Morning everyone. I've been reading this forum for a few days as my friend "aandyy" in blackpool has recently bought a E Class, and he pointed this thread out to me.
As a Mustang owner, I feel I should set some things straight and try to explain what the car is all about: I'll probably end up writing a few thousand words here, as once I get my teeth into something I find it hard to stop. However.. read on if you're interested. Stop right here if you're not.
1st up, the V6 Mustang: It's the base model. You judging a car by it's base model? Allow me to point out some differences.
The V6 (unless it has the "Pony Package" upgrades) has the worst interior of any car ever. A depressing sea of black plastic.
The V6 has no anti-roll bars
The V6 has useless brakes
The V6 is underpowered by it's useless cologne derived engine.
The V6 is crippled by overly long gears for cruising economy (although in reality it's actually no more economical than the V8)
You were also driving an auto V6.... BIG mistake.
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The V8 however, has a much upgraded interior
The V8 has anti-roll bars
The V8 Very large brakes in comparison
The V8 uses Ford's award winning "Modular" V8 engine that although only produces around 100bhp more gets it from 0-60 in around 5 seconds dead. In gear times a phenomenal, as is it's low range torque.
The V8 has a lower diff ratio and closer ratio gears (in the manual version)
Plus... you probably rented an auto V6 which makes it even worse. Anyone with any sense buys a manual Mustang... always have.. even in the US. This car is sold as manual standard, and you pay extra for an auto box.
As for handling... There's not really anything wrong with it if you keep in mind what it's designed for. The V6 has no anti roll bars, so you can't judge the Mustang by the V6. The solid rear axle it has doesn't really cause that many problems. Ford CHOSE a solid rear because that's what people wanted. Remember, the Mustang is a muscle car, not a track weapon. It's designed to look good, sound good, and be very fast on a drag strip.... where extra unsprung weight of a live axle actually helps. You have to remember, the Cobra Mustangs had independent rear, and it wasn't as fast as other Mustangs with live axles. It's not the be all and end all.
People say the same about the Corvette though, because it has leaf springs, yet the ZR1 laps the Nurburg ring in 7:26.... despite this Europeans still laugh.. which in turn makes me laugh
The fact is, people who buy a new Mercedes are bound to hate the Mustang. Different mindset entirely. People buy a Mercedes because they want something discreet, elegant, and regarded as a "prestige" marque. People who buy a Mustang don't want, or are indeed interested in any of those things. Allow me to use an analogy:
The Mercedes is a man dressed in a bespoke silk suit.. immaculate... A hint of a Breitling watch peeking out from under his cuff. He's well groomed, shaved, smells good. He's wearing handmade leather brogues, and speaks softly, but well articulated.
The Mustang wears a checked shirt, belches a lot, smells faintly of beer and sweat, and he shouts a great deal.
If you wanted someone to invest your money, or perform an operation on your heart, you'd probably assume the first man would be the one who you'd rather trust. If you wanted a tree felling, you'd probably assume the latter would be your man.
That's not to say it's a reflection of the owners of these vehicles.. but rather the owner's perception of the vehicles.. or to be even more analytical, the owner's idea of how other people perceive them... or maybe how I think Mercedes owners think... Jesus... I'm confusing myself now.. LOL. I think you see where I'm going however.
Cars are not, or ever have been just the sum of their parts. Some are of course... but by far and away the majority of car buying decisions have nothing to do with mere facts, figures, and common sense. If that was the case, no one would actually buy a Mercedes because you're paying a huge permium for what is essentually not a very well built car. Don't get me wrong.. I'm not saying it's a bad car.. I'm just saying that the top of the range Mondeo is every bit as good as the top of the range C Class (excluing AMG versions because there's no equivalent Mondeo to compare it to) yet you pay a great deal less for it. What the Mondeo doesn't have, is the badge. It can't command the same premium price because it doesn't have the same brand image.
Enter the Mustang.... LOL.. Mustang owners don't give a rat's ass about image.. not the kind of image Mercedes owners are interested in anyway. To wrap your mind around what this car is about, here's a snippet from Ford's Pre-Launch blurb....
"The rear suspension is designed to prevent unwanted axle hop and provide skip-free launches during those long, smoky burnouts". Imagine reading that in a Mercedes brochure?
It's a hooligan of a car. It's crude, noisy, very simple, but it does look stunning, sounds stunning, and people love it. It's a motoring icon. Everyone recognises it and loves it, from small children to tartan bag weilding old ladies. People smile, cheer, wave, take photographs and video. People come up to me and talk to me about it whereever I go. You get none of that with a mercedes. People buy a merc for exlusivity and prestige, yet they're as common as telegraph poles. I can drive from one end of the country to the other and not see another Mustang. I've never seen people cheer and wave when a Mercedes drives past.
You say it feels cheap inside? Well.. newsflash... it IS cheap. Brand new.. £25k for the V8 GT version, and the V6 in question... £16K!!!! . What did you expect? For that kind of money I can forgive it's idiosyncracies. plus... remember how much you paid for you new Mercedes? Ouch... if that wasn't bad enough.. how much would you lose if you sold it now? I can sell mine for almost as much as I bought it for almost 2 years ago. That's depreciation most people dream about, but I can think of no other volume manufactured car that depreciates less.
In short... in a way, you're right. As a technical exercise it's a terrible car, but.... That's not the point. If you want to bore people to suicide at dinner parties about why your car is technically superior, then go ahead, but remember this....
Lt.Frank Bullit didn't drive a Mercedes; Wilson Picket never wrote a song called
"Mercedes Margaret"; Germany never produced a P.R poster saying
"Kraftwerk, Sauerkraut, and the S211 E280 CDI Estate: Three things worth fighting for"....
.....It's got soul. Your Mercedes doesn't. It's cool... your Mercedes isn't.
If you identify with none of the above then just accept the fact that you never will, move on and enjoy your Mercedes.
Thank you for listening.
