Ford Mustang - 2007 Review

On a recent trip to St. Louis, I was pleasantly surprised that my rental car turned out to be a 2007 Ford Mustang convertible. I'm not a fan of convertibles and would have been even more pleased if the car had been a Mustang coupe, but I'm not one to look a gift Mustang in the mouth and happily took the convertible. I put about 110 miles on the car over two days.

What it is

The 2007 Mustang tries to thread an interesting needle by providing a reasonably sporty car that's also reasonably practical and affordable. The base model -- which is called "Deluxe" by Ford -- has a four-liter V6 engine featuring 210 horsepower and 240 foot-pounds of torque. For driving around town, it's the torque that you feel and 240 foot-pounds of torque fits the car like a tailored shirt. You can get the Mustang with either a five-speed manual or automatic transmission -- my rental had the automatic.

The 2007 Mustang features four-wheel antilock disk brakes and lots of little touches that make the car feel more expensive, such as power windows, power locks, air conditioning, cruise control, power seats and a fairly nice stereo. The two bucket seats up front easily fit normal adults but the cramped back seat is for kids only. The Mustang I rented had a power convertible top that included a glass rear window with built-in defroster.

The base sticker price for the 2007 Mustang convertible is around $25,000 and the model I rented did not have many options to drive up the cost. I believe that the features I describe above come with the base model, which is (of course) called "Deluxe."

Driving it

I'm 5' 8" tall and had no problem finding a comfortable seating position behind the wheel. In fact, the seat was quite comfortable. It felt like leather but was probably just a good grade of vinyl. Seeing over the l-o-n-g hood was not so easy but I figured out where the limits of the car were easily enough. Visibility to the rear was poor through the small rear window in the convertible top -- it would be better in the coupe. Of course, rear (and side) visibility is excellent with the convertible top down.

I'm a car guy and normally drive a couple of different cars. One is a slightly high-strung sports car, and I have to say that it was a pleasure to drive the Mustang. It had good power that pulled well off the line, very good brakes that were easy to control and inspired confidence, and handling that made me want to push the car to more challenging speeds. At the same time, the ride was firm without being too firm. As far as power, brakes, ride quality and handling goes, the car was just the way I like it. The automatic transmission was a little too eager to shift up gears, especially into its top gear. However, there is a lockout switch to prevent it from going into top gear, which is useful for long downgrades or if you are in situations where you know you'll need to accelerate quickly.

The rental Mustang had a tick under 10,000 miles but there was a rattle in the dashboard somewhere -- that's not a good sign. And the otherwise nice stereo had a burned-out and buzzing speaker in the driver's door. Both those things may be the result of abuse by months of renters enjoying the car just a little too much.

One design feature I didn't like was the retro styling of the steering wheel and gauges, which are clearly intended to never let you forget you're driving a Mustang. You can get a little feel for it by clicking on the picture on the right but the impression is stronger when I sat in the driver's seat. The deeply-set gauges remind me of 1960s Mustangs... but they're not as easy to read as more modern gauge designs. Likewise, the retro styling of the steering wheel is also more about style than substance. Despite these minor setbacks, I really enjoyed driving the 2007 Mustang.

This was a convertible, so I had to try that out. The convertible top is powered, so all I had to do was unlock two levers at the top of the windshield and push a button. The top retracted and tucked itself away under a color-coordinated cover. It went back up just as easily and I could lower and raise the top while sitting in the driver's seat without taking off my seat belt. Nice.

I don't like the feeling of exposure I get in convertibles, so I drove around for just a couple of miles with the top down. However, I do know that many people love convertibles and this car has a lot to love in that regard. I also appreciated that the Mustang convertible has a glass rear window with an integrated defroster. It should stay clear much longer than a plastic window.

The EPA-rated gas mileage for the 2007 Mustang with the four-liter engine and automatic transmission is 19 mpg city and 25 mpg highway. I got 21 miles per gallon when I filled it up at the end of my rental.

Summary

I took a test drive in a $32,000 Mercedes C-class a few weeks ago and between the two, I'd spend my money on the 2007 Mustang. Yeah, the Mercedes is more elegant and probably could nose out the Mustang in both power and braking, but the Mustang was more fun and it fitted better with my sports-car nature. For $7,000 less than the Mercedes, I'd take the Mustang in a heartbeat and never look back. It just felt good to be in that seat driving that car, something I can't say for the (admittedly very different) Mercedes C-class.

I enjoyed the 2007 Mustang convertible and recommend it. I'm actually more interested in the Mustang coupe, which has a starting sticker price of $19,250. For a car that's fun, practical and sporty, that's a good price.