'13 Mustang GT, 1000 miles and 1 month of ownership review....

So 4 weeks ago I picked up my Performance White '13 base Mustang GT with the Track Pack.

The Track Pack takes the Standard GT and adds:

BOSS 302 radiator and oil cooler
Strut brace
Brembo package (19s with 255/40/19 Pirelli P-Zeros [sticky!] with 14" rotors with Brembos, more agressive pad compound and stiffer suspension)
3.73 with a Torsen vs 3.31 with a clutch diff

I skipped any other option packages, because frankly, they add weight/complexity that I don't want.

The car rides supremely well, handles great and puts down the power much better than I expected given the HP/weight/tire width (I think I saw somewhere a shipping weight of 3485 for the car). And it turns-in MUCH better than you would think and carries significant corner speed through my favorite on-ramps (this car won't be seeing track time like the Miata, at least not for awhile). But I must admit I'm intrigued to see what this car could do with a bit stiffer setup, quality dampers, camber plates and Rcomps........................the limit would be so far above my skill level as to be frightening!

There is so much sound deadening you don't hear much of the exhaust, but with the "intake sound tube" or whatever, you still get some great engine noise in the car. I'll likely do a set of GT500 mufflers just to open it up a touch.

The engine is absolutely fantastic, pulls hard to fuel cut, gobs of TQ down low ( I can easily drive the car anywhere and keep up with traffic never shifting above 2500rpms). However, I think the trans sucks and the amount of slop introduced by the two-piece driveshaft has me seriously considering dropping the $700 on a 1 piece just to get rid of the clunk.

The trans is super clunky/notchy and really only smooths out with "spirited use" which on the street, even the top of third gear with the shorter rear end puts you 15-20 above highway speed limits.

Only real negatives would be two Mondays in a row dropping the car off at the dealership for a leaking differential cover. Hopefully it will be resolved this time.......but I'm not counting on it since the factory didn't get it to seal and the dealership didn't either, I suspect a small crack or other deformation that is hard to see. Although the Ford Edge premium they gave me as a loaner today seems nice enough.

I'm hugely in love with the car. Although I forgot what it was like to drive something that gets attention from the general public, geez are there a lot of a$$hats that try to race/rev their engine, etc.

So aside from the gearbox/driveshaft clunk I don't have anything to complain about with the car.

This is what else populates the garage:

And a comparison between the two:

That clunk may not be the driveshaft. My F150 has it to as well as all Fords I've driven recently. I was told it was some sort of electronic control kicking in, but I've had several different answers. Most have said the diff, but that doesn't make sense.

carguy123 wrote: That clunk may not be the driveshaft. My F150 has it to as well as all Fords I've driven recently. I was told it was some sort of electronic control kicking in, but I've had several different answers. Most have said the diff, but that doesn't make sense.

Ford has done MULTIPLE revisions on the 3.73 gear set to get rid of whines and clunks for the past 10 yrs. Good to see it still isn't fixed.

You can get a backlash clunk if it is too large or an improperly set pinion preload.

I actually have the opposite view of the shifter. It's much nicer than most of the others I have driven. Not Miata-good mind you. It took a while to break in (I'd say 2,500mi) and it hates to be rushed when cold, but it snick-snicks into the gear I want nicely. Sam Strano sells a kit that improves shifting, but it ain't cheap:

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetails.php?PartID=825&CategoryID=203&ModelID=35

I hear you on the two-piece driveshaft clunking and an upgraded one-piece is in the future plans for my V-6. Then again, if I track it I'd like to be able to go faster than 118mph without the driveshaft exploding.

WRT to the diff cover leaking: It may be the axle breather tube. Ideally, it would be located on top of the diff cover, and it is on the Boss 302 and GT500. However, on the V-6 and GT it's mounted on the axle to the left of the pumpkin and tends to spit up fluid. Ford has a factory bodge called the "turkey baster" that replaces the breather tube.

http://mustangforums.com/forum/s197-handling-section/638332-diff-spit-up-a-bit-on-track-cause-for-concern-2.html#post7561379

A better solution would be the GT500 differential cover or a rear axle catch can. Here's another popular axle catch can.

The "forum" knowledge is that the 1 piece driveshafts get rid of a lot of the clunk.........seems strange, but who knows?

The hard part is keeping in check my desire to do a few things to the Mustang vs prepping the Miata a bit better for next HPDE season.

