2018 Mustang Production Information

[Lightning Bolt]

I stumbled across this, but I have no idea how accurate it may be.

 

 

 

How do I track my car if it’s on a train?

 

You need to get your rail car number (also often called an "ETTX" number) from your dealer. This can actually start with "ETTX", or it may not.

 

Once you have that number you can track it via the phone:

 

CSX:

 

1. Call CSX at 1 800-235-2352

2. When prompted for location or weight, press 1 on your phone for location

3. When prompted for the car initials, say them and wait

4. When prompted for the 6-digit car number, say or key-in your 6 digit car number

5. When prompted for the next car, either say 'Done' or press the pound sign (#) twice

 

Union Pacific:

1. Call UP at 1 800-877-5123

2. Follow phone prompts for Trace

3. Say the rail car number completely and clearly. Example CNA704103 all together

4. Listen for your update

 

Only one may track your rail car or both from what I have read.

 

How do track my car if it’s on a semi?

 

As far as I know the only way to do this would be to contact the dealer.

[ice-capades]

How do track my car if it’s on a semi?

 

As far as I know the only way to do this would be to contact the dealer.

 

Once your vehicle is loaded onto a semi (car carrier) there's no way to track it as your vehicle will be delivered to the dealership within a matter of hours or the next day. Many if not most of the transportation companies send Dealers a pre-delivery notification via e-mail advising them that the vehicle has been loaded onto a carrier and dispatched for delivery.

 

FYI... For our dealership I have a special e-mail account set up for use by the transportation companies. All pre-delivery notices and BOL's (Bill of Lading) are sent to the address with copies sent to all managers and staff members involved with sales, vehicle receipt and stocking. This way, anyone that should know that vehicles are in transit get copies of the notices and are prepared for a retail order's arrival in order to plan and expedite delivery to our customers.

[JBWoody]

Ordered Mustang GT convertible on 3/5. Received VIN (1FATP8FF0J5172140) and an estimated delivery date of 6/16 (which seems excessive) but no other updates via COTUS. Wondering if you can help provide any information. This is my first Mustang (first car was a Ford Pinto, about a million years ago) and is many things to me...a late 50th birthday present and a mid-life crisis present, but mostly something I've always wanted but have not been able to afford till now. Appreciate whatever information you can provide. Thanks in advance!

[fuzzymoomoo]

Ordered Mustang GT convertible on 3/5. Received VIN (1FATP8FF0J5172140) and an estimated delivery date of 6/16 (which seems excessive) but no other updates via COTUS. Wondering if you can help provide any information. This is my first Mustang (first car was a Ford Pinto, about a million years ago) and is many things to me...a late 50th birthday present and a mid-life crisis present, but mostly something I've always wanted but have not been able to afford till now. Appreciate whatever information you can provide. Thanks in advance!

 

Scheduled to Week (Week -of May-14-2018)

 

That puts shipping at 4 weeks from production to delivery, which seems about right (especially since the Flat Rock plant is notorious for shipping delays), and about 14 order to production, which seems a bit long but also makes sense. The Flat Rock plant doesn't produce cars as quickly as say Dearborn Truck or Michigan Assembly so that could lead to some longer wait times. For what it's worth, the latest fleet bulletin shows a lead time for Mustang at 10-12 weeks and I know they've been working overtime lately so there's a slight chance yours could be built a few days early.

 

Check back in a few weeks before the week of May 14 and you should have a more specific build date.

[JBWoody]

Thanks much for the information. That’s a long time to wait but I guess I’ll just have to tough it out. Everyone tells me it’ll be worth the wait. Curious why the Schedule to date isn’t showing up in COTUS.

[fuzzymoomoo]

Because COTUS is an unfinished entity and not reliable at all.

[Lightning Bolt]

Can you please check on VIN 1FA6P8CF3J5178161. This is an '18 GT PP2 ordered on 3/7/2018. It's showing an EDD of 5/29/2018. Any idea on when it might be scheduled for production? Thanks.

[fuzzymoomoo]

Can you please check on VIN 1FA6P8CF3J5178161. This is an '18 GT PP2 ordered on 3/7/2018. It's showing an EDD of 5/29/2018. Any idea on when it might be scheduled for production? Thanks.

Scheduled to Day (2018-05-10)

 

ETA May 23-29

[Lightning Bolt]

Scheduled to Day (2018-05-10)

 

ETA May 23-29

Thank you sir!

