Rental Car Review - Drop Top Boostang

[Snuze]

Well, the time has come for me to depart Rhode Island, which, curiously, is not an island. That means turning in the 2020 Ford Boostang Convertible rental car that I had for the last few days.

I am a "mature professional", which ostensibly means I am not supposed to be hooning about and getting traffic tickets or worse. With that said, I gave it hell when I could and this is what I've found.

Engine - Fords 2.3L Ecoboost 4 cylinder is a great engine with good low speed manors and good power delivery underboost. Im a bit torn on the noise - I feel like its trying to sound like a V8 but that just makes it apparent half the cylinders are missing, but at the same time its deeper, and different than most 4s, which is refreshing. No comment on fuel economy.

Transmission - it has the Ford-GM 10 speed auto, which is... a transmission. It seems like a lot of gears and I feel like sometimes it hunts around, not sure which gear to be in. Shifts are also unnecessarily firm in moderate, part throttle driving situations. Overall this was one of its letdowns.

Brakes and handling- brakes were good. I didn't push on it enough to really have to use the brakes, but they were certainly up to around town and some spirited driving. The suspension was good, somewhat sporty but compliant enough for comfort. Overall a nice balance.

Exterior - I think the Mustang is a good looking car. But I do have some Ferd Kwalitee concerns:

Interior - The seats were super comfy, so high marks there. The dash design, however, felt like it was probably dated when this generation came out. Its not awful, just weird, like its trying to be retro and futuristic at the same time, but not really achieving either. Its not a deal breaker, I just feel like it could have been better. The radio sounded great (Ford always seems to make good sounding stereos) but the infotainment interface was garbage.

Line Lock - this gets its own entry, because what other car has a factory line lock installed? Maybe the Challenger? I dont know. For those who don't know, line lock basically locks the front brakes while leaving the rears free, enabling you to do prodigious burnouts. Its awesome and Im sure owning a car with this would get me about 793 tickets.

Overall - while I don't think I'd want one as a daily, this was a fun rental car that I really enjoyed. The engine was a high point, as were the seats, while the transmission and infotainment let it down.

Shout out to @Poor_sh and his gf for meeting me for dinner, and then taking me on a little tour and showing me some awesome driving roads. I love the track Miata!

Actually, I looked it up and the Camaro ZL1 and certain Challenger trims get factory line lock. Maybe the Jankvagen will get one too... so I can get tickets!

[WilliamsSW]

@Snuze Lol that window gap thing - every convertible I’ve ever owned does that occasionally.

Except for the ‘65 Buick, which sealed so poorly it couldn’t get stuck like that.

[Snuze]

@WilliamsSW I've never owned a convertible, so I'm not familiar. The weird thing is, the first night both windows did it. The second night the driver's side fixed itself, but the passengers side was still borked. Third night it was back to both being messed up.

[WilliamsSW]

@Snuze on my BMW, the window drops slightly when you open the door, so the window can clear the roof when it opens. Then it pops back up once the door is shut to provide a (mostly) watertight seal. Sometimes the window motor timing isn’t quite right, and it ends up like that.

On old convertibles, you don’t have that issue — and you sure as hell don’t get anything close to a watertight seal either.

[JeepOfTheseus]

@Snuze I rented one of these for our honeymoon in the Colorado summer back in 2016. It was perfect. Had 300 miles on it when I picked it up. Drove it up Pikes Peak the week before the hill climb so all of the barriers were out already. I got pretty much the same impression as you. Not great picture for your time:

[Snuze]

@JeepOfTheseus I like the yellow, certainly better than my greyscale car. I bet Pikes Peak was a ton of fun in that.

It really isn't a bad car at all, just has a few things that let it down. Ive driven a hardtop Boostang with a manual and liked it much, much better. But I understand why rental agencies don't do manuals... lazy Americans...

[JeepOfTheseus]

@Snuze oh yeah I’m not a fan of flappy paddles or exactly convertibles either (I’m much more of a doors off than roof off Jeep owner). I could see a manual coupe being a solid foot in the door on enthusiast car ownership. I could get a ticket in one for sure.

[i86hotdogs]

@WilliamsSW My hard top mustang has that gap too. Seems to follow doors with no frames around the windows

[Old Busted Hotness]

@WilliamsSW said in Rental Car Review - Drop Top Boostang:

@Snuze on my BMW, the window drops slightly when you open the door, so the window can clear the roof when it opens. Then it pops back up once the door is shut to provide a (mostly) watertight seal. Sometimes the window motor timing isn’t quite right, and it ends up like that.

On old convertibles, you don’t have that issue — and you sure as hell don’t get anything close to a watertight seal either.

The Challenger has that feature, too. They call it "smart glass." When it works, it's fine. It doesn't work in winter when there's even a little bit of ice, and then there's the times when it just doesn't feel like working at all.

[WilliamsSW]

@i86hotdogs Getting frameless glass to seal properly is a battle the automakers have been fighting forever. It’s better than it used to be, but not perfect.

[i86hotdogs]

@WilliamsSW it's especially bad in a vehicle notorious for flexing. I can't close my door when I jack up one side of my car!