Did I Screw Up Not Buying A 2024 Ford Mustang GT?

One thing you need to know about press cars is that they typically come fully loaded. If there’s a performance package, the cars on hand usually have the performance package. If there’s an off-road package, chances are some of the cars on hand have the off-road package. If there’s a 32-way heated, powered, ventilated, massaging, sweat-wicking, body-hugging seat that offers words of affirmation and piping hot tea biscuits, that’ll most likely be specced too. However, in the real world, only a small portion of actual car buyers tick every box. Thanks to the launch event for the 2024 Ford Mustang GT, we already know that it’s a V8-powered slice of all-American machismo, But what’s it like when you strip away most of the fancy gizmos of a fully loaded model? Oh, and while we’re answering questions, should I have actually gone out and spent my own money on one?

Last July, I attended the media drive of the 2024 Ford Mustang and came away so enamored with the GT’s flavor of effortless, engaging V8 fun that I genuinely considered putting in an order for a minute. Seriously, I wrote, “Could I possibly, maybe just comb through the couch cushions and scrape up enough to put in an order?” Obviously, that didn’t happen, and a couple months after that, I ended up with my 25-year-old Porsche Boxster. But what if? What if I had a chance to do it all again? Time to spend a week in a 2024 Ford Mustang GT on the knackered streets of Toronto to see if my West Coast romance could work in a more hostile environment. Gather round, urban vampires and children of the night, this is gonna be a good one.

[Full disclosure: Ford Canada let me borrow this Mustang GT for a week so long as I returned it with a full tank of fuel and reviewed it.]

Dressed For Friend Requests

More than two years after its debut at the 2022 North American International Auto Show, the crisper styling of the seventh-generation Ford Mustang is really coming into its own. Everything new is just leaner than on the previous model, with a more assertive down-the-road graphic, wide functional hood louvers that emphasize visual width, and simple yet well-executed surfacing that cuts fuss. The smooth body sides draw attention to the crispness of the rear haunches, while the undercut character line starting on the front fender and terminating on the rear bumper does a nice job of breaking up the sheetmetal. Of course, it also helps that the Yellow Splash Metallic paint of my test car looks fantastic, although it’s been discontinued for 2025, which is a damn shame. Bring it back for 2026, Ford. There’s just something right about a yellow Mustang.

Out back, the diffused taillights don’t look quite as simplistic as they did in early press photos, and the deep V-shaped profile of the decklid casts a terrific shadow. Mind you, these new elements do have their downsides — both seem to encroach on trunk access, meaning you might need to do a little Tetris to pack checked luggage in the back of this Mustang. Overall though, I reckon the end result works. It’s a properly modernized pony car, and even in base GT trim without the staggered wheels, it still looks the business.

I Serve The Base

If you aren’t a fan of the massive ultra-wide monitor look seen in every 2024 Mustang interior press photo, this might be what you’re looking for. While Premium trims get their monitors placed under a single sheet of glass, base models make do with two separate screens. However, this isn’t necessarily a downgrade — you still get fast, fluid animations, impressive black levels, and high resolution. Although it takes a minute to boot from cold, it feels like this infotainment system will age well.

Speaking of base-model tech, despite the separate screens, you don’t get locked out of the fun stuff, like various digital gauge cluster skins recalling Mustangs of the past. I spent most of my time driving around with a tribute to the gauges from the New Edge Mustang Cobra because I am a child of the 2000s.

One thing that doesn’t come as standard on the base model is the available nine-speaker unbranded stereo on my test car, and do you know what? For what it is, it sounds perfectly alright. There’s enough bass to offer a bit of kick without seeming boomy, the mid-range seems pretty even, and while high frequencies aren’t massively crisp, this isn’t a shrill-sounding system either. Considering the package also includes heated front seats and dual-zone automatic climate control, I’d call that an option box worth ticking.

Admittedly, there are some parts inside this Mustang that aren’t so nice. Look, you have to microwave some reconstituted eggs if you want to offer a ribeye powertrain on a mechanically separated ham budget. Yes, the center console feels like it’s made from melted-down Cozy Coupes. Yes, the front seatback releases feel like they could snap at any moment. Yes, the door card plastics are as dour as a jaded headmaster. Do you want a chest-beating V8 or not?

Knife Party

While even the base Mustang GT gets some beefy Brembo front calipers, the Mustang GTs I drove last year all had the Performance Package, a big bundle of upgrades including some pretty important hardware changes. In contrast, this base model had no drift brake, no Torsen diff, no sports suspension, no K-brace, no special electric power steering tuning, no upsized rear sway bar, and no strut tower brace. It didn’t even have summer tires, instead riding on a set of Continental all-seasons. So what effect does ditching all that have on the driving experience?

