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350 vs 350R?

Car Guy

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Hey. Looking at getting a 350 or 350 R and was wondering if anyone has experience being able to determine if it is worthwhile to step up to the “R”?:shrug::shrug:
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SVTinAR

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In part depends on what you plan to do with the car and if the additional $10k +/- more means anything to you. And then there is always the personal satisfaction aspect of just owning the biggest dog in the neighborhood whether he ever gets out or not.
 

mike.s

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I personally like the looks of the non R better and my driving skills are not honed enough to tell the difference performance wise. That being said if I could've gotten an R at MSRP I would've. The rarity alone would've been worth it to me
 

stanglife

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It's like Thanksgiving vs Christmas.. They both have great food and family but you get presents at Christmas.
 

Zitrosounds

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I don't believe there's any wrong answer here. The 2 comments prior to mine are spot on. I will add from a perspective of having owned both cars. The R is the better car and the difference to me was night and day. I was willing to mod my track pack car to achieve R performance levels. It made better financial sense to buy an R versus modifying my track pack. Along with the additional performance come some pricier maintenance/operational cost. For example tire cost, repair/replaceme of R specific parts. These are all things that you should keep in mind. Pobst said something along the lines of not driving and R model before buying a gt350. I own a base R.
 

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Zombo

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^"...at least on the track".
 

nastang87xx

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Driven both back to back on track. If you have the capabilities to crack open that performance shell, it's worth it.
 

Shift

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No brainer if you can get the R at MSRP. I personally think it's even worth up to $5k over. The jump from GT350 to R is noticeable to all those who have experienced it. What I've always wondered is if you put a set of reasonably priced lightweight forged wheels like the Signature wheels + sport cup 2 tires on there along with a resonator delete, would most people be able to tell the difference?
 

Zitrosounds

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^"...at least on the track".
I'd say both street and track. I can feel the gearing difference in the tire size, I can feel the acceleration difference due to the tire size and wheel weight. I can feel the lighter weight in the chasis.I can feel The additional grip from the tires and the wider wheels. I can most certainly hear how much louder the car is due to Less sound Installation. I can feel all of these I mentioned on the back roads here in Alabama. So I guess I can agree at normal daily driving pedestrian traffic you will not notice much of a difference If you however drive this car at all in a spirited fashion you will notice the differences on track or on the street. Just my opinion
 

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UnhandledException

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A few very important questions you need to answer regardless of if its worth it or how much it costs or any other questions you might be asking:

- Is it a daily driver or just a garage queen/track car/weekend toy?
- Do you have nice roads such as mid west or do you live in pot hole land like NYC or DC?

The problem with R is, its a useless car for people like me where if you are driving 1200-1300 miles/month and live in a place with hills and valleys and roads going back to 1800s that are so small, not straight and filled with pot holes.

The performance difference between R and non R is mainly tires and wheels if you are driving on a highway/backroads and on top of those 2, the stiffer springs and better suspension tuning (this is just magnaride tune) if you are tracking the car.

You can get a set of forged wheels for $3000-4000 that weigh as light as R wheels (maybe 1-1.5 lbs more but you wont feel that differencE).

You can get cup2 tires for $1200-1300 a set.

You will be as fast as the R and not sacrifice daily driveability.

Also even GT350 is very low and scrapes. I honestly cannot even imagine how it must be driving an R. I m sure some fella from OK or LA or MO or FL will come and tell me "its no different, I have no issues" but the roads in Manhattan or DC are unlike anywhere else. Good luck driving the R there.
 

Ronp

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The front end on the regular 350 drags everywhere I go. Have to pay close attention all the time. I can’t imagine what it would be like on an R if you were daily driving it or even the weekend and once a week to work driving that I do on my non R right now.
 

stanglife

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^Nice of you to offer info but most of it is incorrect.

The R is marginally lower and that, combined with the extended splitter will cause a few more situations where you might scrape bottom. Changing wheels and tires to R spec on a regular GT350 will also lower the car slightly so the issues are similar in that situation...in fact, without the slightly stiffer R springs, a case can be made that more scraping could occur if using r-spec tire height. Ford shows an R-specific set of magnetic dampers - so it's more the simply a magnaride tune.

Mechanically, a simple swap of wheels and tires will not equal R performance, period. Driver ability to take advantage of what the R brings to the table is another story - most people will not exceed the regular GT350, which is fantastic...so again, someone with a regular GT350, even on PSS tires could go faster around the track than an inexperienced R owner.

This EXACT thread pops up regularly. You're going to get a bunch of people wielding purchase confirmation and explaining away the virtues of the R model as insignificant...they are significant. Mostly people don't have accurate information or cant admit that their "opinion" is just that. What you REALLY need to decide for yourself is if the value is there both monetarily and personally to justify an R over the non-r, which is fantastic as it is. Plenty of Rs are still commanding large ADMs but quite a few here have persevered and found a great deal on the R. IMO, at $5k and maybe even $10k over, it's hard to beat the performance value - and even if you buy the non-R and want to up the performance, you're going to approach the price of the R and had to spend a bunch of time getting there - and if exclusivity/resale means nothing to you, you might initially save a few thousand dollars.

FYI - I drive my R all the time. It's pretty flat here in Florida but I'm still careful. Only had 2 solid scrapes so far. People describe horrible northern roads as a reason to avoid an R model...IMO, I question why you wouldn't completely avoid those roads or move to a different area, if you really want to drive ANY modern sports car.
 

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If you're going to track the car regularly, or you just want to lord it over the plebs, get the R. IMHO, you won't approach the limits of a standard GT350 on the street. let alone an R.
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