2016 Shelby GT350/GT350R Media Drives & Reviews (CHECK FIRST POST)

What Is It? 2016 Ford Shelby GT350/GT350R Mustang; front engine, rear-wheel-drive, two door muscular coupe

Price: $47,795+ (GT350) - $63,495+ (GT350R)

Competitors: Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Porsche 911 GT3

Alternatives: Dodge Challenger Hellcat

Pros: Truly unique-feeling flat-plane crank V-8; stunningly competent on a racetrack; R model roughly $10,000 cheaper than comparable Camaro.

Cons: Odd clutch release takes some getting used to; difficult to use all 8,250 rpms without finding one’s self in hand cuffs; and, er, needs more cowbell?

Would I Buy It With My Own Money? Without a second thought.

How do you test a track-focused car — one bearing the name of the great Shelby — when offered just four laps of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (including in and out laps)? Ford markets the GT350R as being faster than the monstrously capable Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, and yet our first drive felt as intimate as a handshake.

Ford shouldn’t have kept its light under a bushel basket: the GT350R is truly phenomenal. It’s every bit the car Ford promised it would be, and potentially more.

It’s not hard to grasp the significance of the GT350R versus the Z/28 in the decades-long battle for Detroit muscle car dominance. When Chevy invited us for its first drive event at Barber Motorsports Park last year, we were gifted the keys to the 505 horsepower track-ready muscle car and told we had an entire day to do as we please: “Just let us know if you need more tires,” Chevy said. It also said we could bring along some competition, so we armed ourselves with a Nissan GT-R to compare it against.

Why did Chevy do that? Because it had faith in its creation, and the engineers wanted us to experience it under our own terms. Ford’s few laps, conjoined with some 40 other outlets, left us wondering whether its faith was not as great. But here’s what we did learn:

First, we drove a base GT350 along northern California’s Pacific Highway, a road where the scenery appears plucked from Tolkien’s imagination and giant whales bask just meters off shore. The actual curvature of the road is probably lovely, too, but unfortunately you spend most of your time staring at the Honda Pilot’s tail lamps in front while tourists exercise the art of rubbernecking.

This part of the day wasn’t an exercise in handling. Instead we focused on the changes Ford has made to the base GT, massaging it into the GT350 —a moniker left dormant since 1970, and a car in ’65 and ’66 that perhaps defines Carroll Shelby’s legacy as deeply as his iconic Shelby Cobras. The new Mustang GT finally ditches the solid rear axle in favor of independent suspension, and the GT350 is the first time we’ve seen its potential realized.

Much of the components on the GT350 are bespoke. The front track has been increased versus the GT, while spring rates and bushings stiffened. The ride height has been lowered, and MagneRide features for the first time ever on a Ford, allowing the shocks to adjust to the road’s characteristics every 10 milliseconds. It’s not as pronounced as Chevy’s Magnetic Ride system, but it does ensure the car’s inherent stiffness remains far more livable on the streets. The six-speed manual gearbox — the only gearbox available for both the GT350 and GT350R — is direct and precise, if a tad notchy. And the clutch release is odd, as if it sticks when fully depressed, then releases abruptly to the biting point. This requires precision and a steady foot when launching, lest you embarrassingly stall.

Up to speed and the steering rack is quicker than a base GT; my initial feelings determining it was too fast — you touch the wheel and the car darts, like holding a caffeinated frog. After a while, though, I became accustomed to its speed, and on the track (we’ll talk more about that later) it made absolute sense. And just like in the Mustang GT, the electric steering in the GT350 has wonderful feedback.

The most notable change with the GT350 arrives in the form of a 5.2-liter flat-plane crank V-8, sporting a redline of 8,250 rpm. Flat-plane cranks are common among race cars, and Ferrari use it in all its production V-8s. But by evenly spacing the crank pins at 180-degree intervals versus the rods connecting to the crankshaft at 90-degree intervals, it often produces a roughness (due to the unevenness of the way the pistons fire) most production cars shy away from. In the GT350, it isn’t as smooth as your typical V-8, but then it produces a unique exhaust note that sounds truly menacing — like a cross between a Hellcat, a Ferrari, an F-Type, and a grizzly bear.

