Dreamcars Supercars Ford Mustang Convertible 4.2 V6
20/5/2009 www.sparewheels.gr 1
Ford Mustang Convertible 4.2 V6
The coolest car for strolling along coastal roads
Ediror: Giannis Zacharakis
Photographs: Giannis Zacharakis , Rosy Favicchio
One of the benefits of working for a research lab with good funding is that occasionaly
you can travel to scientific conferences and combine it with some cool vacation.
Actually, this is one of the major reasons people do research (me as well...) and if they
don't well then they loose big time to put it in a nice way. Depending on the place where
the conference is located you can choose what activity you can combine to your scientific
travel. For example lets assume that the conference is in the Red Sea; yes you guest it
right you will try scuba diving and snorckeling in the magnificent underwater world of
the Arabic cost. What if it is in an alpine ski resort? Easy, eh? Obviously you're not going
for snorckeling to this one... Kenya: wild life safari, Finland: sauna and frozen lake
swimming, Japan: sushi and geishas, Borneo: head hunting and so it goes on. But what if
it's in Florida? You could visit Cape Canaveral or the everglades, do some sailing in the
Keys. Well in my case when the oportunity came along I chose to realize one of my early
university years dream. Drive a convertible along an american coastal road. It all started
to take form after our papers were accepted for presentations in a conference in St.
Petersburg Florida. We could now organize the days after the conference. And after a
brief conversation with my friend Vasilis who would also attend the same venue I
decided to rent a cool convertible no matter the cost and drive along the west coast of
Florida from St. Petersburg to Panama City where we could stay in Rosy's uncle and
aunt's for a few days before we head back.After a search on the internet the choice was
Dreamcars Supercars Ford Mustang Convertible 4.2 V6
20/5/2009 www.sparewheels.gr 2
obvious. We would
rent a Ford Mustang
4.2 V6 convertible
for the increadible
amount of $280 for 5
days, the price you
pay in a Greek island
for a Matiz during
August... No further
comment on that.It
was red, automatic,
nicely equiped and
very very cool.
Problem number one:
not enough boot
space to fit both our
suitcases. You don't
expect that though
from a sport
convertible, however
I'm sure they would fit in the Chrysler Sebring parked next to it.Problem number two: we
had no idea where to go and with no GPS we wondered a bit before heading the right
direction. But that's actually not such a big problem after you open the roof and just stroll
hedonistically, but very slowly I have to admit.Which brings me to problem number
three. If you believe that this car is a sport convertible you are very much mistaken. And
this becomes evident the moment you check the technical specs. Suspension from the
middle ages' coaches and frame made of chewing gum. The result is that even on the
american highway straights the Mustang is following a zig zag... And when the first
corner comes along (yes
they exist even in the US)
the huge mass makes
crnering a very amusing
procedure. So this car is the
perfect means of
transportation if you have
the time for the journey and
the nerves to obey the speed
limits. Of course this is very
easy if you're fullfiling a
dream and your purpose is
to travel on the Florida's
great coastal road along
amazing natural reserves
and wonderfull beaches.
And it fits perfectly to the
Mustang alone
Mustang and Rosy
Dreamcars Supercars Ford Mustang Convertible 4.2 V6
20/5/2009 www.sparewheels.gr 3
life pace of the Seaheaven community (you know the city where "The Truman Show "
was filmed. We really enjoyed barely moovng at 20 mph and admiring the "perfect"
city...You might have realized by now that this is not a common test drive since there
isn't really much to say about the performance of the car. The power surge is satisfying
enough and the soundtrack of the big V6 is a proper american muscle car's tune. And you
basically don't need to know anything else, except of course that this car makes
absolutely no sence in European roads, so much more on Greek roads.But if you do live
in US and you have a bit of a soul then I can see absolutely no reason to spend the
$20,000 the base Mustang costs for anything else. Especially if you consider that with the
same money you buy a 2.0L VW Golf or a similar Toyota Corolla. But in Europe, I'm
sorry but with a price tag on the 50,000 Euro mark I can find many cars that have both
the soul and the escence.As an epilogue I can only hope that next time I happen to be in
Florida I would go for the Corvette for about $800 for the same 5 days, the price you
would pay for a VW Golf for a week in a Greek island in August.