Bullitt Mustang proves high calibre
2018 fORD mustang bullItt EDItIOn mark dixon
Having a 2018 limited-edition ‘Bullitt’ Mustang for a week was the perfect excuse to growl over and visit Octane contributor Jesse Crosse, who just happens to be restoring a 1968 Highland Green GT390 to Bullitt movie spec. Far from being just another Bullitt rep, Jesse’s car is set to be the most meticulously researched and perfectly detailed example yet seen, built just a few weeks after the movie car and at the same San José plant, in the same Highland Green colour and with the same ‘top loader’ manual gearbox.
Jesse owned a 2016 Mustang GT for a couple of years, and confirmed a couple of my initial impressions about the 2018 Bullitt – one, that it never ceases to feel like a big car; and two, that the traction control doesn’t, not really. But compared with the 1968 car, the latest version is unrecognisably sophisticated. Steering, throttle response and ride can all be programmed to suit your own tastes, and it has today’s sine qua
of electronic stability control in corners. Traditionalists will be pleased to hear, though, that you can turn all the safety controls off, if you’re on a track, or feeling vaguely suicidal.
Only the stoniest of hearts will fail to be moved when the Bullitt’s 5.0-litre V8 erupts with a deepchested thunder. The gearknob is a white cue ball and, while part of you winces at the implicit cheesiness, it feels good in the hand and operates a satisfyingly slick six-speed ’box, downchanges accompanied by a rumbling electronic throttle-blip. Don’t believe any of that clichéd rubbish about the clutch being thighbendingly heavy, either. It isn’t.
Selecting the Normal ride setting with Sport steering and throttle seems a good combination for British B-roads, and on those challenging surfaces it handles quite nicely, with decent steering weight and feel; the Bullitt can boast uprated front springs and a larger rear anti-roll bar compared with its lesser siblings. But if you’re not in the mood for heroics, thanks to 452bhp and 390lb ft on tap it goes (and sounds) very well indeed if you just leave it in default out-ofthe-box mode. Indeed, you can derive almost as much auditory pleasure from grumbling along in city traffic as in winding out the soulful V8 towards its red line.
Whether you’re a McQueen fan or not, there’s a lot to like about this car, not least the fact it has almost no external badging other than a Bullitt logo on the faux fuel cap at the rear. If you know, you know. Above all, when you combine the high spec with an onthe-road price of £48,145, it genuinely is a performance bargain. A properly restored 1968 Bullitt rep would cost you more – much more – and yet you could use the new car every day, in all weathers, revelling in its epic 1960s V8 soundtrack while luxuriating in 21st Century creature comforts.
It may be heresy, but this could be one of those rare occasions when we’d prefer the modern to the classic – to drive, if not to pose in.