In US , there is an unwritten rule followed religiously by most Indians when it comes to buying cars.Honda’s and Toyota’s are the first and last preferred choice of every second desi.Infact that was the first advice I got from every friend of mine I met, when I was scouting for a car.When I asked why it has to be a Camry, Corolla , Civics etc, they had no concrete answer, but it was like a tradition passed on by forefathers , generations before.Infact there is nothing wrong with Honda’s , they make an excellent family cars , it was just that I wanted to experiment with something different in a land , having thousands of options.
I had always dreamed of a sleek sports car , a bright red one , a Ferrari , okay , let me control my horses.So finally it bubbled down to 3 choices, a Mustang, a corvette or a GP Pontiac.Each of these 3 cars , has killer sportish looks and just one look is enough to fall in loved with them.Anyway, after lots of scouting, (for a second hand car) finally it was 2000 model Mustang 5.0 which fitted all my constaints and I got a red one!Now let me start heaping praises .Mustang , is truely a mean brutal muscular machine, and if speed is your thirst quencher , this is the one to satisfy your senses.The raw power, stunning falconish space shuttle looks, turbo charged revved up engine all makes this beauty a true adrenline pumper.In my intial days, it was impossible for me to curb the impulse to push the speedometer to its limit, and was fortunate that I havent yet been ticketed yet.Hondas and Toyotas look like great old daddies, when this whizzes past them.Driving this on a freeway, with blaring music from the fully loaded 6 CD changer music system in background, can be a real pleasue , and makes me feel I can compete with Schumacher .(okay , dhanush , please, stop the exaggeration!).First few days after I bought this, the only thing on my mind was to escape from my work and hit the freeway and this is what I call a true bloody , driving pleasure.
Talking about technicalities, this is just a base model, (and I am itching to lay my hands on a high end model, Cobra or GT on rent someday) and the reason for all this orgasmic pleasure is due to 3.8 litre V6 , 200 hp engine .The driving seat adjustment coupled with tilt steering can be a real blessing for tall people above 6+, and room space is quite comfy , with classy interiors.IT took sometime for me to adjust to the braking and it can be qutie jerky, unitl we get used to it.However , ABS is a great inbuilt feature, and an absolute safety necessity , esspecially in icy driving conditions .The initial pickup and punch , can leave you offguard, if you are driving for the first time .The boomerang zooming sound of this car, adds that extra SFX to your driving pleasure.Since it is an out and out sports car , forget about room for huge luggage space or that space to squeeze in more people in the rear, as in normal family car.Fuel effeciency is something you have to sacrifice for economy, but compensates for that driving experience, but fuel cost is something not to be worried on American roads(afterall Iraq is their to suffice that ).It is like our bikes, yamaha RX100 v/s any other honda or calibers, econmoy v/s speed, choice is yours.Extra frills , that adds zing to its sportish looks would be sub-frame connectors, roll-bars, 17-inch rims, rear spoiler etc .
Coming to pricing , the present base model may cost around $19k , but I got my 2000 model for $10K , eventhough a wee bit above my expected range , anyway , I can recover it anyday when I sell back and I have no plans to keep this forever .However, comparing with other models, sexy Grand Prix Pontiac is another stunner , and I will reserve it for another review.