2013 Ford Mustang GT / Boss 302
The Lord loves a juvenile delinquent.
Tip o' the hat to the freshened-for-2013 Ford Mustang in this, its third consecutive 10Best posting. Which is funny, because this 48-year-old malefactor's stingy rear seats would enrage the Amish. Its cabin materials still recollect Little House on the Prairie. The rigid rear axle is older than Moses. And on commutes in rain or snow, this loudmouth is only marginally more useful than your Schwinn. Said Jens Meiners, our European voter, "Wasteful, crude, unsophisticated—an automotive caricature of America." That's why, when the polls open, the Mustang sucks up to a constituency comprising Bruce Springsteen, Joe Biden, and all the rest of us hormonally imbalanced American boys whose primitive predilections got us kicked out of study hall. Well, too bad. At least we know our math:
420-HP MUSTANG GT: 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, quarter-mile in 13.0 seconds at 111 mph, top speed of 147 mph, 0.89 g of cornering grip, base price of $31,095.
444-HP MUSTANG BOSS 302 LAGUNA SECA: 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 114 mph, top speed of 161 mph, 0.96 g of cornering grip, base price of $42,995 (Boss) or $49,990 (Laguna Seca).
For now, we're still warming to the 305-hp Mustang V-6 and the 662-hp Shelby GT500. In the end, it's the GT/Boss twofer that shines as the quintessential Motown emblems of power, performance, and practicality—each a white-hot line drive of blue-collar satisfaction for red-blooded Yanks. Did we go over the top there?
