Timeless
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Still not sure where this will take me yet but figured I'd start it and it is sort of any introduction thread. Car purchased: http://windowsticker.forddirect.com/windowsticker.pdf?vin=1FA6P8CF2K5124240
SO FAIR WARNING THIS COULD GET LENGTHY! Scroll to bottom for TLDR
My last Mustang was a 2011 GT Premium in Sterling Grey Metallic with the red interior. Loved that car (especially after the BG Syncromesh fluid change!) and never really had any issues other than notchy shifts when cold as expected. This was the cylinder 8 getting too hot era which kept me from tuning it beyond the Ford Racing tune which also got rid of the skip shift. Tracked the car twice at CMP and loved it.
Back then I tested a Camaro just so I could say I did and I did the same again this time. The Camaro is nice but still has the same flaws it did back then (cramped interior, lack luster interior, digital dash in GT kills the Camaro dash [HUD in Camaro not enough to help], cargo room, blindspots, weird camera in place of normal rear view mirror [can be turned off I believe...but wow is it weird. Was like putting on different prescription glass every time you went from looking at road to looking in mirror...eyes had to refocus and adjust. Really low seating position in Camaro as not ideal for me either. Camaro chassis definitely superior for corner carving but the car actually felt slower even at initial startup which I did not expect. With the low end torque coming on earlier I thought it would feel faster off the line but I think Ford has a better management in the 10R80 programming. Both cars had active exhaust and the Mustang was better there as well. I gave the Chevy guy a ride down the same stretch we took the Camaro in this Mustang and he agreed on this as well. He's already quite bummed the new RAM is killing his Silverado sales so that did not help his day.
Fast forward several years and several cars (2013 SHO PP, 2014 RAM 1500, 2016 Focus RS) as life is too short to drive anything for too long, and now in a 2019 GT / CS. Not what I thought I wanted at all. Started out thinking 2018 Vert in Royal Crimson (too heavy and boat like). Then it moved to 2018 Coupe with PP1/MR (2019s got announced and were within a couple months of 2018 builds so decided to go that way. Dropped the Royal Crimson and switched to Ruby Red along with the improved B&O sound system. Then the MR backorder made me rethink whether I needed it or not. At first I thought maybe some track days at CMP but the more I thought about it the less likely that seemed to gonna happen. So this is basically going to be a comfy daily that I wanted to be able to enjoy some spirited open road bursts and MAYBE try out drag racing at our closest track about an hour from my house. I had some good discussion on here about non pp1 cars ride quality versus pp1 and pp1 with MR. Test drove both and decided the non pp1 was just as good (even better since I could allocate that money to other items).
So fast forward to this past Wednesday and the local dealer I have a great relationship with allowed me to test drive this car for a few days and see how I liked it. GT / CS I always liked but did not think about, the 401a interior I liked but did not really think I needed (will never use the NAV as Apple Carplay will be used...Digital dash seemed nice but gimmicky). Car had 50 miles on it when I took it to test out and had 168 miles when I finally pulled the trigger.
My review after the miles:
GT / CS package - LOVE the Alcantara/Miko suede inserts and seats (originally wanted the ceramic interior on the 400a). Much better quality than the 400a leather. Always loved the GT CS specific wheels and it really goes well with the Ingot silver (cannot get Ruby red with CS package). Like the other subtle exterior items as well including the different spoiler. My only regret will most likely be the smaller wheels which will not allow wider tires. The A/S tires were not my first choice either but as I picked this car up in 50 degree raining conditions it seem appropriate. Summer only tires will be swapped out eventually anyways. The 10 speed auto / nannies do a great job handling power even on these tires. Nothing crazy yet as I am breaking it in according to manual.
10 Speed Auto (3.55) - I test drove other cars with it and knew it was going to be good. I can now confirm it after many more miles. I always drive it in Sport mode as I love the way it tries to mimic the manual trans. I get why some people might not like it as it can be jerky when doing initial low throttle starts and hard stops but I believe that smooths out over time. You can always drop it into normal drive if that bothers you. I test drove the previous auto and found it too sluggish...this one corrects that. It's not DCT level but close enough for me. I love the manual mode when in Sport. I love how you can have cruise control on and still manually change the gears without it dropping cruise control.
