Mustang version 2.0 (with pictures)

[MX793]

Skip to the bottom for pics.

After a ridiculous wait and a bit of minor drama, I finally picked up my new Mustang yesterday afternoon.  I spent the bulk of yesterday afternoon and a good chunk of today just driving around the backroads while I can since it's been a bit warm by November standards.  I've put about 200 miles on it.  Most of my general driving impressions have already been posted elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself.  Instead, I'll focus on some of the other things I've picked up on after a couple of days and couple hundred miles. 

A few odds and ends:
-Sound quality of the base stereo is not great.  Not as clear or rich sounding as my 2011's Shaker system.  I played around with the treble and bass settings (seems weak on bass) which helped some.  Not sure if it's the speakers or the acoustics of the cabin itself.  It's tolerable (for me), but a noticeable step down.

-After taking it down my favorite local twisty road (a few times, if I'm to be honest), I was even more impressed by the steering.  The weight builds nicely as you increase steering angle and there's actually some feedback from the front end coming through the steering wheel.  I played around a bit with the different steering settings.  Sport increases the effort and how quickly it ramps up.  Comfort reduces the effort down to about what my 2011 felt like.  Normal is surprisingly good and about perfect for regular driving.  I've also noticed that the wheel returns to center more willingly and more quickly than my '11.  Almost like there's a bit more caster in this car's front suspension geometry.  Rack seems a little quicker, too.

-The rear-facing turn signals mounted in the heat extractors on the hood are pretty pointless.  The passenger's side indicator can't even be seen from the driver's seat and with how I put my seat, the driver's side light can just barely be seen.  They aren't bright enough during the day to really be noticeable unless you're looking for them.  They stand out a little more at night, but even then I hardly notice.  They're dim enough that they aren't irritating at night, thankfully, but I'm left to wonder why Ford even bothered.

A list of things that I didn't like about my '11 that Ford addressed:
-Cruise controls have a dedicated "Cancel" button now.  On my '11, the "Resume" button also served as the "Cancel" button, but wasn't labelled as such.  Took me a little while to figure out that it doubled as the cancel button.  I generally prefer tapping the cancel button to tapping the brakes to disable cruise if I'm approaching a slower vehicle and can't move into the passing lane.

-The dash indicator for the Cruise Control now indicates when cruise is on but not active.  The '11 would turn on the green CC indicator only when cruise was active.  If you tapped the brake or otherwise cancelled the cruise without shutting it off, the indicator turned off entirely and there was no indication that cruise was still actually on and dormant.  On the '16, the indicator is green when cruise is active and then turns gray/white when cruise is on but inactive.  Also, the indicator will tell you what speed the cruise is set at both when active or inactive, which is a nice touch.

-Interior storage is better.  Door pockets are larger and more usable.  I can actually fit my fairly bulky sunglasses case in the door pocket now.  Of course, Ford also added a dedicated sunglasses compartment/drawer into the dash to the left of the steering wheel, so I don't really need to put my sunglasses case in the door pocket.  But the bigger pockets are good regardless because it makes fishing things out a lot easier.  I have pretty slender hands and fishing something like a pen out of the door pocket was a bit of a tight squeeze on the old car.  Glove box also seems a bit larger and there's a semi-hidden compartment within for the owner's manual, so it doesn't take up existing glove box space.

-Rear headrests were removed.  The S197 had tall rear headrests that really ate into your backlight and rear visibility (which was otherwise quite good).  I usually folded them down, but if someone rode in the back they'd get flipped back up and then I'd have to crawl back and flip them back down.  The button to fold them could also be a bit finicky.

-Changed the wiper controls to be more like what many (most?) European and Japanese cars use.  Wiper controls are no longer mounted on the end of the turn signal stalk.  They are now on a dedicated stalk to the right of the steering column.  I've always preferred this setup.

-Center console/armrest storage compartment latch release has been relocated.  This was previously a button right on top of the console, flush with the arm rest surface.  I would frequently manage to hit the button with my elbow and then the compartment lid would spring open.  I actually managed to hit it when shifting from 1st to 2nd in an autocross once.  Ford move the release to the side of the console (ambidextrous, so there are release levers on both driver's and passenger's sides) so that accidental openings are a thing of the past.

