Pinnacle Auto Appraisers' Blog

Ford's Mustang has been answering the cry "power to the people" for nearly a half-century, and this year that power dosage inches up another eight ponies in the GT, but that's not important -- anyone who says they can feel it is all bluster. What's really cool about the 2013 Mustang -- apart from its new exterior lighting -- is that formerly exclusive high-performance hardware reserved for certain hard-core racer versions is now available on civilian models. The V-6 performance package can now be had with an automatic, while a new Track Package brings Boss 302 and GT500 items like a Torsen helical limited-slip differential and Recaro racingseats to the GT (with a manual trans). And automatic Mustangs at long bloody last get manual control with almost no second-guessing (it won't execute a shift that would frag the motor).

 

 

Let's start with those eight extra horses, which nobody was clamoring for, but are welcome just the same. They were found in Boss 302-inspired calibration changes like making the spark retard a bit less conservative and deleting the oil-squirters that cooled the pistons but were deemed superfluous and a source of windage losses. We suspect there's sufficient untapped bandwidth in the 5.0-liter to allow additional tweaks to GTs and Boss or other specialeditionmodels for years to come.

 

The Track Package rolls the Brembo hardware in with the Boss's 3.73:1 Torsen rear end, radiator, oil cooler, and performance brake pads for $2495. (The $1695 Brembo package remains available a la carte.) Fancy a pair of ultra-supportive and way comfy Recaro seats? That'll be $1595 well-spent for cloth, or leather if you've already popped for the $4000 Premium Package. That means a 420-hp GT with leather Recaros and a Torsen diff rings the register at $39,185 -- $5805 less than a 444-hp Boss 302 so equipped. Yes, please!

If the above hasn't provoked a stampede toward dealerships, the styling revisions may. Up front, a body-color grille surround looks a bit like GT500s past, and high-tech HID headlamps flanked by LED accent strips and LED foglamps are now standard -- further evidence of technology democratization. There's a new chin splitter that reduces lift in a meaningful way, and GT models get functional heat-extracting hood vents. The rocker panels are now body-color to give the car a more substantial, hunkered-down look. But the coolest styling revision is the taillamps. "I almost got fired over those taillamps," says chief engineer Dave Pericak, noting that with 12 LED circuit boards, they're way spendier than a few two-element bulbs. For each of the six lamp elements, one board controls the outer taillamp set of diffused LEDs, and another controls the inner section for the braking or sequential turn signal functions. Oh, and the center board in the middle segments also lights the white reverse-lamps. Set in a gloss-black panel on all models, they look quite sinister -- like vacant eye sockets. But the piece de resistance is the side mirrors, which shine a pony logo welcome mat in front of the doors when you order the premium and comfort ($650) packages. Too cool.

 

Inside, a new 4.2-inch LCD info screen between the speedo and tach provides extra gauges featuring such arcana as cylinder head temperature and instantaneous air/fuel ratio (we observed 12-20), but only lists oil pressure as "normal." This display also enables Track Mode displays like a lateral/longitudinal g circle (which you probably shouldn't look at when generating big gs), and performance-testing screens for acceleration and braking. The former even includes a little dragstrip Christmas tree for a count-down start (but no, the results it provides do not subtract the one-foot rollout). Other new features: hill-start assist for manuals; more powerful Shaker and Shaker Pro stereos; selectable effort (three settings) power steeringassist; and SYNC's new App Link, which allows voice control of smartphone applications.

 

 General Motors has something festive planned for the 60th anniversary of its Chevrolet Corvette. The automaker will mark the occasion with a special edition 2013 Corvette 427 Convertible, complete with hardware borrowed from the mighty Corvette Z06. Under the hood, a 427-cubic-inch LS7 V8 produces 505 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque, making this the most powerful Corvette Convertible ever produced. The 60th Anniversary Corvette will also benefit from the same rear axle as the Z06, and magnetic ride control is standard as well.