Ford Mustang and Porsche 911: both new? Yes, new and renewed. Although it almost feels like an occasion test. A car with V8, rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox. And not just any V8, no, one without turbos or other forms of compression. This Coyote engine breathes naturally and rages on up to 7,500 rpm. With the exhaust in track mode, he produces a loud noise that makes bystanders cringe. “This mode is intended for track use only,” Ford said on the screen. Yes, sorry, we snack on the forbidden fruit to muse about other times. The difference with the second party is significant in this area. With the exhaust in sport mode, the Porsche 911 with its turbo engine sounds quite nice, but part of that sound is conducted in through membranes. On the outside it is not necessarily quiet, but when you drive up the difference with the Mustang is enormous. The turbos and particulate filters muzzle the car to such an extent that it isn’t even a real battle in this area. Of course, Porsche has its own noise monsters in house. Years ago, during a track day at Zandvoort in a street-legal 991.1-GT3, I received the famous ‘Meatball flag’ from the marshals, because its naturally aspirated engine, running at 9,000, produced more noise than the permit allowed. The new Carrera is much quieter. As a bystander you always notice those kinds of differences more than as a driver. This is also the case in the Ford. Unlike our cameraman, we don’t get any pain in our ears, but we do get goosebumps from the raw V8 scream. Sounds good. But can that Ford also turn a corner? Certainly. This is the Dark Horse. And it goes noticeably further than the regular Mustang GT. There was the Mustang Boss 302 during the fifth generation, the Mach 1 in the previous generation and now the mk7, so the Mustang Dark Horse as the successor to these cars. Like its predecessors, it has adjustments to the drivetrain and chassis to turn the well-known pony car into a sportier model. It received a limited slip differential, a larger rear stabilizer bar and stiffer suspension. The V8 is basically the same 5.0 V8 as in the ‘normal’ Mustang GT, but with stronger connecting rods and modified engine management. It also spins roughly 500 rpm more. That produces no less than 500 hp, a big step forward compared to the Mach 1. But unfortunately that only applies to America. The emission requirements here are so strict that homologation came at the expense of a lot of power, leaving the V8 with ‘only’ 450 hp. Anyway. Another addition in line with the Boss and Mach 1 is that the car is available with a manual gearbox. Strangely enough, this has now become a typically American phenomenon. Yes, the country is an automatic car area par excellence, but the small group of sports car freaks in the US are – perhaps partly because of this – even more fans of the manual transmission than their European counterparts. And so Ford has placed the six-speed Tremec manual gearbox from the Shelby GT350 in the Dark Horse. Yes, it is also available with a ten-speed automatic transmission, but if you order that you do not fully understand the purpose of this car and as a punishment you are not allowed to visit this site for a week. The manual gearbox gives you the opportunity to remove all the delay of a fully automatic transmission from the drivetrain. And that is a requirement for sharper steering. The Porsche 911 shrinks around you much more. That Porsche has a lot less power than the Ford Mustang. Yes, but that is not a disaster. The new 911 Carrera has the same 3.0 six-cylinder boxer engine from before the facelift, but with the turbos from the previous GTS and the intercooler from the outgoing Porsche 911 Turbo. This of course provides extra power, some of which is returned to meet the new strict emission requirements. The end result is a 10 hp gain, with 394 hp. If you select the sports chrono package, that is already good for a sprint of 3.9 seconds to 100 km/h, which is bizarrely fast for something called an entry-level car. The Ford’s sprint is a lot slower by more than 5 seconds, but that is of course due to the manual gearbox and the fact that the Ford only delivers maximum pulling power at higher revs. At higher speeds the power starts to count. For example, the sprint from 100 to 200 km/h takes 10.3 seconds in the Porsche and 10.2 in the Ford. Once on the road, the cars are de facto just as fast, although in the Ford you of course have to shift gears tightly. You can hear the roaring V8 of the Ford Mustang from far away. But how do they drive? The engine remains the heart of the car in the Ford. The movements are relatively long, so you can really pull through a lot. In terms of sound, you would already upshift at 6,500 rpm, but you can go on and on and the V8 roars out. Un-American. It is a lot more revs than, for example, that hammering V8 from the