Well, it’s damn comfortable. You could be loping along at just past tickover in the right lane with your favorite music on and your back sinking into plush cloth seats, and wonder for a second if anyone really needs more GT car than this. In base spec, the Mustang GT is an effortless cruiser, stretching along the road like a 60 mph inchworm.

Introduce a corner into the equation, and you grow new awareness of the Continental all-seasons. Knowing you’re nearing the limits of adhesion comes from auditory cues, not reading grip on entry through steering weight. However, the rental-spec tires also have a brilliant side effect, and that’s how launch control doesn’t exactly work how you’d expect it to. In the interest of science, this important vehicle function was tested out with a low RPM setting and, well, would you believe it just dropped a set and wafted the scent of vulcanized rubber across an entire ZIP code? In the real world, less grip means more fun, and provided you don’t go full Cars and Coffee, the Mustang GT lets you be a bit of a hooligan and get away with it without much effort at all.

The undisputed star of this show is the five-liter quad-cam V8 under the hood pumping out 486 horsepower and 418 lb.-ft. of torque, with six of those ponies and three of those lb.-ft. being down to the optional Active Valve Performance Exhaust fitted on my test car. Even with the valves set to standard mode, the Coyote V8 makes an enormous crescendo for a cross-plane V8, from a kick-the-can burble at 2,000 rpm to a choke-chain bark at 4,000 rpm to a proper face-eating howl when the digital tachometer needle swings past 7,000. If biceps had mouths, this is what they’d sound like. It’s nothing short of addictive, and it’s even better when you choose the gears yourself.

The Mustang is one of just two new vehicles currently available with a six-speed manual gearbox and a V8, and even with the Getrag unit in the GT trim, you’d be amiss to tick the box for the automatic. Not only is the shifter slick and accurate without being excessively notchy, Ford’s fixed the clutch pedal for 2024. The old Mustang GT featured this weird compound action where the assistance spring really wanted to push the pedal toward you before you reached the bite point, but this one feels natural all the way through. There’s definitely some anti-stall software trickery working in the background because you can get rolling hilariously quickly without applying any throttle at all, but it never feels intrusive. Speaking of assistance, downshift rev matching is a nice toy to have when you’re feeling lazy, but you can just switch it off and intuitively match revs yourself. Call it freedom of choice.

Also, did you know that the MT-82 six-speed manual transmission in the Mustang GT has no-lift-shift? That means, with the valved exhaust set to full disorderly conduct mode, you can flat-foot the 1-2 shift down an on-ramp and splatter everyone with the sound of the ’60s. The more you know, right?

Add it all up, and you’ll quickly learn that the base Mustang GT is not a sports car, it’s just a powerful coupe with a manual gearbox, and there’s something brilliant about that. Hell, it’ll even happily run on 87-octane fuel. It’s definitely quicker on 93 octane, but the fact you can just bung in the cheap stuff if need be is reassuring. If the Coyote V8 is durable enough for the F-150 pickup truck, chances are it’ll last long here too. Plus, thanks to that V8, the Mustang GT still feels special when driving slowly. There’s something delightfully naughty about rumbling through town on a cushion of barely-stressed chest-beating V8 noises.

Any Last Words?

So, do I regret not pulling the trigger on my very own 2024 Ford Mustang GT? Well, let me explain. For some people, the base 2024 Ford Mustang GT is the sportiest thing they could see themselves in. For others at the other extreme of the spectrum, it’s the least sporty thing they could see themselves dropping new car money on. As a person, not a journalist, and not someone trying to maintain some semblance of objectivity, I’m very nearly in the second camp. It’s not snobbery or anything like that, it’s just that some of us have more extreme tastes than others. I don’t regret not financing a 2024 Ford Mustang GT instead of buying an older, sharper sports car outright, but that’s only because it’s ideally a case of and rather than or. Instead, if I were to get one, it would augment a more focused sports car, and I’d daily drive the crap out of it. Through snow, through sleet, through bumper-to-bumper traffic on 100-degree days, and I’d enjoy every minute of it.

Even without all the fancy optional performance goodies, save for the valved exhaust system, the 2024 Ford Mustang GT continues to enthrall, captivate, and elate. In base trim on all-season tires, it’s not the most serious Mustang out there, and that’s why I still adore it. It’s quick, easy, willing to unleash V8 power with impunity, and yet never grows uncomfortable, even as the grind of traffic wears you down. Best of all, at a base price of $44,455 including freight ($51,225 in Canada) and an as-tested price of $49,985 including freight ($57,870 in Canada), it’s solid value too. There really is a Mustang for everyone. If you already have a sports car in the garage and have to drive over awful pavement, this might be the one for you.

(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)

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