2025 Ford Mustang GT California Special Convertible Review

By stripping its entire conventional car lineup down to a single model, Ford really had no choice but to make the Mustang both excellent and expansive in its appeal.

There’s a Mustang for everyone these days, whether that means a four-cylinder rental car, a wind-in-the-hair ragtop, a Nürburgring record-smashing performance machine, or yes, even a five-door electric vehicle (EV). For me, the sweet spot in the corral remains a moderately-affordable, high-performance machine with a noisy V8 and a manual transmission. Subtle. Low-key muscle. Speak softly and carry a big stick, and all that. 

The tester you see here — a 2025 Mustang GT California Special Convertible — doesn’t quite fit that bill. 

Styling 7 / 10

Admittedly, when booking this car for a week-long test, I jumped at the combination of the Mustang’s infamous 5.0L and six-speed manual. In my mind, it was a simple coupe — maybe painted black or blue — so I was a little shocked when I saw a stark white convertible with stickers and, oh geez, are those blue wheels?

The California Special, or GT/CS, has always been a fashion piece. Here, it gets big decals down its flanks, a unique grille with the galloping pony badge replaced by a small GT/CS logo, and a pair of big, blue nostril intakes. As a default, the GT/CS gets grey wheels, but specced with the Performance package, it gets the very flashy silver-and-blue wheels, too. 

The reaction to the GT/CS’s appearance for the most part was less than positive except for the older lady in the Walmart parking lot who liked it. Also, my experience was not like Vanilla Ice’s, because while I was rollin’ in this 5.0 with the ragtop down so my hair (ha!) can blow, the “girlies” were most certainly not on standby, wavin’ just to say hi.

Of course, that’s the beauty of the breadth of the Mustang offerings. Want something over-the-top and flashy? Go for it! Want subdued and sinister? There’s a Mustang for that, too. Besides, the rest of the styling is quite good, with its traditional long hood, short rear deck, fastback rear window, and great proportions, the seventh-generation Mustang is a sporty, purposeful, and handsome car that’s both contemporary and true to tradition.

Inside, it’s less traditional. The dashboard is now dominated by a giant dual-screen display with fewer actual buttons than before. It makes it all look like most other modern cars out there. One neat gimmick: you can switch the digital instrument display to look like various gauge packages from Mustangs of yore. Black-on-white ’93 SVT Cobra for me, please.

Driving Feel 8.5 / 10

After my most recent drive of the Mustang GT — which was an astonishing five years ago, now that I think about it — I came away thoroughly impressed with how this pony car composed itself when hustled around corners. This latest generation improves on steering feel and overall handling, and even with a convertible top — which is known to reduce a car’s structural integrity — the GT/CS managed very well, feeling quite solid. 

At 1,784 kg (4,000 lb), this Mustang is no lightweight sports car, and its bulk is ever-present when pushing hard, especially on tight, twisting roads. Still, the steering is quick and precise, and the optional electro-magnetic suspension setup keeps the car flat and planted without destroying one’s spine from stiffness. Similarly, the upgraded Brembo brakes scrub speed effectively, but they don’t have the immediate bite expected from these brakes.

Power 9 / 10

Of course the heart and soul of this Mustang is its 5.0L Coyote V8. Optioned with the active valve exhaust, there are 486 hp and 418 lb-ft of torque champing at the bit. While those numbers are impressive in and of themselves, and they can move the Mustang from rest to 100 km/h in the low four-second-range, they don’t tell the whole story.

A 10-speed automatic transmission is available as well, but one of the greatest joys in modern motoring is the privilege of revving this big engine out to its 7,250-rpm redline, grabbing the shifter and snapping off a gear change, and revving it up again. It doesn’t offer the same neck-snapping thrust as the Mustang Mach-E GT, but it’s much more rewarding here. Even that lofty torque output requires nearly 5,000 revs to achieve, which makes the Mustang wonderfully rev-happy — not what one expects when raised on the old slow-and-low-revving V8s from earlier muscle cars. This one is modern and sophisticated. 

And it’s musical. With the adaptive valves on the exhaust set to their loudest and most juvenile setting, the V8’s distinctive roar is addictive. There’s a quiet mode, but I had no interest in using it. My neighbours were repeatedly reminded that this Mustang had the proper engine. 

The six-speed transmission suits this car so well, too. It’s not greasy-slick to shift like, say, a Honda. Instead, there’s some notchiness to the way the shifter moves between gates. The throws aren’t long, though, and the clutch, while heavier than a more timid car might have, is nowhere near as stiff or unforgiving as Mustang clutches from years ago. Not once, despite Toronto’s oppressive traffic, did I ever wish for only two pedals.