[ice-capades]

I'm going to post this here as a review of my initial recations to driving a new 2018 Mustang EcoBoost Fastback the past 3 days.

 

I drove Mustangs years ago as my company "Demo" but changed to driving Thunderbirds as our dealership was one of the top 10 Thunderbird dealerships in the USA and was known as "BIrdland" with live radio spots done by Don Imus for many years. I switched back to driving Mustang's again in 2004 and have driven Mustang GT's as my "Demo" with few exceptions since. I was most recently driving a 2017 Mustang GT Premium Fastback (Oxford White w/Ebony Leather, Equipment Group #401A, 6-Speed Automatic, Enhanced Security Package, 19" Premium Dark Stainless-Painted Wheels, Adaptive Cruise Control, Reverse Sensing System & Navigation System) which I drove for 15 months, the longest I've had a car in years.

 

Thanks to Ford's Dealer Cash Incentive, in addition to the $2,500 Ford Rebate, the dealership sold my Demo last week. We have no 2018 Mustang GT's in stock that I can drive and it'll be months before I can get a 2019 Mustang GT in stock to drive as a Demo so I'm now driving a 2018 Mustang EcoBoost Fastback (Kona Blue w/Ebony Cloth, 10-Speed Automatic, Equipment Group #100A). I could have chosen to drive used vehicles until a 2019 Mustang GT was available but doing so would mean constantly bringing vehicles back to the dealership for a customer to look at, drive, etc.

 

I was looking forward to driving a Mustang with the new 10-Speed Automatic Transmission but wasn't prepared for the experience. The overall driving experience is fine. The problem is the downshifting with the new 10-Speed Automatic Transmission. When you're close to coming to a stop the car wants to surge forward which is not a comfortable or reassuring experience. The dealership's Service Technicians tell me that it's normal until the transmission completes it's adaptive break-in cycle which takes 200-400 miles. Okay, that's fine, but I'm thinking of the customers that take test drives and have to deal with this transmission downshift surge issue only to be told that it's part of the vehicle break-in process.

 

I'm hoping that the driving experience improves once I've put more miles on the Mustang but thinking now only of the prospective customer's initial driving experience.

 

Just wanted to share my initial experiences with the 2018 Mustang's 10-Speed Automatic Transmission.

[2b2]

...I was looking forward to driving a Mustang with the new 10-Speed Automatic Transmission but wasn't prepared for the experience. The overall driving experience is fine. The problem is the downshifting with the new 10-Speed Automatic Transmission. When you're close to coming to a stop the car wants to surge forward which is not a comfortable or reassuring experience. The dealership's Service Technicians tell me that it's normal until the transmission completes it's adaptive break-in cycle which takes 200-400 miles. Okay, that's fine, but I'm thinking of the customers that take test drives and have to deal with this transmission downshift surge issue only to be told that it's part of the vehicle break-in process.

 

I'm hoping that the driving experience improves once I've put more miles on the Mustang but thinking now only of the prospective customer's initial driving experience...

:thumb:

I've wondered for a long time if this '''adaptive''' stuff would invalidate testdrives

"but Sir, it's only going to get better...really"

+

if commuter-driving could spoil all the fun of weekend/pleasure-drives? ie it would be adapted to stop&go

Edited June 17, 2018 by 2b2

[akirby]

Ford’s Adaptive technology only adjusts to compensate for manufacturing variances and wear over time to keep shift times consistent. Some people think it adapts to how you drive but that’s not really true. It’s surprising that a new vehicle would have those issues. I don’t remember those on my F150 with the same tranny.

 

Maybe brucelinc can chime in on his 10 speed mustang experience although his is a GT.

[ice-capades]

Ford’s Adaptive technology only adjusts to compensate for manufacturing variances and wear over time to keep shift times consistent. Some people think it adapts to how you drive but that’s not really true. It’s surprising that a new vehicle would have those issues. I don’t remember those on my F150 with the same tranny.

 

Maybe brucelinc can chime in on his 10 speed mustang experience although his is a GT.

 

Thanks for the input!

[brucelinc]

In normal drive, the 10 speed Mustang should not surge or exhibit any unusual behavior when slowing down. It does downshift as the car almost comes to a stop but you can barely feel it. If not for the gear being shown in the instrument cluster, I don't think you would know it.

When accelerating, it will skip 2nd and 4th gears.