401a Package - I originally wanted the 400a package with the ceramic because I thought it would be a good color combo and like something different than black interiors. It also helps in the summer here as it gets triple digits regularly. I also liked the digital dash but did not need or want the NAV so figured it cost too much. Had some reservations about a new dash that was digital and issues with it also as the Sync 3 is still buggy to this day. Now that I have it I do find it to be fantastic. It truly moves the car into a league of its own compared to MANY cars and definitely in its segment. I suspect the competition is moving to add this in the next refresh. It just looks great and everyone that sees it loves it. I am also glad to not lose the heated steering wheel I had in the RS. Now that I am back in an auto the remote start is welcome again as I can get into a warm or cooled vehicle...forgot how much I missed it. Is it worth $2200? If you can swing it yes. If I had to drop one item (other than the spare tire kit for $400 that came on this build) it would probably be this as I could definitely live with the 400a package. Blind spot is nice to have back also I did not have it in the RS. The RS had MUCH better visibility so was not as necessary.
Active Exhaust - Ford absolutely killed it here. Fantastic. I did pickup a black Friday special on the Steeda resonator delete H pipe ($103!) to see how I would like it. I do have the AE set to quiet mode hours between 10pm-8am as I like my neighbors and want them to keep liking me, Curious as to the increase in volume. Will know soon. My only gripe is that the MyMode does not seem to allow exhaust settings of anything other than normal by default. Normal sounds great but would like to have the ability to set it to another mode if I wanted to.
B&O Audio - Held out for a 2019 in part because of this option. It is a nice system (far better than my RS with the RS2 package!). The volume level of 15 on this system is equivalent to 30 on the RS with much more bass. How much better than the Shaker Pro? I really don't know but suspect minimal at best. It is not anywhere close to what someone can do custom with another $1k. It is however very nice and acceptable for my daily driving needs. If something easy becomes available to add on that makes a difference I am sure I'll do it.
Ingot Silver - As said earlier not my first choice. As a Gamecock fan I wanted Ruby Red. CS package makes this unavailable and my local dealer had this in stock in the show room. I do love a silver and black package though so this works. Ceramic pro kit on the way.
Apologize for the one quick pic...has been cold and rainy so nothing detailed yet.
TLDR: Back into a Mustang and loving it so far.
SO FAIR WARNING THIS COULD GET LENGTHY! Scroll to bottom for TLDR
My last Mustang was a 2011 GT Premium in Sterling Grey Metallic with the red interior. Loved that car (especially after the BG Syncromesh fluid change!) and never really had any issues other than notchy shifts when cold as expected. This was the cylinder 8 getting too hot era which kept me from tuning it beyond the Ford Racing tune which also got rid of the skip shift. Tracked the car twice at CMP and loved it.
Back then I tested a Camaro just so I could say I did and I did the same again this time. The Camaro is nice but still has the same flaws it did back then (cramped interior, lack luster interior, digital dash in GT kills the Camaro dash [HUD in Camaro not enough to help], cargo room, blindspots, weird camera in place of normal rear view mirror [can be turned off I believe...but wow is it weird. Was like putting on different prescription glass every time you went from looking at road to looking in mirror...eyes had to refocus and adjust. Really low seating position in Camaro as not ideal for me either. Camaro chassis definitely superior for corner carving but the car actually felt slower even at initial startup which I did not expect. With the low end torque coming on earlier I thought it would feel faster off the line but I think Ford has a better management in the 10R80 programming. Both cars had active exhaust and the Mustang was better there as well. I gave the Chevy guy a ride down the same stretch we took the Camaro in this Mustang and he agreed on this as well. He's already quite bummed the new RAM is killing his Silverado sales so that did not help his day.
Fast forward several years and several cars (2013 SHO PP, 2014 RAM 1500, 2016 Focus RS) as life is too short to drive anything for too long, and now in a 2019 GT / CS. Not what I thought I wanted at all. Started out thinking 2018 Vert in Royal Crimson (too heavy and boat like). Then it moved to 2018 Coupe with PP1/MR (2019s got announced and were within a couple months of 2018 builds so decided to go that way. Dropped the Royal Crimson and switched to Ruby Red along with the improved B&O sound system. Then the MR backorder made me rethink whether I needed it or not. At first I thought maybe some track days at CMP but the more I thought about it the less likely that seemed to gonna happen. So this is basically going to be a comfy daily that I wanted to be able to enjoy some spirited open road bursts and MAYBE try out drag racing at our closest track about an hour from my house. I had some good discussion on here about non pp1 cars ride quality versus pp1 and pp1 with MR. Test drove both and decided the non pp1 was just as good (even better since I could allocate that money to other items).
