Ford Mustang Review & Prices

The Ford Mustang is a bombastic sports coupe powered by a V8 engine - a pretty rare thing these days. It’s surprisingly good value and easy to drive everyday, but the noise, thirst and cramped interior mean it’s not an ideal daily driver.

True muscle cars don’t get much more iconic than the Ford Mustang - they’re a staple in the US, but not so common on these shores. Ford has sold the Mustang in right-hand drive for a while now, and that continues with the latest model which is available as either a couple or a convertible.

Owning a Mustang in the UK has always been a bit like owning a real horse - it’s difficult to explain to people why you’re so attached to something that’s so impractical and expensive to run, but it’s worth it for those special rides (and/or drives!).

Alternatives are limited - for a similar price you could have a BMW M2 coupe, but that’s a much smaller car and only gets six cylinders instead of eight. The same goes for the Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 Cabriolet. Any comparable V8-engined car is far more expensive - cheap cars with big engines just aren’t popular in Europe. However, you might cross-shop a new Mustang with a used example of a Jaguar F-Type or BMW M8 Convertible.

The Mustang’s styling instantly stands out. It has a long bonnet and a dramatically sloping roofline which meets an upturned boot lid spoiler. The grille is huge, and instead of a Ford badge you simply get the galloping horse to represent the Mustang name.

Snarling bonnet vents complete the look, which is beefy, bold, and a bit brash. But the chances are you’ll hear the Mustang before you see it - the 5.0-litre V8 engine is very loud indeed, with a throaty engine note that gets really thrilling when you give it some beans.

While the exterior is unmistakably an evolution of the previous Mustang, it’s all change on the inside. The dashboard is dominated by a pair of digital screens - a 12.4-inch instrument display and a 13.2-inch infotainment display. Both sit under the same piece of glass to give the illusion that they’re one big screen.

It’s undeniably more modern than the previous car but unfortunately the transformation does mean that the lion’s share of the controls have been moved into the touchscreen - including the climate controls, which makes them pretty difficult to use on the move.

Practicality is limited - the Mustang’s huge doors are quite difficult to open in tight spaces, and they don’t leave a huge gap for rear-seat occupants to clamber over. Not that they’ll want to, as space back there is at a premium - though that’s the case with almost all coupes. The boot is pretty pokey too.

The engine is the star of the Mustang show. In the GT model it produces 446hp, and in the Dark Horse version it produces 453hp - and that’s without the aid of any turbocharger or hybrid technology. Petrolhead purists will really enjoy that.

They’ll also enjoy that a six-speed manual transmission is still offered, as does a ‘burnout mode’ and a unique ‘drift brake’ which allows you to use the car’s electric handbrake for powerslides.

The result is a car that won’t go round a track as fast or as tidily as its European counterparts, but that’s nonetheless really good fun - and friendly enough that even a less experienced driver can enjoy themselves.

You can check out the best Ford Mustang deals here on Carwow, or see our other best Ford deals. We’ve got used Ford Mustangs for sale plus other used Fords for sale here. And remember that Carwow can even help you to sell your old car when the time comes.

The Mustang range starts from just under £56,000 - not much more than a BMW M240i, and much less than the full-fat M2 coupe. Even the cheapest Porsche Cayman costs significantly more, as do run-out examples of the Lexus RC F. It’s a positive bargain, then - and even the top-end Dark Horse model at £67,000+ is cheap compared with the alternatives.

All models come well equipped with climate control, heated and ventilated front seats, 19-inch alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control and that twin-screen dashboard layout. But Dark Horse models come with a bodykit plus plenty of chassis additions such as adjustable suspension, upgraded engine cooling and a shoutier exhaust.

Surprisingly comfortable on a long journey but unwieldy around town. A great laugh on the right road, though

In town

The Mustang has a few issues when driving round town. It’s quite large, and visibility isn’t great, so you’re constantly worried about your extremities. The turning circle isn’t fantastic either so parking is more of a pain than it needs to be, not helped by fairly heavy steering.

It handles bumps and potholes well, though, and the automatic models are happy to sit in traffic. However, the weighty clutch and gear change of manual models will soon grate if you’re stuck in a jam.

On the motorway

Power is obviously ample with over 400hp on tap, so the Mustang has no problem at all getting up to speed or executing a decisive overtake manoeuvre.

