Ford Mustangs: touring in the US

John Roberts

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We've just had a Mustang for a tour of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, 3,700 miles in three weeks. Roof down most of the time but with hearty dollops of industrial strength sun cream. :) By now we have both got very fond of the Mustang, it was nearly ideal for such a trip: LA, Pacific Coast Highway, three nights in San Francisco, Yosemite (including Glacier Point as you folks suggested), King's Canyon, Sequoia NP, Death Valley, Las Vegas (yukk, but, well, it was on the way) Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Lake Powel Dam, Horseshoe Bend Canyon (not its proper name, but it's by Page and Antelope Canyon), Monument Valley, Joshua Tree National Park, and, as suggested by many others on here the Angeles Crest Highway, over sixty miles of superb road and as good as the Route de Grande Alpes, and a visit to the Mount Wilson Observatory just off the Angeles Crest, and, finally, today, up and down some of the canyons between the PCH and Highway 101. And breathe!

We enjoyed every single one of them with the exeption of Joshua Tree NP which wasn't our cup of tea to be fair.

So, the Mustang: nearly all good, but with one drawback for my wife, the passenger seat was so low and without any adjustment to raise it that she was very low down in the car, and I seem to remember a picture on here by Sven showing his wife seeming to have the same problem. Anyone else had this problem? We did speak to some other people in Mustangs, and there were a lot because they were very popular, some said that their passenger seats had adjustment for seat height but they all said they were low. Other popular convertibles were Camaros, the one couple we spoke to said that their passenger seat was a bit low but not too much of an issue. We'll have a look at some Camaros tomorrow when we return the car to see how they compare.

Another thing I have reservations about was the automatic transmission, it was fine cruising on the freeways but annoying on twisties, forever changing gear when you didn't expect it and kicking in on corners, it was sometimes difficult to drive it smoothly. Clicking up or down through the gears with the flappy paddles was slow- ponderous, even- it seemed to scratch its arse and have a think about it before actually responding and changing gear. Fine in towns and cities and the open road of course. Handling was surprisingly good on the road, but it did surprise me once when pissing about in a deserted car park with the way the back swung out on a tight turn (well it is a big bugger) but I don't suppose that's really relevant in the real world.

Boot/trunk capacity: it takes one large suitcase, one small suitcase and a couple of squashy pieces of luggage which was plenty for my wife and myself for three weeks. This did mean that we didn't have any luggage on the back seat and so out of reach of any opportunistic thieving bastards. The Mustang does have four seats, but, practically, it's a two seater as we had our front seats pushed all the way back leaving virtually no legroom in the back.

Having just read the above again it does sound rather negative, but the truth is that as I said by now we are both very fond of the car, my wife took a while to get over how big it is but all is forgiven on that score by now as she wasn't called upon to actually drive it herself.

Will we get another Mustang the next time? Reluctantly, probably not, but only because my wife finds it big to drive it herself. As I said she loves it as a passenger. She didn't need to drive it this time, indeed driving anything through LA Downtown traffic could be daunting for a lot of people, so the next time I try to find an Audi A3 convertible, I did see one on offer when I was trawling for a good deal on a Mustang but couldn't find it again. I may start looking earlier next time.

Oh, and we paid around £820 for the three weeks from Rentalcars.com with pick up at LAX.
:beerjug:

PS, see also Sven's thread, "A bit of inspiration" at:
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/378858-A-bit-of-inspiration
 
We're probably heading back next year, but I may rent a Corvette Z06 (about £1000 for 16 days) :thumb

The Mustang does look cool though

62ef6e98c2df94df6c30efd4fc4786e2.jpg
 
We're probably heading back next year, but I may rent a Corvette Z06 (about £1000 for 16 days) :thumb

The Mustang does look cool though

62ef6e98c2df94df6c30efd4fc4786e2.jpg

We had a corvette convertible last time we were in the US and it is a great car, not just by US standards but by any. Handled well and went like a stabbed rat
 
The Ford Mustang was recently tested by Euro NCAP and they panned it! It only got two stars for safety. Apparently, in Europe, Ford chose to sell it minus a lot of the safety-related kit!!!!

A Vette does sound nice though
 
Mustangs

Hi John et al, We have just had a road trip, albeit a mere 1800 miles, but like you hired a beautiful metallic blue Mustang. I was extremely impressed, the hire ones have the ecoboost engine, but still have 300+ bhp, but so easy to drive, a great camera platform with roof down. As an aside the infotainment system is brilliant, sat nav, bluetooth and usbx2 for music players and charging stuff. Great trip , would recommend a Mustang/Camaro as it does make the experience a bit special. Cheers:beerjug:John B
 
We had a soft top Mustang for our 10 day road trip round New England last September and absolutely loved it.
 
