2021 Ford Mustang

This year has been full of headlines about a very different kind of Mustang, but old-school fans will be happy to know that the original recipe is still going strong. The 2021 Ford Mustang is fast and stylish, and about as easy to live with as a dedicated performance car gets. Like its 1960s predecessors, it also offers a mile-long list of personalization and performance options to tailor the experience.

The current Mustang was introduced as a 2015 model and got a light visual update in 2018, but it’s aged very well and looks good from any angle. 2021 sees a host of active safety features added as standard equipment, addressing one of the biggest demerits of earlier model years; it also sees the revival of a famous name: Mach 1.

In the summer of 1968, when muscle cars were king, the Mach 1 first appeared as a performance package on the freshly restyled 1969 Mustang Fastback, a car that the current Mustang draws much of its stylistic inspiration from. The name referenced supersonic jets to telegraph its speedy intent, and matched its potency with slick graphics and spoilers. 

The new Mach 1 (which starts at $53,595 including a $1,195 destination fee) packs a 480-horsepower 5.0-liter V8, but even the base model 2021 Mustangs will run rings around their vintage ancestors in more ways than one.

When Ford designed the current car, it eschewed the traditional live rear axle that Mustangs had always used in favor of an independent rear suspension as Chevrolet had on the 2009 Camaro. That choice, and the revised double-pivot MacPherson strut front suspension, heralded a whole new philosophy for the Mustang’s driving dynamics. It retains its muscle car image but drives much more like a proper sports car or gentleman’s GT. 

BMW’s 4 Series coupe and convertible, including the M4, may be much more expensive premium Gran Turismos, but the Mustang and the Bimmer aren’t that different philosophically. Like the BMW, the Ford’s sophisticated chassis is equally at home on a road or a track and performance fans who want to do track days easily can.

The base model Mustang ($28,400) uses a four-cylinder engine, but here too historical patterns diverge. Perhaps looking to the 1980s-era SVO Mustang for inspiration, this four-cylinder is a turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost making 310 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque. 

A 330-horsepower version of the Ecoboost is optional, though it adds a hefty $6,150 to the price tag. There’s also a better-equipped EcoBoost Premium model ($33,420) which adds a proper 8-inch infotainment screen (the base model uses a 4.2-inch LCD), selectable drive modes, a much nicer audio system and interior materials, power seats and fog lights, among other things.

All Mustangs use either a six-speed manual or an optional ($1,595) ten-speed transmission, and they’re all rear-drive. Track day warriors take note, manuals may be more fun but this extremely precise automatic shifts faster than Don Prudhomme did in 1967. The EcoBoost will take the Mustang to 60 mph in five seconds and is more than capable of entertaining most drivers.

These four-cylinder models also don’t make you pay at the pump for their speed. They average about 23 mpg combined depending on the configuration. They’re a little less fuel-hungry than the four-cylinder Chevrolet Camaro or V6 Dodge Challenger.

V8 models start with the GT ($37,480), and there’s a similar dynamic going on there with the GT Premium ($41,480) adding the larger infotainment screen and more desirable features. What the extra spend buys you is Ford’s 5.0-liter Coyote V8, which packs 460 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. 

That’s enough to send you to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and it has the V8 burble you expect from a muscle car. V8s, as you’d expect, drink more gas but even there they average 18 mpg combined, about the same as the V8 Camaros and a bit better than the V8 Challengers. BMW’s 4s get better mileage than any of these more traditional muscle cars, but any fuel savings are eaten up by their much higher prices.

A vast array of performance options are available, including body-hugging Recaro sport seats. They’re handy on the track, but most drivers will find them too confining in daily use. Keep careful track of the boxes you’re ticking, too, because they quickly add up.

The GT moves even faster than the EcoBoost, but if that’s not enough there’s the Mach 1, which has a 480-horsepower 5.0 and highly distinctive, 1970s-style styling tweaks. If you’re still not satisfied, there’s always the 760-horsepower, 6.2-liter Shelby GT500 ($71,495). We took that model for a more detailed spin this summer and you can read more about that it here. 

EcoBoost and GT models can be had as the lovely fastback coupe or as a convertible for an extra $5,500. The Convertible’s back seat and trunk are smaller (11.4 cubic-feet to the coupe’s 13.5), but it’s still practical by the standards of performance two-doors. Both the Mach 1 and GT500 come only as coupes. The Mustang’s cabin has an intentionally retro vibe meant to evoke the 1960s, but its ergonomics are purely 21^st-century. The controls are easy to use and logical, the center console is huge and useful. The seats are comfy and supportive. The lack of proper infotainment is a real demerit in the base models, and not all the materials look great, but this is an affordable Pony, and costs must be cut somewhere to make that happen.

Of course, the typical coupe drawbacks apply. The Mustang’s rear seat is surprisingly large for such a car, much bigger than the Camaro’s and that of the Lexus RC, but it’s still best suited to kids or used as storage (Ford even offers a rear-seat delete option). This doesn’t change the fact that by the standards of cars like this, the Mustang is pragmatically easy to live with as a daily driver.

2021 sees a major addition in standard active safety features, which answers a major critique of years past. 

Just to get features like forward automatic emergency braking used to cost a minimum of $1,000, but it’s now standard in an updated version of Ford’s Co-Pilot Plus safety suite and includes pedestrian detection. Also included are lane departure warnings with lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring (helpful given the ‘Stang’s poor rearward visibility), forward collision warnings and automatic high beams. Only Adaptive Cruise control remains an option, and it comes bundled with navigation for $725.

These features are becoming more common on the Mustang’s competitors, but on the Camaro very few are available and they all cost extra, despite the fact that the Camaro is a newer design. The current Mustang may look vaguely vintage, but it continues to age very well and remains a highly practical choice for enthusiasts.