The Complicated Calculus - Selling Your Car For The GT500

[mavisky]

Agreed, I feel like you'd always be explaining "It's actually the exact wing off of the Mustang GT4 racecar". then having to explain what the GT4 series was.

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[FLETCshooter]

When you say the car is faster because it can shift faster than a human.... that road leads to total automation and less human interaction. So if your point is speed then get an automatic GT500, but if you want driver engagement then say GT350.

 

[50 Deep]

Terrance,

Thanks for the right up. One thing I noticed and that your images really exaggerate is the front wheel offset. It was mentioned during the development and launch of the GT500 that the front fenders were even wider than the already widened GT350 front fenders, yet the car uses the same wheel and tire widths up front. From your photos, especially the last two, it's pretty obvious how far inside the front wheels sit on the GT500. I was curious if you had a chance to speak with the engineers about this at all given your background and focus on perfect wheel fitment. Was this an aero based decision to? a requirement of the GT500 fender vents that got nixed during development? I've never seen anyone directly explain the reason for the even wider than wide fenders.

I did speak with an engineer regarding the matter. The big change was the GT500 has a different camber adjustment point that changed the geometry a bit. The car can get up to -2.25 degrees from the factory, so that new adjustment below the strut mount didn't require a wider front wheel track. There were also some packaging considerations made to make the car easier to drive for all levels of consumer. It was a compromise between best steering feel and also making sure things like the wicking of water off the tires all happened inside the fenders. However, the car will still benefit from more rubber up front, which is definitely going to happen for anyone coming Signature's way.

 

[dom418]

Personally I think the 350R is one of the best looking mustangs to date. I love it’s clean lines. It’s aggressive looking but not over the top. I’m not a fan of the GT500s looks. It’s a stout performer no doubt but has a boy racer look and aesthetically is too busy for me. I’m also not a fan of the seat inserts being white either. I actually just added another R to my collection, I like it that much.

 

[Tomster]

Sell the raptor, Tereance. Buy a 500.

 

[JR369]

I know it isn’t, just don’t like the look. Back looks like a mustang GT with a aftermarket wing stapled on, at least to my eyes

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I think you're right. That is one of the least appealing pics of the 500 I've seen.

 

[50 Deep]

Sell the raptor, Tereance. Buy a 500.

There you go again, putting ideas in my head.

 

[activeGT]

Agree, while very similar the 350 is prettier. In particular I really prefer the look of my R wing vs the thin afterthought looking mounts the gt500s wing has. Also don’t love the big hood vents. The gt500 front is certainly cool and menacing looking though, but I imagine that gloss black mid bumper will get very greasy in bug guts quickly.

It's funny that when the '19 Camaro came out everybody said how fugly it was with the black bumper insert and hood grilles. And don't slam me but I liked my ZL1 front end better. But like my Shelby even more. The GT 500, not so much.
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[nastang87xx]

Meanwhile it matters so much the 350 and PP2 are both barely par with a 1le, so clearly doesn't matter a very large deal.

Also the FP package I mentioned has track magneride tuning. A rotor and pad change and an easily added diff cooler matters very little when you've already swapped in a voodoo. It's like nitpicking the small stuff.

It IS nitpicking the small stuff because the small stuff MATTERS. It may not look impressive on paper but it adds up to a very big deal. The number of S550's I've driven both modified and stock and in an actual high performance setting, both autocross and track days is extensive. Am I a driving god? No. But understanding how OEM integration fine tunes the tiniest of things to work together really shows. You can feel it. I would highly encourage you to get out there and drive as many of these cars as you can in a REAL performance setting, not just bombing up and down the streets. On track, on autocross, on time trials. The little things MATTER.

 

[ChiefDork]

My two cents:

I have always been enamored with the Mustang. I have been fortunate to own a 65, 89 LX 5.0, 14 GT and now the 17 GT350.

Mustang was the start of the whole Pony Car segment, and from my perspective that is both good and bad. I think it is bad because a Pony Car is not a Sports Car per se. For me, the 911 has always been the aspirational car, and I think it defines what I consider a Sports Car to be. My previous Mustangs would never be compared to a 911 in terms of functionality, but for the first time, the GT350 can be. Therefore, I consider my GT350 to be the perfect car for me. It is now a Sports Car in function and a Pony Car in spirit.

I don't know what customer Ford is targeting with the GT500, but that customer is not me. That said, it seems to be a supremely capable car. Without the $10k stripes of course.

 

[DCShelby]

I’ve had two 997 911s and I can say the 350 sort of drives like a bigger 911. Ford benchmarked the 350 against the 911 GT3, 997 version so that sort of makes sense. But I do suggest every car guy has at least one 911 in his life at some point.

 

[oldbmwfan]

I simply wanted more grunt. I loved my GT350 but missed the power from my older GT500. The transmission thing...I've had manuals since the early eighties and always liked them. I put a shifter in every manual transmissioned car I ever owned. I always like having as much control as possible over how I drive and stick cars deliver in that regard. I also had cars with high stall converters and bang-shift valve bodies that were fun to thrash.

I've never owned a DCT shifted car and I look at it this way. We're in a weird place right now. The Left has a stranglehold that has hypnotized much of the populace such that we are absolutely moving away from carbon based motivation and towards something I'm not a fan of. I see this GT500 as sort of a bridge between being the best of what we used to desire and the movement towards hybridization/electrification. We're not going back and are pretty much near the brink. So at this point, Ford made the car I didn't think they had in them anymore and decided to go all in in terms of performance numbers, manual transmission be damned. I still have a "ruggedized" Fox body that I can use to shift by hand/foot when I feel the need and that's good enough for me. Not simply throwing caution to the wind but instead I see the DCT as an opportunity to extract every bit of what cars have always been for me - internal combustion monsters. Or dinosaurs, I suppose, and we know how that played out.

I usually agree with most of what you say, but I don't see any value in bringing politics into this. It's not just the left, it's the entire world - when carmakers are saying they are going electric, some promising to do it almost exclusively (e.g., Volvo - for whom the US is not the majority market), it's an indication that that is where the demand is going. And I'm pretty sure that as electrics become common, there will be fun variants developed.

Also, no need to worry about fun ICE cars going anywhere, either, at least not anytime soon. Or ever ... it's not like you can't still go ride horses whenever you want. It's just that no one does it to get to work. Personally, I'm all for a world where we are not fossil-fuel dependent and can still have our fossil-fueled toys for fun, but don't NEED them in traffic every day. But that's me, and it's an entirely apolitical and 100% evidence-based opinion.

@50Deep, I hear you on the engagement point. In fact I just picked up one more car, and I chose one with about half the power of my 350R. After driving a 996 turbo, 996 GT3, and a 997, I bought a 993 Carrera 2 (w/ 6-speed manual, of course). Not blazing fast, but talk about connection to the machine. That thing TALKS to you.

Owning 7 cars in downtown Chicago is a stupid situation, so I need to figure out what to sell ...

 

[Epiphany]

It's simple. The Left, and not just in this country are pushing for the same thing. I can't help that some are blinded by their own ideology.

Let me be clear. The want for electrification comes from one side, global or otherwise. And that aspect is as clear cut as it comes.

 

[Caballus]

Please leave political opinions out of this thread.

 

[activeGT]

What makes the electricity, again?

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