1967 Ford Mustang Reviews

Mustang mania has swept the world and Chris Riley ponders the $64,000 question: which one should I get - the V8 or the turbo?

Malcolm Flynn road tests and reviews the 2016 Ford Mustang GT Fastback manual with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Malcolm Flynn road tests and reviews the 2016 Ford Mustang GT Fastback manual.

Paul Gover road tests and reviews the Ford Mustang V8 GT coupe with specs, fuel consumption and verdict. Head-turner, sprinter, cruiser ... and a V8. Ford's pony car is a genuine muscle-car bargain. What would it take to pry my stepfather Ray's Holden Monaro out of the favoured place in his garage? His CV8 has been

Richard Berry road tests and reviews the Ford Mustang EcoBoost Convertible auto with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

US-built V8 performers look the goods. Joshua Dowling runs a gangster four-door against a pony-car coupe.

Richard Berry road tests and reviews the Ford Mustang V8 GT and EcoBoost with specs, fuel consumption, and verdict at its Australian launch.

Joshua Dowling road tests and reviews the Ford Mustang with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch.

First drive of the new Ford Mustang V8 ahead of its arrival in Australian showrooms in 2015.To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee, now that’s a Mustang. Having tested the four-cylinder version of the 2015 Ford Mustang earlier in the day, it was time to get behind the wheel of the ‘real’ one: the 5.0-litre V8.I can’t repeat in front of a polite audience the exact words that came out of my mouth having floored the V8 Mustang for the first time, but suffice to stay I said it a lot.It’s a good thing Ford put big brakes on the new Mustang because you use them quite a bit to slow down -- just so that you can floor it back up to the speed limit again.I initially thought the output of the V8 was a bit ho-hum on paper. The power rating of 325kW (a bit over 400 horsepower in the old money) and the torque rating (the measure of an engine’s ability to overcome resistance, or pull a stump out of the ground) of 540Nm also didn’t look like much.That’s because the V8s we have back home in Australia -- in the Ford and Holden camps -- have more than this, so I went in with low expectations.But the Mustang is relatively light for a V8 muscle car (even if it is between 3kg and 40kg heavier than before) and boy does this thing haul.Better still, once the revs rise to 4000rpm, with its lungs full of air, the engine absolutely belts. It gets better the more you keep your foot into it.Follow me for a moment: it accelerates harder and more quickly the higher the revs go. Customarily, V8s have asthma attacks. Not this one. This all new 5.0-litre V8 is a bit special, regardless of its ho-hum numbers.We don’t have the 0 to 100km/h times yet because Ford doesn’t publish them. (It rightly argues that results vary too much between driver techniques, and road conditions).But it feels as quick as a Falcon GT. And that’s supercharged, the Mustang is not.Admittedly, this is a seat-of-the-pants feeling only. We’ll put timing equipment on it when it goes on sale in Australia in the second half of 2015.In the meantime, I’ve got some winding mountain roads behind the city of Los Angeles to enjoy.That said, ‘enjoy’ is a relative term. After just five minutes of enthusiastic driving I’m getting a sweat up, as if I’d just run up a flight of stairs.The Mustang V8 is a little heavier than the four-cylinder, especially over the nose, so you’ve got to work it harder to get around a bend.Don’t get me wrong: the chassis is brilliant. The North American press have declared it a revelation since it finally has independent rear suspension. Previous Mustangs had a rear end that could without exaggeration be traced back to the horse and cart.But it’s not as light and nimble on its feet as the four-cylinder Mustang. To be fair, we tested a four-cylinder with sport suspension, and a V8 with comfort suspension. Nevertheless, there was a stark contrast.Which means choosing between the four-cylinder and the V8 Mustang is going to create a dilemma almost as difficult as choosing between an iPhone6 and an iPhone6 Plus.It depends on whether you want to go quickly in a straight line, or have superior cornering ability.The diehards will buy the V8 no matter what. They’re the people that probably will buy a really big phone, even if it bends, just because it is a really big phone.But I can’t blame them. The sound of the V8 alone is glorious. If only Ford could make the four-cylinder to sound like that.

