Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

Reviewed: 2005 Mustang Convertible

I've had an interesting bit of duty this weekend: I've had to pick up a 2005 Mustang Convertible from Hertz for a client company picnic that I am throwing this afternoon – it is a copy of the car our client is giving away to its employees in a sales contest, and I’m going to show it off to the employees. I've been attracted to the Mustang in the last few years since it is one of a very few remaining 2-door sporty cars available with a 5-speed tranny THAT HAS THAT ALL IMPORTANT REAR-WHEEL DRIVE.

I don't know why the auto makers are in love with front-wheel drive cars. They don't handle very well, owing to the fact that the front wheels already have to perform a wide variety of tasks (steering, braking) WITHOUT the added stress of propelling the car down the road, and when you accelerate hard in a front-wheel-drive car, the weight transfer off those driving wheels to the rear, non-driving wheels, and means less power is going to the ground.

So when I go car shopping, I look for cars that have those wonderful characteristics - rear drive, manual transmission, two doors, four seats. Damn few cars are made this way anymore: the Pontiac GTO, the Ford Mustang come to mind, as everything else remotely similar is $20k more. I like two doors with rear seats, so things like Corvettes and Miatas don't have enough interior volume to justify spending money on them. The Three-Series Bimmer coupe I'm $400 away from paying off is really starting to wear out, and will require $2,000 of work to give it another 50k miles of value. I was considering sending it down the road, but in retrospect, $2,000 seems to be a bargain to keep my buttoned-down BMW in my parking lot. In other words, I’m out of the market for another four years. As a result, I can review a car without any desire for it corrupting my outlook - kinda like eating lunch BEFORE you shop at the supermarket.

The Mustang's a modernized throwback to the ancient 60's standard. It comes with a pushrod-driven (!) 4.0L V6, which has wads of low-end torque, but moans like a sinking slave ship when pressed. It is singularly the worst sounding engine I have ever heard, and it’s not what you would call “rev-happy.” I’m not even sure that it’s noticeably better than the motor it replaced. This motor does make the car scoot down the road at around-town speeds and has great push on the highway, when the five-speed automatic transmission shifts into Second and the revs climb. (It’s a rental – I hate autos!)

The chassis is as solid a bowl of jell-o - can you say "cowl shake?" The windshield header wobbles noticeably - there's always some in evidence on every convertible, but it seems excessive on this particular car. The steering is a high point on this car - the wheel has a thick rim with a nice pebbled surface, and the steering rack and gear have a direct and tight feel; better than my BMW's, in fact, which is high praise indeed. Too bad it's so wildly mismatched to the rest of the suspension; the car is grievously under-sprung. The shocks do their job as well as the floppy springs will permit, but the overly-tall 65-series tires have so little sidewall integrity that the car wobbles around its central axis noticeably when you're changing lanes or making sudden inputs on the wheel. You will note if you look underneath the rear end of the car that it has the old-school live axle. Couldn’t Ford have squeaked out another $120 per car and made it fully independent, like other modern cars? No, in this case, they chose to “go cheap,” and it shows. The ride is overly soft, yet an odd shiver continually rolls up through the bodywork and the steering shaft. Cornering isn’t flat, but the body motions are well controlled (better than you thought they’d be; they have the anti-roll bars tuned perfectly to the suspension on this cruiser-mobile), and I suspect that you could push this car aggressively without it snapping back at you. The tires give plenty of warning about their impending loss of grip – too much, in fact. There’s plenty left when they start wailing away. They are clearly the weakest link in the suspension.

I liked the interior – the Mustang wears the same new look that the trucks have, a pebbled, expensive-looking plastic that showcases the retro-gauges and chromed air outlets perfectly. Seats are beautifully clad in stylish fabric, with the Mustang logo faintly visible in the print. Climate control is superlative, an icon of perfection that is typical for all American cars straight from the 1960s. Switchgear is top notch, with the glaring exception of the auto-shift column; it’s the very image of the cheap plastic lawn chair you bought for the backyard last spring. The lever itself feels gritty and cheap as you engage it into gear, with no solid stops – you are forced to look carefully at the gearshift to see which gear the car is in, instead of being able to tell by feel. The convertible top functions flawlessly through its electric controls, although the newness of the car increased the difficulty that I faced getting it buttoned back up when it came time for me to put the Mustang back in the barn. Rear seat space is at a true premium; this car can’t be considered to be a true four-seater as it is really more of a 2+2. My 2000 3-Series Bimmer that I had before my current 1994 model looked like a limousine in comparison, in spite of being nearly a foot shorter in overall length!

Trunk space is generous for a smallish convertible, although such trivialities are unimportant on a car like this. No, your goal of ownership with this car is “Fun While Driving;” leave it to the SUV to haul the people.

In review, I’m not impressed with this car as much as I was hoping I’d be. The main drawbacks, however, could be well addressed by the GT version, which invariably has tighter springs, much better wheels and tires, a better sounding and more powerful V8 engine with a single overhead camshaft and variable valve timing. Better still is the Cobra, which will have a supercharged V8 and independent rear suspension; it also bears the $40k price tag that would make me consider more refined cars.

Maybe in a few years I’ll consider test-driving a GT, but the Bimmer seems like it’s doing pretty well, since it’s essentially paid off!

posted by: underwhelmed at July 31, 2005 09:24 | link | comments |

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