-Cup holders have been moved slightly to the right so they are no longer directly in line with the shifter.  Makes shifting when you have a bottle of water in the cup holder a little less awkward/difficult.

-Fuel economy readout has a scale with real numbers.  Previously you had a readout with a series of bars, similar to the signal strength readout on a cell phone (5 bars were good, 1 bar was bad), to indicate instantaneous fuel economy, but no numerical scale to tell you roughly what 5 bars equated to (25 mpg?  30 mpg?  40 mpg?).  Now you have a graph with an animated bar that moves up and down and your average is indicated along with demarcations for every 10 mpg.  So now you can tell if you're doing better or worse than average and roughly what you're getting for mileage.

-Trip computer (and vehicle settings) controls are more intuitive and easier to access.  You used to have to use a set of 3 buttons on the dash to the left of the steering wheel to cycle through menus.  Now it's all accessed through a set up 5 buttons on the left side of the steering wheel (where the cruise controls used to be).  Much easier to change up screens on the fly.

-Door mirrors are now mounted away from the A pillar on stalks.  This shrinks the A pillar down at the base and improves front quarter visibility.  Mostly on the driver's side.  I think mirrors are also a little smaller.

-3-blink tap function on the turn signal for lane changes.  Really came to appreciate this on my VW and now Ford is putting it in their cars.

-Gauge font is easier to read.  I never had a major issue with it, I've heard a number of people complain about the retro gauge font on the S197 being difficult to read.  I will admit that the new gauges are easier to read than before and I prefer them, aesthetically.

-Telescoping steering wheel.  While I was able to find a pretty comfortable driving position in the '11, it seemed like I ended up a little close to the dash.  My right knee in particular was always very close to the dash and steering column.  Close enough I sometimes got concerned that I'd put my knee into the key and either shut the car off or break the key off in the ignition while autocrossing.  I seem to have a lot more space around my right knee in the new car.  Could be the different dash design rather than being able to telescope the steering column.  Also, the pushbutton start and smart key eliminated the steering column key ignition switch.

Things that are worse than before or that they didn't address:
-The seatbelts used to have a little, adjustable arm that would hold them forward to make them easier to reach.  Now there's just a little loop of upholstery with a magnetic snap that you can pass the shoulder belt through, which helps, but still isn't as good as the adjustable arm.  I also think the fabric (or leather) loop will wear over time from friction from the belt.  Not sure why they got rid of the arm.  Wouldn't surprise me if they were prone to being broken and that's why they got rid of them.

-The seat still does not automatically unlatch and slide forward when you flip the seatback forward to access the rear seats.  My '92 240SX would release the catch on the fore-aft slide tracks when you flipped the seat forward to access the rear seats.  It's not difficult to implement, even with power seats.  Though to be fair, it's not the only 2-door out there these days that doesn't do that.  Perhaps none do anymore?

-3.5mm Aux input jack was removed for 2016 (2015 had it).  I usually use the USB jack (of which there are now two), but I may find myself wanting a 3.5mm jack at some point.

-Rear seat headroom.  On paper, they claim it has a tenth more headroom than the outgoing model, but I think it lost about an inch.  At 5'10" with a 32" inseam, I have to either stoop down or tilt my head sideways slightly to keep from hitting the ceiling (or rear glass).  I seem to recall being able to sit very close to upright in the old car.  I probably could have tolerated sitting in the back of my old car for an hour or so.  This new one... I think 30 minutes would be my max.  Width-wise, I think it's actually roomier.  Legroom seems about the same.  Someone 5'6" or shorter would probably be OK even for medium length trips (hour to an hour and a half).

And now the part everybody really wanted to see, the photos:

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Cool! Grats!!!!

[Eye of the Tiger]

Oh, that is the color I want. Yes.

[shp4man]

Nice car. We don't work on these much. Good sign.

[Payman]

Very nice. Glad everything worked out for you.

[CaminoRacer]

Sweet

[Rupert]

[SVT666]

SWEEEEEEET!!!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[CaminoRacer]

Need more burnout videos.

[Laconian]

That's a fantastic color choice.

[mzziaz]

That's a fantastic color choice.

+1

Works well with the rims, too

[Xer0]

Nice, the car looks great!  Congrats and hope you enjoy it as much as your 11'.  At the rate you're going, 2021 upgrade will be the Shelby.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CaminoRacer]

We just got an ecoboost rental. I can agree with just about all of your likes/dislikes.

