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2019 GT350 Reviews Are Here

PP0001

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OR EVEN BETTER...you know, the FORD GT500.

If it’s good enough for the top dog, it’s good enough for the other performers.

A DCT GT350 would definitely gain in terms of performance.
I get certainly your point with respect to a DCT GT350 in terms of a performance gain as I had a DCT M3 for a couple of years and absolutely hated that transmission and should have ordered a 6 speed manual for that car but did to respect how quick and reliable that transmission was but was completely boring to me on the street.

From a standpoint of tracking a car versus only street driving a car I totally agree that a DCT/PDK transmission equipped car is quicker and much more consistent than a manual transmission car.

Because my racing days are over and only street drive my cars I choose to only drive manual transmission cars when it comes to HP vehicles.

I feel much more engaged with a manual transmission HP vehicle when it comes to upshifting and downshifting at exactly the right RPM and still feel that as an important challenge and excitement for me as I continue to get older.

Having driven numerous DCT/PDK equipped vehicles I initially enjoy the experience but find myself getting somewhat bored very quickly with all of the sophistication of these outstanding transmissions as it seems like not much can go wrong therefore these type of cars are not for me.

With respect to your comment about an automatic transmission being good enough for the top dog, understand your comments but I can tell you that there are many enthusiasts out there just as me who have decided to stay away from purchasing the GT500 and mostly because of the automatic transmission aspect. If Ford does come through with a manual transmission for the GT500 down the road then it will be time to reconsider for sure.

For the track an automatic is a no brainer from a performance standpoint but for the average enthusiast such as myself that only drives our HP vehicles on the street many of us still prefer 3 peddles and until such time as the GT500 comes with a manual transmission many of us will stay away from considering purchasing the new top dog in town.

:)
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DCShelby

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well, maybe an smart engineer will home brew a manual GT500, just like the guy on Rennlist that put a manual tranny out of a R, into a GT3 RS, 997.2 version..... Its a great read over there.....but he got it to work. Well a shop and shops did it for him. Hardest part was all the comm systems to work, the transmission bolted right up.
 

sumfoo1

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Yeah, I forgot they have not added HP to the 5.0 either since 2014MY. Need to lower my expectations.
Do you want direct injection ? Cause this shit right here is how you get direct injection...
 

SVTSNAKE355

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I get certainly your point with respect to a DCT GT350 in terms of a performance gain as I had a DCT M3 for a couple of years and absolutely hated that transmission and should have ordered a 6 speed manual for that car but did to respect how quick and reliable that transmission was but was completely boring to me on the street.

From a standpoint of tracking a car versus only street driving a car I totally agree that a DCT/PDK transmission equipped car is quicker and much more consistent than a manual transmission car.

Because my racing days are over and only street drive my cars I choose to only drive manual transmission cars when it comes to HP vehicles.

I feel much more engaged with a manual transmission HP vehicle when it comes to upshifting and downshifting at exactly the right RPM and still feel that as an important challenge and excitement for me as I continue to get older.

Having driven numerous DCT/PDK equipped vehicles I initially enjoy the experience but find myself getting somewhat bored very quickly with all of the sophistication of these outstanding transmissions as it seems like not much can go wrong therefore these type of cars are not for me.

With respect to your comment about an automatic transmission being good enough for the top dog, understand your comments but I can tell you that there are many enthusiasts out there just as me who have decided to stay away from purchasing the GT500 and mostly because of the automatic transmission aspect. If Ford does come through with a manual transmission for the GT500 down the road then it will be time to reconsider for sure.

For the track an automatic is a no brainer from a performance standpoint but for the average enthusiast such as myself that only drives our HP vehicles on the street many of us still prefer 3 peddles and until such time as the GT500 comes with a manual transmission many of us will stay away from considering purchasing the new top dog in town.

:)
You can always go back in time and get a 2013-2014 GT500. I love driving that car!!! Its crazy but fun.:like:
 

JR369

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Would love to add a 19 350. There's real chance I might just go get one later this year. 2019 or wait to see what the 2020 has to offer. So glad that rev match doesn't come on the 350. Keep it pure.
 

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You can always go back in time and get a 2013-2014 GT500. I love driving that car!!! Its crazy but fun.:like:
I think he may have had or has one, or at least a Boss 302 LS
 

PP0001

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You can always go back in time and get a 2013-2014 GT500. I love driving that car!!! Its crazy but fun.:like:
Agreed that the last generation of GT500's was all standard transmission cars and a hoot to drive and actually owned a 2008 convertible and a 2009 coupe and convertible but once the Boss 302 cars were launched back in 2010/2011 I quickly moved away from the FI GT500's to the NA Boss 302 cars.

I still am a big fan of the Boss 302 cars and was very fortunate to own the 3 Pilot Production Boss 302 cars shown for a total of ~13 years between all of them.

In order shown they were PP0002, PP0001 and PP0004.

Sure miss all those great cars but know that they are with terrific owners and still get to see 2 of them on a regular basis.