Fuel Economy 6 / 10

Unsurprisingly, revving the beans out of a sizable V8 equates to a healthy thirst for fuel. Around town, that means guzzling at a rate of 16.1 L/100 km. Cruising the highway, it’s rated at a much more reasonable 10.8 L/100 km, and 13.7 as the combined figure. Happily, even with revving to enjoy the 5.0L at every opportunity, my test week produced an indicated consumption of 13.5 L/100 km.

Practicality 5 / 10

Short of getting a Mach-E, no Mustang should be purchased for its practicality. It’s an inefficient, powerful, low vehicle that’s not ideal for slippery driving conditions, and in convertible format like this, has a trunk that’ll consume only 291 L of stuff. Unlike some sports cars, it actually has a backseat, although it should be reserved for small pets or miscellaneous items, but not people.

Comfort 7 / 10

Beyond the lack of head- and legroom in the back, the scooped-out backs of the front seats don’t align with the deep rear buckets, meaning passengers need to sit almost side-saddle (if they’re spry enough to climb in there in the first place). The front seats are worlds better, though, and they offer decent comfort if not quite as much lateral support as one would want for a high-performance car. 

With the lined top up, wind noise is reasonable; however, with it down, the cacophony of rushing air fights with the bellowing exhaust for a very exciting experience but certainly not a quiet one. Top-down buffeting is decent up front (but blustery in the backseat), and the ride is very good for such a high performance car, thanks to the electro-magnetically adaptive suspension.

Features 7 / 10

When optioned up as the California Special is, there are niceties like leather seats that are heated and cooled up front, and finished in a dual-tone black and blue. Weirdly, the front seats offer power fore-and-aft movement, but the seat recline is still manually-operated. Similarly, the power top requires a twist of a release clamp before it can be lowered or raised and anchored in place.

The little rear quarter windows retreat automatically when the top is lowered, but require a pull on a single button to raise them (and one time, only a single window returned to its closed position). The 12-speaker stereo rocks but costs an additional $1,295. The infotainment system allows access to a host of performance-oriented settings and drive modes that help a Mustang driver tailor the experience to their specific wants and needs, yet there’s no wireless phone charging.

User-Friendliness 8 / 10

Traditionalists are likely lamenting the Mustang’s move to the contemporary all-glass cockpit layout. Many system functions have been moved to the screen, which can be fiddly when making climate control adjustments. Still, the system offers logical menus, and proved to be quick, responsive, and stable with a wireless Apple CarPlay connection during the test week.   

Visibility is expectedly unimpeded with the top down, it’s pretty decent even with it up. The side-view mirrors are small, however, reminding that shoulder checks are a smart move, and I needed to fiddle with the seat for a while to get a driving position that was comfortable and still allowed proper reach to controls.

Safety 8 / 10

The Mustang offers a host of airbags, plus automated high-beam control, blind-spot monitoring, automatic emergency braking, and lane-keeping assistance as standard fare. The Co-Pilot 360 Assist + package includes adaptive cruise control and traffic sign recognition.

Value 6 / 10

Traditionally, what made Mustangs so compelling was their performance-per-dollar value. This latest generation car has crept up to some serious bucks when specced like this tester. Convertibles require the GT Premium package right out of the gate, then the GT Performance package adds another $6,800, and the active valve exhaust system another $1,545, with the adaptive damping system adding yet another $2,500.

Just getting a mid-spec performance version of the Mustang tallies more than $10,000 on top of the nearly $67,000 starting price. The California Special package adds another $2,710, and when all said and done, our test car was a little less than $85,000 before taxes. That’s for a car with partially manual-controlled seats, chintzy-looking (and feeling) hard plastic trim throughout, and a surprising number of exterior body panels that didn’t seem to quite line up as they should. A BMW M4 Cabriolet may not offer the burly V8 soundtrack, but its performance is very competitive as is its price if you keep the options minimal.

A $60,000 V8-powered, track-ready Mustang GT feels like a good value, but a convertible coming perilously close to six figures after taxes does not. 

The Verdict

While this particular version of the Mustang is far too costly for what it delivers, the best parts of the car are available on a much less costly version, giving up mostly frivolous features but getting everything that makes it both unique and special in the marketplace. The key takeaway is that the seventh-generation Mustang GT is dynamically better than it’s ever been, and Ford is happy to let you tailor yours however you want, from bold and showy to serious and sinister.