hunter craig ra paper (ford mustang)

8/3/2019 Hunter Craig RA Paper (Ford Mustang)

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Hunter Craig

Ms. Caruso

ENGL 1101

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang has been a classic American muscle car that has been a popular car

since the 1960s. The Ford Mustang is one of the best American cars that have been made. This

car is fast, sleek, affordable, and reliable. The Ford mustang has many different models that will

fit each and every persons tastes and interests. Even though the Ford mustang is a muscle car,

its in a league of its own.

The very first Ford mustang was first introduced in 1964 by Donald Frey. Donald Frey

was the product manager of ford during this time. When the Ford mustang was released it

instantly became a popular choice. In the first two weeks there were over twenty-two thousand

mustangs sold. In the first two years there were over one million of these fine machines sold.

This just shows that the mustang was destined for success from the beginning.

The 2012 mustang is arguably the best mustang that has came out yet. The 2012 v6

mustang comes from the factory with a 3.7 liter engine that creates 305 horsepower and 280

pound-feet of torque. This is the most muscle that has ever been put into a v6 mustang. Ford

decided to also step up their game in the manufacturing of the 2012 mustang GT. The GT has an

incredible 5.0 liter v8 that creates 412 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. If this is not

satisfactory to the customer, Ford also offers the Boss 302. This model also has a 5.0 liter v8 but

creates 32 more horsepower than the GT model with a total of 444 horsepower. The v6 mustang

also has pretty decent gas mileage. It gets an EPA estimated 19mpg city, 31 mpg highway, and

23 mpg combined driving. The GT gets slightly worse gas mileage but this is only because there


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is a bigger motor. The GT gets 18 mpg city, 25 mpg highway, 21mpg combined city and

highway. In the Edmunds brake test it took the V6 only 103 feet to stop when going 60 miles per

hour, and the V8 took 109 to stop from 60 miles per hour.

Even with all of these great things, there are some things that could be improved. A large

part of the door panel and center console is made of hard plastic. The 2012 Ford mustang does

not have a telescoping steering wheel which most newer cars have. This has not been a big issue

though because most drivers are able to find a comfortable seating position. The Ford mustang is

a coupe which can hold no more than four people. Even being able to carry four people, it would

be very cramped in the back. Also the trunk is not very spacious. The coupe models can hold

12.3 cubic feet, where as the convertible models can hold only 9.7 cubic feet.

Now comparing the 2012 mustang GT to other 2012 models of muscle cars, the mustang

is arguably the best. The Mustang is the lightest out of the Camaro and the Challenger. This

makes the mustang the best on curvy roads. The mustang will respond eagerly to steering inputs

and will feel very controlled and manageable to the driver. The only disadvantage the mustang

has in handling is its solid rear axle design. This can allow the rear end of the car to get twitchy

when encountering any mid-corner bumps.

The 2012 mustang v6 mustang stars at 22,310 MSRP. The v6 premium starts at 26,310

MSRP. The difference in these two is interior and trim packages. There is no real difference in

the guts of the car. Also the premium package offers Bluetooth, iPod input, satellite radio, and

an optional navigation system. The mustang GT starts at 29,310 MSRP. There is also a GT

premium package which offers the same options as the v6 premium package. This product starts


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at 33,310 MSRP. Along with all of these great packages there are also convertible packages. The

convertible packages are the same, they come in v6, v6 premium, GT, and GT premium.

Even though the 2012 mustang is probably the best one made, there are many other

models of the finest American muscle car. As stated earlier the mustang was first manufactured

1964. Today these models are mostly collected, not driven. There are really not many models

before the 80s foxbody models seen on the roads on a day to day basis. The foxbody mustang is

the only other model that has had a 5.0 liter engine.

The ford mustang is a classic American muscle car. Chevrolet and Dodge also make a

muscle car, the are the Chevrolet camaro and the Dodge challenger. These two cars are the Ford

mustangs biggest competition. The main thing that separates the 2012 Ford mustang from the

rest is chassis stiffness, suspension revisions, some interior detail changes, technology upgrades,

a navigation system, and dont forget the massive 5.0 liter v8 engine under the hood. Now

specifying on that massive engine, there is a deeper oil pan which helps to maintain oil pressure

when going through those long corners and turns. There is also the windage tray. What this does

is, reduces power losses associated with excess oil dragging on the crankshaft. The 2012

mustang contains so much racing hardware and sounds like it too. The 2012 mustang has a very

deep muscular tone that is more musical than the camaros sound. Now for a real muscle car

enthusiast they will want this additional tone and noise. The 2012 mustang also has a shorter rear

end which just adds to power and torque. Now even with this, the mustang and camaro are very

close in times when it comes to a straight sprint. The mustang has just a tad more acceleration

than the camaro. In braking the mustang out did the camaro stopping in 153 feet from 70 miles

per hour thanks to its new Brembo brake package.


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Now these are just numbers. When these two cars were tested on windy mountain roads

and on the Buttonwillow road circuit the difference in the two was obvious. The mustang felt

much lighter than the camaro, which means handling in the mustang is much better than the

camaro. The mustang is also much quicker out of corners and quicker in transient responses. The

only thing negative about the handling in the Ford mustang is there are occasional steering

column tremors when going through bumpy corners and a sometimes twitchiness in hard

braking.

Fuel economy is another thing that is important to car owners. The EPA 17 miles per

gallon, 26 highway for the mustang where not met in Car and Drivers testing. In their testing the

mustang averaged 15 miles per gallon. This still performed better than the camaro in testing.

The mustang was the building block for muscle cars. Just think back in 1964when a

brand new model from ford came out. Just think how excited car buyers were when they found

out that ford was designing a brand new car. The Ford mustang has been an inspiration for

muscle cars and has proven itself over the past almost 50 years. The 2012 mustang has came

back and proven itself as one of the best muscle cars ever made.


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Works Cited

2012 Ford Mustang.http://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2012/. Edmunds, n.p. n.d. Web. 4

Oct. 2011.

Tony Swan Double Jeopardy: A classic confrontation that never seems to get old. 2011 Ford

Mustang GT 5.0 vs. 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS- Comparison Tests., April 2010. Web. 4

Oct 2011
http://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2012/http://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2012/http://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2012/http://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2012/


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hunter craig ra paper (ford mustang)

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