Hearing these outlandish muscular acoustics, and yet revving all the way to 8,250 rpm (the main purpose for adopting such a set up), results in an unusual experience. Due to the engine’s sound, I found myself wanting to shift at 4,500 rpm (the torque really only kicks in between 3,500 and 4,500). But you don’t shift. You let it sing for a further 3,750 revs, and at first, max rpm feels as if you’re about to blow the motor into a million tiny aluminum shards — a distinctly odd sensation, almost disconcerting.

Ford’s flat-plane-crank doesn’t spin through the rev range with the velocity of Ferrari’s, rather it gains revs slowly and thunderously like a traditional V-8 muscle car; only you leave it revving for what feels like an eternity. It remains absolutely unique, engaging and wonderfully characterful. Like a fine wine, it takes time to appreciate, but it delivers a whole new driving experience — one that still preserves that muscular flavor buyers demand.

What about the GT350R? Well, Ford mercifully allowed us four laps in a GT350 with the $6,000 track package (stiffer suspension, less tech thus fewer pounds, the way you’d actually option it for the road, given MagneRide ensures it remains perfectly livable) prior to jumping in the R. On track the GT350 excels, in the same way driving a BMW M3 or Cadillac ATS-V makes one happy.

But the R? That’s a different animal.

And it has to be to compete with the carbon-braked Camaro Z/28, its Multimatic suspension and its Trofeo R tires. Boasting the MagneRide shocks, considerably stiffer spring rates than even the GT350, a 130-lb. diet and specifically optimized Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires (that out performed dedicated Hoosier racing slicks in testing), wrapped around carbon fiber wheels that shed 64 lbs. of unsprung mass, the GT350R is more than up to par.

Two corners in and my first observation was the lack of body motion. It remains effortlessly flat and composed, the cornering g-forces outstanding thanks to the near-race tires, giant rear wing and front splitter. On cold tires, it isn’t intimidating like the Z/28, rather it feels forgiving. Don’t mistake that for less hardcore. It doesn’t understeer (if anything it’s on the neutral side) and it rewards the accomplished driver as much as it does the occasional track day enthusiast; the suspension’s ability to adjust its firmness, corner by corner, offers incredible versatility. (Say you go over rough curbing on a left hander, the corresponding shocks will soften to absorb the bumps while the shocks on the right — the ones remaining on the smoother track surface — stay firm to keep the car’s platform solid.)

The steering — which felt too quick on the road — is sublime. It’s precise, nicely weighted and boasts excellent feel, one of the best electric power steering systems on the market, and a giant leap ahead of the Z/28 (which is that car’s Achilles heel). Where the Z/28 scores over the GT350R, though, is under braking. Ford’s steel brakes boast all new calipers and they’re genuinely excellent; you’d never expect to declare them inferior, but the Z/28’s carbon ceramics are perhaps the best in the business and boast more immediacy to the braking zones.

Inside the cabin it remains much of the same; both cars offer plenty of rough, cheap-looking plastics, but both are forgiven based on these cars’ intended purpose. The Recaro seats in GT350R are the snuggest I’ve felt, boasting race car-like support — perfect for the intensely high g-forces experienced on track.

Ford claims the GT350R is faster than the Z/28 at every racetrack it has tested; it even brought an independent professional driver to Grattan raceway to compare the Ford, the Chevy, and the Porsche 911 GT3. According to Ford, the GT350R was one whole second faster than the Z/28, while matching the time of the 911 GT3 (Ford also claims the GT350R boasts twice the downforce of a GT3). If you told me this a few months back I’d have scoffed: “No way,” I’d say, “the Z/28 is simply too damn good.” But then you look at the weight of both cars — the Z/28 arrives at a portly 3,822 lbs. whereas the GT350R tips the scales at 3,655 lbs. — and the GT350R boasts 21 additional ponies.

Power to weight is everything, and that’s where Ford scores most over Chevy.

