ford are thinking for the UK market. The 2.3 Mustang costs almost the same the 5.0 GT does..... so no friggin point in buying it really. For the UK market the Ecoboost Mustang should be priced against the Toyota GT-86 (FR-S...) and top spec MX-5. They are the sort of people who'd buy one.
Drove the Ecoboost Mustang and the Focus ST. Wound up buying the 2015 ST and it wasn't even close. Better power in the mustang but when it came to everything else, I vastly preferred the Focus.
Matt, Have you ever been on Tail of the Dragon? How do you think a 4 cylinder motor would handle a very twisty road like that in terms of trying to put the power back down coming out of tight corners?
Mike Cromley I preferred the Supercharged BRZ to the EB Mustang. But I preferred the Mustang to the N/A BRZ. I'd take a Fiesta ST over either, by a huge margin.
Good review (as usual). I think the new mustangs are a big step up from the older models, mainly due to the IRS. I like they look pretty damn sexy, too (IMHO of course). I'm sure the eco boost is a great car, if you can get over the noise. I can't get over the noise.
How would you say this stacks up against the BRZ? It almost seems as though the new Ecoboost Mustang is trying to be more traditional sports car rather than Pony/Muscle car..
Joshua Sharaf It's a lot quicker than the BRZ, cheaper to tune, and has a back seat. If these things are important to you, this is the better car. If you value low center of gravity and steering feel over all else, you want a BRZ.
In terms of driving pleasure and power, which is better/more enjoyable to drive, the Focus ST or the Ecoboost 'Stang? (I've driven the ST and thought it was very quick and handled very well but haven't had the chance to test drive the Ecoboost mustang)
Due to the way the car is better in the middle rpm range, this car should be way better on a canyon road than on a track. Probably a good thing since 99% of the ones that are sold will never see a race track.
So do you think the Ecoboost can be modded (not EXPENSIVELY mind you - mainly a tune and maybe some small add-ons) to be a fun, fast, track car? With awesome turbo noises? Do you see potential in it basically, do you think the engine is just tuned too conservatively? Thanks!
COBB's accessport Stage 1 93 Octane Accessport Tune showed in increase of +28 in rear wheel HP and +80 ft-lbs gain in torque. Now when they have later stages with intakes and exhaust hello turbo noises. For track though I'd rather a GT. Daily driver and Canyon carver the ecoboost would be fun
WarmSoftKitty Montune, and Cobb to name the two biggest companies. Heck Ford will provide the montune tuning parts and you can keep your factory warranty.
I've been hearing the ecoboost is also better out in the canyons because with the lighter engine it's closer to a 50/50 weight where the GT is front heavy with that 5.0
***** the EB does feel lighter in the nose than the GT, and is a bit happier to change direction quickly. All other things (tires, brakes, driver) being equal, the EB could possibly beat the GT in an autocross. In most cases, the GT's power outshines the EB's slight dynamic edge in tight corners though.
On the track though the 228i felt faster you said, and that's with less HP than this Mustang.... What do you take at the end of the day the Eco Boost or 228i/328i with the M sport pack?
The Ecoboom. I considered buying a used 2015+ Mustang for pizza delivery but they sit down to low to the ground for my old knees. If I had bought one it would have been a V6 made 2015-2017.
I grew up in a pinto with an offy manifold, Holley 4barrel and hooker header running Mulholland in the late 70’s. I would have killed for 310 hp. Shoot man I think the top Ferrari back then was like 260 hp. It’s a wonderful time to be a car guy.
Matt have you driven a 15 C7 with the new 8 speed? Also how would you compare the gearbox in the mustang to the A8 in the C7 and ZF8 in the srt products?
Hmmm, not sure how I feel about not having a spoiler on the back. So far all the new Mustangs I've seen had at least the small one, looks a little weird :)
nope! the only differences are the wheels. the v6 comes with a 17 inch wheels. while the Eco boost comes in 18s or 19s depending on the package you get. but you could always swap the v6 wheels for the eco boost ones or get after market wheels. i am getting the v6 because i don't plan on racing/tuning/modding it and its more reliable in the long run!! it sounds way better too. its faster than my current car so i cant complain.
It's a nice daily. Plenty of pep to have fun when you want. But at the end of the day you'd be better off with a fast four door like the WRX or GTI. The ecoboost mustang does very little to justify it's size and weight. As for me, I'm sticking with the FRS. After living with the toyobaru for the past two years driving the mustang feels like driving a pickup truck.
Louis VV I've been saying for years that Lincoln needs a "Chrysler 300." If Bentley doesn't sue them for trademark infringement (because it looks just like the Flying Spur), they will have a winner, because it looks just like the Flying Spur.
TheSmokingTire The new Continental wont be a 300 competitorThe car showcased is a 94% production model It will have a price tag north of 80000 USD and will have a 3.0 TT ecoboost with over 420 HP and 420 ft pounds torque Its a direct competitor to Mercedes Benz S class, Jaguar XJ,BMW 7 series, Audi A8
Matt, Please also show speedo and tach in a small window as you drive. Some indication of performance along with sound would enhance the experience of your drives for the viewer.
IRS inderpendant rear suspension???? in 2015. japan and Europe have had that for so many years. I rented a mustang when i went to the us, so very disappointing
I really want to like the new mustang. Before it went on sale, it looked good in pictures; at least I thought it looked better then the outgoing model. But this car is massive. Inexpensive, but massive. I had the chance to drive both the new 5.0 and the Eco Boost and neither grabbed my attention. Great car, but not for me. Maybe I'm too used to my NSX as a true drivers car. But i want something practical that's not boring. Might have to pass on the mustang, but it's still on the list.
The Ecoboost is basically a 2 door Subaru without a huge wing , 5 more hp, American, no Awd sadly, and a little cheaper. But both cars are Legends. Please don't hate on me please it's just my opinion .
Stndibnz as soon as it goes from body work to paint, which I hope is soon. Right now they are removing the 80-100 dings all over the body from years of use as a police car. Time consuming, tedious, and not worth driving all the way to Hollywood to get video of.
I'm getting the V6 in May it's cheaper but it only comes with cloth seats should be pretty sweet with exhaust and cold air tho about 32,000 all in don't kno why you would want a four cylinder muscle car.
***** But even with that, it still has that whiny four banger sound. Plus if I were to get a new mustang, I wouldnt do anything to it until the warranty runs out.