It’s also really quite comfortable on a long motorway journey, and the standard-fit adaptive cruise control works really well too. Just bear in mind that the 5.0-litre engine’s prodigious thirst means you’ll be stopping every 250 miles or so to refill the tank… And while wind and road noise are quite well contained, even on its quietest setting the engine barks and growls loudly at the slightest hint of throttle.

On a twisty road

The old cliche is that American muscle cars are super-fast in a straight line and then totally fall apart in the corners. Well, that’s not the case with the Mustang. It can corner quickly without too much drama - the difference is that when you push it really hard, it tends to be more dramatic. The rear end is happy to lose traction and transfer into a big power slide.

There’s no doubt that a BMW M2 is tidier in the corners and would be faster around a race track - but the Mustang is more fun. It’s a bit more juvenile and exciting, rather than coldly capable.

Big, very comfy front seats - but the rear is cramped and so is the boot

There’s loads of room up front in the Mustang. Whether you go for the GT with its standard seats or the Dark Horse, which gets Recaro bucket seats, they’re really accommodating for larger drivers and have loads of adjustment.

Storage for smaller items is good for a coupe. The door bins are quite small but you get a wireless phone charger and two massive cupholders in the centre.

Space in the back seats

Accessing the rear seats in the Mustang is a bit of a pain. The front seats are quite large and thick, so they don’t leave much room for rear occupants to clamber through. When they’re back there, they’ll find two quite small seats.

The front passenger certainly needs to move their seat forwards a fair bit to stand a chance of accommodating an adult back there. Most Mustang owners will probably just use them as supplemental luggage space.

There are ISOFIX points on both rear seats, though, so you can fit a child seat - though better to keep it to a forward-facing booster rather than a bulky rear-facing seat.

Boot space

With just over 400 litres of space, the Mustang’s boot isn’t a bad size on paper - it’s a little bigger than the BMW M2’s 390 litres. However, the Mustang’s space is very shallow and the aperture is an awkward shape, so it’s not easy to fill up. The rear seats fold if you need to carry larger items, though.

Nice build quality but a rather uninspired design

There’s a lot to like about the Ford Mustang’s interior - from the large and very comfy seats to the crisp and responsive displays. However, the design isn’t very interesting - with a few exceptions, it feels like any other Ford, right down to the infotainment displays unimaginatively plonked on top of the dash.

There are some nice touches - the classic-look release for the electric handbrake feels great and the thick-rimmed steering wheel is nice to hold with clear buttons. But driving purists - the sort of people who are likely to be interested in the Mustang - won’t be pleased to find that nearly all of the functions need to be routed through the touchscreen infotainment system.

The display uses Unreal Engine - an architecture designed for video games - to ensure that its graphics are super-crisp and clear, and that they’re very responsive. The screen is pretty well laid-out, though some of the climate controls at the bottom are a little fiddly to press while on the move.

Build quality feels good, though, with a reassuring solidity to most of the things you touch, and the materials are nicer than you find on many much more expensive coupes.

Officially, the Mustang will do around 28mpg - but you’re likely to get less than 20mpg in the real world. During a week with a GT model we averaged about 18mpg, which means frequent and expensive fillups. There’s no hybrid model planned, though if you want a fully electric car there’s always the Mustang Mach-e.

CO2 emissions are a hefty 230g/km minimum, meaning the Mustang pays a chunky first year road tax bill - and all models also pay the expensive car supplement on years two to six of ownership. Those emissions mean it’s a pretty poor company car choice, too.

Euro NCAP hasn’t tested the latest Mustang - the last version it assessed was back in 2017, where it was awarded a pretty weak two stars. However, the USA’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded the latest model a five-star score and named it a top safety pick.

All the safety equipment you expect comes as standard, and there’s a shortcut on the steering wheel to turn off lane assist plus another for the speed limit alerts. 

The Ford Mustang is too niche to appear in the Driver Power owner satisfaction survey - and while Ford ranked a disappointing 30 out of 32 manufacturers in the 2024 results, the Mustang is a long way removed from anything else the brand makes.

You get a three-year, 60,000 mile warranty as standard, which is disappointing, though Ford is nice enough to throw in a year of unlimited mileage breakdown cover with every car.