True American ‘muscle car’ is a dream to drive and lives up to expectations

Driving a convertible Ford Mustang with the sun shining and the roof down may be on many a bucket list. Movie buffs, country music fans, and car aficionados all have a story to tell and a genuine love for one the greatest muscle cars that America has ever produced.

Now available in right-hand drive for the first time, few cars that I have had the satisfaction of driving have generated such a public reaction as the matchless Mustang. Young and old alike did a double take as I passed simply because its dazzling looks and its astounding reputation.

Pulling up in the car park outside the church in Milltown on Sunday morning, a local man by the name of Martin said that he thought he was looking at an episode of Miami Vice.

A character with the gift for jovial communication, he asked all the right questions about the 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine, the 10L/100km fuel consumption and the standard price of €61,500. Then, as flippant as you like says: “I’d rather put it into a John Deere.”  Seems you can’t please everyone these days!

Apart from the stunning looks, it is well priced at that (the hard top is priced at €55,000) and the grunt through three driving modes is palpable and delightfully audible. You have Normal, Sport + and Race Track mode. There’s no need to explain what happens as you flick through each mode, other than to say that the latter one is, as they say in the movies, awesome.

Internally, this car is American in all its aspects. Big seats, chunky furnishings, and military-styled switchgear are all part of the experience. It is modernised by the presence of the Ford SYNC infotainment system with Bluetooth connections, satellite navigation and a belter of a sound system.

The hood, or as we call it the bonnet, rises out in front like a T-Bar truck, and while its sheer size and expanse takes a bit of getting used to, it is what is underneath that makes this car the beast that it is.

The 2.3-litre turbo-charged, four-cylinder engine delivers 317bhp and 432Nm at 3,000rpm. Zero to 100km/h can be covered in 5.8 second and the CO2 emissions of 184g/km means that the annual road tax bill comes to €750.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.