I can honestly say that I have been seriously underwhelmed by the new GT500. I keep hearing it's the only car under 50k that has 500hp. Well you can have all the horsepower you want, at that weight, HP is a non issue. If I am going to pay 45-50k for a mildly optioned cobra, it should be able to hang with a base corvette without breaking a sweat. Thats just my opinion though. And I have not driven the new SVT (I have driven a C6).

Let me temper my comments with this, I still want one. Really bad. I think I had my expectations set a little to high for this car. Combined with the fact that chevrolet did an excellent job with the new C6. I'm definetly not willing or able to pay 45k for one of these cars new, but I hope to someday own one fairly new/used.

The real question for me is, will the new GT500 be faster than a 03/04 cobra? If so, by how much? And does that difference in performance justify the extra money?

 

I think the 12.25 @ 117 time shows some of the true potential of the car. At MSRP, I think it's justified (Shelby + 500HP - not many new cars in that range, are they?), but the $10K to $20K mark-up is just plain ridiculous.

 

I've long maintained that the GT500, while a fine car certainly, doesn't quite justify its much higher percentage price premium over the standard GT than the Cobra commanded over the GT of its day.

Yes, it's of course a much better car overall than the SN95, as all S197 variants are over their SN97 counterparts. But I think the Cobra offered much more added engineering content over its GT for a significantly lower price premium.

If all the blather that an IRS would have added $5K to the GT500 price , then why isn't that reflected in a significantly LOWER price premium over the GT than the IRS equipped Cobra did over its GT? Perversely, Ford's charging a much higher percentage (and absolute) price premium for the live axle GT500. Seems like that calculus has gotten all bass ackward. Logically, the GT500 should cost $5K LESS of a price premium over the GT than did the Cobra. Maybe one of the bean counters punched the wrong key on the calculator while figuring the MSRP.

Other than the lack of IRS, the overall engineering content is almost identical to the Cobra, excepting a half inch extra engine block deck height and rod length. Certainly there's nothing so exotic or esoteric -- no titanium or carbon fiber anything, no hand ported or Extrude honed heads, no VVT, no DSG type tranny, not even a spiral blower -- to soak up the $5K saved by ditching the IRS and padding a few grand more yet on top of that. And the strip numbers seem to indicate that the potential advantage of the bigger motor than the Cobra had is absorbed by the bigger weight -- wasn't deleting the IRS supposed to save 150 lbs here too?

IMHO, HTT's GT500 is a very fine car. Better overall than the Cobra? Sure. But it's not nearly the same value Coletti's Cobra was.

 

Which mag got a 12.25?

 

Yeah I'd like to know where you got this 12.25 time too.

 

It's in the thread started by JETSLOVER.

 

ok yeah i saw it now http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=48118

 

Thanks! It's interesting the amount of variability in the performance numbers from different magazines. The best numbers stated in the article were 4.3 0-60 and a 12.25 quarter and a trap speed of 117. I wouldn't exactly call those numbers underwhelming!

 

I wonder how much licensing the "Shelby" name cost....

 

It seems you are looking for a justification to convince yourself out of a GT500.

 

WOuldn't take much to convince me away from one..but then George you've heard my rants about this car in person

 

As part of my diabolical plan to wreck the value of the Shelby (ergo cheaper for me when my plan comes to fruition)

A base corvette is merely $2,000 to $3,000 more, is 3 sceconds faster on the slalom, is a 10th quicker in the 1/4, and gets 10 better miles to the gallon.

 

So, a base Vette runs a 12.1 in the quarter? Don't think so...

(I guess you missed the post where one of the mags got a 12.25 with a GT500)

 

I dont understand the problem with the GT500... You get a 900-1000HP Motor made of iron, which will keep forged rods from going through the side.. You can put 650RWHP+ to the wheels with an aftermarket tune, and with a Water/Meth kit installed run close to 25psi of boost without fear of hurting anything..

I'd take one for $40K in a heartbeat.. Stop worrying about the reviews and look at the facts.. The motor by itself is worth $30K.. This way Ford is selling you a Mustang with Shelby emblems for $10K.. LOL!! Sounds like a deal to me!

 

No offense to the die hard Shelby guys here, but this car does nothing to excite me right now, and even less if the price breaks 50 grand. Its your next generation Cobra, lacking IRS, with a few more pounds, and 100 more horses, and a price tag well above the last one. Really what is the car worth? The Shelby Name, does nothing for me, I was born after the 60s Era, so todays Shelby is Saleen or Roush to me if that is even possible to justify what Shelby was to Ford. The Shelby GT 500, and the 9,000 they are building will be just be another Ford product to me. To the layman, who is not a mustang fanatic, the difference between a GT 500 and a Mustang GT is minor on the exterior. Road out the nose, add a duck bill, some plastic trim and chin spoiler and you have one. The engine is obviously the pride and joy here. But for those die hard performance guys add a supercharger and forged internals to the Mustang GT engine and you have a more modern build and platform pushing out 550 to 600 horses at an investment costing about $7000. I must have missed something in the Shelby add, like beer flavored nipples being standard equipment to jusitify paying over MSRP.