Then there’s the price: A base GT350 fetches $47,795 while the R arrives at $63,495 — that’s a whole Harley Davidson less than the $72,305 Z/28. (Before you jump in the comment section proclaiming how a Dodge Challenger Hellcat is cheaper and boasts more POWWEEERRRR, the GT350R and Z/28 will run circles around the Dodge on a racetrack; a Hellcat is a different beast entirely with a different objective.)

Ford spent three years toiling prior to unleashing the GT350/GT350R, and within that time, its engineers have benefitted greatly by utilizing the Z/28 as a benchmark. Of course it’s more powerful, lighter, and (potentially) quicker around a track — they wouldn’t have released it if it wasn’t. Chevy set the bar so high it required Ford to achieve something many — including myself —deemed impossible. In my years of doing this job, I’ve never driven a high horsepower Ford that has blown me away dynamically. The Camaro ZL1, for example, destroys the GT500, despite boasting 80 fewer horses. Then there’s the Z/28, a true revelation, and a mind-bending example of what exemplary engineering can achieve — a step so far beyond even the marvelous Boss 302 it’s easy to forget how great that car was.

Then the GT350R arrives. And against all odds, it changes everything.

Despite this success, Ford barely allowed us to sample the thing on track, and that’s a damn shame, one I’m still puzzled by. It’s the best, most capable Mustang there has ever been — and that’s including a white ’65 with blue Shelby striping. Traveling to California for four laps is ridiculous. And yet I’m so glad I did.

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krt22 said:

And im not really buying that the this guy could tell a real difference in braking performance over a Z28, likely just added that for kicks since that is the only real differentiation on paper.

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krt22 said:

Still meh, its a big miss for me when they cant even quote the prices right. Why include the GG tax+destination for the R and leave it out for the base price? And im not really buying that the this guy could tell a real difference in braking performance over a Z28, likely just added that for kicks since that is the only real differentiation on paper.

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Monterey, California -- This is not just another Mustang. It is not some candy-colored, muscle-bound, consumer-grade arcade game for the young and dumb. It is up to something entirely different. The 2016 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 is the Mustang reinvented.

From the moment in 1964 when the cover came off the Mustang, Ford has always wanted this car to become more like America’s sports car, less like America’s ride to the golf course. Yet decades of good intentions always have yielded to the understandable obligation to make a profit, and so the Mustang has always been undone by the limited performance that could be delivered at an affordable price. But now the 2016 Shelby GT350 finally delivers, no excuses. It’s a sports car, not a sports coupe. And even better, it’s affordable, too.

Enzo, there is troubling news from Detroit

In 1965 Ford commissioned Carroll Shelby to create the GT350 for road racing competition, and this car still has such a hold on the imagination 50 years later that there were no fewer than 40 examples speeding up the straightaway here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca just two weeks ago during the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, most of them twisting their decidedly non-stock 4.7-liter V-8s to a frightening 7,000 rpm.

We’re pretty sure that the 2016 Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang would have had the measure of any of them. This occurs to us because we’re on the track right now, and the head-up display of the shift lights reflected in the windshield are already blinking furiously in third gear just before we climb the hill to high-speed Turn 1, which means we’ve got another gear to use before Turn 2 looms ahead. These would be the shift lights that call for your attention to the approaching redline, which would be 8,250 rpm. As Carroll Shelby would say, you can’t get anywhere without bending the rules a little, and the GT350’s V-8 pushes the limits of practical physics, not to mention the bounds of propriety.

At first, the Ford engineers went down the usual path to more power from the familiar Coyote V-8, increasing the piston bore to 94.0 mm, installing bigger valves and then making the cams lift them open some 15 mm (yikes!). But then the engineers went all the way and created a racing-style flat-plane crankshaft, which not only quickens throttle response but also the helps the engine breathe better at extreme high rpm, creating more power. Ferrari adopted this technology for its 4.3-liter V-8 in the Ferrari California, but even Italian engineers shudder at the thought of such a thing in a 5.2-liter V-8, in which vibration caused by the flat-plane crank could rip apart the larger, heavier components.

