Will this car out drive me?

[mustang1]

no problem, if you can handle a crown vic, driving a GT will be a breeze.

No. C.V. has open diff. Mustang has LSD / Torsen. Very different. It's best if noobs coast though turns. WOT in 1st/ 2nd can trip the traction control, depending on the pavement. Do that with the car pointed in a straight line and its fun rather than scary.

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[nastang87xx]

Any car with any power can out drive you in the right conditions as Norm eluded to. Go to your local autocross club and find out for yourself. I've spun S2000's, Focus's, Miatas, Mustangs, Integra/Civics...

See if you have a skidpad anywhere near you.

 

[15wile]

Oh, heads up... if you need feel the urge to drive 'tarded, don't do it at Mustang Week. The bystander count has to be in the triple digits by now...

 

[RocketGuy3]

Just never do anything more aggressive than Sport+ on the street (no reason to, anyways), and the car will save you if you do something really stupid... it still lets you get a bit squirrelly and have some fun, too.

 

[timsstang]

The power will definitely give you a wakeup call if you aren't used to it, and even if you are used to it the power can still get you if you're not paying attention. Several times I have spun my tires at a red light/stop sign without meaning to, or taken a corner a bit too fast and had the back end hop on me... with embarrassment following shortly thereafter. This car has some amazing tech though and it is good at righting itself.

One thing that will always surprise you is how quickly the car gets up to speed. Flooring it to pass someone or to merge onto the interstate will have you at 100+ REALLY quickly... I can't count the number of times I've passed someone at full throttle and found myself soaring down the highway at 110mph without realizing it until I looked at the speedometer. The ride is so refined that often you won't even realize you're hauling ass until you look down at your dash. :eyebulge:

This car just drives and handles its power very well, so well that high speed in the Mustang feels elegant instead of frightening. It's made worse by all the electronic nannies and stability/traction control tech that keeps the car so on point that you don't have fear anymore to keep your driving conservative. You can drive fast and hard and the car will take care of itself and stay glued to the road, which is a double-edged sword--it's easy to get overconfident and drive too aggressively when the Mustang does such a great job at correcting your overenthusiasm. The technology in the Mustang will correct some "whoops I forgot this car was so powerful" mistakes, but only up to a certain point so always respect :hail: the power and remember that electronic nannies are no replacement for good driving. You'll be fine but don't let the S550's refinement fool you; there really is a monster hanging out under your hood.

Seconding this one! I punched mine yesterday from a dead stop, and the 'smile factor' was amazing!! Didn't disable any 'nannies' but was STILL WAY TOO MUCH FUN!!

 

[Norm Peterson]

Just never do anything more aggressive than Sport+ on the street (no reason to, anyways), and the car will save you most of the time if you do something really stupid... it still lets you get a bit squirrelly and have some fun, too.

Fixed.

Don't ever assume that the nannies can cover you under all conditions and situations. Especially with summer performance tires at temperatures below about 45°F. The nannies aren't that good . . . as more than a few people running on Goodyear's G:2 Supercar tires have suddenly discovered.


Norm

 

[SnoopisTDI]

The thing to remember is that the traction control and stability control are reactive. They cannot predict and prevent a loss of traction or a slide - they can only recover from it. The further you stray from controlled driving, the harder it will be for them to recover. Dry warm day, gradual acceleration around a constant-radius on-ramp, the back steps out just a little... probably going to straighten up pretty quickly. Hard shift to second on that same ramp on a cold day and you might be tasking it too much.

 

[cbrookre]

The thing to remember is that the traction control and stability control are reactive. They cannot predict and prevent a loss of traction or a slide - they can only recover from it. The further you stray from controlled driving, the harder it will be for them to recover. Dry warm day, gradual acceleration around a constant-radius on-ramp, the back steps out just a little... probably going to straighten up pretty quickly. Hard shift to second on that same ramp on a cold day and you might be tasking it too much.

Well said, the driver is responsible for making sure that they control the car in a way that the traction/stability control are only needed for small corrections (basically what [MENTION=6743]Norm Peterson[/MENTION] has been saying all along). They are not a parachute and the gas pedal is not an on/off switch. The way that Norm described it is the way that I have found myself driving as well, "squeeze" the gas and if the tires start to spin or the back starts to step out, then squeeze it a little bit less and it will come right back to you. Your best bet is to drive the car as though there is no traction or stability control and they can step in if you go a little too far.

 

[Static_LV]

@Norm has shared a lot of really good wisdom here a lot more eloquently than I can, so I am going to try to just reinforce some key points.