Hired one in Vegas when we did Zion and Bryce . Late February a few years back , Snow on the ground but sun in the sky made the convertible great fun, especially on some of the slippery bits of road. Heater on full and top down we really enjoyed it . It was so cold overnight that a bottle of water we left in the boot froze :eek:

Enjoyed the car that much I was tempted to buy one when we came home and kept an eye out for a bargain but it never materialised. They are Just that bit different compared to your every day 4 seater cabs like the 3 series , C class etc. I wish Saab were still around as I loved my 9-3 Cab, it was dynamically poor but comfy, well made and great value.
 
Just booked the flights to LA for our next trip in June 2018 :thumby:

Just gotta decide whether to take a standard Mustang or Camaro convertible or upgrade to the V8 models :D I'm not sure if the extra £500 is worth it though just for a bit more go
 
Boot/trunk capacity: it takes one large suitcase, one small suitcase and a couple of squashy pieces of luggage which was plenty for my wife and myself for three weeks. This did mean that we didn't have any luggage on the back seat and so out of reach of any opportunistic thieving bastards. The Mustang does have four seats, but, practically, it's a two seater as we had our front seats pushed all the way back leaving virtually no legroom in the back.
We did the SF to LA in a Mustang, but the boot very much didn't take my (admittedly rather large) suitcase - had to do the whole drive with the boot-lid bungeed down.

Rather detracted from the coolness of the ride.
 
We did the SF to LA in a Mustang....had to do the whole drive with the boot-lid bungeed down.

Rather detracted from the coolness of the ride.

Excellent! :clap

Still, could be worse:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3osli3y94I0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
We did the SF to LA in a Mustang, but the boot very much didn't take my (admittedly rather large) suitcase - had to do the whole drive with the boot-lid bungeed down.

Rather detracted from the coolness of the ride.

I always pack like I'm travelling by bike, even in the car. Two medium suitcases fitted perfectly in both the old and current model Mustang convertibles, along with space to spare for jackets and hand baggage. I did manage to tear the rubber seal putting one of the bags in, but Alamo didn't notice....
 
Mustang

Hi Sven and all, I have just booked a flight in to San Fran, then trip through to Las Vegas etc, just out of curiosity..who dis you book the mustang rental with?
Much appreciated,
Steve
 
We haven't picked up in San Francisco, but last year in Washington DC we used Auto Europe and last month we picked it up in Los Angeles airport. Both were fine.

Enjoy! :beerjug:
 
We haven't picked up in San Francisco, but last year in Washington DC we used Auto Europe and last month we picked it up in Los Angeles airport. Both were fine.

Enjoy! :beerjug:
SORRY, forgot to say that in Los Angeles we used Rentalcars.com Both they and Auto Europe find you the lowest prices from a variety of car rental companies- Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Hertz etc. and the one we had was from Dollar.

When you choose a car check the Terms & Conditions carefully, especially what insurance you need, it does seem to be a bit of a minefield, have a look at the insurance4carhire website, http://www.insurance4carhire.com/?r...gclid=COvizrimwdQCFYSfGwodwDwPpg&gclsrc=aw.ds some good information in there, I usually take out an annual policy as we go away a few times a year. Also check the fuel policy, I prefer Full/Full i.e. pick it up full and drop it off full or else they will charge you an arm and a leg for filling it for you. Actually, filling it up within ten/fifteen miles of the drop-off will be fine, that's something useful to know rather than trying to find the absolute last filling station before the drop-off. Also check how much for additional drivers, sometimes you get one additional driver free, sometimes that might cost you $15 a day.

All of which is off-topic, and apologies if you knew all that already, but I thought it worth mentioning in case others might be interested. Oh, if you do get a convertible (a few [very few] are coupes rather than convertibles) slap on loads of suncream and wear a peaked cap, or, for the sake of your ears, wear a hat. :)
 
Did the grand circle thingy, most of the national parks in a motorhome last year.

I must admit to thinking that I'd like to try the trip in an open topped Mustang, they were literally everywhere, a very popular hire car out there.

:thumb2
 
Hi Sven and all, I have just booked a flight in to San Fran, then trip through to Las Vegas etc, just out of curiosity..who dis you book the mustang rental with?
Much appreciated,
Steve

Netflights both times and they still look to be the cheapest for next year. The cars are rented from Alamo and include cover for a second driver and zero excess.
 
Mustangs in the USA

Another vote for rentalcars.com, we actually picked the car up from Budget in LAX, re the fuel thing, they offered that we buy a full tank (at the rate of 2.75USD per gall) at the time and return the car empty which we chose, the prices in Big towns and on main roads was up to 3.30USD per gall, in quieter places around the 2.75USD we were charged for the 1st tankful. Needless to say it was running on empty on rent, Enjoy your trip, it is a great experience. Cheers, :beerjug:John B
 
Just booked with Hertz as I discovered we had a corporate discount :thumby:

A Camaro convertible is only £589 for 16 days......but I've booked a Corvette convertible instead :D

It was £1170, but that's 1/3 of the price to hire a bike, which ain't bad for a 185mph supercar :thumby:
 


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