MT '19 Car of the Year Nomination

[BmacIL]

I love my 2019, hands down. It's some of the most fun I've had driving around, despite it needing a new engine at just 1k miles. It's a rocket, but it's no track car. The first thing I noticed was how sloppy it felt around turns. I know exactly what he means when he writes that the "rear end that has a mind of its own." I'll have times where I swear it feels like the rear end is going to break loose, but it doesn't. Then I'll have other times where I'll think the car can handle a turn just fine, but then the back end will kick loose. I have an aftermarket suspension and brembo brakes on my old sn95, and will admit that it feels much tighter around turns; the main difference being that it feels predictable. I sometimes find myself missing the feeling of the sn95. It's something that I was worried would happen, but I was hoping would not happen. Now, just to clarify, I'm talking about when throwing the car's weight around. In daily driving, the 2019 is leaps and bounds above the sn95 in ride quality. I can be going 80 but feel like I'm coasting at 40. I will note that the interior also feels a bit cheap. My dad loved it when he saw the car, but I can't help but feel like it'll just snap loose if I hit something a little too hard. Not to mention the nasty gash in one of my cup holder bezels, which came from the factory, that ford refuses to do anything about (it's priority is obviously low over the engine issues).

None of the above necessarily detracts from the car as a whole for me. I don't want to do a buyback, and I don't regret choosing this over the camaro; despite my love for the feel of pushrod engines. It's a different beast, but I completely understand the criticisms that the magazine made. Just look at the finalists, they all serve different roles. The Mustang and Camaro are enthusiast cars, not car of the year cars. I don't understand why so many seem to be hurt over what was said in the article.

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[Rock&Roll]

Meh ... most people won’t take the car to a track.

Yes there are lots of Mustang enthusiasts here that will and I love that about this forum but the whole track thing is a non issue for most Mustang owners me thinks.

 

[Fatguy]

Meh ... most people won’t take the car to a track.

Yes there are lots of Mustang enthusiasts here that will and I love that about this forum but the whole track thing is a non issue for most Mustang owners me thinks.

Exactly! Forget about the track as most will chicken out well before the limits of the car is reached. Ford knows this and as a business they are right if they have a car that goes to limp mode as soon as it does. How many people will push a car this hard? Unfortunately the folks at MT will!


I note that Ford calls it a performance pack and not real track package. They know their buyers, mostly middle-aged guys wanting some excitement in their lives. So they market to that demographic. Most folk just want the image and noise and maybe a decent pull on the road and then a DD car listening to the oldies station otherwise. A real track suspension does not make sense.


When I got this V6 I would drive down to Mexico late on a Saturday night and tangle with some of the boyos looking for some action. A large Asian crowd with money and nice machines. So I’m running down the road with this guy in some Porsche looking car with an aero package and to the surprise of both of us we found ourselves in a decreasing radius turn and he chickened out while I stayed focused and motored out of the thing. He lost it and lifted. To save face he motored down some back streets and cut in front of me when the race was clearly over when he chickened out and disappeared. But the point of this was the car should have been all over me but the driver was not up to it. And I just am average ability.


There is a small army of speed demons here but the rest will chicken out in anything other than a straight line so why bother. Except for the fact you are paying for it - supposedly. If more Mustang owners actually drove their cars hard then Ford would have to listen and make changes. But the only time this becomes an issue is when car mags call Ford’s bluff and actually drive them hard and have them fail. That does not make a car of the year!


Actually, I had to go to a coffee shop after that race and ask myself what the fuck I was doing back there, especially at my age. So even if you can push the car a bit you are second guessing yourself in the end. Ford probably did the smart thing as much as it irks true enthusiasts...

 

[Braski]

By my experience with my 15, they're right. That IRS and its subframe mounting is just awful. I had to put at least a Grand under there is Steeda bits to make it perform. And yes even on some otherwise smooth pavement the rear end would bob up and down with the poor damping and rebound.

Yup, my 15 stock was a wheel hopping SOB!

 

[w3rkn]

Anyone pushing their s550 Mustang beyond it's stock limits, will already know about Steeda, BMR, etc..

Does anyone see an inherent problem with the Mustang s550 chassis, just "factory" isolation of the subframe and stamped suspension, etc. Easily fixed with a Credit Card.

^^

 

[Competition Orange]

That really surprises me, as I feel that my GT350 is balanced way too far toward understeer and has great rear grip coming out of corners. I would have thought the Bullitt would behave similarly.

