- The 2024 Ford Mustang EcoBoost’s 4.5-second dash to 60 mph makes it the quickest four-pot ‘Stang we have examined to date.
- That mentioned, we by no means examined the final technology’s 330-hp hi-po with an computerized, however we’re fairly assured the 2024 would put up a severe struggle.
- The EcoBoost we examined got here outfitted with the $3475 High Performance package deal with summer time tires and upgraded brakes.
Welcome to Car and Driver’s Testing Hub, the place we zoom in on the take a look at numbers. We’ve been pushing automobiles to their limits since 1956 to offer goal knowledge to bolster our subjective impressions (you’ll be able to see how we take a look at here).
When a flashy new Ford Mustang reveals up at C/D headquarters, loaded with performance-specific upgrades, you understand we should topic it to some full of life acceleration testing. Now that we have now, it seems we have now a brand new king of the hill. With a recorded 60-mph time of 4.5 seconds, the 2024 Mustang EcoBoost is formally the quickest four-cylinder Mustang we have had the privilege of testing.
Drag Strip Mode Is Gold
We observed a couple of attention-grabbing issues throughout our examination. Over a number of makes an attempt, the Drag Strip drive mode proved price its weight in gold, saving a tenth or two on the option to 60 mph. As testing director Dave VanderWerp places it, “Drag Strip mode actually bangs dwelling the shifts.” The EcoBoost additionally chirps its tires on the one-two upshift, which is a enjoyable little flourish.
Now, it is price declaring that there is a small asterisk concerned—Barry Bonds model. While this EcoBoost completely trounced the manual 2020 model we evaluated as part of a comparison test, beating the persist with 60 by half a second, there’s a lacking variant that might give this 2024 a run for its cash. We weren’t in a position to take a look at the outgoing technology’s Performance Pack-equipped, 330-horsepower, automatic-transmission variant, which is as carefully matched to the 2024 mannequin as any earlier than it. The final EcoBoost computerized we examined, a 2018 model with 310 hp, was only a tenth faster than the Performance-Pack guide at 4.9 seconds to 60.
Stacking Up Stangs
Other factors of comparability favor the Mustang too. The new Stang continued its motive-force routing, besting the 2020 in the quarter mile with a 13.2-second run at 103 mph, with the earlier guide at 13.6 seconds at 102 mph and the computerized coming in at 13.4 seconds at 100 mph. In the other way, our EcoBoost Performance Pack’s brakes clamped down from 70 mph in 149 ft, barely edging previous the 2020 mannequin’s 153-foot cease. The gulf widens barely at 100 mph, the place it takes the 2024 EcoBoost 293 ft to cease, versus the 2020 EcoBoost’s 308 ft.
When it is time to flip, the tide adjustments; the 2024 EcoBoost fared worse on our 300-foot skidpad (0.95 g versus 2020’s 1.02 g). But that is as a result of the earlier automotive had much more severe tires; Pirelli P Zero Corsa PCZ4s versus P Zero PZ4s on the 2024 mannequin, and the new mannequin’s 255/40R-19s are barely narrower than the 265-width Corsas, too.
While the newest EcoBoost could not pack the similar 330 horsepower as the outgoing Performance Pack mannequin, the four-cylinder Mustang did obtain some powertrain bumps for 2024. The turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four below the hood makes 315 horsepower (up from 310) and 350 pound-feet of torque. This is sweet, as a result of its curb weight can also be up barely; at 3812 kilos, it is 62 greater than our 2018 computerized take a look at automotive. Sadly, the guide transmission is not supplied on EcoBoost fashions this 12 months, however as we have seen above, the 10-speed computerized is lots good by itself.
Performance Pack Explained
So, what’s on this mysterious Performance Pack? Throw Ford $3475 and it will increase your Mustang’s avenue cred with wider wheels and Pirelli P Zero PZ4 tires, MagneRide adaptive dampers, beefier Brembo brakes, further bracing in the engine bay, and a 3.55:1 Torsen limited-slip differential. Oh yeah, it additionally provides the “drift stick,” which is a correct lever for the digital parking brake that allows you to rise up to even dumber stuff than you in any other case would.
A ultimate enjoyable reality: This spec of 2024 EcoBoost is just one second faster to 60 mph than a 2023 F-250 SuperCrew 4×4. Be cautious who you attempt to race for pinks, of us.
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Senior Editor
Cars are Andrew Krok’s jam, together with boysenberry. After graduating with a level in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009, Andrew reduce his enamel writing freelance journal options, and now he has a decade of full-time evaluation expertise below his belt. A Chicagoan by delivery, he has been a Detroit resident since 2015. Maybe in the future he’ll do one thing about that half-finished engineering diploma.
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