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AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/7/17 11:30 a.m.

I hope this thread isn't redundant, but I couldn't find one so here we go.  Looking for experienced opinions on the 2015-up Mustang with the ecoboost 4-banger.  Links to references will be appreciated.

pointofdeparture
pointofdeparture GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
12/7/17 11:39 a.m.

Almost bought one instead of the Accord Coupe I ended up with. Great car, but the coin-slot visibility out of the thing drove me wild.

NickD
NickD PowerDork
12/7/17 11:47 a.m.

They intrigue me. But a guy I knew test-drove one and complained that the engine felt like it ran out of breath really early on for what he was doing (autocrossing). And because Ford gutted all the performance options from the V6, he ended up having to go with a GT.

FSP_ZX2
FSP_ZX2 Dork
12/7/17 11:54 a.m.

I have a college buddy that has one--a '16.  Cobb tuned, CAI and a few misc bolt-ons.  Its a VERY nice driving car.  Other than the exhaust note--which is not bad (but not V8ish), you'd swear its a GT.

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
12/7/17 12:10 p.m.

Nope. Anytime there is an identical body with a V8 on the options list, the 4 banger is the "Settlers" car.

 

Don't matter how good it is, you hooking up with Maryanne when you could have had a taste of Ginger.

 

 

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
12/7/17 12:19 p.m.

I've driven one.  It's nice, like all new Mustangs, and plenty quick (faster than a 90s Cobra, after all), but overall it left me a bit flat.  It's a pony car, which means poor visibility, not much space, lots of attention from law enforcement, and all the other compromises that come with it.  If I'm going to deal with all of that, I'm going to have a V8.  Plus, the Coyote is such a sweetheart of an engine.  

But that's me.  Certainly it's a very capable car, and being a turbo, there's room for the tuners to do their work.  I'd certainly never fault someone for buying one, they just aren't my bag.

Furious_E
Furious_E GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
12/7/17 12:27 p.m.

Good timing, I was just reading  this thread over my lunch break. The majority of posters seemed to be surprisingly underwhelmed. 

I've sampled the 15+ Mustang in both V6 and GT flavor and like it, kind of reminds me of a BMW in terms of ride and handling. The GT belongs to one of my college buddies and he's done some work to it - exhaust, intake, Eibach springs, and a few other things I cannot recall. It's a blast and sounds phenomenal with the Borla exhaust he has. The V6 was a rental and while I enjoyed driving it, I would probably pick something else shopping in that price bracket (which I currently am.) It felt slower than I'm sure it actually was. The Ecoboost is intriguing, seems to pick up a ton of power with a tune and I'd bet feels a lot torquier than the 6er, which is where I felt it really lacked. 

Kreb
Kreb GRM+ Memberand UberDork
12/7/17 2:04 p.m.

It seems like a lot of the current generation of turbo cars are so obsessed with low-end torque that they  give up high RPM performance, which is kind of funny, since historically the RPM monsters were always the small engines, and the V8s were the grunters. 

Klayfish
Klayfish PowerDork
12/7/17 7:33 p.m.
NOHOME said:

 

Don't matter how good it is, you hooking up with Ginger when you could have had a taste of Maryanne.

 

 

FTFY

 

Oh, got nothing to offer about the car.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/7/17 7:38 p.m.
NOHOME said:

Nope. Anytime there is an identical body with a V8 on the options list, the 4 banger is the "Settlers" car.

 

Don't matter how good it is, you hooking up with Maryanne when you could have had a taste of Ginger.

 

 

 

The problem with V8 Mustangs is they sound like F150s.  At least a 4 cylinder sounds like a car,  not a plumber's truck.

Andy Neuman
Andy Neuman SuperDork
12/7/17 7:48 p.m.
pointofdeparture said:

Almost bought one instead of the Accord Coupe I ended up with. Great car, but the coin-slot visibility out of the thing drove me wild.

When I purchased mine I cross shopped a Camaro and thought the visibility was pretty good. Recently I’ve been driving my wife’s CRV frequently and now I feel like I can’t see out of the mustang. 

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
12/7/17 8:03 p.m.
Knurled. said:

 

The problem with V8 Mustangs is they sound like F150s.  At least a 4 cylinder sounds like a car,  not a plumber's truck.

I think you're the first person I've heard about who prefers the sound of the 4-banger.  I think the Coyote sounds great, especially when you uncork it a little.

rslifkin
rslifkin UltraDork
12/7/17 8:17 p.m.
Knurled. said:

The problem with V8 Mustangs is they sound like F150s.  At least a 4 cylinder sounds like a car,  not a plumber's truck.

Maybe the problem is that F-150s sound like Mustangs?  Although the proper engined F-150s don't, considering they don't put the boosted V6 in the Mustang...

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/7/17 8:47 p.m.
Tom_Spangler said:
Knurled. said:

 

The problem with V8 Mustangs is they sound like F150s.  At least a 4 cylinder sounds like a car,  not a plumber's truck.

I think you're the first person I've heard about who prefers the sound of the 4-banger.  I think the Coyote sounds great, especially when you uncork it a little.

 

I work near a Maserati dealership.  I hear the new ones driving up and down the street all the time.  They sound almost exactly like some meathead with a 5,0 Mustang and the cheapest catback they could get from Jeg's.  Knurled is not impressed.  (The first time I saw one, I thought it was an LS converted Frisbee)

 

On the other hand, I do have something like a hundred thousand miles' worth of five cylinder experience in the past, and have been living with a heavily boosted, sedately exhausted five for the past few weeks.  Still convinced that nothing sounds more classy.

 

Rotaries do sound the best, but they are rather downmarket, you know?

bentwrench
bentwrench SuperDork
12/7/17 8:57 p.m.