So fast forward to this past Wednesday and the local dealer I have a great relationship with allowed me to test drive this car for a few days and see how I liked it. GT / CS I always liked but did not think about, the 401a interior I liked but did not really think I needed (will never use the NAV as Apple Carplay will be used...Digital dash seemed nice but gimmicky). Car had 50 miles on it when I took it to test out and had 168 miles when I finally pulled the trigger.
My review after the miles:
GT / CS package - LOVE the Alcantara/Miko suede inserts and seats (originally wanted the ceramic interior on the 400a). Much better quality than the 400a leather. Always loved the GT CS specific wheels and it really goes well with the Ingot silver (cannot get Ruby red with CS package). Like the other subtle exterior items as well including the different spoiler. My only regret will most likely be the smaller wheels which will not allow wider tires. The A/S tires were not my first choice either but as I picked this car up in 50 degree raining conditions it seem appropriate. Summer only tires will be swapped out eventually anyways. The 10 speed auto / nannies do a great job handling power even on these tires. Nothing crazy yet as I am breaking it in according to manual.
10 Speed Auto (3.55) - I test drove other cars with it and knew it was going to be good. I can now confirm it after many more miles. I always drive it in Sport mode as I love the way it tries to mimic the manual trans. I get why some people might not like it as it can be jerky when doing initial low throttle starts and hard stops but I believe that smooths out over time. You can always drop it into normal drive if that bothers you. I test drove the previous auto and found it too sluggish...this one corrects that. It's not DCT level but close enough for me. I love the manual mode when in Sport. I love how you can have cruise control on and still manually change the gears without it dropping cruise control.
401a Package - I originally wanted the 400a package with the ceramic because I thought it would be a good color combo and like something different than black interiors. It also helps in the summer here as it gets triple digits regularly. I also liked the digital dash but did not need or want the NAV so figured it cost too much. Had some reservations about a new dash that was digital and issues with it also as the Sync 3 is still buggy to this day. Now that I have it I do find it to be fantastic. It truly moves the car into a league of its own compared to MANY cars and definitely in its segment. I suspect the competition is moving to add this in the next refresh. It just looks great and everyone that sees it loves it. I am also glad to not lose the heated steering wheel I had in the RS. Now that I am back in an auto the remote start is welcome again as I can get into a warm or cooled vehicle...forgot how much I missed it. Is it worth $2200? If you can swing it yes. If I had to drop one item (other than the spare tire kit for $400 that came on this build) it would probably be this as I could definitely live with the 400a package. Blind spot is nice to have back also I did not have it in the RS. The RS had MUCH better visibility so was not as necessary.
Active Exhaust - Ford absolutely killed it here. Fantastic. I did pickup a black Friday special on the Steeda resonator delete H pipe ($103!) to see how I would like it. I do have the AE set to quiet mode hours between 10pm-8am as I like my neighbors and want them to keep liking me, Curious as to the increase in volume. Will know soon. My only gripe is that the MyMode does not seem to allow exhaust settings of anything other than normal by default. Normal sounds great but would like to have the ability to set it to another mode if I wanted to.
B&O Audio - Held out for a 2019 in part because of this option. It is a nice system (far better than my RS with the RS2 package!). The volume level of 15 on this system is equivalent to 30 on the RS with much more bass. How much better than the Shaker Pro? I really don't know but suspect minimal at best. It is not anywhere close to what someone can do custom with another $1k. It is however very nice and acceptable for my daily driving needs. If something easy becomes available to add on that makes a difference I am sure I'll do it.
Ingot Silver - As said earlier not my first choice. As a Gamecock fan I wanted Ruby Red. CS package makes this unavailable and my local dealer had this in stock in the show room. I do love a silver and black package though so this works. Ceramic pro kit on the way.
Apologize for the one quick pic...has been cold and rainy so nothing detailed yet.
TLDR: Back into a Mustang and loving it so far.
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