Ford's already told us that the 2018 Mustang will get Drag Race mode and Burnout Mode, but now they've told us that it's going to get quiet mode too. Ford's adding what they're dubbing "Good Neighbour Mode" for making silent early morning exits.
It all started when somebody called the police on Steve von Foerster. Von Foerster was enjoying a Shelby GT350 Mustang that day. "As the car’s V8 engine thundered, an annoyed neighbour set aside their coffee cup and dialled 911."
Von Foerster, who was the head of vehicle engineering with Ford at the time, said "I love the sound of the V8, but it can be loud, and you can’t annoy people like that in your neighbourhood... I thought, 'There has to be a way to give people more control over the engine's sound.'"
So now the Mustang has Quiet Start, what they call an industry first, in addition to Quiet Exhaust mode. While variable noise exhausts like the Mustang's new Quiet Exhaust mode have been around for a while, the Quiet Start system is unique. It lets you set a timer ahead of time to make sure that your Mustang fires up with a nicker instead of a neigh.
Using the on-screen menus, the driver can set times where the Mustang will start silently, and when it will start loud. For example, if you want to get away silently in the morning, set Quiet Start to engage between 5 am and 8 am and you won't wake the neighbours or the kids when you head to the office. No worries of getting in in the morning and only remembering what mode you're in once it's too late. If you want it loud when you head home, you can do that too.
Quiet Exhaust and Quiet Start will be part of the optional active valve performance exhaust on the Mustang GT. It will have normal, sport, and track levels, although on many tracks these days you'll probably need the quiet mode.
Matt Flis, Ford exhaust development engineer, said that "with quiet start activated, the decibel level of the new Mustang GT drops by about 10 decibels, to a much more comfortable 72 decibels – about the level of a household dishwasher."
More noise for you, more quiet for the neighbours. Sounds good to us.
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