That time I drove an Ecoboost Mustang

"K-Roll-PorscheTamer" (k-roll390) 05/12/2015 at 12:05 • Filed to: Mustang Ecoboost

7

22

K-Roll, the somewhat “anti-turbo movement”, “anti-emissions regulations hipster”, drove an Ecoboost Mustang a couple weeks ago. And I have some things I’d like to say about it now.

(Lead pic from ericpeterautos.com)

The Mustang belongs to a good friend, and fellow local 944 owner who actually helped design the S550 Stang. He bought a base Ecoboost in Guard w/manual with the optional gunmetal 18in rims that I like. After the local PCA region’s “New Member’s Gathering”, he offered to let me drive his Stang around.

Now, as I’ve already stated and most of you already know, or should know, I am not a fan of the movement for downsized and turbocharged motors. I think some awesome cars lose some of their awesomeness because of the lacking of things their predecessors are known for; be it the AMG-GT( I still like it, just not as much as the SLS AMG and it’s awesome sounding V8 ), the Porsche 911 which will be going turbocharged in 2017( and it’s epic high and quick revving Flat-6 with a noise that defines my childhood. And trust me when I say we’re going rampant about it on Rennlist ), and the Mustang EB soon to be replacing the V6 and it’s noise that I actually enjoyed. There isn’t a damn thing I can do about what’s happening so I and many others have to soldier on, and maybe even give these cars a chance, and I can’t refuse a chance to drive a new Mustang anyway.

This Ecoboost, while being the fourth Mustang I’ve ridden in(prior Stangs being an ‘87 LX 5.0, an ‘11 GT, and a ‘15 GT Vert), this would be the first one I’d actually get to drive, it had a lot to live up to suffice to say, and being an EB didn’t help it’s case. I tried to be as unbiased as possible, but I’ll let you decide if the bias pops through some.

The Good

I actually have some good things to say about this car, shocking right?

1. The Ride

I found the ride to be the best of all the Mustangs I’ve been in. Of course, the IRS is the primary reason for this, but driving around Woodward, Waterford, and Pontiac where there are some crappy roads, it’s still a nice and composed ride. I’m not entirely sure I’d be saying the same if it had the Performance Package, but I drive a 944 with a worn out suspension, and I don’t complain about that at all.

2. The Transmission

I expected the transmission to be just like my Focus ST, and I have no complaints about the gearbox in that. As such, I have no real complaints about the Mustang’s transmission either. The shifts feel even better in the Mustang, much shorter and crispier than the ST. To me, it’s the perfect amount of shortness in the throws without being or needing a short throw shifter. This is also the person who’s tried driving an ST with a short throw and a 911SC with one as well; and while I couldn’t drive the ST for crap with one, I could do slightly better in the SC. I suppose it’s an “acquired taste”.

3. The Engine

WUT?? Yeah. I have to eat some of my own words on this one, because it’s actually an impressive motor. It puts shame to the 2.0L in the ST and is leaps ahead of it in every single way. It actually fooled me in a strange way. The power feels linear, but with boost, if that makes any sense. And while the power does let off somewhat early(around 4000-4500rpm) it pulls in all the gears, even 5th and 6th which could easily be called overdrive gears. The ST pulls to the same rpms, but if you put it in 5th or 6th, you get nothing. This motor is more than powerful enough stock to push this pony around just about anywhere here. I really like this motor, I wish it was in the ST(Yes, it’s in the RS, but that’s more expensive than a base Ecoboost Mustang and Focus ST).

And it gets better MPG than the Focus ST too! My friend had recently taken it on a trip from Michigan to DC, he got back with an average of 30MPG. I could not come anywhere close to that in the ST, never have and probably never will no matter how I drive it.

And yes, you can roast the tires and slide that rear end out with this motor stock, and with tunes and mods, the hooning possibilities are endless with this car! It’s a very capable engine, and shouldn’t be flamed for not being a V8, it’s not supposed to be nor was it ever. In fact, it’s more powerful and efficient than any 302 or 4.6 Mod Motor ever was and will be, so there.

4. The Interior

(Photo from AutoGuide)

Nicest looking Mustang interior in my opinion. It looks and feels more better than the last gen. Even the base model feels nice. I love that there’s no MFT, and that there’s no touch screen, but you still get a backup camera on the smaller screen! Win-win for me!

