Now before I say anything about this Mustang I took it with the knowledge I would get tons of flack from the community since the 2010 Ford Mustang isn't exactly a model of "drifting" but it even exceeded my personal expectations and then some.
We picked the car up in Los Angeles and headed out to Las Vegas, Nevada for Formula Drift Las Vegas and embark on our road trip. Hopping in the car before I even left Los Angeles the car was miles apart from the older body style Mustang's. Sitting in the interior they have lost that cheap feel and have some quality seats and interior. Here is the view from the driver's seat below. I even love the vintage gauge cluster.
For road trips like ours the car has some helpful additions under the armrest. Along with a second D/C power outlet the car has a line in and USB dock. The line in can be used for an iPod to play through the car stereo and the USB plug can charge your Blackberry/iPhone on the go. You can also sync your music with the Microsoft SYNC system the Mustang has but we went old school with an AUX cable and our iPod.
The car has on tap power from it's 4.6L V8 engine which produces a whooping 315hp. To really get the car moving you have to drive it in a pretty aggressive fashion I found but the car just screams it's way through the gears and loves every minute of it. 5th gear is almost pointless it is beyond an overdrive gear. If you buy one with intentions to drift or just have some everyday hoonage a gear swap is something I would recommend fixing the problem fairly easy.
We quickly rolled into Baker, California and had to stop at the World's Largest Thermometer. The grabber blue paint drew some on lookers and attention as the Baker Thermometer posted a 107 degree temp. for our trip through the dessert.
Even with the 110+ heat and some harder than average driving the car's temp. gauges did not budge. The car is built Ford tough (haha, I couldn't help it!) and is just so well balanced for a big machine. We arrived in Nevada before we could even blink.
We then caught up with Formula D driver Vaughn Gittin Jr. who pilots a 2010 Ford Mustang professionally and he gave us some tips about the car and really had some fun in our grabber blue Mustang. Vaughn keyed us into a little trick to put the car in to what could only be described as "drift mode." You disconnect one of the wheel speed sensors tucked behind the right side of the wheel. Once the cable is disconnected the car will show a check engine light and the ABS light (warning: this will disconnect ABS) but it allows the car to go sliding like crazy.
While under the supervision of Vaughn Gittin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway we let the car loose and had some fun! In fact, we had so much fun sliding the car around we forgot to take pictures or video. Nothing too fancy went down due to my lack of skill but the car drifted easier than any OEM car I have ever drifted. I've owned a 350z, G35, and G37 which just slide out on demand. The Mustang was on par with the 350z for anyone who has driven the car but with mounds more torque at the pedal. We have a video coming out we made on the car so more with Vaughn Gittin Jr. later!
We brought the car out to Red Rock Canyon which is just 20 miles outside of Las Vegas. We took a 13 mile scenic drive around the park to check out Nevada's gorgeous side and see how the Mustang would handle in these hills. For as heavy and old the suspension setup under my steering wheel the car didn't handle that bad. While it's no sports cars like movements the car can take the road more aggressively than I had first imagined.
After enjoying Formula D Las Vegas we took a long way home to really enjoy the 2010 Ford Mustang and meet our 1,000 mile mark for our road trip. We drove down 95 to Laughlin, Nevada which got some more gambling out of our system and headed into Arizona. We grabbed I-40 West and finished off the wild wild west in our all American machine.
The one thing that really took me away after driving is the love people have for the Mustang. Mind you to me I am driving a stock 2010 Ford Mustang GT around and people are honking, giving the thumbs up, and any other Mustang owner would pass us with a nice rev. Insane I tell you, the love America has with it's all American muscle car is something I never expected to that degree.
Total Summary:Total Miles: 1,123 miles
Gas Total: $193.52
Gas Stops: 6
Overall Fun Factor: 8
Daily Driver Factor: 7.6
Drift Machine Potential: 9.4
Trunk Space: 8.7
Road Trip Machine: 8.3
Check out the gallery from our trip:
http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=118