Having driven the 08 Bullitt I can say that you will not be disapointed. The upgrades over a GT are worth the extra price and you will enjoy the car.

 

Excellent points.

and ...that idea is misconception on the part of much of the public, and to some degree attributable to great marketing by Import companies. Imports are not better, Import owners just seem to be more tolerant of or blind to the problems their cars have. They do have problems. I'll never fully understand why we hear so much more of little problems with Fords, GM products, etc.
Ford and GM, Chrysler owners seem so much quicker to claim 'I'll never own another, my car dollars will go to (Honda, Toyota, etc) next time", for the smallest of issue.

 

5 mins over 10 days is too much, you might want to send it in for a tune-up to the Dallas RSC.

Mike

 

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Capt. Koons:</TD><TD vAlign=top><DD>This watch was on you daddy's wrist when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured and put in a Vietnamese prison camp. He knew that if the gooks ever saw the watch, they'd confiscate it--take it away. The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be ****ed if any slope's gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So, he hid it, in one place he knew he could hide something: his .... Five long years he wore this watch . . . up his ... Then, he died of dysentery, he give me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ... two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.</DD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
this thread reminded me of these lines from pulp fiction for some reason or another.
Are they repairing your watch for free?

 

+1 for McRee Ford. They are an excellent dealership.

Rob

 

Yes, 3-yr warranty.

Mike

 

I just got back from visiting Richard Salas at McRee Ford. I test drove a white V8 '08 GT Coupe Prem, 5-speed manual. I test drove it alone, and took that thing roaring down I-45.

This car should be illegal!!!!! I'm sure it soon will be. I have not been in a car like that since the 70's. Wow! I didn't even know I hit a 100mph as I just looked at the speedometer after shifting into 5th. It's a good thing I was allowed to test drive it without any adult superivision.

No Bullitts, yet. Richard said they have a black Bullit due in today, but doesn't think it will be here till later this week or early next. There are a few '07 Shelbys on the lot that they are prepared to cut deals on. Tempting, but I don't like the decals.

Here are a couple of observations/questions after test driving the car and walking around the lot. You gotta remember, I am a 50-yr. old who has been driving Japanese cars since the late 80's (and a Volvo DL). I am stuck in the 70's as far as muscle-car technology goes.

1. Why no carb? I thought I read in the Houston Chronicle that this car was going to have a carb. I was expecting a monster 4-barrel carb.
2. CAI - okay, I thought this was like the old ram-charger, turbo-charger technology. It's not. So what is the purpose of the cowling on the engine hood of the GT? On the GT car I drove today it was purely for oranamentation. So where is the CAI intake and what exactly does it do. If it is like ram-charger or turbo-charging technology, where is the air rammed through? The grill?
3. Why even bother with the back seats for this car?
4. HID headlamps? Explain please. The black Bullitt that is due in will have these. Doesn't look very Bullitt-like to me.
5. What is ambient lighting?
6. The stick shift. Short throw on the shifter. How do they do this? What exactly is going on in the gear-box. I am used to shifting with a standard throw, which means I am in direct control of what is going on in the gear box below. How does this thing work, are there internal ratchets? I can tell it's not me touching the gearbox, something is intervening. What is it?

I am excited about the car. That engine!


Thanks,

Mike

 

1. No carb. No distributor with points either. fuel Injected and engine controls are managed by computer.

2. CAI - cold Air Intake. Look at pictures of underhood of eh Bullitt, it is the air intake at front of the drivers side. Cone shaped filter. The shield is sealed from drawing in hot underhood air, and allows cold(er) air intake from outside the engine compartment.

6. You are in as much direct control of the gearbox.

 

No distributor? How does one now advance the timing for altitude changes? Or does the computer do this also? Takes all the fun out of using a timing light in a tune-up, eh? Used to be you would rotate the distributor and move the timing tick closer to TDC to compensate for compression ratio loss at higher altitudes, like in Denver.

CAI, yeah I looked under the hood and figured that's what was going on. The cowling on the engine hood is just an ornament. Another good reason for the minimalist appeal of the Bullitt - no cowling.

One of the guys over at IMBOC turned me on to some pictures. Actually they are using different length rails that do the work for you on a short throw shifter. Pretty ingenious, but you are shifting forward of the actual gear box and are not in direct lever control of it via 1:1 and on top. That's okay, I like the feel of it.

Mike

 

Most passenger car manual transmissions these days have that kind of shift mechanism, some sort of lever between teh shift 'stick' and transmission.
I can't think of a Ford passenger car manual that shifted that directly newer than 1939.

 

Mechanisms such as Mass Airflow sensors help the car read thinning air at altitude and they adjust timing and fuel flow according to it. It's all automated these days. No carb. Carbs are really used anymore.

 

Lol! Most of the Japanese and European cars I have driven, and also the American M151 Army Jeep ( a vehicle I know very well) all have/had direct gear boxes. The short throw shifter is new, at least to me. Nevertheless, I like it.

Mike

 

Yes the M151 transmission isn't a typical passenger car transmission, more like a floor shift truck type.
I think most of the Japanese transmissions also use levers of some sort between the 'stick' and the transmission, even if when removed it looks like the 'stick' is integral.