I love the new steering wheel and it’s smaller size, and that it’s now adjustable! The cupholders aren’t in the way of shifting as much as they were in the past. And there’s plenty of headroom for me as well!

The Bad

Of course I have some complaints.

1. The Size

It’s much bigger than I thought. The interior felt compact-sized to me, but once I started driving in traffic, the car felt bigger than I thought. I actually felt slightly nervous with cars around. I’ve only daily driven compacts and cars in that haven’t exceeded 175in in length, I assume if I had more than 40 minutes to drive around town and park in lots and such, I’d get used to it eventually. But for the time I had it, I was not expecting it to feel like that. It’s outward visibility was enough to help keep me in line. The strangest thing, is that even though this car isn’t bigger than the previous gen, the latter never even felt that big to me, odd...

The one thing that truly annoyed me, however, was the hood crease up front. I can’t really explain it well enough, so here’s a pic from Jalopnik that points it out clearly:

(Picture from Jalopnik)

I love being able to see the hood in front of me as I’m driving, but I found that with my 5’10” height, the crease took up a lot of my visibility up front, even as I adjusted my seat to mitigate it. It was also disorienting for me looking straight ahead with that thing in the way of my line of sight, like it was a guide line but offset from my POV.

2. The Clutch

The transmission is fine. The clutch, is not. I expected this to be better than the ST. It’s much heavier(not saying much though) than the ST, but still has no feel to it. It only feels like it has two settings: on and off, as if there’s no buffer or space between. Like the ST, you can remove the assist spring, but how that helps, I’m not sure. I haven’t done it to my ST yet but I will eventually. Supposedly it makes the clutch even heavier than with the spring, perhaps it’ll provide more “feel”.

3. The Sound

I really could not go on without addressing this. Ford nailed the sound symposer this time around in the Mustang. Compared to the ST, where it would only come alive under certain throttle inputs, mostly quick accelerating inputs, the Mustangs seems to be on with any throttle input, at any point in the rev range; suffice to say, even though it’s artificial in origin, it sounds more natural than the ST’s ever did.

The symposer gives the interior a much more throatier and stringer-sounding exhaust note and I really like that; I’d love it more if I didn’t know it was fake though. With all the noise regulations and such which I think played a role in the way it sounds on the outside, some people will say it doesn’t matter anymore how it sounds on the outside if it sounds good on the inside, I very much disagree. I’ve listened to countless aftermarket exhaust sound videos, and even though it’s a fact that you’ll get a much better idea of how they sound in person than online, there’s not one exhaust that I think enhances the sound, and I find that it’s better to leave the exhaust on this car alone, unfortunately. I’ll also admit that the sound coming from this car doesn’t say “Mustang” to me, but it does say “European Pony Car”, it’s still something, and it’s good to be something. I just reckon it’s hard to make Ecoboost 4 cylinders sound good. But my other gripe was with an exhaust, this Mustang sounds close to how my ST sounds, which does bother me for some reason I cannot explain:

(My car’s exhaust compared to what could be called the “equivalent” for the Mustang)

Verdict

I have to say, this car is damn good at what it does. Is it worthy of replacing the workhouse 3.7L V6 that I love? Yes it is. Could I see myself driving one? Yeah, I could. However, I couldn’t convince myself to ever buy, lease or even buy one used in the future. It’s a car I could see myself in, but not one I want. If I were to compare and have the choice of a Focus ST and this Mustang, I’d take the ST. It just feels more fun to drive and hoon around in compared to the Mustang. And if it had that 2.3EB under the hood, it would be quite the riot! One day...

I think people get the wrong idea when they compare this car to a GT; they shouldn’t be compared to one another because they’re for two completely different kinds of cars for different kinds of people, and maybe that one person who likes both. This Ecoboost Mustang isn’t like Mustangs of the past, it certainly isn’t a brand new SVO, even though people constantly compare the two(It’s like saying the 488 GTB is the new 288 GTO, but that’s different). It’s an all new kind of Mustang, and it should be praised for being different, something new we haven’t seen before. It deserves a chance from everyone, even the ones adamant about having a V8 or hesitant to try a turbo-4 Mustang. It might not be for you, but you never fully know until you give it a try, ask me how I know. Maybe it’s one of those cars we’ll eventually learn to appreciate as time goes on.

