Thoughts on the GT350R

So I have owned the Gt350R for about 2 months and I have had a chance to take in the whole of the car. The car has an amazing engine and the experience of the car is fantastic but..... I have a few suggestions for Ford.

I have to tell you all first that I am coming from and still own a Porsche GT3 and, well, Porsche does some things with the cars that the R needs. IMO the R is where the GT350 needs to be and the R needs the following changes.

1) The Porsche has a front camber plate that you can flip 180 degrees and when you reinstall them the car has 3 degrees of negative camber. Ford needs to offer the R with a similar piece

2) the Porsche has adjustable front and rear sway bars. The R should have adjustable sway bars as well.

3) The Porsche has adjustable ride height front and rear. The R needs this as well.

4) The Porsche has optional carbon race buckets. The R needs this option as well. The factory seat is great but it is heavy. It would be an easy way to take 40 lbs off the car.

The R could also use adjustable rear toe links that are threaded and not on those impossible cam adjusters.

My summary is that the GT350R is fantastic but it can be so much more.
IMO Ford has started something great and they need to keep pushing forward. The amount of performance for the price is fantastic and if done right can gain iconic status like the Porsche GT cars.

Keep it up Ford.

The Porsche GT3 is also double+ the cost. Not sure how much of a market exists for $150k Ford.

I agree with the things it could use, however, I'd rather just put them on my R (as I'm doing) from the aftermarket for pennies on the dollar as opposed to what Ford would add to the MSRP to have them OEM.

Driver 8 said:

The Porsche GT3 is also double+ the cost. Not sure how much of a market exists for $150k Ford.

Click to expand...

These mods would cost almost nothing in a production environment. Im speculating but I would think 1-2k at most not 75k.

I agree with all of this but there was a price point to be adhered to. Sometimes something just has to give.

Driver 8 said:

The Porsche GT3 is also double+ the cost. Not sure how much of a market exists for $150k Ford.

Click to expand...

You mean outside of the GT?:ford:

Conedodger said:

These mods would cost almost nothing in a production environment. Im speculating but I would think 1-2k at most not 75k.

Click to expand...

No not 75K but I do work in an industry where I know how much seats cost and when construction gets fancy how much more it goes up and ah...let's just say that 1 - 2K would already be accounted for.

Sorry if i was not clear. I'm not including the seat price. I think the seats should be optional but everything else should be standard equipment on the R.

Also going to a coil over setup would help reduce the weight of the car another 20 ish lbs.

I do think, at the very least on the R specifically since it is supposed to be a track focused variant, it should have the equipment required to get it to factory suggested settings. In the alignment area as a focus, the supplement provides track alignment spec that exceed the capability of the OEM vehicle. You're forced to go aftermarket which puts warranty concerns into the mix as Ford doesn't offer camber plates that I'm aware of, whatsoever.

I also don't think something like the Oil Seperstors should be something the consumer should have to add onto a vehicle that's aimed at track driving and comes with tires which are invariably not good for anything past that purpose.

That is an excellent point. I think ford has done an excellent job for the first time around but future R products need to be more track focused.

cattivo said:

You mean outside of the GT?:ford:

Click to expand...

Let me clarify...a regular production Ford :cheers:

RustedAngel said:

I do think, at the very least on the R specifically since it is supposed to be a track focused variant, it should have the equipment required to get it to factory suggested settings. In the alignment area as a focus, the supplement provides track alignment spec that exceed the capability of the OEM vehicle. You're forced to go aftermarket which puts warranty concerns into the mix as Ford doesn't offer camber plates that I'm aware of, whatsoever.

I also don't think something like the Oil Seperstors should be something the consumer should have to add onto a vehicle that's aimed at track driving and comes with tires which are invariably not good for anything past that purpose.

Click to expand...

Excellent post. I'm getting tired of adding oil separators to my fords. It would be nice if they added more items for OPTIONS/packages. I would have taken the carbon seats at 4 or 6K. Would have taken the separators.. etc

Even an optional performance package that includes these items would be great if they can't make them standard. good suggestions.

car crazy said:

Even an optional performance package that includes these items would be great if they can't make them standard. good suggestions.

Click to expand...

More options adds complexity and cost even to the cars that dont have those options..

They could of made them dealer installed though. :bolt: