Sliding behind the steering wheel of a box-fresh 2024 Ford Mustang GT takes me back to the moment vividly. The year is 2014 and I’m sitting at a red light on Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood. I was in the then brand-new sixth-generation Mustang, the first destined to be sold in South Africa in right-hand drive. All of a sudden a ’68 GT Fastback (just like the original Bullitt one) pulled up alongside me with the window down. “Is this the new model?” Enquired a square-jawed, bronzed Californian surfer-type guy with an American drawl.
Before I could answer him with more than my well-meant thumbs up, he popped the clutch of his classic muscle car, turned hard right and barrelled up a side street in a cacophony of old-school thumping V8 and tyre squeal. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight on end! Of course, it’s perfectly legal to turn right on red in America and that’s the day I fell in love with the infamous pony car that is the Ford Mustang GT.
2024 FORD MUSTANG GT IN SOUTH AFRICA
Quite honestly though, Ford Mustangs are a dime-a-dozen in America. Ford sells them over there like we sell Ranger bakkies in Mzansi. With millions sold since 1964, it’s been the best-selling sports car in the US for six decades. Nevertheless, even into the seventh generation worldwide, its muscle-car royalty is still a thing in South Africa. Therefore, when you first clap eyes on the 2024 Ford Mustang GT, you can’t help but get swept up by what a great piece of design it is. Of course, it’s American, so it’s a big, sleek two-door fastback. However, the proportions are right on, and the chiseled details front and rear are transformative.
Its maker says the 2024 Ford Mustang GT is more menacing thanks to slimmed-down full LED headlights, tri-bar tail-lamps that nod to the icons of the past, and functional bonnet vents. And they are absolutely correct – it is more menacing and striking in the metal than these pictures can even do justice. Any owner or fanatic who may have been cynical about its newness will be absolutely blown away at their first encounter.
FIVE-POINT-OH
Our 2024 Ford Mustang GT route (or ‘rowt’ in American speak) is one of the great driving stretches of the Southern Cape. We’re stretching this ponies’ legs from George, over Robinson Pass to Oudsthoorn, through Uniondale and back around to Outeniqua Pass. Sweet dreams are made of these, let me tell you. But hang on a second, aren’t muscle cars meant to revel in point-to-point drag-style blasts, but fall to pieces at the mere sight of a corner? If so, why has Ford South Africa decided to put us on a road that’s more serpentine than a super snake’s wet dream?
The question becomes rhetorical about a quarter of an hour into the drive as I start the charge up Robinson Pass. Out of six driver modes, I arm the vehicle to Sport and punch the gas pedal. Instantly the machine transforms from comfy grand tourer to roaring, salivating V8 stallion. In their infinite wisdom, the Blue Oval fitted every driver-centric option as standard on the 2024 Ford Mustang GT in South Africa. We’re talking Magneride active suspension, six-piston caliper brakes up front (four-pistons at the rear) from Brembo and Torsen limited-slip differential. The result is a galloping, snorting sports car that runs down the road in a manner no classic Mustang owner would ever fathom.
A MUSTANG FOR FAST DRIVERS
Chassis rigidity is top notch when you start to lay into fast bends and test the grip/handling balance, but it never rides too firmly. Reworked integral-link rear suspension generates twice as much anti-squat, lift and roll during braking, cornering and acceleration. Steering feel is well calibrated, too. On this supremely demanding road, the 2024 Ford Mustang GT feels up to the task and more so. Grip from the Pirellis – both front and rear – is probably the most noticeable enhancement from the sixth-generation muscle car. Where you used to approach the throttle with caution in Mustangs of yore, the pedal is now undoubtedly a friend not a foe. And what a friend it is …
The upgraded 5.0-litre V8 Coyote produces 328 kW and 540 Nm of torque. But it’s how it delivers its performance that’s so unforgettable and intoxicating. The naturally aspirated motor has port- and direct- fuel injection and benefits from a new active-valve exhaust. The result is savage, unrelenting acceleration right through the rev range. Any criticism of flat and workmanlike engine response are a thing of the past. The raucous dial is turned up to eleven on the 2024 Ford Mustang GT. There’s a mellow rumble at low rpm, that builds to a guttural bellow all the way to redline (peak power lives at 7 250 rpm). It revs quickly and entertains all the way to the redline, as if inspired by the GT500’s flat-plane-crank V8 motor.
COOL COCKPIT
True Mustang fans will know the original car was actually inspired by the America P51 fighter plane. And for that reason, the 2024 Ford Mustang GT has a modern fighter jet-style cockpit. It’s arguably one of my favourite additions to the new car and takes the form of a 13.2-inch Sync 4 centre screen and 12.4-inch driver display. The screens are slightly curved and provide a massive improvement to cabin sophistication and ambiance.
To be fair, the previous pony car’s interior was a little crude. The dashboards’ conical shapes and toggle switches were fiddly, because they only toggled in one direction rather than up and down as you’d expect. Now, however, the driver binnacle is so good it can even mimic classic analogue Mustang displays. Besides the pin-sharp modern layouts like Sport, Calm and Race mode, there’s Classic ‘60s, retro ‘80s from the Fox Body, and even white dials from an SVT Cobra of the ‘90s-‘00s. This is such a great way to customise your 2024 Ford Mustang GT and still pay homage to 60 years of a muscle-car icon.
THE VERDICT
The launch drive of the 2024 Ford Mustang GT is not so much an assessment, as a celebration of a modern icon first introduced to the world back in 1964. Anyone who owns a sixth-generation Mustang has to get their hands on one of these seventh-generation beauties to feel the refinements. The close-ratio 10-speed automatic gearbox makes the performance accessible. And its long-bonneted front end is now eager to change direction and is truly rewarding on the limit on a mountain road. Nevertheless, after a satisfying descent down Outeniqua Pass, I swap everything back to Comfort mode and mosey along through thickening George traffic to the bata bata of an under-stressed V8. An over abundance of swivelling heads proves to me the appeal of the muscle car will never die, especially when they make them as good as the 2024 Ford Mustang GT.
THE FIGURES
- 2024 Ford Mustang GT 5.0
- Engine: 5.0-litre, V8 petrol
- Power: 328 kW @ 7 000 rpm, 540 Nm @ 4 500 rpm
- Performance: 0-100 km/h 4.5 seconds (tested)
- Tyres: 275/40 R19 Pirelli P Zero
- Economy: 10.5 l/100 km (tested)
- Transmission: 10-speed automatic
- Price: R1.3 million
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE ICONIC 2024 FORD MUSTANG?
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