Drive Review: Ford Mustang EcoBoost Manual

A Mustang in South Africa can be described as a motoring phenomenon. It will make you famous. Polish the ego. Get you girls or to the front of a queue. Nothing short of a BMW i8 garners this much fanatical rapture and it’s all a bit strange to be honest considering that for many South Africans a Mustang would have played a very minor role in their life. A reputation that precedes its every move is a wave the Mustang rides proudly.

And I must confess, staying impartial to the Mustang’s sexy legacy is not easy and its presence carries a gravitas of occasion that sparks gossip and hot flushes around the office park. Kudos to the design team for adapting an iconic design into a modern world: Six generations later and Mustang’s beguiling shape looks entirely natural and resolved. There’s certainly nothing risky about its evolutionary process and this will ensure a timeless design.

It appears large, those 19-inch wheels shrink into the bodywork and the roofline is low forcing one to do the ‘fast-car bow’ to get inside.  However Mustang is slightly shorter than a Ford Fusion and its slightly wider haunches have no negative effects on piloting around the city or slipping into European-sized parking spaces.

We’re driving the entry-point to Mustang ownership, as illustrated by the 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine mated to six-speed manual gearbox. Less powerful than the V8, the Mustang EcoBoost is also a second slower to 100km/h, has a lower top speed but uses around 50% less fuel and carbon emissions are almost halved.

The manual gearbox communicates its action through a stubby lever and short throw and the clutch about the same weight as a powerful turbo hatch. You’ll never slot the wrong gear on a quick shift. It is, as far as manual boxes go, very good but on the Mustang it seems to interrupt progress and at low speed can be jerky. It makes cruising a chore not to mention prevents getting anything more than a second or two of wheelspin. A Mustang that can’t do burnouts… Tragedy.

The engine is another mixed bag. Lacking the capacity to send shivers down your spine it sits somewhere between crass and coarse but without the lungs to fully clear its throat. What you do discover is the engine comes alive in the higher rpm as peak power is unlocked at 5500rpm and then Mustang becomes pleasantly brisk.

All told, Mustang EcoBoost can’t hide under its aggressive body for long. The drive lands on the tame side; not intimidating enough for drivers hopping out of AMGs and M-Division products who will find it a fairly lukewarm experience that lacks potency and layers of intricacy. You can coax a smidge of oversteer in first gear but as you hook second there’s not enough power to sustain it.

Those two bonnet creases are your most visible reference points from behind the wheel is one of authenticity, size and unapologetically bad-ass. The challenge of staying truthful to the original’s pared-back approach while meeting new modern standards is an area that has drawn much debate.

The cabin is cluttered with buttons, dials and screens that have been forced to gel despite the obvious conflict.  Ford’s SYNC 2 system sits snugly in the dashboard while below is an assortment of pushy bits and turny bits, desperately finished off with retro toggle switches that only flick in one direction.

A lack of cohesion is simply the result of trying to please too many people and it will be a problem that will haunt every Mustang from now on. In isolation the attempt to combine different eras is praise worthy but when comparing to established premium rivals some plastics will be deemed too hard and ergonomics that aren’t quite fingertip close.

Separate the emotional aspect and Mustang EcoBoost is flawed against the precise driving tools designed by BMW and Audi and its price pushes the interior into a space where it’s clearly out of its league. We expect the Ford Mustang will wear thin over time but the enthusiasm and support it receives from other motorists and like-minded enthusiasts is perhaps enough to reignite that passion, day after day.

Read our review on the 5.0 V8 Mustang here.