 

pound for pound and dollar for dollar the gt500 is not worth 65-80,000, we must remeber this is a mustang not a ferrari or aston martin. All of us true mustang fans anre just being robbed blind by a bunch of ford salesman who could care less. I drove my 65 fastback over to a dealer to talk about buying a 2005 GT. I was insulted by the lack of knowledge and shear ignorance when the salesman asked me "thats a mustang right, is that a 78?" needless to say i told him a few choice experlatives and gave him a quick lesson on how next time he better learn the history of the product he sells before pissing off a new customer, all while I watched him fetch something out of his honda. My point being..All true fans of this car should wait, not buy one and wait till the demand goes way down.

 

Maybe we all need a reality check.. If you were to buy today a fully restored 68 Shelby GT500, and let Road and Track do a 1/4mile test on it, do you think it would even break into the 13's? Yet the guy selling it would want $100K+..

Shelby GT500

In 1968 production of the Shelby cars shifted from his California site to the Midwest and more under Ford's control. The '68 car used a slightly modified version of the 428 Police Interceptor motor, and even a few had 390s due to a lack of available 428s. These cars still lost the drag strip wars to the top-of-the-line 396 Camaros. Later in 1968 the Cobra Jet motor became available in the model called the GT500KR. Only 1,314 were made in '68 including 381 convertibles. 1969 was the last year for Shelby production, although some of the cars were unsold by year-end and were then sold as 1970 vehicles.










The more things change, the more they stay the same.. Still taking a beatdown from Chevy! I guess we should expect this! Nothing has apparently changed.. LOL!!

http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/history_racing.htm

Boss 302

Starting with the 1969 model year the Ford brought the road racing Mustang program in house by creating the Boss 302 with styling by Larry Shinoda, suspension by specialty builder Kar Kraft, and engine by Ford using the 5.0L block with the new 351 Cleveland heads. The car was originally to be called the Trans Am until Ford found out GM had already licensed the name from the SCCA.
The Boss 302 was rated at 290 HP because insurance companies were beginning to penalize the muscle cars by tacking on higher charges to any car rated over 300 HP. Actual horsepower was closer to 350. (These are Gross HP figures, not Net, as used today). Race versions made 450 HP at over 8,000 RPMs.
Boss 302s also ran in Nascar's Grand American (GA) series.
The car came with a wide-ratio or close-ratio 4-speed top loader. A 3.50:1 rear gear was standard with 3.91 and 4.30 optional. Front discs are rear drum brakes and 15-inch wheels were standard. Road tests at the time put 1/4-mile performance in the upper 14-second range. However, Super Stock magazine tweaked a '70 Boss 302 and put slicks on to get a time in the mid-13s.


The Bottom line is, this is the fastest Production GT500 ever created!

 

Since I'm not a track person, going over 430 rwhp with my 3550 lb Mustang GT is of no interest to me. On the street, with a Complete Suspension change out through Saleen, Steeda and BMR,(everything they list for 05/06 street) staggered chrome bullitt wheels, 285/40/18 and 255/45/18 tires, StopTech 4 piston 2 peice rotar 14" Breaks front, (better pads/breaklines rear) My Saleen series VI supercharger, The right tune, 39lb injectors, 95mm mass air kit, 3.6 pully at 430rwhp 425 rwtrk, 492 flywheel HP, 475flywheel trk (safley retaining stock fuel pump, clutch, pistons, rods ect...) the grand total for me in California with my original premium package 31,700 with Tax off the lot, plus every single upgrade mentioned above with all labor including tinting in California is .......$44,650.00

I have a better suspension than the GT500, I am lighter by 400lbs, I am more nimble in turns, I am 1/10 to 2/10ths faster 0-60mph and can put it to the ground more efficiently, my brakes are as good, I can add any number of body parts for better aerodynamic performance, chin splitters, cowled hoods, rear spoiler very inexpensively ect...

Adding these same ideas to the gt500 would add on more costs and take it out of warranty in the same manner as for the Mustang GT.

So by the standards of the street, who cares how high the horsepower can go, you can't really use it unless your on a track or in a drag race. 492 hp @ 3550 lbs is all I'll ever need driving in real LA street and highway conditions.
Love Erik

 

Naw I didn't see it, but as magazines test the car I will be recording the worst performance measurements and statements filtered through a pair of bowtie goggles - remeber, my plan is the devalue the car so that I can afford one in a few years, thus making the Shelby the performance deal of the decade. So, sssshhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! no good performance numbers please

Note to Tom - in short my last two posts on this thread are really brown, stinky and bovine in nature, so please take them for what they are worth...

 

There should have been a "who cares?" option for the poll. If you want a dragster, buy a GT and modify it. If you want a great sports car with a throaty V8, IRS and price is not an issue, get an Aston Martin Vantage V8. If on the otherhand, you want the most powerful production Mustang ever built (and the best Mustang ever in Motor Trend's opinion) with great styling and a very fair price and more performance capability than anyone will ever need legally on the street, then the GT500 is a wonderful car. Great going Ford!