I never switch everything off, though. Not sure why I would want to. IMO the Mustang drives great on the track even in normal or sport mode. But I'm not burning tires and sliding tail out around corners at the track. I'm trying to be smooth and fast.

While I agree with you to a point regarding handling balance, I’ve found that most of that is due to being in too high a gear, read too little tq. If you’re in the upper revs coming out of corners the car balances out nicely because the thrust is there. Exit a turn with the revs too low and it can’t push the ass end around enough and the front washes out a bit.

Additionally, you’ll get to a point where keeping the nannies on will absolutely make the above situation of understeer worse as well as hinder your driver skill growth and lap times.

Absolutely agree, a Golf R does not have a better interior. Of course you can't compare it to premium brands.

I came from 15 years of Audi’s and VWs including a few golf rs. I then spent 3 years in my 15 gt pp and now 5 months into my 350 and can tell you without any reservation that the mustang isn’t in the same league as a golf r for interior build quality, materials or fit and finish. But, that’s why they aren’t even more expensive than they already are. Gotta sacrifice something and imo, its the interior.

 

[bluebeastsrt]

If you are basing a car purchase off a fourm then you wouldn’t buy any car.

I ran out and bought another mustang after reading this forum. It was a birds of a feather moment!

 

[thehunterooo]

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542210

Yikes

 

[EcoVert]

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542210

Yikes

These two guys will be band by morning and the thread deleted

 

[thehunterooo]

These two guys will be band by morning and the thread deleted

Lmaoooo

Nah it will be moved to the ordering section.

 

[thehunterooo]

Sorry but can you post anything else than GM bashing? Just take a loot at your post history in the last few weeks...


Remember that this is Car of the Year, not Best drivers car. It's not about the best performance for the bucks, but maybe more about which new car stand out the most. The Bolt won 2017

Actually just looking at the last few pages of the 2018 Mustang hate thread on C6G is all there is to see. You will just pretend is doesn’t exist. Looks really bad on your end.

 

[markham51]

All auto magazine writers are basically jaded after a short while and they decide what blows their skirts up. Generalmotors trend is no exception. To base YOUR car buying decision on their review would be mostly a mistake. I mean how can you figure out what being harsh and bumpy even on smooth roads means? That is an absurd statement. Throw in personal biases and magazine reviews are anything but objective. Ford has no doubt made the decision, probably for financial reasons, to put uber-strict limits on temperatures of various parts. It looks like they have gone way too far because tripping a sensor alert in 2 track laps is ridiculous.
Everyone has to decide what they want in a car and do the research and test drives to make sure they're getting what fulfills those needs. I wouldn't want to drive a ZR1 Corvette as a DD car but on the track, yeah baby. For me the bottom line is that no single car does, or should be expected to, fulfill every driving need. You need at least 2 cars and a truck/SUV type vehicle IMHO but then you have to bring money into the discussion...

You nailed it. I might add that magazines play nice with those companies that advertise with them. That way they incent manufacturers to spend money with them. The more you spend on advertising the more you get your vehicles in the spotlight. Every time you see a GM ad in MT you will see quid pro quo in good press. That is one of the reasons I don't buy MT any more.

 

[EcoVert]

You nailed it. I might add that magazines play nice with those companies that advertise with them. That way they incent manufacturers to spend money with them. The more you spend on advertising the more you get your vehicles in the spotlight. Every time you see a GM ad in MT you will see quid pro quo in good press. That is one of the reasons I don't buy MT any more.

Someone gave the wife a copy of car and driver it has nine strait pages of advertisement in the middle of the magazine just before the lead story that's another resound I don't buy car magazines.

 

[thehunterooo]

Someone gave the wife a copy of car and driver it has nine strait pages of advertisement in the middle of the magazine just before the lead story that's another resound I don't buy car magazines.

Don't lie you bought it

 

[Fatguy]

Someone gave the wife a copy of car and driver it has nine strait pages of advertisement in the middle of the magazine just before the lead story that's another resound I don't buy car magazines.

If they don’t get advertising then they don’t survive. If they don’t survive then you just get Billy Bob’s picks for car of the year. Unfortunately Billy Bob doesn’t have the cash or notoriety to travel the world testing cars. The current crop of car mags is as close to impartial as you will get. They have decades of reputation at stake and won’t sell that out. If the current Mustang does not make it this year it doesn’t mean the fix was in. But saying this on a Mustang fan website is not popular, but it is true.

Full disclosure, as I am also a journalist but that should not change the narrative of the argument one way or another.

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