Ford Mustang Convertible review

“Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.” You’ve seen it plastered across mugs, T-shirts – and probably your mate’s WhatsApp bio. But if it belongs anywhere, it’s on the back of a Ford Mustang Convertible GT.

Why? Because in the 60 years since the original Mustang rumbled on to the scene, it’s had ample opportunity to mature. It could have tidied itself up, gone to college, got a sensible job and become a responsible member of society. But no – unlike its more liberal cousin, the fully electric Mustang Mach-E, this Mustang likes its steak rare and its fuel from a pump.

Despite being in its seventh generation now, there’s no hybrid power. As with the hard-top Ford Mustang Fastback, there's just an old-school, naturally aspirated V8 channelling all its grunt to the rear wheels. Glorious. And like the Porsche 911, today’s Mustang Convertible looks like the original – except it's bigger, brasher and considerably louder.

Which means direct rivals are… well, non-existent. Name another convertible with a V8 engine, a manual gearbox and a price tag that starts under six figures. Exactly.

The BMW 4 Series Convertible and Mercedes CLE Cabriolet are arguably the Ford Mustang Convertible’s closest competition and counter its American brashness with slick European engineering. But are they more fun? Let’s find out...

The Ford Mustang Convertible GT looks and sounds like it should deliver a properly lairy driving experience, but the handling is surprisingly polished and secure.

Sure, you need a bit more muscle to steer it than a Mercedes CLE Cabriolet but the front end feels pleasingly darty and the car generates plenty of grip once it's settled into a corner. You even get a reasonable amount of feedback filtering up to your fingertips through the steering wheel.

You don’t, in other words, have to drive the Mustang Convertible like it's a Sixties muscle car – i.e. slow through the corners and fast on the straights.

In fact, it responds best to smooth inputs: brush the powerful Brembo brakes to bleed off some speed, turn in to the bend smoothly, wait for the outside tyres to take the load, spot your exit and feed in the power. Granted, if you’re too greedy with the accelerator on the way out of corners the rear-end will step out, but it’s more fun than frightening when that happens.

Our test car came on Ford’s optional MagneRide adjustable suspension – which we think is an absolute must-have on the Mustang Convertible. Not only does it do a good job of controlling body movements as you brake, turn and accelerate, but it also delivers a wonderfully plush ride if you leave the system in Comfort mode.

The pliancy also helps to hide the reduction in stiffness compared with the hard-top Ford Mustang Fastback. Indeed, without MagneRide, the Mustang Convertible tends to shimmy and shudder over rough surfaces.

Your only engine option now is a 5.0-litre non-turbocharged V8 petrol engine, and power is down from 444bhp in the pre-facelift car to 440bhp due to tightening European emissions regulations (US-spec GTs get an extra 46bhp).

Still, 440bhp looks rather healthy, especially when you consider that your other V8 convertible option – the Mercedes-AMG SL55 – produces only 29bhp more yet costs nearly twice as much. It feels healthy too. Mash your right foot into the firewall and the Mustang Convertible pulls hard from 2000rpm all the way to its 7000rpm peak, delivering a thunderous soundtrack as it does so.

The sprint from rest to 60mph takes around five seconds – half a second off a Mercedes CLE 53 Cabriolet but a match for the BMW M440i Convertible – but more importantly, the engine is a joy to work hard. The standard six-speed manual gearbox is slick and has a weighty, mechanical feel that’s totally in keeping with the car’s character.

The optional automatic gearbox is less impressive. It's a bit jerky when parking and has a habit of switching between ratios indecisively on the move. Steering wheel-mounted paddles allow you to take full control when you want to, but with 10 speeds in total, you need to downshift several times when braking into corners or overtaking.

With the roof down, you can just about hold a conversation at 70mph, but there is a fair amount of buffeting compared with what you’ll experience in a BMW 4 Series Convertible or Mercedes CLE Cabriolet.

When the roof’s up, it doesn’t block out wind or road noise as effectively as the 4 Series' but engine noise quickly fades into the background, mostly thanks to a long top gear. That also keeps the revs right down when you’re on a motorway cruise, helping to improve fuel consumption.

“The GT’s exhaust has adjustable valves that allow you to control the volume of the V8 soundtrack. With the valves open I think the Mustang Convertible sounds like an old-school Nascar.” – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor

The Mustang Convertible’s driving position is, for the most part, spot on. There’s plenty of adjustment for the seat and steering wheel, and even taller drivers should have no trouble getting comfortable. That said, some might wish the seat dropped a little lower.

