One Wild Day With A V8 Mustang Made Me Fall In Love With Muscle Cars

I own a Mk1 Mazda MX-5. It’s small, nimble and fun. I like that in a vehicle, which is exactly why I’ve never yearned for a heavy, gas-guzzling muscle car. Until now.

You see, I’ve spent a wild couple of days with Ford’s all-new 412bhp, 5.0-litre V8 Mustang, and I’ve used the time wisely: making lots of noise, exploring the engine’s huge torque reserves and driving flat out at 155mph on the German Autobahn. And because of these things, I’ve almost talked myself into becoming a Mustang V8 owner in the future.

One of the reasons for my newfound muscle car love is obvious: petrolheads worship a V8, and the new Mustang’s offers a heady mix of intoxicating engine and exhaust burble, addictive power and spine-tingling performance: 0-62mph takes just 4.8 seconds, and top speed is limited to 155mph.

Then there are the features of the car that have been designed for people like you and I in mind: launch control is a given, but the real party trick is line lock (it’s like having a handbrake for the front wheels), which you’d use for one of two important reasons; warming up your rear tyres before a drag race, or burning rubber to get serious kudos from your mates and the insatiable YouTube experts.

On the recent launch of the European-spec Mustang (US ‘Stangs are slightly different) in Germany, I was greeted by this beautiful sight in a Munich shopping centre…

After buddying up with a car journalist friend, it was immediately decided that we’d kick off the two-day launch in style. The car we’d choose would have to be the V8 (there were also a few 2.3-litre Ecoboost cabriolets on offer), in triple yellow flavour. A quick inspection of our ride revealed the holy grail of what makes a car a proper car: three pedals.

Pulling out of the plaza in Munich, I noticed how meaty the gearshift, pedal weights and steering were (quite a contrast to my MX-5, that’s for sure). I knew immediately that this was a car designed by real drivers, for real drivers.

And sure enough, pushing the throttle for the first time in second gear made my inner Clarkson shout “POWERRRRR!” While I love the highly-strung rasp of my little Mazda, in this instance, the all-encompassing noise proved there really is no replacement for displacement.

Before long, we were cruising on the Autobahn, and it was time to chase the Mustang’s 155mph limiter on the derestricted 10km stretch that waited ahead. Despite being a Friday morning, the roads were pretty clear, and in fifth gear I pinned the throttle until the car pulled back at 155mph. At this speed, the car was planted, felt safe and would probably have had the legs to hit 170mph without its chastity belt.

With the motorway exit taken and the Mustang well and truly tested in a straight line, we headed south into country-roads territory to see how well the ninth generation of the ‘Stang could handle European driving (corners). The answer? Impressively well. The car felt agile and fun, and body roll was limited. The suspension and dampers ensured a smooth ride and at no point did the rear of the car try to break free in fast corners. Sure, turning the traction control off would have filled the atmosphere with tyre smoke, but that was besides the point. The bottom line here is that the 2015 Mustang is very sure-footed.

Driving the V8 six-speed manual smoothly takes time, however. Engaging gears demands plenty of practice and the brakes are quite grabby when you’re not used to them; this isn’t a car you can jump into and exploit from the get-go. You will rattle your passenger’s head like a rag doll until you’ve figured out the Mustang’s shift sequence, but when you do - and when you’ve unlocked the engine’s true potential - you’ll feel like you’ve just achieved maximum man points.

With day one of the European Mustang launch drawing to a close, we arrived at our hotel for a BBQ dinner, a quick presentation and a few games of pool.

The start of day two revealed clear skies and blazing sunlight. A good job, too, because I’d be behind the wheel of a convertible Mustang with a difference. As well as the Magnetic Silver colour, it’s under the bonnet where you Mustang purists will find a dirty secret. Instead of the 5.0-litre V8 I enjoyed so much 16 hours earlier, my new car was powered by Ford’s 312bhp, 2.3-litre, four-cylinder Ecoboost engine. Four cylinders. Four.

Now before I discuss what that four-cylinder (four!) Mustang is like to drive, I’m just going to get straight in there and answer the question you’re asking right now with a handy video: what does it sound like?

Sure enough, the answer is that it doesn’t sound anything like a Mustang should in the traditional sense. There’s no manly rumble, and I’d take the highly-strung rasp of my MX-5 over this all day long.

So a hairdresser’s roadster with a stainless exhaust sounds better from the outside, what about the noise on the inside? Not good news on that front either, I’m afraid. While a few journos seemed pleased with what was being plummed through the speakers, my driving buddy and I could have sworn that (at times) we were inside the cabin of a 2.0-litre TDCi. On the overrun, especially, the diesel-like drone is laughably uncanny. According to Ford, this might not be the final iteration of the synthesised engine note, and for our sake, I hope some changes are made. A Ford Focus ST - which uses a simple valve to channel induction sound into the cabin - sounds better than the Ecoboost Mustang, so something like this could be the simple answer.

On the plus side, the 2.3 is far easier to get to grips with than the V8. The pedal weights are light, familiar and forgiving, which means that any driver can jump in and explore the car’s performance. Which, despite my car being the heavier cabriolet (1715kg vs the V8 fastback’s 1651kg), was strong enough to keep pace with the V8 most of the time (especially after 3500rpm when the engine was on boost). Only when the roads really opened up were the performance differences noticable.

In case you’re wondering about the hard facts, the 2.3-litre convertible will hit 62mph in around 6 seconds, compared with 4.8 seconds for the big boy V8 fastback.

Trying to keep up with the V8 when behind the wheel of the Ecoboost drop-top not only presents challenges in a straight line. Through corners, the latter car feels a lot less sure footed, and more floppy when you ask a lot of it. When you consider the length of both cars (almost 4.8 metres), it’s no wonder that the cabriolet fails to shine; there’s a huge, four-person hole where the roof would be, so structural rigidity is lacking.

With the roof down at speeds up to 80mph, buffeting is minimal, despite there being no option of a wind deflector. Surge past 80mph (we hit 140mph on the Autobahn fairly easily) and you’ll suffer. The best way to describe the sensation would be to imagine two guys in the back seats (not that there’s any leg room) flapping a piece of plywood around your ears. While I’m sure 80 per cent of cabriolet owners probably won’t stray above 80mph often, this annoyance is worth bearing in mind.

With the second day of what was a perfect car launch (great food, amazing driving routes and the V8 being one hell of a car) drawing to a close, I sat and had a think about both cars. Here’s what I concluded:

The V8 Mustang is brilliant. It makes all the right noises, looks insane (as does the Ecoboost) and drinks as heavily as I was secretly hoping it would: around 13mpg when driven right. The Ecoboost is interesting because it doesn’t appeal to me on an emotional level. I didn’t feel like I was sharing a slice of the muscle car pie, rather that I was being force-fed microwaved seconds. But I understand why the Ecoboost makes sense - it’s far more economical (we were seeing 24mpg even though we were keeping up with the big V8s), will be less expensive to maintain, but will still make the world stop and stare. In everyday driving, it’ll be just as fast, too.

Out of the two, it would have to be the V8 manual for me, purely because I believe in tradition and having a car that attacks all of my senses (perhaps I should seriously consider V8-swapping the MX-5). For those of you less driven by V8 noise and a raucous driving experience, the 2.3-litre fastback Ecoboost would give you the best of both worlds: respect from people who appreciate uniqueness, and a fairly clean little engine that you can have fun with on occasion.

Just pray that we don’t line up next to each other at the lights when I’ve got my V8. I will laugh at you, and I will line-lock the hell out of your atmosphere. And no, I won’t even feel bad about it.