Is the new Mustang any good? I should know the answer by now, because I was supposed to drive one today. But then came disaster in the Autobianchi, over and over again.
The Hungarian market is so small that it’s unlikely the local Ford guys will get a Mustang for the press. Still, just to give the journalists a hint of what’s it like, Ford Hungary organized a press drive from a small town near Budapest to Lake Balaton and back with some foreign test cars. And I was on the guest list.
I overslept slightly, sure, but that wasn’t why I didn’t end up driving a Mustang today. When and old city’s chaotically designed road network gets hit by the combination of tram line constructions all over the place plus the thousands of tourists arriving to Europe’s biggest music festival, you don’t really get a chance.
After spending more than an hour doing an average of 2 mph in the Autobianchi, things really started to get out of hand. I knew my clutch needed fixing, and that certainly didn’t make the stop-and-go part easier, but the real problem was temperature. The needle went off the scale at least three times due to the heatwave we have right now, and since I had nowhere to stop, I had to put my faith into the electric fan. That clearly wasn’t enough. Did I just boil the car that survived the Croatian highways two years ago? Positive.
I gave Ford a call, and at this point, they were still kind enough to wait for me. But then, we got loud. Really, really loud. Technically, I was still stuck in Budapest when we started to make that unmistakable noise.
It sounded sporty alright. I called Ford to set them free. We were equally sorry.
After climbing under my car and taking care of the exhaust problem, I headed back to Alfarium because there were just too many broken bits to take care of.
The roads didn’t get any clearer on the way back. I wanted to blame the brand new Mustangs driving past me.
All in all, I spent three hours in the car baking at about 107 Fahrenheit while also getting an exhaust fume treatment. Needless to say, once I finally got out of my red oven, this was the view at the rear:
No idea how that happened, but that was strike three, I was out.
The moral of the story is that if you drive a luxury GT from BMW, a lifestyle coupe from Audi and a UFO from Citroën in your spare time instead of your 30-years-old classic, vengeance shall await.
I haven’t driven any Mustang yet and I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to grab one from Ford Europe later on either. But did I mention I also bought a 1982 Lada 1200?
As for the A112, at least she is good hands now. After not getting set on fire this afternoon, we shall make her faster. And work.
Photo credit: Máté Petrány/Jalopnik
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.