Here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0s4OAMISN4

They were sort of harsh on it but overall a good review.

 

I thought I saw this about a year ago.

 

Harsh but true, well true other then the HP not being 500. He should know better then that but I guess it makes for good TV....

 

yeah, it's oldddd...but good...even though they are so wrong bout the HP ratings...they are so falsely complaining when it's rear wheel horsepower and not flywheel power, theyre just ignorant...thanks for posting again so I can rant about it.

 

They're just jealous because they can't buy them there without importing the cars and paying almost twice as much as we pay for the cars here.

 

No, not 100% accurate, but it got what it deserved (As you can tell, I have no love of the GT500). I'm just not sure about the Roush having an IRS like they claim

 

saw that a while back , and was surprised at the rwhp of the gt 500

 

Now the Roush they showed was sweet.

Was that a Stage 3 Roush?

 

I never heard them claim anything about IRS unless the version I saw didn't say anything about the cars suspension in detail. the GT500 is a heavy fast pig and a slouch in the turns, but is great for massive powerslides. They said that the roush had a different suspension, but maby im wrong ill have to watch the end again.

 

I’m a bit disappointed in Top Gear. I saw this last year too, just remembering how unfair they were in their review again.

Some corrections:
The Roush has the same suspension except for stiffer springs and up-rated dampers and sway bars.
Total cost to “fix” the GT500 suspension…under $1,200

I don’t understand why Top Gear thinks a Roush that’s 10 grand more is a better value then the GT500. With some minor suspension upgrades the GT500 could spank a Stage 3 Roush on a track. No offense to Roush but their stuff is expensive.

On a road track, a correctly setup live axle is comparable to an independent rear. The independent rear shines on normal road use not the track.

 

I do agree with you on this.

 

There's an awful lot of people who've never driven a Mustang with the live axle and think it's just going to flip the whole car over on a dry day going to the supermarket. They break out their rehearsed supplications to the gods of perceived value and chant "IRS, IRS, IRS..." all over again like someone who just got audited on their tax returns from 4 years ago.

I owned a 2004 BMW Z4 for two years, and put 38,000 miles on it. My 2008 Mustang GT handles roughly the same in spirited daily driving. I haven't track tested my Mustang yet, but to be fair, I never track tested the Z4 either and that thing couldn't hold a candle to the Mustang GT's ability to drive in snow with the pzero neros.

 

I feel like kicking him in the face for writing on that car. I'm embarassed for him since he doesn't know the difference between flywheel hp and RWHP.

Plus I never understood why someone would want a car that "handles" and can take a turn at 80 mph. My friend at work drove an RX8 and claimed it could outhandle my GT. I agree with him, but what does all that handling get him? 3 trips to the bodyshop for losing control on widing roads due to road dirt. I'll take a straight-line car anyday.

 

Knowing you and your car's limits is a good thing. I got hooked on Autocrosses in the lat 90s. I like going fast in a straight line too, but that's only one facet of a car's capabilities. The Mustang has gotten a bad reputation as only good for straight line performance. We need more road racers to dispel this myth.

 

He is spot on with a good portion of that article but his tech specs are off.

My problem with the GT500 is the 500lbs of mass added to the nose of the car. I got out of my stock GT, drove a GT500. It felt heavier is all I can say and was less tossable. The whole car just felt heaftier.

Now, can it be made to handle well? I am sure. Nice car. But when making an improved higher performance version of a car, you don't start out with adding 500+lbs and work your way backwards handling wise. Just wrong headed.

200lbs? sure. 250 maybe. But when a car goes from 3450 to 4000 lbs and touts better handling at the same time. One must question what happened/

As far as which would win on a roadcourse? Hands down I would take a modified GT or a roush. Even with a blower and 14" brembos they usually are under 3600lbs or so which is respectible. A 400lb weight difference is a big deal on a roadcourse for two equally powered cars with almost identical suspensions (different shock/spring tuning of course)

 

Those guys are showmen putting on an entertainment show, that's all. Heck, Clarkson owned a Ford GT for a while and Hammond owned that 67 Fastback GT and he bought some Mopar. So obviously they are into american iron but it is fun to bash the USA when you are in another country.

This episode aired on BBC America day or two before, it's always entertaining. Last night they had the supercar one with the Lamorghini Superleggera, Porsche GT3(?) and some Aston Marton race car driving all over Italy, it is just fun to watch them making fun of each other. You gotta take this show with a grain of salt.

 

Good point, I didn't know the weight difference was so much.

Stock Mustang GT 3356 lbs.
Stock Mustang GT500 3920 lbs.

Even if you add 100 lbs for the Roush SC that's still makes it 464 lbs lighter then the GT500. Can anyone say mid-engine aluminum block Mustang, oh wait that's a Ford GT...

 

You're never going to see a stock Mustang GT at 3356 lbs, unless it's dry-as-a-bone. Some people who've weighed theirs on truck scales came up around 3500 lbs with a full tank and no occupants.

I guess the same disparity probably exists for the GT500 though.

As far as the GT500 weight? All Ford did was listen to all the Mustang GT owners who looked at the next biggest V8 and said "Me want! Me want! Me want!". So Ford puts the big engine in and everyone's moaning about nose weight. Could Ford have properly redone the suspension and weight geometry? Sure, but knowing Ford it would have cost them an extra $5k per car because they don't operate efficiently.

Now look back at all the people who were hopping mad Ford didn't put a monster V8 in the '08 Bullitt and chuckle with me a little bit. Imagine what a big displacement BOSS will weigh if Ford does that SE. Imagine how much it's going to cost above a stock GT if Ford actually improves the car symmetry for the increased weight.

 

Its a great show, and they test the best cars known to man. Its not extreemly surprising that they didn't love it.

 

My 07 GT weighs just as much as the curb weight, but it is a stripper GT (cloth seats, Shaker 500, no IUP, etc...)