Another Look

2005 Ford Mustang GT Convertible Premium: Find me in da club

To borrow a phrase from rapper extraordinaire Fitty, I love the new Mustang GT Convertible like a fat kid loves cake.

No subtlety there, or here, either, if here is the 2005 Ford Mustang GT Convertible Premium. Coming in at just over $30K for my well-equipped test car (base was just under $30K, the V-6 version starts at an extremely affordable just under $25K), this sweet thing is all the bling you need. Like the Chrysler 300C, this is an American icon reimagined and reborn to fulfill its destiny – to be an American idol.

We’re not talking some sellout pop star either – all looks and no soul. The Mustang has it all. It looks good enough to dump your spouse for, but looks are only the beginning. Its throbbing heart is all American bad boy, a 4.6L 3V overhead cam V8 that says to hell with gas prices, let’s fall in love with the road again. Even better, with very respectable for its class 18 highway/23 city mileage using regular gas, it’s not even high maintenance. This is a car everyone can love, from 60s hippies who remember when Iacocca brought out the first Mustang to the younger folk who don’t even know Wild Horses was a Rolling Stones song (the Stones, btw kiddies, are a rock band, kinda like Coldplay, but infinitely better).

Love is not the first emotion the Mustang stirs. Let’s be honest and admit that one look at those gorgeous flowing lines leads to more lust than a politician at a fundraiser. For those of us who thought the Mustang coupe was the perfect redesign — retro enough to capture the spirit the pony car has always embodied, but modern enough to look to tomorrow, not yesterday — the convertible is a revelation. The best could be made even better.

Sure, looks ain’t everything, but the Mustang convertible looks so darn good, they could be. For an old Ford fan grown used to elegant but not exciting J. Mays’ designs like the Ford Five Hundred’s, the raw sexuality of the Mustang convertible’s lines are as stirring as seeing A-Rod hit a homer in a game that counts would be to a diehard Yankee fan. One out of two ain’t bad.

The Mustang always has the power when it counts. Our test car came with a Tremec five-speed standard transmission fully capable of handling the 300 horses the V8 pushed to the pavement through those gorgeous 17-inch Z-rated tires. Knowing you can head from zero to 60 in just over five seconds is no surprise. Actually doing it is something else entirely.

That’s because once you turn the key, the engine comes to life and you’ll probably sit there lost in reverie listening to the throaty roar of the V8. Some engines sound so good you never want to listen to anything else, and this is one of those. Not even the high-powered Shaker 1000 audio system could lure me into doing anything other than listening to the siren song of this heartthrob.

Once you do decide to let that clutch out, the Mustang GT convertible leaves the line even faster than they’re leaving Ford dealers’ lots. And that’s fast. Ford recently announced it was raising Mustang production well beyond what was initially planned, up about 70% more than last year.

“Its performance on the street and in the showrooms is beating everyone’s expectations,” said Steve Lyons, Ford Division president. “Sales are up more than 45% over last year, and V-8 GT and convertible model demand is so strong we haven’t been able to build enough.”

If the looks of longing I kept getting – OK, that the Mustang convertible kept getting – are any indication, build it and they will come.

What they will get will be the best selling sports car in America, one that will finally erase those sad memories of the years when Ford put out barely disguised versions of economy cars like the Mustang II. This Mustang is the real thing, live axle and all.

Inside design is as good as Ford’s been. The pony cues and retro touches add elegance to the aluminum-clad dash, and if there is still some room for improvement, there is precious little for complaint. Ford could get rid of a little more plastic, but complaining about this dash seems churlish, given how vast an improvement it is. The usual safety features are included, and just about the only things I missed were a navigation system and satellite radio. Seats were comfortable and supportive as you would want a sports car’s to be, with that beautiful, three-split-spoke steering wheel anchoring the design and beckoning to the driver at the same time.

The back seats brought no complaints from two teenagers on a two-hour drive. Of course, they were so busy saying what a cool car this was, they wouldn’t have complained had I suggested they do their homework and eat their veggies.

For the driver, two things stand out. Put the right engine in, as the Mustang’s designers did, and any car can go fast. Doing it well is another matter, and that this does. Handling is the first thing that says this is a world-class sports car. The ride is sports-suspension stiff, but that helps the Mustang hold the road like I’d hold Halle Berry if… (just kidding…sure). I found no curve the Mustang didn’t welcome, even at speeds that may not always have been considered prudent in a lesser vehicle. Driving the Mustang is even more fun than looking at it.

The other major point, and this is a stunner if you’ve driven some previous Mustang convertibles, is the body stiffness, or torsional rigidity, as the engineers call it. If you really want to test a convertible, take it over some horrible roads. Find a dirt road, zoom over a railroad track, torture it – that’s the way to find out what a convertible is made of. If the body isn’t stiff, you’ll get shaking and twisting, soon to be followed by squeaks and then screams as you decide you were sold a bill of goods. Not so with the Mustang GT Convertible. Ford says this Mustang convertible has more than twice the torsional stiffness of the previous version. According to Ford, “The 2005 Mustang convertible was designed from the ground up to deliver a more rigid body structure without adding burdensome weight. This was accomplished by engineering it in tandem with the coupe. An added benefit of this process – one that helped meet a goal set for the convertible's exterior design – was that it provided the car with a cohesive, integrated look. It does not look like a coupe that has undergone reconstructive surgery to become a convertible.”

The little things also add up. Slim C-pillars, a relatively wide glass windshield and full quarter-windows give the Mustang good visibility for a convertible with the top up. I drove the Mustang through some pouring rain, and can happily report that not only is wind noise negligible, there was absolutely no leakage. That’s a tribute to the fit and finish of the Ford Mustang GT Convertible Premium.

It’s got style, it’s got class, take it on the road and it kicks ass – what more can you want from a car. Whatever it is, unless you’re the diehard minivan type, you’ll find it in the 2005 Ford Mustang GT Convertible Premium, a car with the looks to steal your heart, the power to whisk you away, and a price that seems so little to pay.

posted by Andy Mais @ 3:53 PM