Upon arrival to Phoenix, I was offered a swap from whatever I had rented to a Mustang for no extra cost. I said sure.
The car looks pretty nice from the outside, and the interior finishes are better than I remember from previous generations. I often say that of the American car companies, Ford got their shit together first, and this continues to show. One thing that continues to confound me is the sheer size of the car. It's huge, but doesn't feel particularly spacious. The trunk is a weird shape that not much fits into, and the seats don't offer excessive room. It's 14" longer and 8" wider than my Acura RSX and feels more cramped inside. So, that's weird.
The next thing I noticed is just how enormous the hood is. I can't see over it at all, and it definitely makes me feel uneasy about where the car ends. The windows are also relatively small and high, the doors also limit sideways visibility downwards, meaning it takes a while to not feel like I'm going to run over curbs. Forward 180 degree visibility is otherwise good (like to avoid other cars), but rear quarter is non-existent. Compounding this is a pair of very small side mirrors; after a couple days driving this thing I'm still a touch uneasy during lane changes.
The power is good enough, its handling is generally good, though a little vague. It feels like there's a few inches of play in where the car will end up, which is usually ok, you just have to get used to it and trust it. It definitely feels more like a cleaver than a scalpel, to use familiar tropes.
It has a froofroo feature: when unlocking the car, it shines a pony on the ground by the door. I can't come up with a reasonable use for this, so I'm just assuming it's new-age car bling?
The interesting new feature on this car is that the seats are vented. I'd often wondered if it made sense to route the hvac through the seat. I can imagine it'd help cool the seat itself down quickly, which is a huge deal in hot climates with strong sun. The amount of heat a leather seat can soak up is surprising and also causes unavoidable horrific back sweat. For whatever reason the venting is through the bottom of the seat, up. So you're sitting on (as opposed to leaning back onto) an air-conditioned layer which does nothing for the aforementioned back sweat. And frankly, sitting on a cold air jet kinda tingles in a weird way. I find it not unpleasant, but just kinda weird. So that answers that, at least for me. It's February now and only 80 out so I can't really test the extreme heat theory part of this .. .maybe that would change my mind.
The car looks pretty nice from the outside, and the interior finishes are better than I remember from previous generations. I often say that of the American car companies, Ford got their shit together first, and this continues to show. One thing that continues to confound me is the sheer size of the car. It's huge, but doesn't feel particularly spacious. The trunk is a weird shape that not much fits into, and the seats don't offer excessive room. It's 14" longer and 8" wider than my Acura RSX and feels more cramped inside. So, that's weird.
The next thing I noticed is just how enormous the hood is. I can't see over it at all, and it definitely makes me feel uneasy about where the car ends. The windows are also relatively small and high, the doors also limit sideways visibility downwards, meaning it takes a while to not feel like I'm going to run over curbs. Forward 180 degree visibility is otherwise good (like to avoid other cars), but rear quarter is non-existent. Compounding this is a pair of very small side mirrors; after a couple days driving this thing I'm still a touch uneasy during lane changes.
The power is good enough, its handling is generally good, though a little vague. It feels like there's a few inches of play in where the car will end up, which is usually ok, you just have to get used to it and trust it. It definitely feels more like a cleaver than a scalpel, to use familiar tropes.
It has a froofroo feature: when unlocking the car, it shines a pony on the ground by the door. I can't come up with a reasonable use for this, so I'm just assuming it's new-age car bling?
The interesting new feature on this car is that the seats are vented. I'd often wondered if it made sense to route the hvac through the seat. I can imagine it'd help cool the seat itself down quickly, which is a huge deal in hot climates with strong sun. The amount of heat a leather seat can soak up is surprising and also causes unavoidable horrific back sweat. For whatever reason the venting is through the bottom of the seat, up. So you're sitting on (as opposed to leaning back onto) an air-conditioned layer which does nothing for the aforementioned back sweat. And frankly, sitting on a cold air jet kinda tingles in a weird way. I find it not unpleasant, but just kinda weird. So that answers that, at least for me. It's February now and only 80 out so I can't really test the extreme heat theory part of this .. .maybe that would change my mind.
