My 4 day Florida trip in a Hertz Shelby GTH
3/5/07, 07:34 PM
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My 4 day Florida trip in a Hertz Shelby GTH
Thought I'd share my thoughts for anyone who cares! It was my first time to Florida, Bradenton to be exact but flew into Tampa from Phila. It was also my first time in a 05+ mustang yet alone driving one. The trip was last Sat. morning until Tues. afternoon this week visiting my wife's grandparents and the rest of her family for a reunion.
Since I had months of advance notice I went online to reserve the Shelby but was a bit skeptical about it actually being there. It was there and they were pretty quick considering they want to verify all is on the car and that you check with them all the appropriate shelby-fare is intact. I had car #352 of 500 fwiw and it had 10,xxx on it with some minor dings and scratches.
The seat headrests suck as they don't allow you to relax your neck for a lack of a better explanation, but it feels great everywhere else. The hood makes you feel short and takes a bit of getting used to and I'm 5'11".
The throttle response felt great and driving from Tampa to the Bradenton area to the islands out there Saturday afternoon was a blast even with the auto. It has some unsure times of where to downshift, but still seems way better than my old AOD did. Car should have 4.10's, but it did ok.
On Sunday morning the wife and her parents went to cheer me on at Bradenton and that was a bit different than usual from the tracks I'm used to but everyone was friendly and helpful. After alot of slow downs of misc. track delays, I only got one good run of 13.74 @ 99 w/2.0 60'. I wanted to stay longer, but we had to get to the reunion by 5. I tried a burnout, but with traction control stuck on by Hertz default, it was wasted. Besides, it would probably hurt me if it was off launching anyhow!
Monday was a day we cruised all over the islands and around the Bradenton area. We even took it through a state park where we took an airboat tour for gators. The car looks so out of place there!
Tuesday we took it back as we had to fly home and got to toy around a bit, but the lack of doing any burnout was a big bummer. I had it starting to go sideways and spin a few seconds until that dreaded and annoying drive by wire closed the throttle and my sis-in-law smacked her head from the accelerating to stopping it caused. I pulled 19.6 mpg and filled it up only once and only spent $30 for fuel. I also felt the throttle was always a bit behind me. Guess that's the drive by wire nature from factory programming.
The car got looks and camera phone shots all over with tons of thumbs up. The car is worth a rental if you want to drive the new car for a day or two, but def. proves why the regular GT's desperately need an aftermarket tuner to get rid of that drive by wire nonsense!
And the car handled great, but should def. have wider tires on that as they look like they are tucked in too far, but the lowering job they have looked good and seemed ok.
The car had an annoying squeek from the hoodpins rubbing against the plates on the hood and some other minor rattles under the car I couldn't locate. But what the heck, its a rental!
Since I had months of advance notice I went online to reserve the Shelby but was a bit skeptical about it actually being there. It was there and they were pretty quick considering they want to verify all is on the car and that you check with them all the appropriate shelby-fare is intact. I had car #352 of 500 fwiw and it had 10,xxx on it with some minor dings and scratches.
The seat headrests suck as they don't allow you to relax your neck for a lack of a better explanation, but it feels great everywhere else. The hood makes you feel short and takes a bit of getting used to and I'm 5'11".
The throttle response felt great and driving from Tampa to the Bradenton area to the islands out there Saturday afternoon was a blast even with the auto. It has some unsure times of where to downshift, but still seems way better than my old AOD did. Car should have 4.10's, but it did ok.
On Sunday morning the wife and her parents went to cheer me on at Bradenton and that was a bit different than usual from the tracks I'm used to but everyone was friendly and helpful. After alot of slow downs of misc. track delays, I only got one good run of 13.74 @ 99 w/2.0 60'. I wanted to stay longer, but we had to get to the reunion by 5. I tried a burnout, but with traction control stuck on by Hertz default, it was wasted. Besides, it would probably hurt me if it was off launching anyhow!
Monday was a day we cruised all over the islands and around the Bradenton area. We even took it through a state park where we took an airboat tour for gators. The car looks so out of place there!
Tuesday we took it back as we had to fly home and got to toy around a bit, but the lack of doing any burnout was a big bummer. I had it starting to go sideways and spin a few seconds until that dreaded and annoying drive by wire closed the throttle and my sis-in-law smacked her head from the accelerating to stopping it caused. I pulled 19.6 mpg and filled it up only once and only spent $30 for fuel. I also felt the throttle was always a bit behind me. Guess that's the drive by wire nature from factory programming.
The car got looks and camera phone shots all over with tons of thumbs up. The car is worth a rental if you want to drive the new car for a day or two, but def. proves why the regular GT's desperately need an aftermarket tuner to get rid of that drive by wire nonsense!
And the car handled great, but should def. have wider tires on that as they look like they are tucked in too far, but the lowering job they have looked good and seemed ok.
The car had an annoying squeek from the hoodpins rubbing against the plates on the hood and some other minor rattles under the car I couldn't locate. But what the heck, its a rental!
3/6/07, 09:12 AM
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And how about that sound when you stomped it! It's the reason I've got GTA Axle-backs on order for my new GT!
Renting a GTH in Boston last October inspired me to purchase a new GT two weeks ago.
Renting a GTH in Boston last October inspired me to purchase a new GT two weeks ago.
3/6/07, 08:18 PM
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10/18/08, 10:11 AM
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10/19/08, 08:35 AM
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I agree too, but they are limited so it is pretty cool. I see the owner has it on ebay now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/40TH-...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/40TH-...QQcmdZViewItem
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