Joshua Dowling tests the new four-cylinder Mustang in the US before it goes on sale in Australia next year.Push the 'start' button on the new Ford Mustang and you expect the rumble of a V8. But what I have here is an eerie silence. I've grabbed the keys to a four-cylinder Mustang. And I can barely hear it.That's right. A four-cylinder Mustang.Ford has added a four-cylinder to the Mustang range to broaden the car's customer appeal and to meet strict fuel economy targets in Europe. Australia will get both the four-cylinder and the V8 when it arrives in showrooms in the second half of 2015, but I've grabbed the keys to the four-cylinder first because that's the one everyone is most curious about. Australians have had an aversion to large cars and four-cylinder engines since the asthmatic four-cylinder Commodore from the 1980s. Holden chopped two cylinders off the red six to create the Starfire four in a kneejerk reaction to the fuel crisis in the 1970s; in the end the four-cylinder used as much fuel as the six-cylinder because it had to work so hard to move the Commodore's weight. But times have changed and so has technology. The four-cylinder in the latest, sixth-generation Mustang (Ford also fitted four-cylinder engines to the Mustang in the US between 1978 and 1993) has new turbocharger technology and has almost as much power as the previous V8. BMW and other German car makers are also now getting epic performance from turbocharged four-cylinder engines. But this is a Mustang. Can you get away with four-cylinder sacrilege in an American icon? On first impressions, the answer is no. In stop-start Los Angeles traffic the four-cylinder sounds, well, ordinary. It sounds like a small French van, and not at all like a Mustang should. The side mirrors are also too small (here's hoping Ford Australia fits convex mirrors on both sides), making it hard to pick your way through the bump and grind. The bland standard seats are designed more for broad behinds rather than comfort and support. And you can forget the back seats; their only purpose is to somehow convince your life partner than you might, just might, be able to squeeze the kids in the back there. The Mustang suspension is too firm and busy over even modest bumps at suburban speeds. On the bigger bumps it almost made me motion sick. Fortunately, the traffic eventually clears and we find ourselves on the winding mountain roads behind Hollywood and into the great blue yonder. In another twist of fate, we don't have any traffic ahead of us, save for some aspiring Olympic cyclists on a morning hill workout. Only then does the four-cylinder Mustang start to shine. Rev the engine above 4500rpm and the small French van sound starts to develop some character, with a subtle engine growl. A small dose of the exhaust note from the Renault Megane RS275 or Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG would be a welcome improvement. At this point, I'd prefer to hear nothing at all than a weak attempt at an engine note. But all is quickly forgiven after the first series of twists and turns. The four-cylinder Mustang steers beautifully. Because the four-cylinder engine weighs less than the V8, there is less weight over the nose and better overall balance in the car front-to-rear. (For the tech heads, the weight balance is a near-perfect 52:48 for the four-cylinder and 55:45 for the nose-heavy V8).The suspension that was too firm around town is in fact just right once you hit the open road. It's nothing short of superb. Power delivery across the rev range is the other surprise. The power is there and ready, whenever you need it.Ford does not publish 0 to 100km/h times, but the four-cylinder is said to be only slightly slower than the V8. It certainly feels quick enough for most tastes. (We'll know for sure when we test it in Australia next year.) With less weight to bring to a stop (compared to the V8) the brakes have a sharp, responsive and reassuring feel. The Pirelli tyres on the "Performance Pack" model tested stuck to the curves like chewing gum to a thong on a hot summer's day. Before I know it, I'm grinning like a kid with a new toy. And I've forgotten what engine is under the bonnet. In fact, once you're on the move there almost no way for anyone else to pick the difference between the four-cylinder and the V8 versions of the Mustang. They both get dual exhaust pipes and the same good looks. For the anoraks among us, though, the V8 grille has a pair of vertical 'blades' and a GT badge on the rear, while the four-cylinder gets the Mustang 'pony' badge on its rump. Both models get the super-cool three-step indicators in the tail-lights, that light up from the inside out, one vertical bar at a time. Another piece of trivia: this car may be Ford's most recognised model globally, but it doesn't have a Ford badge on it anywhere. There's a tiny Ford logo stamped in the shaded area of the windscreen. With a car this good, Ford deserves to put a badge on it. Regardless of what engine is under the bonnet.