2008 Ford Mustang GT is not just a car but an aftermarket bonanza!

The following review is an honest opinion from an owner with 25,343 miles on the car.  I have driven my 2008 Ford Mustang GT every other week on 350 mile road trips from Louisiana to Texas over the past two years.  Even though I now use a 2009 Honda Accord 2.4L EX-L for the smoother ride and enhanced stereo, the Mustang has one feature I still miss; curb appeal!  If you drive a V8 Mustang people will notice you more than any other car I have owned.  The appeal has to do with the aggressive looks and sound of this rolling American legend. 

Interior
Ford has always created a functional interior in their Mustang line.  The 2008 model gives us everything we need to operate the car and enjoy daily driving.  The Mustang I own has the leather interior upgrade in it.  However, leather is only on the seats.  The doors, dashboard and center console are made of a hard plastic material that can hurt your arm if left in one position to long while driving.  The base model V8 comes with the Shaker 500 sound system and multi disc CD changer to make the time fly by as you drive.  The dual-hooded dash board has strong retro styling with the capability to pick from 255 colors to get the right ambient lighting for your driving mood.

The front seats have two-way heater controls built into them.  However this is where the updates stopped.  The front bucket seats are six-way power adjustable units that are basic off the shelf units with few controls for customizing their lateral comfort to fit your body.  I am always tired after driving long distance in this car and I feel it is the seats that are the culprit.  To climb into the rear passenger seats you must pull the front seats forwards.  They require pulling up a lever on the back of the front seats which resets the seating alignment you had previously set.  The rear seats are small and cramped for anyone over 6" tall.  In the back the passengers have no options to adjust their seats.  I was able to fit a Philips 42PFL3603D 42" LCD High Definition Television in my 2009 Honda Accord EX-L but the Mustang will never be able to do that because the back seat is so small.

The rear passenger windows do pose a problem for me.  While driving in heavy traffic, I often have to physically turn and look out the rear window to see if any cars are in my blind spots because these windows are to small.  The doors are a few inches taller than most cars as well, so overall your field of vision in the Mustang is limited.  

The black carpeting in the Mustang is easy to clean with a good  vacuum like Dyson Animal DC07 Vacuum Cleaner.  The color has not faded yet either from repeated parking in the hot baking sun of Louisiana.  Ford did us all a favor because easy to maintain interiors mean higher resale values.

Suspension and Ride
The Mustang is a sports car with a name brand, tuned suspension anchoring those 325 lbs of torque securely to the ground.  The car comes with an integrated traction control system that will help keeps the wheels from spinning in rain or snow situations.  A large button on the dashboard will also let you turn it off.  The front suspension uses the coil-over MacPherson strut with reverse "L" lower arms for precision handling and responsiveness.   The rear suspension is a three-link, solid-axle unit with outboard-mounted shocks and a pan hard rod.  Overall, the suspension of the car is a little stiff when compared to other passenger cars.  You will feel more bumps and have a hard time reading text on your laptop while someone is driving the car.
 
Safety
The 2008 Ford Mustang was given a perfect five star crash rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after performing crash tests.  Front seat airbags, four-wheel disc brakes, antilock brakes and traction control all combine to make sure you get home safely.  The brakes are really good in this car.  I can accelerate and stop very quickly in it.  The hand brake next to the shifter gives me a little more control for those times when I want to do autocross style maneuvers.
 
Engine And Repairs
The car has two main engines to pick from in 2008:  4.0L V6 and a 4.6L V8.  A limited production GT 500 was also available in 2008 which had a 5.4L supercharged engine that tipped the dyno scales at 500HP.  My Mustang has the 4.6L V8, mated to a 5 speed manual transmission.  The 4.6L uses a single overhead cam on each cylinder head to control the valves.  SOHC the technology allows Ford to eliminate the power robbing pushrods found on earlier engines resulting in an instant friction reduction.  Final horsepower figures are 300HP and 320lb of torque on the 4.6L engine.  All this power is handled by a stainless-steel dual exhaust system with bright chrome style tips on the back.  The engine is powerful enough to move along in almost any traffic.  When cruising, variable timing kicks in and adjusts the valves to reduce fuel consumption.  My average miles per gallon using 93 octane has been 26 on the highway and as low as 18 in the city.  If you are not concerned with sipping your gas from a wine glass, the power packed pony can run to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and blaze the quarter-mile in 14.3 seconds.
 
Without a doubt, the Ford Mustang line of cars has the largest aftermarket following on the planet.  You can find a solution to almost any problem online and get the parts rather cheap off Ebay or other online retailers.  As a result, owning a Mustang will cost you thousands less over the lifetime of the car than many other sports cars available today.

Stereo System
Often buying a muscle car is also synonymous with loud rambunctious stereo systems.  The Mustang GT definitely has the technical figures to back up that assumption.   The 500-watt Shaker Audio System found in the GT includes an AM FM stereo, six CD disc changer with MP3 capability, Sirius Satellite stereo and eight speakers.  An auxiliary audio input jack is in the center console with a 12VDC charger port to keep your tunes rocking.  The front doors have 6x8 speakers and the rear deck has 6x8 speakers as well.

Burning and playing custom MP3 cd's is very easy to do in this car.  You can easily scroll through content on the cd and manage multiple directories worth of content with the Shaker's menu.  The sound quality is good and not clipped like some MP3 emulators in cars today.

The hard plastic interior of the car affects the performance of the already weak stock speakers.  Highs tend to crackle more when playing audio CDs.  I listen to Metallica's Reload CD in my 2009 Honda Accord Sedan and do not get the same effect.  Low end bass also tends to shake the doors so much that you can hear the plastic creak and groan from the strain even at mid level volume with the bass levels set to 0 in the Shaker sound system.  In short listening to loud music in a Mustang with the Shaker 500 is a painful experience.  I believe the car sounds this way because the interior is reflecting the high frequency tones.  The glass like reflection of sound off the interior surfaces is the reason I was excited about getting into a 2009 Honda Accord EX-L.

Trunk
I respect trunk space because driving on long weekend road trips demands lots of room to throw party supplies!  The trunk of the 2008 Ford Mustang is big enough to hold four gym bags or you could squeeze in a full golf bag and change of clothes.  The trunk is obviously big but the frame for the deck lid is an unusual shape which will make loading larger items hard.  For example, one time I did fit a full-size wheel chair inside, but was a tricky task that left my paint job a little worse for wear!

Summary
The 2008 Ford Mustang is fun car to drive that also has a strong aftermarket following to help you customize it to your wildest desires.  If you are looking for a daily commuter vehicle that will last for years to come and take little money to maintain this is most definitely the car for you!  Mustangs are not long distance cruising automobiles though.  The hard plastic interior and higher than normal road noise make for an unpleasant ride when driven more than 100 miles. 

I decided to give the car a four star rating because of the slightly unpleasant ride, poor stereo acoustics and interior.  I am still loyal to the idea of a Ford Mustang and the big engine inside but the quality of the interior in these cars is in some cases worse than what you would find in sub-compact vehicles!

Now that the car is considered a used model, you can find one used and get a great deal on a sporty, eye catching, American icon.  Happy motoring!

For more details about the Ford Mustang visit http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/mustang
Ford also has its own performance website for aftermarket customization http://www.fordperformancegroup.com