Of course, all we care about is way the earth shudders as the Mustang GT350R passes by. Instead of the Ferrari-style scream that you might expect, the new Voodoo V-8 has a powerfully percussive roar. As the rpm climb to the torque peak of 429 lb-ft @ 4,750 rpm, the engine seems to smooth out and yet become even meaner and more insistent, and then you ride a broad plateau of torque to the power peak of 526 hp @ 7,500 rpm. The creamy throttle response over nearly 3,000 rpm helps you drive the Shelby GT350 like a hero in long-duration corners at Laguna Seca, hustling the car just a fraction to help it zing down the following straightway.

Maintaining an even strain on California Highway 1

Of course, we weren’t conscious of any potential threat to propriety when we first saw the 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang waiting for us in the paddock at Mazda Raceway. Once you get past the way the different colors in the GT350 palette shout at you, you appreciate the way the car itself appears to be re-sculpted, even though the shape remains familiarly Mustang. Every little bit of the bodywork seems to have a job to do, notably so on the track-ready Shelby GT350R with its front aero splitter, prominent rear wing, and a clever rear aero diffuser that accommodates a special venturi to improve the efficiency of the special cooler for the limited-slip differential.

Even without direct-injection, the Voodoo V-8 with its tall 12.0:1 compression ratio V-8 fires up quickly and idles happily, apparently because the massive throttle body is carefully tapered to flow smoothly even at low rpm. Choosing a gear and setting off holds no terror because this six-speed Tremec manual transmission has a smoother, light-effort shift action than before, while the clutch requires so little effort that the pedal practically falls to the floor of its own accord. (At the same time, the engagement point is no longer detectable, and we’re not sure this is a good thing.) As we drove over Laureles Grade and into the wild outside the racetrack, we selected Sport among the five choices in calibration for the MagneRide dampers. The car rides well despite its low-profile tires, and once we switched to Normal for the drive down Carmel Valley Road, the chassis grew calmer (less fore-and-aft pitch) even as it remained alert and eager.

The Shelby GT350 is a pretty nice ride for sightseeing purposes, as we discovered on California Highway 1. The Mustang itself already has a taller greenhouse and a wider field of view that such cars as the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger (much less the Ferrari California T and Jaguar F-Type). Meanwhile, the GT350’s specially configured Recaro seats comfortably hold your midsection rather than annoyingly confine your shoulders. We were in a totally relaxed frame of mind all the way to Big Sur, except for a few moments when our driving companion demonstrated that the GT350 does indeed have the dragstrip credentials that its line-lock electronics promise, when he put down about 100 feet of rubber with an old-fashioned dragstrip getaway.

Indeed, our drive along the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean might have been done in a conventional Mustang. We didn’t note any unpleasant vibration from the V-8, something that such flat-crank engines are noted for. Still, it was clear that the GT350’s gearing is a little shorter than a conventional Mustang, partly due to the final-drive ratio of 3.73:1 and partly due to the six-speed transmission itself, which is like a close-ratio five-speed (fifth gear is 1.00:1) with an overdrive sixth. Also the GT350’s wide front tires nibble a bit at pavement imperfections parallel to your direction of travel, while the steering feel is a little heavy immediately off-center.

At the end of the day, everyone wants a track car

It’s hard to say what it is about a track car that engages the interest of everyone you meet. Of course not everyone drives such cars on the track, and yet the idea of a car dedicated to speed never fails to be intriguing. Because the $47,795 Shelby GT350 is notably more affordable than the $61,295 Shelby GT350R, some might think that it’s not really track-ready, and really is better suited to the kind of thrills you get from the $7,500 option package with its premium audio system and assorted electronic stuff plus racey hardware rather than the optional $6,500 Track Package that does without the electronics.