:like::like:
DSCF0765.JPG
 

Mspeedster

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The reviewer Lauren Fix in the second video, Car Coach Reports, stated she owns a 2015 GT350R and that the 2019 GT350 (non-R) is "a better car".

That's quite a statement. :shock:
 

Scoobs

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The reviewer Lauren Fix in the second video, Car Coach Reports, stated she owns a 2015 GT350R and that the 2019 GT350 (non-R) is "a better car".

That's quite a statement. :shock:
It is considering they were driving the cars on a glorified go kart track.
 

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BillyJRacing

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Basically if you wanted cup 2s on your non r you have that option.

Then they say more than just an alignment change and cup 2 s is responsible for the uptick in performance. Which I, honestly am not sure of.

Very jealous of the stereo, but otherwise I think it’s just the camber plates and cup 2s changing the character of the car.
It's FAR more than just the Cup 2 tires (which are closer to the bespoke PSS that they replace than the GT350R's Cup 2). It also performs in the wet very similarly to the PSS (vs. the GT350R's cup 2) so it's very similar in terms of daily-driveability to 2015-18 GT350s.

The Magneride calibration is 4 years newer (the 2015+ GT350 was the first Ford vehicle to use Magneride), and that means 4 years more development to refine and improve the street ride quality, track performance, and feel of the car.

The ABS calibration is SIGNIFICANTLY better. The car can brake later, trail-brake more effectively, and can trailbrake oversteer with the proper inputs, making the 2019 GT far more balanced than the 2015-18 cars. This alone is worth about 1 second per lap.

The "Swing" with the gurney flap, and GT350R front grille make more downforce which improves lap time.


So, the 2019 GT350 has:

-New Magneride calibration (can't be flashed to older cars)
-New ABS calibration (can't be flashed to older cars)
-Bespoke GT350-spec Cup 2 tires
-New "Swing" and GT350R front grille - make more downforce

While you can bolt on the tires, grill, swing, and any other suspension differences, you can't get the damper & ABS calibrations, which transform the character of the 2019 GT350 pretty substantially on the street and the track. That's not to take away anything from the 2015-18 GT350. They are fantastic cars and anyone who owns one should realize they still have something special. But that shouldn't take away from all of the work Ford Performance did to make the 2019 GT350 a significantly better car. Because it is.
 

stanglife

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Wouldn't the changes start at the tires? I mean, doesn't is make sense that Ford would simply retune the suspension and ABS to take advantage of the new tires? They did the same thing for the GT350R with actual different dampers and obviously different ABS and Magneride tunes.
 

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Wouldn't the changes start at the tires? I mean, doesn't is make sense that Ford would simply retune the suspension and ABS to take advantage of the new tires? They did the same thing for the GT350R with actual different dampers and obviously different ABS and Magneride tunes.
The tires had a lot to do with the changes. If you watch some of the videos in 2019 GT350 Reviews Are Here (Sticky Threads) they mention it. The Edmunds video really goes into the suspension parts. The American Muscle video talks about all the tweaks they made to take full advantage of the new FP-branded SC2's...
 

Dave2013M3

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For Ford to get any real hp increase out of the 5.2L Voodoo they would have to up the rpm close to the 9k rpm range. This would have a major impact on durability/warranty issues.

Dave
 

firestarter2

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It's FAR more than just the Cup 2 tires (which are closer to the bespoke PSS that they replace than the GT350R's Cup 2). It also performs in the wet very similarly to the PSS (vs. the GT350R's cup 2) so it's very similar in terms of daily-driveability to 2015-18 GT350s.

The Magneride calibration is 4 years newer (the 2015+ GT350 was the first Ford vehicle to use Magneride), and that means 4 years more development to refine and improve the street ride quality, track performance, and feel of the car.

The ABS calibration is SIGNIFICANTLY better. The car can brake later, trail-brake more effectively, and can trailbrake oversteer with the proper inputs, making the 2019 GT far more balanced than the 2015-18 cars. This alone is worth about 1 second per lap.

The "Swing" with the gurney flap, and GT350R front grille make more downforce which improves lap time.


So, the 2019 GT350 has:

-New Magneride calibration (can't be flashed to older cars)
-New ABS calibration (can't be flashed to older cars)
-Bespoke GT350-spec Cup 2 tires
-New "Swing" and GT350R front grille - make more downforce

While you can bolt on the tires, grill, swing, and any other suspension differences, you can't get the damper & ABS calibrations, which transform the character of the 2019 GT350 pretty substantially on the street and the track. That's not to take away anything from the 2015-18 GT350. They are fantastic cars and anyone who owns one should realize they still have something special. But that shouldn't take away from all of the work Ford Performance did to make the 2019 GT350 a significantly better car. Because it is.
How do you quantify significantly better? If the gt350 was significantly better wouldnt it basically be an "R" plus some weight?

The new calibrations could be total reworks or they could be very small tweaks based on the new tires alone.

The GT350R has bespoke cup 2 tires. I am suspicious the 2019GT350 tires are anything other than horrendous in the rain the tread pattern looked the same.

Where did you get your 1 second a lap difference number from?? because unless they swapped out tires I am not sure how you could know that.
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