Nannies try to stop bad stuff from happening. When they sense adverse conditions or inputs, they attempt to moderate these to keep the car within certain parameters. If you accidentally or intentionally exceed these parameters they will try to bring you back to steady state. These effects can be unpredictable and the car can seem like it is fighting you because it is.

Modern cars are designed for safety. If you lose control, the car and nannies are designed to ensure that a frontal crash scenario is the most likely outcome. This is one of the main reasons that understeer characteristics are engineered into most modern automobiles. Nannies will attempt to correct oversteer conditions, which the car reads as a potential crash, into understeer conditions for occupant safety, because litigation...

If you want to try this out for yourself, go to a local autocross, and run in normal mode, sport+, and track. You will clearly feel the differences in these modes as you approach the limits.

At the end of the day, a car is just a machine that is subject to the laws of physics. As long as you do not exceed the inertial or frictional limits of the system, it will go the direction you point it and the shiny side will stay up

 

[Quackfoo]

Lol the guy is most likely a cop, they train for high speed driving situations. And he probably doesn't need lessons on how to take a corner or modern safety features. He just has to respect how easy it is to kick the tail around if you aren't paying attention.

 

[Drakoni]

Its not hard to drive. Just ease into it. The car is very capable, but it will bite you in the ass if you way over drive it. Also dont turn off the stability control. I have been auto crossing for 12 years and I leave it on when im on the streets. Plus as you learn the car the stability system lets you have a little fun before it steps in. If you learn to drive the car within the threshold of the system you can step the ass out coming out of a corner and it wont intervene. If the system stops the slide you did it wrong .

I would recommend finding a local autocross and taking the car out there when you first buy it. It will give you an opportunity to test the limits of the car and even lose control of it without wrecking your car.

Have fun and be safe!

Nick

 

[vernonator]

Well said, the driver is responsible for making sure that they control the car in a way that the traction/stability control are only needed for small corrections (basically what [MENTION=6743]Norm Peterson[/MENTION] has been saying all along). They are not a parachute and the gas pedal is not an on/off switch. The way that Norm described it is the way that I have found myself driving as well, "squeeze" the gas and if the tires start to spin or the back starts to step out, then squeeze it a little bit less and it will come right back to you. Your best bet is to drive the car as though there is no traction or stability control and they can step in if you go a little too far.

This is a good description - when I have had the nannies kick it was in S+ and it was cold and wet, felt the backend start to come out and as soon as I eased of the throttle just a bit the nanny snapped me back inline, did give me a bit of pucker factor.

 

[cbrookre]

Lol the guy is most likely a cop, they train for high speed driving situations. And he probably doesn't need lessons on how to take a corner or modern safety features. He just has to respect how easy it is to kick the tail around if you aren't paying attention.

Just because he is LEO does not make him a good race car driver!

 

[Quackfoo]

Just because he is LEO does not make him a good race car driver!

And if he ever gets into a race car, maybe it'll make a difference... the mustang isn't one . It's a quick car, but it isn't hard to drive.

 

[oOTHX-1138Oo]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at ordering a GT PP within the next month or so and I I get closer to pulling the trigger I find myself wondering: Will I wreck this car?

I'll elaborate: My current vehicle is a VW Rabbit, 170HP/160TQ FWD, I can drive this car at its limit without exceeding my own driving capability. I;ve never driven a RWD car with more than 250 HP.

Without getting into what I do ;), In my profession, I drive ford explorers and crown vics 12+ hours a day and at least once a day I drive those cars balls to the wall to where I need to go.

The Crownvic is literary the only RWD V8 I have ever driven in a "High performance" capacity, those who know the crown vic know they arent exactly tail happy power houses, you actually have to deliberately floor the gas around a turn to break the tail loose even a little.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have yet to drive a vehicle that could quiet possibly exceed driving skill. (I like to think I'm a little more skilled than your average driver :headbonk

How easy is it to lose it in one of these cars?

How many folks here went from a low power commuter to a GT and how did you adjust to the difference in performance?

Have any of you guys while driving your GT's had a moment where the car drove you rather than you driving it? Looking forward to joining the club

If you want to have some fun learning to really drive the 2016 mustang I really recommend picking up a force feedback wheel and the game/simulator called Assetto Corssa on steam. They just released a new version with the 2016 mustang GT. It's the most realistic sim of the car that you can get. I've found that the sim car is extremely close to the real thing and you can learn a ton from it about what the cars limits are, with zero real world consequences.

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