2018 Ford Mustang GT encountered pre-launch

One lucky lad has had a close up look at the new 2018 Ford Mustang GT prior to its release, just by being in the right place at the right time.

While out on a drive with friends, he ran into (figuratively, of course) the head of PR for Ford North America.

Lucky for us, he thought to record and photograph the car, so we get a peek too.

“Was with my driving group on Angeles Crest Highway on Labor Day, when the head of Ford North America's PR department stopped by with a brand new, facelifted Mustang GT painted in Orange Fury.

“This car isn't even out yet,” he adds.

“The rep demonstrated a few of the car's 4 exhaust settings before heading off to do some more canyon carving.”

One of those exhaust modes is the reason the car sounds so quiet at the beginning of the video – it’s the ‘good neighbour mode’, which softens the roar of the 5.0-litre V8 for those early morning trips out of your sleepy suburban cul-de-sac.

The other three modes are normal, sport and track, which we can only assume packs on the decibels to the max. That’s reportedly more than 80 of them.

The particular pony being driven in the video was manual, and the uploader was told it would cost around USD$47,000, which sounds about right for pricing even in the Aussie equivalent $58,800.

Currently, a Mustang GT will set punters back 57,490 in manual guise, though that might change when the 2018 facelift rolls around.

Images and video by YouTube user Quixotiic