(Ecoboost with all seasons = terrible autox car, if anyone was wondering)

[giant_mtb]

Looks awesome!

I dunno who at Ford thought those fuel economy gauges with the cell phone bars were a good idea.  They look straight 1980s and are fuckin' pointless.  Glad they got rid of it.

[MexicoCityM3]

¡Fantástico!

Best color ever.

Thanks for all the details on the review. I really like your car.

[MX793]

We just got an ecoboost rental. I can agree with just about all of your likes/dislikes.

(Ecoboost with all seasons = terrible autox car, if anyone was wondering)

Can't be as bad as the OEM tires that came on my V6.  Or maybe they can.  They're wider, at least.  I autocrossed 2 seasons on those narrow, lo-po OEM tires.  Learned a lot about driving the car at the limit of the tires since it didn't take much to exceed the limit of the tires.

[CaminoRacer]

Can't be as bad as the OEM tires that came on my V6.  Or maybe they can.  They're wider, at least.  I autocrossed 2 seasons on those narrow, lo-po OEM tires.  Learned a lot about driving the car at the limit of the tires since it didn't take much to exceed the limit of the tires.

We had a 2014 V6 last year and it was even worse. This one has slightly wider, lower profile tires. But still 500 TW and an inch too much sidewall. Likes to understeer. And the ecoboost doesn't have enough low end to respond the way I'm used to. I'm sure the GT will be a blast.

[CALL_911]

Wow that is sweet. Congratulations man

[FoMoJo]

I like it.

[veeman]

Now that's a great green!  Beautiful.  Congratulations!!

[68_427]

lowering springs and spacers would be perfect

[12,000 RPM]

Fuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkk

This thing is such a working man's Aston Martin DB9 it's not even funny

Love the color and wheels. What color interior did you get? Pls say tan/orange with black contrast hhnnngggggg

Congrats on the purchase man, I hope you enjoy it. And yea I agree, lowering springs and mild spacers would completely seal the deal.

[AutobahnSHO]

congrats!!

(now go put it away because winter is coming )

[MX793]

Fuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkk

This thing is such a working man's Aston Martin DB9 it's not even funny

Love the color and wheels. What color interior did you get? Pls say tan/orange with black contrast hhnnngggggg

Congrats on the purchase man, I hope you enjoy it. And yea I agree, lowering springs and mild spacers would completely seal the deal.

If I had gotten the premium trim I would have gone for the saddle colored seats.  Base color options for the cloth seats are black or ceramic; I went with black.  I may consider aftermarket leather install in the future, in which case I think I'd do Brown/saddle.

As to lowering, I want to keep this SCCA stock class legal, so springs are out, as are spacer.  Fender wheel gap is much better on the car than the last one.  I may consider a set of Koni yellows (oddly, SCCA allows shock replacement in stock).  We'll see how it feels next season.  Definitely planning wider front tires (I'd like to go to a square setup) when the stockers wear out.  If I do decide it needs more than what stock allows, CAM-C has a very similar PAX handicap to FS and is surprisingly open for mods.  I think even more so than STU, which has a significantly worse handicap.

[CaminoRacer]

Hopefully CAM-C continues to be so open. Lots of people shouting out rules ideas and failing to grasp the original concept of "no rules".

[MX793]

congrats!!

(now go put it away because winter is coming )

Put it in the garage last night.  Snow on the ground this morning.  Supposed to warm up a little mid to late week, so I'll probably take it out later in the week.  Then it's officially going into storage.

[SJ_GTI]

is it me or does that trunk look like a slightly different shade of green...?




(J/K of course, love the car! Congrats!)

[MX793]

Hopefully CAM-C continues to be so open. Lots of people shouting out rules ideas and failing to grasp the original concept of "no rules".

I think they'll keep it open, but the PAX multiplier will get way worse.  They haven't released the 2016 PAX yet, so we'll see where it ends up next year.  This was the first year for CAM, IIRC, so I think the folks that determine PAX took an educated guess as to what it should be.  They'll have some real data to base it on this year.

[SVT666]

I saw that green on the Ford website but I wasn't impressed with it. Seeing it on a real car sure changed my mind. That's really awesome. Now I'm not sure if I would get that green or the Ruby Red.

[SVT666]

You got interior pics?