HairyCanary

Yesterday I finally sat in an 05 Mustang GT, as the local dealer got one in yesterday afternoon. And I find that after all of the hype, and all of my own hope for this car, it was a let down to finally experience it. Perhaps that is expected.

My thoughts:

1. Whomever said the shifter is 6 inches farther back than in an SN95 is smoking something good. I adjusted the seat so that I could reach the pedals (and was getting close to hitting my knees on the steering column, so I couldn't go any closer comfortably), and with the shifter in 1st gear my arm was at full extension (elbow locked). This is no better than my 95 GT is. The shifter itself seems a lot better than previous stock shifters, however, fairly short throw and good enough feel.

2. Are the seats actually better than an SN95? Granted, I had just gotten out of my 03 Cobra -- the seats in the 05 are really flat, essentially no bolstering. It's the same unpleasant sensation I get when I sit down in my 95 GT after having driven the Cobra for a few weeks. Perhaps my expectations are too high for a GT, but I had high hopes for the new seats.

3. I was worried about how bright the chrome rings around the gaugues and A/C vents would be in bright sunlight, when I looked at an 05 in person earlier this summer, I noticed that they were pretty twinkly -- I couldn't sit inside it at the time though. Last night I noticed that they are indeed very bright, almost distracting, and I was looking at the car in a showroom at night -- are those trim rings going to be too much in bright daylight? I did find the aluminum trim VERY nice, though, and a great idea on Ford's part.

So while I'm in love with the exterior, I still have problems with how the interior is put together. I'd like a version that had the IUP with aluminum panels and such, but with no chrome rings on anything. Put in seats that are on par with what the 03/04 Cobra has, and I could forgive the shifter mis-location. The big square dash will take getting used to, it feels much bigger than on an SN95, but I'm sure that's just a matter of getting accustomed to it.

All in all a very nice car, and with a few changes (the ones mentioned above, and then about 200 more horsepower), and sign me up! I really like my Cobra but I'm itching for the next one in 2007.

Dave

MeanStang

these are some petty gripes.

HairyCanary

Petty? If it affects my daily driving, then its not petty. I actually moved the seat forward, so that I could reach the clutch pedals (I'm 6' tall, so that's saying something about how much seat travel there is). I put it far enough forward to wonder if my knees would hit the column when shifting & braking, and the shifter was hard to reach.

Dave

97svtgoin05gt

You will not see 500hp EVER in the GT and I'd be surprised to see that even in the SVT.

coolfords

OK HAIRY

If you could order again what would you do?
Go with the auto? Change other options?
I am glad you said something about the seat. I need a good seat.
I don't think ? Did get cloth seats?
How is the ride?? I mean as a daily driver?
I know you want more power but, is 300 ok?

Thanks

coolfords

Galaxie

HariyCanary

Do you have short arms or something :P

When I drove the GT, (6', 1" tall) I found the shifter to be in a great spot, although I have never driven a manual SN95, the shifter location in the 2005 is great IMO.

As for the seats, I found the bolstering very comfortable, much better that the outgoing SN95's. I think it is tough to compare the Cobra seats to the GT.

I never found it a problem with glare on the trim rings, and I was driving around on a sunny day.

No worries, I never found these things a problem, nothing wrong with a differing opinion.

rhumb

I imagine the Cobra will pretty much take care of most of your issues.

Street banter is that the Cobra will have some modestly detuned version of the Ford GT's SC 5.4, which in the GT is making a good 550 hp. Lop off 50 hp and your at the 500 mark, which is becoming the minimum ante to play at the super car table with the likes of the C6 Vette ZO6, Viper and whatnot these days.

As for the seats, they do still look a bit flat and not what I might have hoped in terms of bolstering, but the Cobra, too, will in all likelyhood, rectify that.

As for the shifter location, that's probably pretty fixed, but at least its action is much better as is the clutch's, so it'll be more a matter of finesse rather than simian brute strength to operate them.

As for the chrome trim rings and other interior bright work, guess we'll both have to wait for sunny-day seat time to see if they really do have some ergonomic, errrr, dark spots so to speak. Whether the Cobra will have a different treatment here is anybodies guess at this point, though SVT does take a more serious engineering approach to such things rather than just loading on the flashy bling-bling to mesmerize the masses, so perhaps there's hope here too.

WBstangGT

Personally, I'm hoping someone makes some gunmetal trim rings. That would be sweet.

enduro

Hairy Canary......How about a Herman Munster Car..........You could see the whole car like a fly bridge on a boat......

mtlamb

If you're 6' tall and have to move the seat up to where your knees almost hit the dash. You must be driving the car like my grandmother.

enduro

I love the 05 Mustang (hopefully this week it will come in).....the chrome on the dash around the vents will not light up the car like a Roman Candle in direct sunlight....Besides you should be looking at the road not the vents while you are driving.........maybe you can take the seat out of the cobra and put it into the 05.