But we weren’t noticing any compromises in the GT350’s setup as we blistered up the straightway and under the pedestrian bridge at Laguna Seca. The Voodoo V-8 gives you its all, and the Tremec six-speed still has that reassuring bolt-action feel to its shift linkage, only now the shifts come quicker thanks to lighter effort. And when the car dove downhill into the Turn 2 hairpin, we stepped deep into the brake pedal and the racing-style, two-piece iron rotors did their stuff, thanks to six-piston Brembo calipers on 15.5-inch rotors in front and four-piston fixed calipers on 12.6-inch rotors in the rear. The 295/35ZR-19 Michelin Pilot Super Sport front tires always stayed under the car in the corners, and there was no trace of the slither and wobble that you might otherwise expect from a car that weighs 3,760 pounds.

When you step up the Shelby GT350R, you’ll find that the dynamics are the same, only the package has been toughened up enough so the driver will run out of breath long before the car will. The lighter, 3,655-pound GT350R still faithfully follows its front tires in Laguna’s long-duration corners just like the GT350, only the wider and grippier 305/35ZR-19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup front tires hang on even longer. The GT350’s new, cast-aluminum front steering knuckles deliver a different offset to give you more control of so much contact patch (a little more steering castor comes as part of the geometry as well), yet you can steer with your fingertips instead of your biceps.

What really makes the difference in the GT350R is its suspension setup, which like everything else about this car has been created as a system, not just a collection of pieces. The R-type’s lightweight carbon-fiber wheels represent half the unsprung weight of the GT350’s conventional cast-aluminum wheels, which helps the R-type’s standard MagneRide dampers react even quicker to ride inputs. Meanwhile, heavy-duty front springs provide a little more support when you hit the brakes hard, keeping the car from standing on its nose just as you want to steer into a corner. The overall effect isn’t so much supple as it is steady, almost as if you were riding on an active suspension instead of conventional springs and dampers. The Shelby GT350R just flat gets after it on a track, and our spies tell us that it cuts quicker lap times at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca than a Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.

The Mustang reinvented

The 2016 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang is still a Mustang, and we shouldn't make light of it. Even as a two-passenger fastback coupe with big tires, you can still drive it to the store and expect 14/21 mpg EPA city/highway. Mustang guys created this car, as we were reminded when two engineers mentioned that they had only recently quite driving their 1980s Fox-body Mustang 5.0s, each with nearly 300,000 miles on the odometer.

And yet the GT350 and the GT350R really are different cars. They have been created by a newly institutionalized Ford Performance Group, and no car at Ford has ever had so many engineers devoted to its creation, all calculating away in their cubicles with a wild look in the eyes. And when you drive these cars, you can feel in them the sophistication of thoughtfully engineered machines, as they drive the same at low speed as they do at high speed, which is the kind of thing that helps anyone become a better driver.

The most important part of the whole process might have been the creation of the one-page memo that proposed this new car in the first place. The Ford Motor Company of 10 years ago couldn’t have undertaken such a project even if it wanted to (and it wouldn’t have wanted to). That the 2016 Shelby GT350 exists at all is a kind of miracle.

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fuhrius said:

I value Alex's views on the car as he's a legit driver. Check his bona fides...actual driver. He's, obviously, a big fan of the car...I think his brake comment was based on more seat time in the Z28 and the car's brakes, are, apparently, quite good. You can't say much about a car's brakes after 4 laps at LS...unless they completely suck.

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Randy M said:

I remember when I had my GT3, others who had carbon brakes would shelve them and use iron rotors during track days. Carbon brakes are for bragging rights, until you have to replace them that is.

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Randy M said:

I remember when I had my GT3, others who had carbon brakes would shelve them and use iron rotors during track days. Carbon brakes are for bragging rights, until you have to replace them that is.

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Rick R said:

These reviews suck. By and large, they all say "the R is amazing, the non-R is some weak **** ". As a future non-r owner this pisses me off a great deal.

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Rick R said:

These reviews suck. By and large, they all say "the R is amazing, the non-R is some weak **** ". As a future non-r owner this pisses me off a great deal.

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likeaboss said:

I wouldn't call 2015 Z51 Vette level performance weak.

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Rick R said:

These reviews suck. By and large, they all say "the R is amazing, the non-R is some weak **** ". As a future non-r owner this pisses me off a great deal.

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