RexSeven wrote: I actually have the opposite view of the shifter. It's much nicer than most of the others I have driven. Not Miata-good mind you. It took a while to break in (I'd say 2,500mi) and it hates to be rushed when cold, but it snick-snicks into the gear I want nicely. Sam Strano sells a kit that improves shifting, but it ain't cheap: http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetails.php?PartID=825&CategoryID=203&ModelID=35 I hear you on the two-piece driveshaft clunking and an upgraded one-piece is in the future plans for my V-6. Then again, if I track it I'd like to be able to go faster than 118mph without the driveshaft exploding. WRT to the diff cover leaking: It may be the axle breather tube. Ideally, it would be located on top of the diff cover, and it is on the Boss 302 and GT500. However, on the V-6 and GT it's mounted on the axle to the left of the pumpkin and tends to spit up fluid. Ford has a factory bodge called the "turkey baster" that replaces the breather tube. http://mustangforums.com/forum/s197-handling-section/638332-diff-spit-up-a-bit-on-track-cause-for-concern-2.html#post7561379 A better solution would be the GT500 differential cover or a rear axle catch can.

I've already considered Strano's solution, again, just trying to keep myself from starting the spending spree on this car since I've already got one that gets it.

And it is, definitely, without a doubt, NOT the breather vent. I read up on that issue before I bought the car. The rest of the axle and breather are clean, you can see (both times) it's just right of center on the bottom of the diff cover where it is leaking.

It's really strange.

z31maniac wrote: The trans is super clunky/notchy and really only smooths out with "spirited use" which on the street, even the top of third gear with the shorter rear end puts you 15-20 above highway speed limits.

i have the tr6060 in my '12 dodge, I believe it is the same except for possibly different drive ratio's in the Ford, and a different shifter, obviously.

Give it some time to break in. I put full synthetic ATF in mine at 7k miles, I currently have 11k miles on it and it shifts amazing. I prefer it to my miata box! seriously, my 91 miata with rebuilt shifter bushings, fresh fluid and new hydraulics is no longer my favorite.

The 11+ GT's have a Getrag MT-82.

z31 said: amount of slop introduced by the two-piece driveshaft has me seriously considering dropping the $700 on a 1 piece just to get rid of the clunk.

Preach it brother. Even in my 05 with a different trans, the wrap/unwrap clunk in the driveshaft is heinous. You really have to be smooth on the shifts and rpm matching to avoid it, and it's hard in traffic driving to get it right with a heavy car and a torquey motor. there have been times I thought it was going to pop out of the car. But you never notice it when driving in anger.

There are one piece shafts for mine that are rated over 800HP and stupid speeds, so I'm sure they better-rated shafts will come along for the newer ones. I still haven't been able to justify the cost myself.

Great car -- and in the second best colour, too! In truth, I'd be hard pressed to decide between white and grabber blue . . .

The GT with Track Pack seems like a sweet deal.

^Those were the two colors I was deciding between.

And yeah, it's a smoking deal for what you get.

z31maniac wrote: So 4 weeks ago I . However, I think the trans sucks...

The shot of the interior and your comments on the transmission caused me to flash-back to my 1990 5.0 GT. Same thing, very reliable, great engine, terrible transmission... apparently they're still using the same ones...

You need better shocks. The stockers are total junk.

Sky_Render wrote: You need better shocks. The stockers are total junk.

I really want to do the Steeda Sports/Koni Yellows/Camber plates.

But I know then I'd want to do LCA and relocation brackets, sways, etc.

And the Miata is going to suck up some money this winter with putting in a lighweight flywheel and clutch and switching to MegaSquirt for the ECU.

There is also the consideration of my wife murdering and putting me under a patio if she came home and saw the Mustang on jack stands with the suspension out!

z31maniac wrote:

Sky_Render wrote: You need better shocks. The stockers are total junk.

I really want to do the Steeda Sports/Koni Yellows/Camber plates. But I know then I'd want to do LCA and relocation brackets, sways, etc. And the Miata is going to suck up some money this winter with putting in a lighweight flywheel and clutch and switching to MegaSquirt for the ECU. There is also the consideration of my wife murdering and putting me under a patio if she came home and saw the Mustang on jack stands with the suspension out!

Just get the dampers then. No need for caster/camber plates if you're not lowered. And you wouldn't need a panhard bar and control arms, either.

It's literally impossible for me to take something off the car and not put back something that is better. If I pull stuff apart, I like to everything in one swoop and be done with it.

Plus I'd like to fix the 4x4 ride height. Maybe next sometime.

kb58 wrote: The shot of the interior and your comments on the transmission caused me to flash-back to my 1990 5.0 GT. Same thing, very reliable, great engine, terrible transmission... apparently they're still using the same ones...

I think (hope?) you meant that jokingly, but the T5 used in the '90 was still used behind the V6s all the way through 2010.