2020 ford mustang 2.3 ecoboost

2020 ford mustang 2.3 ecoboost

The last time I was driving a Ford Mustang it was a 2019 Shelby GT-350, and I got to hammer that thing around a racetrack. Best Mustang ever. Now, I'm with this Ford Mustang. And while it has MagneRide suspension, a big brake kit, and summer high-performance tires it's missing a few things, like cylinders. Welcome to the 2020 Ford Mustang EcoBoost with the high-performance package. 

So what do you get when you get a high-performance package?

Well, I should note that this particular car has the optimal handling package on top of the high-performance package, so you get these wheels, which are specific to the handling package. You also get these Pirelli P Zero course of four tires, which are unique to just this car, and we'll talk more about this later.

But behind these wheels is a big brake kit, and these brakes are straight off of a V8 GT. And they had to put these on the car because the level of performance is so much higher and so is the top speed. It's now 255 miles an hour, so the brakes are important on this car. Because it has these brakes, they re-profiled the front of the car and the belly pan, that's also off of a GT, to allow for brake cooling at both high and low speeds. And they also added that front splitter on the front of it. 

Hopefully, that works too.  So this engine is essentially out of a Focus RS. Rumor has it that they had an old Focus hanging around the proving grounds. One night they asked themselves, will that engine fit in this car? They tried it and it fit. So they went to Valencia, Spain where they make the RS engines, asked them if they could make one, and they made it. It fits. Makes 332 horsepower, which is less than what the Focus RS made, but that's largely because the engine is longitudinally mounted in this car, so that means they didn't have as much room for the intercooler in front of it.

Also, that horsepower figure is quoted on 93 octane gas. We don't get that in California. This engine runs a larger turbocharger, 63-millimeter twin-scroll, that was designed and engineered in-house by some guy at Ford. Carl Widmann, the chief engineer for Mustang, asked the guy hey, do you have any free time left over to work on this? The guy went, yeah. Do you have any like Mustang swag I could have in return? Seriously, that's how they design the turbo. I hope that the story is true. 

This engine makes 350-foot pounds of torque, and 90% of that is available between 2,500 and 5300 RPM. That's a broader torque range than what was available in the Focus RS, but it suits the character of the Mustang pretty well. It also works well in the 10-speed automatic. We had a chance to sample that car earlier and I was very surprised. 

You don't lose anything driving the automatic, but I kind of prefer the manual. Ford's claiming that 0 to 60 times, with the automatic, should be in the mid to upper four-second range. Think about that for a second mid to upper four seconds for a four-cylinder Mustang. I should mention these Recaro seats. These are fantastic. They're comfortable, hold you well, they breathe well. No complaints. If you can get these seats, get these seats. 

By not having that V8 in the nose, there's actually 200 pounds less weight in the front of the car, and that might not seem like a lot, but you notice it immediately. The car turns in with an eagerness that's similar to the GT-350. That's amazing. Also part of the handling package is the Pirelli P Zero course of fours, which are unique to this car. 

But those tires provide a great balance of grip and fun and they're very predictable. I can tell where the limits are all the time and that's just great on a road like this. They say all good roads are bad roads and this central California road is no exception. I think it's gotten worse since the last time I was here. But it serves to highlight how stiff this car suspension is, but it also highlights how good the MagneRide shocks are. 

There's very little compression, not a lot of body movement, and the tires are always planted on the ground, which is what you want on this road. Another part of the handling pack is a 355 Torsen limited-slip. It gives you good acceleration but also gives you excellent traction coming in and out of corners. 

They've retooled the MagneRide they've re-tuned the stability control and the ABM system to allow you to trail brake the car. It'll rotate just the tiniest bit going into corners and it's a lot of fun. It's something you wouldn't expect that a car this size. With this car's broad powerband, excellent traction, quick front end, really good brakes, Ford has essentially built a momentum Mustang.