In Pictures: Road testing the new Ford Mustang Convertible

The power and noise of Americana..
1/5
Graham Scott|Whatcar31 August 2016

It’s hard to imagine that a lot of people will buy this as their main mode of transport – unless they’re young guns of course. But here it is, oversized, overweight and over here.

It actually is a big, heavy car – it’s all just so American – and it doesn’t handle that well either on our roads. The suspension is softer than in the coupe’s, and that doesn’t work well with a chassis that has lost a lot of rigidity from losing the roof.

Be prepared for some wallowing about, some shimmy from the chassis over bumps and for some quite heavily weighted steering. So there’s not a great deal of control here, which again doesn’t mix brilliantly when you throw a 5.0-litre V8 into the mix. Drive in the wet and the back steps out way too easily. It can be caught equally easily, assuming you have the space, but you won’t be going fast on damp roads.

Of course you could choose to have the 2.3-litre Ecoboost engine, but there’s just something wrong with a four-cylinder soundtrack coming from this big beast. We can’t see it being a popular choice, even though it can propel the car to 60mph in under six seconds. Credit to the big V8, which can do it in under five.

You’ll be fairly comfortable in the cabin, which is generously proportioned and fitted with a retro-looking dashboard that probably isn’t meant to be retro. You do get an 8.0in screen with Ford’s Sync3 but it’s not a match for more modern Teutonic systems.

Those in the front get plenty of space but those in the rear don’t – even the much smaller Audi A3 cabrio has more rear passenger space. However the boot is big if not easy to access, but the rear seats don’t fold down so long loads are just out.

The cabin gets quite a lot of equipment, including rear camera, Andoid Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard, plus there is keyless start. Given the size of the car and the size of the engine, plus the performance on offer with the V8, this starts to stack up as decent value for money.

But then you have to start considering some other real-world facts. Like the V8 struggling to get 20mpg and the Ecoboost engine only doing mid-20s. So that’s bad for tax and emissions. Then it is expensive to insure, will rip through tyres and will rip through its value too.

But if you’re into Yankeemania then this fits the bill. Just expect the bill to be rather larger than the initial costs would indicate.

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