As if you haven't seen enough of these, here is another one.

First let me say that my last performance car was a couple years ago and it was a 2003 Cobra with 475 RWHP. So everything I say will be in comparison to the Cobra.

The car was a black 5.0 with 401a, brembos, 373s and manual.

The first thing I noticed was how nice this car was. The seats and the materials were top notch. The dealer fired the car up and then I realized how quiet the 5.0 was. We even popped the hood with the car running and the engine just sat there, looking pretty, being quiet.

Finally I sat in the cockpit and I noticed the first big difference. My Cobra had Borla Catback exhaust and it was loud, when you sat there you could hear whistles from the supercharger and pops from the exhaust, you really felt like you were trying to tame a wild animal. This car was more luxury than brute.

Taking off, I couldn't believe how light the clutch was. The switchgear was very nice, short and precise. With the Cobra, pushing the clutch to the floor was equivalent to doing leg presses, and the switchgear was pickier (even with a short throw shifter).

The new 5.0 is very easy to drive, steering was tight, but I can't really comment on handling as I didn't get the chance to really check it out.

On to the power. Almost everyone has said how linear and smooth the power delivery is, and I couldn't agree more. Very smooth and there is power everywhere. That being said, my Cobra had about 100 hp advantage on the 5.0, so the power certainly wasn't overwhelming to me. Because of this, I actually took the car up to redline on accident in 2nd gear. The building power was feeling great and I wanted more and more. The good news about redline is it just cuts the fuel delivery, so "hitting" redline is akin to quickly taking your foot off the gas.

Overall, this is a great car and I will certainly consider putting one of these in my Garage. My plan is to go test drive a Camaro and Challenger just to see how they stack up (no way I would actually buy one of these, don't worry).

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer.

 

I'm still getting used to changing 1st and 2nd gears so quickly with this 3.73.

 

Yeah, the 373s are pretty short, especially in the lower gears, but they do a good job of keeping you in the power band.

 

You have a very good attitude about your drive! The '03 Cobra really sparked my interest in the Mustang and it's still nice to see that the new GT won't disappoint.

 

IIRC, the rev limiter cuts spark. I could be wrong.

 

I went a couple weeks ago and test drove both the 3.7 and 5.0.

The V6 was a premium and had 3.31 and it was a manual, other than that just the appearance package. The V6 was really good in my mind (this coming from driving a mazda 6 I4 lol) then I went onto the V8 (california with electronics and 3.73) and I completely agree. The V8 was SO much smoother. I was really surprised how a car with that much power can be so so so so tame and smooth when your just driving around town. I was really impressed.

 

If redline is like the previous cars, it starts closing the throttle plates so it doesn't run into a wall.