If you are a lover of old school American muscle cars, you’re going to love the 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt I have this week.
It’s been 50 years since Lieutenant Frank Bullitt got into a dramatic 10-minute chase in San Francisco. This is arguably the most iconic chase scene in history and propelled the Mustang into a category all its own. Ford pays tribute to the movie with this 2019 Mustang Bullitt.
Looking under the hood, you find a heavily-braced, naturally-aspirated 5.0-liter V8 putting out 480-horses and 420-pound feet of torque. It will get you from a dead stop to 60-miles per hour in under 4 seconds, and if you stay on it, it will top out at 163-miles per hour.
If you want a Bullitt with an automatic transmission, a convertible top, or you want a color other than Dark Highland Green or Black, you’re out of luck.
The exterior of the Bullitt is rather non-descript, except from the rear where you see the Bullitt fake gas cap and quad exhaust. The 19” wheels look terrific, as do the huge, red, Brembo brake calipers. The honeycomb grill and angular front end looks sharp, and there are functional air vents built into the hood. I always enjoy seeing the sequential rear blinkers.
Open the door and your eyes go to the white cue ball shift knob, a throwback to the movie. As you sit behind the steering wheel that has a huge Bullitt badge on it, the power heated and cooled leather seats are comfortable. There are very few options on the Bullitt, you can get Recaro seats, but unless you are really small, I find those uncomfortable. There is a back seat that is not suitable for humans, but a great place to put your briefcase or purse.
Center dash is the Sync3 system that operates the sound system, Bluetooth, Apple Car Play and Android auto, apps, and the navigation system.
When you hit the pushbutton start, the car comes to life, starting with a frontal shot of a Mustang appearing in the middle of the massive 12” color gauge display. The gauge configuration changes depending on the drive mode you choose. Each gauge configuration is very well done.
Now it is time to make decisions. All the fun starts when you hit the Pony button on the steering wheel.
I personally start first with the performance exhaust, which is incredible. You can choose from normal, which sounds great, or you can go to Sport exhaust, and finally Track, which is deafening. You can also choose quiet if you want to give your neighbors a break as you leave the crib.
Next you choose your drive mode from normal, Snow/Wet, Sport, Sport Plus, Track, and Drag Race. You change modes from a silver toggle switch below the air conditioning controls. You can also change the steering characteristics from another toggle switch next to the mode switch. I found my favorite sweet spot in the Track mode.
Once you find your own personal favorite settings, you can save them in the MyMode setting, a handy tool so you don’t have to configure the car every time you get in.
Now, you are ready to head out for your drive. You’ll notice the super-strong acceleration of the Bullitt. The transmission operates in short, crisp, shifts making it easy to run the gears with determination. Rev matching on downshifts is a great feature.
Handling is superb in curves, thanks to the combination of the limited-slip rear axle and the independent rear suspension. The rear end will come around on you from first to second gear, but the Bullitt straightens out easily.
In casual driving, the car is a joy and much of that credit goes to the optional $1695 Magneride damping system, which adjusts at a rate of an incredible 1000 times per second.
The only other option on my tester is the $2100 Electronics package which includes blind-spot monitoring, a 12-speaker Harman sound system with a subwoofer in the trunk, and the navigation system.
Not that you care, fuel economy is rated at 15 city and 24 highway. Total MSRP is $51,290.
The Bullitt is not for the faint of heart; but overall, it is an exceptional modern day muscle car, and I think one that will be worth a lot of money some day.
My test Bullitt was #28 off the assembly line. If you would like to see #1 roll out, watch this video:
