It took a while, but I finally had the opportunity to (very quickly) see a 2018 Mustang in the flesh. Advantage Ford had this Shadow Black example on their lot so while I was there I took the chance to take a lap around it and grab some photos. After being able to see the new design in person, I have this to say:

It. Looks. Amazing.

I’ll fully admit that I was one of the people a bit ‘unsure’ of the facelifted Mustang when it was first revealed in early 2017, but with both a bit of time to get accustomed to it and the opportunity to see it in person, I can say that I now prefer it to the pre-facelift. The revised exterior keeps it identifiable as a Mustang while looking modern and different (do I sound like a Ford PR person here?), and overall it just looks mean – granted, the black-on-black-on-black combo of this one definitely helped with that! 

To quickly touch on this specific car now, as mentioned it was a Shadow Black example and in case you hadn’t noticed the badges yet, it was a GT variant. Parked behind that 5.0L was the new 10-speed automatic however; I’ve yet to drive Ford’s 10-speed but I’ve had plenty of seat time with others and I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan. Plus, being a Mustang, unless you’re building a drag car specifically I see there as being only one valid transmission option anyway, but that’s getting off-track. Haha

Along with that 10-speed was a sizable list of other options (with the total for them all being around $12,000 in fact!), bringing the sticker for this particular car up to just over $61,000 Canadian. The other boxes that had been ticked were for the GT Performance Package, Safe and Smart Package (adaptive cruise control and BLIS), dual exhaust with quad tips, the Magne-ride damping system, and a few others.

Now that these are showing up at dealerships and even making their way into garages, I’m very excited to see what owners and the aftermarket come up with to personalize these new Mustangs, as well as improve upon what Ford has brought to the market.

As mentioned I only had a very brief look so this wasn’t going to be anything massively in-depth but more of a first-impressions type of post. That said, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to go over an ’18 in greater detail for both myself, and a follow-up post here; perhaps with one wearing a brighter paint colour (orange gets my vote) and that includes a third pedal.

-Bill