The heated and cooled leather-trimmed front seats offer decent lateral support and come with six-way electric adjustment as standard. However, visibility – particularly over the shoulder – could be better when the roof is up. No surprises there, but it’s worth noting given the Mustang Convertible’s width and the fact that judging where the bonnet ends can be tricky.

Ergonomically, Ford has got the basics right. The electronic handbrake is designed to look and feel like a traditional lever, the gearstick falls naturally to hand, and the button to disable lane-keeping assistance is on the steering wheel.

The biggest disappointment with the Mustang Convertible's interior? The shift away from retro styling. Gone are the classic dash-mounted eyebrow arches of the old car, replaced with a more generic dashboard dominated by screens – a 13.2in infotainment touchscreen and a 12.3in digital driver's display.

It’s all a bit anonymous until you start playing with the lay-out of the configurable digital dials. You can have a retro Fox-body look complete with glowing green 1979-style graphics, or a racy bar-style rev counter with shift lights.

The Mustang Convertible's infotainment system is much improved over previous versions. Running on the Unreal Engine (yes, the same technology used in console gaming), it’s slick, responsive, and much more intuitive than before. Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay come as standard, so you can run phone apps on the screen.

Material quality is better than expected, with soft-touch plastics on the dashboard and doors, plus neatly damped switches. It’s not as plush as a BMW 4 Series Convertible or Mercedes CLE Cabriolet but it feels solidly built.

Just don’t expect many personalisation options. Ford’s usual approach applies: you can have any interior colour you like, as long as it’s black.

“A B&O premium sound system comes as standard, and while I found it a touch bass-heavy, it sounds a lot better than the standard sound systems in the BMW and Mercedes rivals.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

There's lots of space up front for even very tall people, but despite the Ford Mustang Convertible's sizeable proportions, the two rear seats are a bit cramped. Children and short grown-ups will be fine in the back on longer journeys (and you get Isofix mounts for child seats) but average-sized adults will find their knees brushing the seat backs.

At least the long doors mean access to the back seats is relatively easy, but the BMW 4 Series Convertible and Mercedes CLE Cabriolet are more accommodating four-seaters. 

The Mustang Convertible has a bigger boot than its immediate rivals, with 310 litres with the roof up or down. Plus, you can fold the rear seats down when you need to carry longer items, giving you space for anything from a set of golf clubs to a small buggy.

On the minus side, the narrow boot opening and high load lip make loading in big or heavy items quite tricky.

For comparison, the BMW 4 Series Convertible and Mercedes CLE Cabriolet have 385 litres of boot space with their roofs up and around 300 litres with it down.

"For such a big car, you’d expect a bit more space in the back. That said, at least it’s a proper four-seater – unlike the Mercedes SL and Porsche 911, which have rear seats better suited to luggage rather than humans." – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Price-wise, the Ford Mustang Convertible GT undercuts equivalent versions of the BMW 4 Series Convertible and Mercedes CLE Cabriolet by a considerable margin. And if you're set on having a V8 engine under the hood of your convertible, the difference is even greater – a new Mercedes-AMG SL55 costs well over £100,000.

As well as costing less, the Mustang Convertible is predicted to hold on to more of its value over the next three years than its 4 Series and CLE rivals.

Better still, in true American style Ford has gone large on the standard equipment list. Features include (take a breath): electrically adjustable heated and cooled seats, keyless entry and start, a selectable drive mode switch, an active exhaust system, a limited-slip differential, LED headlights, 19in alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone climate control, puddle lamps, a heated steering wheel and a rear-view camera. Still, we recommend paying extra for the MagneRide adjustable suspension.

Running costs won’t exactly suit the parsimonious. Tyres and fuel will be among your biggest bills. At a cruise you can expect to see MPG in the low 30s, and if you drive harder it's likely to drop into the low teens. The most powerful versions of the main rivals return similar figures, but more than 40mpg is possible in a BMW 420i Convertible or Mercedes CLE 200 Cabriolet.

Insurance and tax costs are higher than they are for most convertible rivals, all of which emit substantially less CO2.

The model didn’t feature in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey but Ford as a brand finished in a respectable 14th place out of the 31 manufacturers featured. That's behind BMW (eighth) but ahead of Mercedes (22nd). You get a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty as standard.

This seventh-generation Mustang has yet to be tested for safety by Euro NCAP but all version come with automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keeping assistance.

“When you consider that you’re getting V8 performance and a long list of standard kit for roughly the same price as a four-cylinder Mercedes CLE, I think the Mustang Convertible looks like a bit of a bargain." – Oliver Young, Reviewer

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