Meant to be driven like they were designed to be driven? Or just meant to be driven? Again that explains why the 500 wasn't for you. I'm going to go out on a limb, the R won't be for you either.
The dealership I got the 500 had a 2019 GT350 and almost got it instead of the 500 as I really enjoyed how it drove but I would’ve wondered how the 500 drove so I didn’t go through with it. Regardless water under the bridge I came out ahead on my sale of the 500 and have a deposit down on the 350R just hoping to get a VIN soon on it. Enjoy your 500 and I’ll enjoy my 350R.
I get that. It's a great way to enjoy driving a track car every day even though you can't hit its limits every day. It also gets you more calibrated to the feel of the car for when track day comes. It's still seat time, just much slower.
Sure you could, but IMHO, it wasn't designed or conceptualized to be a daily driver. It was designed to be the most track focused GT350 out of the box. You can DD a Porsche GT2RS. Would I? No. You can DD an R, but it is not a practical car for that purpose and it wasn't designed to be a DD. I'd put it in the garage and take it out for performance driving and have my GT or ecoboost with all the DD creature comforts that a car like that should have. First, the wheels are a blessing and a curse. They can be damaged easily with rock between the caliper and drum. They can be stolen. Repair is a pain in the ass. There is one guy who I know who does this and I would avoid that process at all costs if I were to do it again. That is the reason my Rs have Signature street wheels. Lots of room in the caliper area and they can easily be repaired if damaged. Have to replace one? No problem, that is relatively cheap compared to the CF option. Then there is the wing. That is an 11K CF item. And then there is the Spite factor. Lets face it, people suck. People don't care about your car and there are some who hate you for having it. I have read so many stories where a guy parks his car and comes back to find damage. And to be honest, I wouldn't park my car anywhere out of my sight without it bothering me.
They see you in your car. Then they look over their shoulder and look at their beat up Honda civic, with a bitch of a wife, a bunch of kids who cant behave, and then think of the crap job they have. They hate their life and they will take it out on your car. It has happened.
The truth is - If you pay for a car; drive it when you want to, where you want to, how you want to and with what tires you want to. Under-driving a car is not a sin and if the owner enjoys it, so what if the car is capable of so much more? The amount of risk someone wants to take is up to them.
No doubt. There's a guy on the ZL1 forum with a ZLE. Went in to a store, came out with the front dive planes kicked off. People are sick to say the least.
Jeff, appreciate your well stated comments with respect to being to daily drive an R model if anyone chooses to go that route. Also hope that you might get a chance to drive a 2020 R and suggest that you will be quite impressed with the improvements over the previous model years.
Good to know about the 2020R. My cousin is interested in the 350s (to start tracking with me), so I'll suggest it to him.Jeff, appreciate your well stated comments with respect to being to daily drive an R model if anyone chooses to go that route. Also hope that you might get a chance to drive a 2020 R and suggest that you will be quite impressed with the improvements over the previous model years.
I have a great friend up in Canada who purchased a very early 2016 R model (GR038??) and he not only tracked it regularly but it was a daily driver as well and he had a great time with his car and put a lot of miles on it each year without incident. Of course after 3 years he said that he was looking at a new paint job (SB) because of all the track time on it.
Having put on many miles on some 2015 GT350's and also many miles on my previous 3 R models and now some miles on my 2020 R the biggest limiting and concerning factor as you so correctly indicated is the front chin spoiler when it comes to driving an R model on the street on a regular basis.
After putting a great deal of miles on those 2015 GT350's I found that I did not have to be so cognizant of the route that I took going from one point to another compared to driving one of my R models and that was always somewhat of a relief all due to the front chin spoiler.
For various reasons I have chosen up to this point to not have installed the front chin spoiler on my 2020 R and what a world of difference it is when it comes to going from A to B as you certainly well know.
If I was going to make my 2020 R a daily driver I suggest that I would take your lead and purchase a regular GT350 front chin spoiler and have it installed as that would certainly take away a great deal of stress, effort and decision making with respect to daily driving an R model on most all roads in this great country.
Let me add for those of you such as Jason and possibly others who may choose to make your 2020 R model a daily driver, I can tell you without question that the 2020 R is certainly the most refined R model over the last 6 MY's and if I was ever going to make an R model a daily driver certainly the 2020 R would be the best choice despite whether anyone changed up their front chin spoiler or not.
IMHO, driving a 350 or 350R without a front splitter is risking substantial damage to theJeff, appreciate your well stated comments with respect to being to daily drive an R model if anyone chooses to go that route. Also hope that you might get a chance to drive a 2020 R and suggest that you will be quite impressed with the improvements over the previous model years.
I have a great friend up in Canada who purchased a very early 2016 R model (GR038??) and he not only tracked it regularly but it was a daily driver as well and he had a great time with his car and put a lot of miles on it each year without incident. Of course after 3 years he said that he was looking at a new paint job (SB) because of all the track time on it.
Having put on many miles on some 2015 GT350's and also many miles on my previous 3 R models and now some miles on my 2020 R the biggest limiting and concerning factor as you so correctly indicated is the front chin spoiler when it comes to driving an R model on the street on a regular basis.
After putting a great deal of miles on those 2015 GT350's I found that I did not have to be so cognizant of the route that I took going from one point to another compared to driving one of my R models and that was always somewhat of a relief all due to the front chin spoiler.
For various reasons I have chosen up to this point to not have installed the front chin spoiler on my 2020 R and what a world of difference it is when it comes to going from A to B as you certainly well know.
If I was going to make my 2020 R a daily driver I suggest that I would take your lead and purchase a regular GT350 front chin spoiler and have it installed as that would certainly take away a great deal of stress, effort and decision making with respect to daily driving an R model on most all roads in this great country.
Let me add for those of you such as Jason and possibly others who may choose to make your 2020 R model a daily driver, I can tell you without question that the 2020 R is certainly the most refined R model over the last 6 MY's and if I was ever going to make an R model a daily driver certainly the 2020 R would be the best choice despite whether anyone changed up their front chin spoiler or not.
That’s why I installed a fiberglass knock-off splitter 4 years ago. It takes a beating and it’s all scratched up. But I don’t care. The nice plastic one is on a shelf.