If they put the EcoBoost V6 in a Mustang they would never sell another 5.0L!

I'm pretty sure that package would spank a 5.0L.

rslifkin
rslifkin UltraDork
12/7/17 9:28 p.m.
bentwrench said:

If they put the EcoBoost V6 in a Mustang they would never sell another 5.0L!

I'm pretty sure that package would spank a 5.0L.

I dunno about that.  They still sell plenty of 5.0s in pickups to the people who think the V6 sounds wrong and the "gotta have a V8" crowd.  But yes, the twin turbo 3.5 would spank the 5.0 performance-wise in a Mustang.  Especially if they used the turned up version from the new Raptor.  It would also probably make a good replacement for the 6.2 as the gas option in the F-250 / 350.  But it also might eat into diesel sales, so...

Vigo
Vigo MegaDork
12/7/17 10:31 p.m.

Nope. Anytime there is an identical body with a V8 on the options list, the 4 banger is the "Settlers" car.

I've never driven an ecoboost mustang, but the first time i ever experienced a Coyote 5.0 i came on here and called it 'deceptively' fast. V8-Supremacists  might take that as a sort of backhanded compliment, and i sort of meant it that way. The way torque builds in a turbo car is thrilling, wherease the n/a torque of the 5.0 i found less than thrilling, even if it is overall slightly greater at peak than the Ecoboost. Build an ecoboost car with the exact same peak torque number (i.e. plug in an obd2 tuner box) and it's going to send more of a chill up your spine delivering it than the 5.0 'working its way towards' 4300 rpm. The turbo car probably broke the tires loose and made you countersteer 1000 rpm ago.

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/8/17 12:12 a.m.

I've just had one as a rental car for the week. The engine noise is meh, but it seemed to go pretty well for what it is - not much scope for opening it up when you're stuck in Bay Area rush hour traffic.

The few times I had a chance to open it up it felt a little restricted towards the top end, but I was on roads where I couldn't exactly bury the loud pedal in the floor.

One thing I didn't much care for was the autobox, like a lot of the newer $DEITY-knows-how-many-gears boxen, it didn't seem to be able to make up its mind at very slow speeds and was a tad jerky. But that could've been 24k miles of rental car abuse.

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
12/8/17 6:21 a.m.
BoxheadCougarTim said:

 ...not much scope for opening it up when you're stuck in Bay Area rush hour traffic.

Next time, try to rent a dark green one!  

 

 

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
12/8/17 6:33 a.m.
rslifkin said:
Knurled. said:

The problem with V8 Mustangs is they sound like F150s.  At least a 4 cylinder sounds like a car,  not a plumber's truck.

Maybe the problem is that F-150s sound like Mustangs?  Although the proper engined F-150s don't, considering they don't put the boosted V6 in the Mustang...

Holy cow, those two statements bring up a LOT of conflicting things to me.  (Just to me.... )

Without the F150, the Mustang would not have a V8 available, since they are the only two vehicles that have that engine.  And that's interesting (can't go farther than that).

And then the notion that a turbo V6 is the proper engine for the F150 is kind of mind boggling.  When I first heard that we were putting that into a truck back in 2006, I thought the notion that our truck buyers would choose that over the V8 was insane.  How so very wrong I was.  It's crazy to see the sales difference in the V6 to V8.  

Anyway, that's my side notes seeing what's being posted.

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
12/8/17 7:18 a.m.
Knurled. said:
 

Rotaries do sound the best, but they are rather downmarket, you know?

OK, that explains it.  Your hearing is shot. cheeky

rslifkin
rslifkin UltraDork
12/8/17 7:53 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

I never expected the turbo 3.5 to be such a great truck engine either.  Until I drove one.  The power is just there, with no drama, no waiting for a downshift and the revs to build, etc.  It's like a diesel that learned how to rev.  

LanEvo
LanEvo GRM+ Memberand Dork
12/8/17 10:51 a.m.
NOHOME said:

it is, you hooking up with Maryanne when you could have had a taste of Ginger.

I've always preferred Maryanne. YMMV 

Driven5
Driven5 UltraDork
12/8/17 10:58 a.m.

My brief experience in an ecoboost mustang auto was surprisingly 'meh'.  I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it.  I didn't even particularly dislike or like it.  Which is a shame, because I think it looks great and otherwise seems like it should have a lot going for it.  Even going into it knowing that the auditory sensations would do absolutely nothing to enhance my experience the way that even a V6 would, the sensations of speed were muted and there really was no sense of occasion when I got on it.  There just wasn't anything really enticing me to dance with it.  It was a fine cruiser, but lacked a feeling of genuine enthusiasm. 

I would still like to drive an ecoboost with a manual, in addition to a V6 manual, as I believe the auto was at least part of the problem.  It was either trying to waltz or mosh, when what I really want is to be able to tango.  When it was in a mode, it was only in that mode.  So sure it had a mode that kept the engine on a boil and shifted aggressively, but you wouldn't use that on the street for more than brief periods.  It would get annoying having to plan out  every time you want to have a little fun and get it set up in advance.  Kind of like trying to be spontaneous by scheduling it.  In regular mode it seemed mostly incapable of interpreting your current inputs to temporarily alter the responses on the fly...Something that I feel modern computer wizzardry should be more than capable of, especially in any car with genuine sporting intentions. 

RollinM
RollinM New Reader
12/8/17 11:02 a.m.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

I bought a 2017 ecoboost 6 speed with performance pkg. few months ago and am very happy with it so far. I use it as a daily driver since it's usually just me or me and my son in the car. I think it's a pretty good compromise between being fun to drive and pretty good mileage. I did however get a good discount plus 0% interest since they were trying to get rid of the 2017's. If I had paid full price, maybe I wouldn't have been quite as happy.

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