Now this photograph right here is very special to me and it's for more than
just a few reasons. It was taken around seven years ago and at the time my dad
worked in the Middle East. I hadn't seen him in almost two years but as luck
would have it during my summer vacations, I got a chance to finally fly down and
meet him. Now, Dad always knew that I had this crazy obsession with cars and how I
borderland worshiped the Ford Mustang. So one thing led to another and he arranged
this car for me to go for a driving. And needless to say there were tears of joy
at the end of the drive. It was almost poetic, because this photograph was taken
on April 12th 2010, just a few days before the Mustang's 46th anniversary. Dad's
never really been much of a car guy himself but even he was horse struck by
the Mustang. I mean how can't he be. Just look at it.
Now, it's taking generation after generation after generation of the
Mustang to come out for it to finally come to India. Since it's the first time
that the pony car is offered in right-hand-drive.
Even though we've had to wait for far too long.
None of that old-school charm has been lost. Every inch of the Mustang is pure
muscle and with a length of nearly 5 metres a width that's greater than even
the Ford Endeavor's the street cred and road presence can count as a feature on
the brochure. The wide and aggressive snout 19-inch wheels and sleek HID
headlights look menacing yet modern. While throwback elements like the
stretched and beefy bonnet, stubby rear and tri sled LED tail lights maintain
the Mustangs design legacy but the real legacy is of course under that bonnet.
Now, Ford's been thinking of getting a Mustang down here for quite a while. In
fact around 2014 just a few days before the Auto Expo, I was talking to a Ford
official and we were tying to figure out what engine they should get over here.
Now, it is actually the Mustang is available with the 2.3 liter
four-cylinder EcoBoost engine and a 3.7 liter v6 both great engines in their own
ride. But come on, you're getting the must time to India for the very first
time. It will almost be insulting not to get the GT v8. Which is why this is
exactly what we get and all 5 litres of it.
So big-block 5 liter v8. You'd imagine that will be very really loud
but honestly once you pass the theatrics of the startup, you realize that the
Mustangs actually quite muted. I mean sure there is that basy gargle
at idle but it's not only that roary or loud or brash and credit to Ford
engineers it's actually quite a refined engine, almost too refined for a muscle
car I'm honest. And while you can hear the exhaust it's not only something that
will start any car alarm. Blame it on emission norms or you know noise
regulations but on the plus side there is a plentiful of aftermarket options
available if you are looking to make your Mustang get louder. Now before I
talk about the complete drive experience, one thing you need to know is that the
Mustang is not a car for somebody who likes a low-profile. Almost everybody
knows what this car is and if there is a camera somewhere around chances are it
is going to point your way. In fact I'm a little worried because I get a sense
that somebody's been following me for quite a while. But if somebody is getting
too close for comfort all you have to do is stomp the pedal down and watch is the
515 Nm of torque just turns everything behind you into a blur. Now don't get me
wrong 515 Nm of torque, 401 PS of power
those aren't small numbers and quite impressive in fact. But what's really
surprising is that it's all so manageable because the power delivery it's all
linear, it's very approachable, very predictable in fact. If anything I'd say
that you'd find yourself wanting for a little bit more in terms of the ferocity
because in it when you stop the pedal down
it doesn't really slam your head back into the headrests or anything of the
sort. But American v8's are about effortless performance and that makes
the Mustang a great daily driver, no kidding. So you can actually live with
this thing. You even get a 137 millimetres of ground clearance.
Which I'll admit by our road standards isn't much but we've tested the Mustang
for well over a thousand kilometers now. And it's been to go and back it's been
through the by lanes of Pune, it's been through the lunar roads that lead up the
Lavasa and not once, not once has a scraped any
speed breaker or crashed into any pothole. You can take this car anywhere
without having to whip out your map and revisit your topography training. Even
the six-speed gearbox offers nice and relaxed gear changes and it's perfectly
home in everyday conditions. But, I don't like it. The thing is it's not perfectly
seamless or smooth between gear changes even if you're just at bath throttle and
I can live with that. But the thing is for a performance car
it just isn't responsive enough. Slam the pedal down
use the paddle shifter to move down the gear it just takes its own sweet time to
realize what's supposed to be done. If you're looking at a lot of hard driving
the lazy gearbox will get quite annoying and you do wish that Ford India at least
offered the option of the manual gearbox. But if you're looking at relaxed driving
just cruising down the highway by performance car standards it's actually
quite comfortable much like the ride quality
And that's the thing about the Mustang. It's not the ideal car for the track
because honestly it wasn't meant to be. It's not the car you choose to set lap
records at Nürburgring. What it is, is a comfortable, powerful and entertaining
grand tourer even for India. Heck you even get a decently sized boot if you
take the spare wheel out and put it in the rear seat like we have or if you
take it out altogether you can fit in through kids or adults you're not
particularly fond of back there too. You even get a really nice and big fuel tank
which would technically translate into a good travel range but you'll be getting
through the tank pretty quick. So with surprisingly good ride quality and
engine that chomps on kilometers and runs just fine on regular octane fuel
because it's been detuned just a bit but still packs in plenty of punch. The
Mustang becomes a truly super, supercar for India. However, there is one thing
that Mustangs haven't had the best reputation for, handling and I've been
pushing the Mustang through corner after corner after corner and not once has it
caught me off guard I mean show when you exit a corner too hard you can feel the
weight and the bulk of the car but it's nothing overwhelming and something you
can't get into control again pretty easily. That independent rear suspension
must have changed things for the better.
The stock tyres offer impeccable grip no matter what speed you're at whether
you're in the highway in the city or even taking hard corners and the pretty
good at noise regulation is well something you'll definitely appreciate
on long distance tours. But the Mustang is still quite tail-happy. That said but
it does choose to misbehave it is pretty easy to get it back in line especially
because the steering while artificial in terms of its field is very communicative
especially when you set it to sport mode
It's a similar not so precise story on the inside. I mean sure you get modern
amenities like electrically adjustable and ventilated seats there's two zone
climate control is a touchscreen infotainment system and cruise control.
The buttons for which are somewhere in this sea of buttons. But if you're
a stickler for quality you're not going to be impressed. Even though the Mustang
is an expensive car in India elements like the hard plastics all over this
remind you of the fact that this is built to be an affordable performance
car for the blue-collar man and it's not cheap but there are a lot of shared
parts with the Ford Endeavour like these steering stocks and even the lighting
console that we seen right from the Ford Figo.
Works though are a plenty you get this airplane style cockpit, retro toggles for
adjusting things like the steering feed traction control and swapping through
the drive modes even the twin board instrument cluster looks classic and the
speedometer reads the ground speed. Kind of a tip of the hat to the p-51 Mustang
World War two fighter plane that this car has been named after.
So the Mustang, despite the muscle car bravado breaks
the stereotype of performance cars in India. It may not be the quickest, most
technologically advanced or the most luxurious but it is one you could
genuinely use and that's what the Mustang is all about it just takes you
back to a simpler times. It reminds me of my bedroom wall posters, my toy cars and
that kid who got to go for a drive in his dream car and get a Tedford memory
in the process. It reminds me of a time when cars were about the thrill and the
excitement of driving not EMIs and discounts and finance options. Can you
really put a price on that? Well, Yes, rupees sixty six point three
lakh ex-showroom Delhi to be precise and I'm sorry but at that price it just
isn't a blue-collar man's performance car anymore. But what that money buys you
is an icon a statement like no other A car doesn't take itself too seriously
and most importantly a car that just makes you feel like a kid again