2016 Ford Mustang GT review – Roadshow

The Good The Ford Mustang GT features a standard electronic line locker and, with the manual transmission, launch control. With 435 horsepower, this thing is a burnout and quarter-mile machine. Sync 3 is so much better than the last generation of Ford’s infotainment. The new rear suspension and convertible top make this very comfortable tourer.

The Bad The cabin materials feel more economy car than “GT Premium.” The convertible top has a pair of odd plastic bits to cover exposed hardware when retracted. Many of Ford’s driver aid features are missing from the Mustang’s option list.

The Bottom Line The Ford Mustang is an extremely flexible sports car. It’s a bargain at the base level; in GT trim it’s an exciting performer; and it transforms into an airy, comfortable grand tourer with a convertible top.

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but summertime on the California coast means that you’re pretty much guaranteed to see dozens and dozens of rented ragtop Mustang convertibles packed with tourists making their way slowly down some of the best driving roads in the nation. I’m beginning to think that the Pacific Coast Highway and the Ford Mustang convertible were made for each other.

To put this hypothesis to the test, I hit the coastal highways south of San Francisco in a 2016 Ford Mustang GT California Special. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any more on the nose, my example arrived in a San Francisco Giants-esque bright orange-and-black color scheme. Alrighty then, let’s play tourist.

California Special edition

What’s so special about this “California Special” edition? Well, nothing performance-related, this is basically a visual and styling upgrade. The package adds California Special badging inside, outside and in the engine bay. It features a selection of black trim bits; we’ve got 19-inch black wheels, black stripes, spoiler and hood accents. Up front, there’s a unique grille and in the cabin there are suede inserts on the seats and door panels.

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Motorized convertible top

I was eager to hit the road, but this GT is a convertible so I first took some time to explore the motorized ragtop.

The Mustang’s top drops with the twist of a release at the top center of the windshield hoop and the touch of a button, lowering in about 13 seconds and rising back up in about 16. You can control the entire motorized operation from the driver’s seat and the Z-fold top mostly forms its own cover when retracted, but leaves some of its hardware exposed through two sizable gaps at the corners.

Ford has included a pair of plastic trim bits that you’re supposed to snap into place to clean up the look of the retracted top, but I’m not going to get out of the car to fiddle with them whenever I want to put the top down and again when it’s time to close up and, I’m guessing, you won’t either. I left them awkwardly flopping around in the trunk all week. You’ll probably want to toss them into a closet somewhere.

After a few days logged behind the wheel, I began to understand why I see so many rented Mustang convertibles clogging the Pacific Coast Highway every weekend. (Well, V-6s, not GTs.) With the top dropped, the front seats don’t experience a whole lot of buffeting from the wind, even at highway speeds. (I can’t speak for the rear seats, but with so little legroom back there, I’d wager the winds would be the least of your troubles.) The ‘Stang offers a pretty comfortable ride and an unobstructed view of the world around the car.

Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow

Coulda had a V-8…oh, wait. I do

Beneath the “Special” garnish and the Competition Orange paint — not my favorite hue, by the way — is the standard, but awesome, Mustang GT Premium trim level.

The GT is packing a 5.0-liter V-8 engine making 435 horsepower and a flat 400 pound-feet of torque. My example was even equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, a gearbox that feels pretty good whether you’re cruising, creeping through traffic or hammering it home. It’s not a perfect shifter, but does pretty well as a jack-of-all-trades.

Other available engines include the base 3.7-liter V-6 (300 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque) and a 2.3-liter EcoBoost I-4 option (stated at up to 310 horsepower and 320 pound-feet of torque). And, in addition to the standard manual transmission, all three engines can be mated to an optional six-speed SelectShift automatic gearbox with paddle shifters.

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For the GT, zero-to-60 mph happens in about 5 seconds, if you drive like I do and tend toward preserving the clutch. The officially quoted 0-60 time is 4.7 seconds, which is already down from the GT coupe’s 4.5. That motorized top and its extra weight dull the Mustang GT’s performance edge just a hair compared with the hardtop. You’re unlikely to notice such a small difference in straight-line performance.

If by some chance you are stressing about 10ths of a second, then you should probably be looking at the 526-horsepower, 429-pound-foot Shelby GT350R, not a grand tourer-cruiser like this.

Burnout mode: Initiated (Electronic Line Lock)

All 2016 Mustangs feature a rear-wheel-drive power train configuration with available torque and traction balanced and optimized by a standard rear limited-slip differential and a new rear independent suspension.

The GT’s drive and traction control systems feature four modes that adapt the performance to the task at hand. There’s sport, normal, race and snow — yes, the more tame GT convertible features a potent race mode that makes it a potent-enough performance toy for enthusiast track days and casual autocrossing.

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The GT models even feature a standard Electronic Line Lock feature, a sort of instant burnout mode aimed at warming up the rear tires for maximum grip in preparation for a quarter-mile launch in the most spectacularly smoky way possible. When activated via an in-dash menu, the system momentarily keeps the front brakes locked while leaving the rear wheels free to burn out the tires without burning out the rear brakes.