KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — If I was given the choice of picking the true blue GT 5.0L V8 Ford Mustang or the lower spec 2.3 litre Ecoboost variant, I would pick the V8 of course, if cost was not a consideration. Not that the price variance is that great — if you can afford to shell out RM489k for the 2.3L Ecoboost (price on the road without insurance), then you can also afford the RM599k for the GT 5.0L V8. At this level, I am pretty sure you wouldn’t baulk at paying RM10,909.50 annual road tax for the V8 when you only need to pay RM641 for the 2.3L, would you? Perhaps you might want to buy the GT 5.0L V8 under your company name — but then you would be paying really silly money of RM32,348.50 for the yearly road tax.
Nevertheless, there will be some rich guys who will pay for the GT 5.0L V8 Mustang, just as there will be also the select few who will compromise and take the 2.3L Ecoboost Mustang. To bring everybody up to speed, just in case anyone is feeling a little lost, the GT5.0L V8 refers to the original, unabridged, unadulterated true blue Ford Mustang, while the 2.3L Ecoboost refers to another watered down Ford Mustang, housed in basically the same body, but has a 2.3 litre turbo-charged engine, not as fast, but could be just as exciting.
When the PR people at Ford Malaysia contacted me to arrange for a quick test drive of the Mustang, I thought that perhaps I might be able to get my hands on the “real thing”, but unfortunately it turned out to be the 2.3 litre EcoBoost model. Still, it looked the same as the original, and although it did not have the brute force of the 5.0 litre V8, the performance was surprisingly pretty good.
On paper, the V8 has 416PS @ 6,500 rpm, and 530Nm of torque at 4,250rpm. The 2.3 litre EcoBoost variant is rated at 317PS @ 5,500 rpm and 432 Nm of torque at 3,000 rpm. Both variants share the same 6-speed automatic transmission, with the exact same 3.555 final drive, thus the V8 would be a little faster, but nevertheless, 317PS is still a respectable figure, and in the actual test drive, the EcoBoost did not disappoint.
I thought that perhaps I would miss the sound of the V8, but Ford have put in some pretty acoustics that match the engine rpm’s very well, to produce the same effect — problem solved.
The stint was quite short, and I only had the car for a couple of hours, but it was fun. The Mustang is a huge sports car, but it is built quite well — there is enough engine power to make it go, and the brakes are large enough to make it stop. There are four driving modes for the driver to select, and the 19-inch rubbers are well-matched to the car. For drivers who like to play with the gears, there is a set of paddle shifters. Overall, the Mustang is quite agile, and handles very well at high speeds.
Would I buy one? This is a tough one for me to answer — the Mustang is an icon, and if you are a car enthusiast, you would want to have one. However, the American way of life has not touched me to a great enough extent that I would want to have one, even if I could afford it. Given a choice, I would rather have a Ford Escort Sport 2.0, a reflection perhaps of the influence of British motorsport on me.