 

In "sport" or the other drive modes, it will downshift more aggressively as you are braking and you will hear the engine rev at each downshift but there is no surge. When accelerating, it does not skip any gears.

 

I would say the transmission operates a bit more smoothly after a couple hundred miles or so but the difference is slight.

[ElRafa]

So, my 18' I have now still does this after 7k miles put on. It only happens when I'm in SPORTs mode. Took little while for me to get used to it as well. What ICE said above is exactly what I still get here and there, only in SPORTS mode. When it shifts down, you feel the little extra push fwd instead of the "downshift" feel. Trading my 18 for a 19, so hopefully that still won't happen after the so called "break in".

 

 

EDIT;

 

Mine is an Eco

Edited June 19, 2018 by ElRafa

[brucelinc]

I suspect this surge on downshifts you guys feel is more related to the ecoboost engine than the 10 speed transmission. Sounds like the revs hang just a bit long resulting in a surge before the engine rpm matches the car's speed. I have never felt that with the 5.0.

[michjbthemh]

This post isn't so much about the production of my particular car. I am wondering if all Mustang GT's are built in the same plant and if so, which plant (or plants) are they built in? Any response is appreciated and thank you to all the moderators for all that you do!

[fuzzymoomoo]

Every Mustang is built at the Flat Rock plant

[michjbthemh]

Every Mustang is built at the Flat Rock plant

Thank you very much for your response. I appreciate it!

[michjbthemh]

Fuzzymoomoo, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. Can a dealership take a deposit on a car that they will not get an allocation for? I did order my car from a fairly large dealership. I went there the other day to see how many mustangs they had left. They had a 2018 ecoboost premium and a 2018 Mustang GT. The car I test drove at that dealership was a 2019 Mustang GT premium with all the options I ordered on mine with the exception of the MagneRide (as far as I know because I don't remember if it was available on the 2018) which is no longer there. I don't know how many Mustangs they had earlier because I didn't look but I know they had at least 5. I am assuming if they had allocations last year, they would this year too?

[akirby]

Fuzzy doesn’t work at a dealership - that would be IceCapades or Deanh.

 

The dealership can take a deposit on anything. If they do it knowing they can’t fulfill the order then that’s fraud. But that’s not the case with your Mustang GT.

 

Allocations are given out on a weekly basis. If your dealership only sells a few mustangs a year then they may only get allocation once every month or two. What is your order priority? It should be 10-19 which means yours would be built before any stock orders.

 

That’s always a risk ordering from a small dealer. Did you check around at nearby dealers? You can use the Ford dealer inventory tool to search within a 90 mile radius. Your dealer can also check other dealers with a much wider radius to find one they can trade with.

[michjbthemh]

My priority code is 19. I did not think about checking around at other dealerships. My husband bought a 2018 F150 from the dealership where I ordered my Mustang from and we really liked them. I am going to take your suggestions though and I am going to contact my dealership again and make sure my order can be fulfilled one way or the other. I am hoping that the issue with my order has more to do with limited commodity than fraud. I sincerely appreciate your response and I am going to look into this tomorrow!

[akirby]

I didn’t mean to imply there was any fraud because they should be able to get allocation - just a question of when.

 

I was just trying to explain when it would be illegal for them to take a deposit.

 

Tell me the dealers name and zip code and exactly what you want and I’ll look around for you.

[michjbthemh]

Fuzzy doesn’t work at a dealership - that would be IceCapades or Deanh.

 

The dealership can take a deposit on anything. If they do it knowing they can’t fulfill the order then that’s fraud. But that’s not the case with your Mustang GT.

 

Allocations are given out on a weekly basis. If your dealership only sells a few mustangs a year then they may only get allocation once every month or two. What is your order priority? It should be 10-19 which means yours would be built before any stock orders.

 

That’s always a risk ordering from a small dealer. Did you check around at nearby dealers? You can use the Ford dealer inventory tool to search within a 90 mile radius. Your dealer can also check other dealers with a much wider radius to find one they can trade with.

[michjbthemh]

The dealer is Salem Ford, Salem NH 03079 I ordered a 2019 Mustang GT Premium in need for green with the PP2 Performance package. I got every single option available with the exception of the rocaro racing seats. I appreciate your help so very much! I did put down a $1,000.00 deposit that is non refundable and I really don't want to lose that. I don't know if there is anything that can be done about that.

Edited June 23, 2018 by michjbthemh