Corvette C7 Stingray with its 6,500 rpm redline, which was already such a brutal engine. Pull the lever into the next gear and continue. You must have the space, the Mustang is not a car for dike roads. But if you can let loose, everything will fall into place. With the electronic guardian angels off, you can also sweep hard in tight corners. A bit of fiddling with the steering, but the large size of the car provides enough time to absorb everything. The manual drivetrain and instant throttle response help maintain drift as desired. Really old school! The transition when you get into the Porsche is big. It feels clean and almost boring when you drive away. In the Ford, the carriage almost shakes when you start the V8. In the Porsche (for the first time with a flat start button, to the left of the steering wheel) you only hear a hum and everything runs. Automatically in D and you drive away smoothly. The steering is light but direct, the car feels light and offers comfort. Go a little faster and everything follows meekly. Very easy, very smooth. Not very exciting. The interior of the 911 is miles away from the plastic soup in the Ford, both in terms of touch and feel as well as in terms of finish and technology. It is clear that these are not equal players in that respect. The peace and tranquility in the Porsche also feels a bit boring next to the Mustang, even if you continue driving. But turn the sport chrono button on the steering wheel to sport and the exhaust note increases and the automatic transmission keeps the gears higher. The exhaust also suddenly sounds a lot bolder. Then you notice more what the engine has to offer. The turbos give you maximum torque below 2,000 rpm and on those waves of pulling power you propel the car forward. Due to the noise and the turbo power, you also expect an early redline here, but no. Despite the turbos, the Carreras are still more revving than the 911 Turbo versions with a big T. You can pull just as far as in the naturally aspirated Ford! The reserve of this ‘basic’ Carrera is considerable and there is a lot of power hidden above 5,000 rpm. And then it suddenly goes very fast. No, it is not the sickening of all the 700-800 hp-plus guns that have appeared on the market in recent years, but on public roads this 911 is nothing too slow. The top speed of 294 km/h is also far from reachable and on a nice road the car at least gives you the opportunity to go full throttle and pass instead of having to drive on eggshells. The chassis keeps everything under control despite its mobility, but switching to Sport-Plus is better. The PASM dampers tighten and the 911 bites more. Sometimes it seems a little less sharp than the Ford, but when we change it turns out to be apparent: we simply go extremely much faster than in the Mustang because it all happens so easily. In the Ford, the excitement and experience come so much earlier that it makes a difference in the pace you take into the bend. The 911 is different. Further, better. More technical. The automatic transmission never fails, whether you shift gears yourself or let it do so. Tight, time and time again. Unlike the American, it shrinks around you and if you go one step further, it suddenly becomes a car that you can also throw around a bit. The steering communicates a hundred times better than that in the Ford and it is fun to really throw the car into a bend. You catch it before it really goes wrong, as if you just want to get that last tenth off your cart round. The Porsche 911 sounds nice but well behaved next to the Ford. But wait a minute, that 911 is a lot more expensive… Yes and it is still worse than you think… The price of the Ford is both absurd and deceptive. It costs about 1.5 tons in the Netherlands, but of that a shocking 80,000 euros is bpm. And yet the Porsche is already much more expensive at 184,000 euros. Including many options, our beautiful blue demo costs just 240,000 euros. Wow… The bpm is also high on the 911, but at 58,000 euros, both absolutely and relatively, a lot less. That actually makes the Mustang a bargain and Belgian readers can laugh at us Dutch and then buy the same Dark Horse from the Ford dealer for only 70,000 euros. No tip, but considering the car’s performance potential, a bargain. For comparison, our southern neighbors have the 911 Carrera from 136,000 euros. If we look at the Dutch price differences, it is of course never a fair fight for the Ford. That is not how this story is intended. We can only conclude that the 911, even in simple form, is a technically amazing product, with which no one is doing themselves a disservice. And that the Mustang gives us a last look at an analogue past, in which simple driving could provide so much pleasure. In any case, the petrol Mustang ends on a high, and it’s nice that Ford still sells the car in the Netherlands.
Source: www.autoweek.nl