TheHondaBro > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 12:16

4

That’s a damn good color.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 12:22

0

I drove two Ecoboost Mustangs on Saturday (yay, Ecoboost Challenge!). 6-speed vert and Auto hardtop.
I’ll admit, I was impressed with the power, but like you said the interior felt cramped with my 5’8” fluffy frame. I didn’t put the top down on the vert (should have but I went early and there was a line of people behind me), but I think it may have helped with the “crampedness” (I thought the roof was pretty low myself).

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > TheHondaBro 05/12/2015 at 12:22

0

It’s not my favorite color, but it does look very good on this car.

TheHondaBro > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 12:26

0

It’s kinda like a dirty, diluted BRG.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 05/12/2015 at 12:27

0

Then one I’m talking about in this post is actually a coupe, but I felt the same way when I rode in that Convertible last year. Perhaps it’s a Pony Car thing, but the interior space-wise doesn’t fit the exterior which appears larger on the outside, but cramped on the inside. Then again, this car didn’t really grow much compared to the last gen, so I don’t know what happened.

How’d you like the auto with paddles? I really would like to have a go with them sometime.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > TheHondaBro 05/12/2015 at 12:30

1

They should have just given us some color close to Dark Highland Green, so we could have something actually close to BRG.

Personally, I’m waiting for the return of Grabber Green:

TheHondaBro > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 12:31

0

Damn that looks like a crayon color.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 12:47

0

I didn’t realize it had the paddles until I hit the slalom near the end of the course.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 05/12/2015 at 12:48

0

Ah, that’s a bummer. Well how’d you like the auto in general? :p

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > TheHondaBro 05/12/2015 at 12:49

0

And it comes in different shades too!

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 12:55

0

obamanotbad.jpeg kinda sums it up. Like you said, the clutch on the 6-speed was a bit “funky” and I felt like a slipped it way too much in the launch area, so I felt like the power came on better with the auto. If I was going to buy one, I’d give the auto a really strong look.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 05/12/2015 at 13:03

0

I would as well.

Steve Zissou > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 13:16

2

Opposed to turbo’d engines...drives an Ecoboost ST?

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Steve Zissou 05/12/2015 at 13:23

0

It’s complicated. It’s one of those things I didn’t realize I wasn’t really a fan of until I learned and got more experience with cars. I was new to the car world and with little experience or knowledge, this was the car that was recommended to me by the majority of Oppo. Then I got some seat time in some awesome N/A cars, and I realized which of the two I preferred more.

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 13:55

0

I'm kind of surprised you say the clutch is heavier. My Dad's 14's clutch is ridiculously light. The first time I put my foot down on it I thought I somehow missed the pedal! When my dad test drove the 15 GT PP he said they managed to make it even lighter, which I didn't think was possible. It was funny watching him struggle to get the clutch figured out.

Then again any clutch too me is stupid light because mine is supposedly really heavy, but feels light to me...

But I still really want to drive the Ecoboost to see how it compares to my car. They're so close in power numbers, it would be interesting.

Good review.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > 03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST 05/12/2015 at 14:39

0

What I meant was the clutch was heavier than what’s in the ST. It’s still freakishly light though. I didn’t have enough time to figure out the clutch it was kinda annoying. It was similar to the ST’s, yet so very different.

You really should ask him to test drive an EB and let you get a chance at the wheel!

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 15:19

0

I was just saying I don't know how it could get any lighter.

I honestly don't think my dad wants to test drive an EB. Sure, he would if he had the chance but it's not really anything he would want to try.

That said, he plans to go out for another GT PP test drive because the one we test drove wasn't prepped yet. Meaning it was still in dealer transport mode with seemingly 0 power. That's not fun!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > 03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST 05/12/2015 at 15:32

0

There’s such a thing as dealer transport mode? Neat!

Also, perfect timing!

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/i-did-that-clu…

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 16:26

0

Not neat when you want to experience a 435HP V8!!!!!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > 03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST 05/12/2015 at 16:27

0

These are facts!

Manic Otti > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 05/12/2015 at 16:36

0

Nice read. Anyway, if you got an aftermarket exhaust, you can disable the sound thingy, right?

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Manic Otti 05/12/2015 at 17:42

0

You have to remove the whole unit. It isn’t difficult, but it has to be done. I think there’s also a fuse you can remove to turn it off? But I’m not sure if that turns off the radio as well?