JustAnotherDude

Mmmm...sounds weird. And even with the knees up in the dash, you *still* had trouble reaching the shift? :scratch:

Kinda interesting to know what kind of seats the GT had? Was it a Deluxe or Premium GT? I'm also led to believe you had your seat positioned much too high.

Boomer

HairyCanary...was the seat lowered?
cause it goes up/down too...just curious if that would have helped, or tryed.

I know how hard it is to have certain gripes with a car...most, if not all I can live with. But if your not comfortable in a car...that can be the killer.

Wolfie351

I can understand someone going from an Audi or BMW to a 2005 Mustang and complaining about the interior. But, compared to an SN95? Come on, give me a break...the 2005 Mustang interior is leap years ahead compared to your '95 & '03 interiors.

I do agree with the seats, but they ARE an improvement over '04 GT seats. Ford has to produce a car that fits a wide variety of butts so never expect bolsters in a GT. Personally, Cobra seats do not do it for me either...I go aftermarket

1 COBRA

So... in '07 the shortcomings would be overlooked, as long as it is a Cobra?
Your post comes on as opposing the '05 improvements to justify an obscure reasoning.

BTW, your Redfire snake looks great. Any exhaust mods?

msd

Not sure if it was mentioned, but the SN95 has a big bend in it to put the shifter in the proper position, the '05 does not.

The seats in my '97 GT were horrible. The ergonomics were crap. The head restraint was useless as it didn't fall in to place in relation to your seating position and lateral support was no existent. From what I've read, the '05 seats are a huge improvement.

lodom

I wish I could have sat in one before ordering, but if mine comes in and the seats and driving position stink, then I'm not going to take delivery. This is my biggest worry as these issues aren't easily addressed.

Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. How long do you think it will take before auto manufacturers figure out that the wheel should telescope in addition to tilting?

Who said gunmetal trim? That would be cool.

~~ Paul

HairyCanary

Some of you think I'm attacking the 05 -- I'm not! I'm sharing my own point of view. I'm trying to be very polite, and specifically not saying "I hate it" or "it stinks", etc. I'm just bringing up a couple of points that I found would be deal killers or nearly so for *me*. I'm not coming from European or Japanese import experience, I am on my seventh consecutive Mustang. So I feel like I have a valid basis for comparison .

The shifter surprised me. I did not move the seat up or down, just forward. It did seem low, and it made me wonder if the higher center console would ever get in the way, but if the seat can be raised a bit then maybe when I sat in it it was at its lowest setting.

Galaxie -- I probably do have short arms, but the callouses on my knuckles suggest otherise... . I'm 6' tall with a 30" inseam, so I do have more height in my upper body that some people of the same height. My two points of comparison are my 95 and 03. The 95 is not out of reach, but it's at the limit. The Cobra with a short-throw shifter required me to take my shoulder off the seat in order to hit 5th gear, so I bought a Roush handle that brings the **** *way* back, and it's perfect now. The 05 felt very much like my 95 -- I can reach the shifter without taking my shoulder off the seat, but I have to be at full extension. Obviously I've been dealing with this for years and years, but after having fixed my Cobra's reach problem I now realize how much more comfortable it is to not have to reach so far. I was hoping the remote shifter on the 05 meant that the shifter was in a significantly better spot. For me, it's not.

The seats can be replaced, that's true. It's just another $1500 . My primary gripe with the seats is that there seems to me to be no real excuse -- in actual materials cost there is not a significant difference between bad seats and decent seats. The imports are showing the domestic carmakers that even econoboxes can come with good seats. I am a Ford man through-and-through, and so I hold Ford to high standards -- I don't accept that because they're domestic that we should have lower standards for comfort than imports.

For the trim rings I'll have to accept that maybe it's a non-issue. For me it felt distracting, and I like to have my vision to the road unobstructed and having anything inside the car that catches my eye is not a good thing. I also have this complaint with my Cobra at night, because of the indiglo gauges.

I don't want to deter anyone else from buying one -- test drive it yourself, decide if you want it, and buy it if you do. I wanted to bring up points to discuss -- this site is for open discussion, right, not just people who love every single detail? For what its worth, I think everything but the drivetrain (and the few points I brought up) is better on the 05 GT than on my 03 Cobra. The 05 is gorgeous, and the quality does seem quite noticably higher (although I did see some minor misalignment with the body panels on the one I saw, not like an SN95 however). It's just a couple of design points I'd like to see changed.

1 BULLITT -- if the 07 Cobra has these same problems unaddressed, I will probably not buy it (unless I see aftermarket corrections by that time that I'm willing to pay for). The Cobra is an expensive piece of machinery, I expect SVT to try pretty hard to get it right. I would have higher standards for the Cobra than the GT, because of the price jump. On my 03, I have a K&N, magnaflow cat-back, and just last week a 2.93 pulley and predator.

Sorry if I've got some people riled up, that was not my intent. I probably should save my criticism for a later time, since right now people are taking delivery and enthusiasm is high. Even though there were some significant things that bothered me, I'm still envious of all you guys who are picking up your new toys now!

Dave

enduro

Personally I would like to see in the future a telescoping steering wheel.......that would be kind of neat....