Not to be confused with the more powerful Shelby GT500, the new Shelby GT will be a retail version of the GT-H rental racer that Hertz has been offering to customers. The retail Shelby GT will feature a 325 hp V8 engine — modified from the base Mustang GT’s 300 hp powerplant — a stylized grille, hoodscoop and various other performance and appearance accessories. It will come in only two colors, white or black.
No price has been announced but the Shelby GT will go on sale in January. We’d guess a price increase of $3,000 to $5,000 over the Mustang GT, which starts at $25,995. We like all the special editions Ford is offering on the Mustang as it harkens back to the golden age of muscle cars, although we wonder why they didn’t add 25 more horses and call it a GT350. Maybe that will be in store for 2008.
Probably the best way to explain what it felt like to drive a car like the GT500 is to tell you that when I got back into my Civic to head home, I felt like I was driving a Matchbox car. That I was half concerned the breeze created by suburban kids chasing their ball down the street would knock me off course. That I could cover less territory through the first three gears of my beloved (and it is beloved) little coupe than I had in first gear in the GT500. So that’s what they mean by muscle cars.
All things considered, though, I can tell you pretty definitively that I'll never buy a car like this. As much fun as it was, it's equally impractical for someone like me. So I caught a bit of a driving bug in the GT500; I don't think I'd feel quite so good about it when I got my monthly Visa bill filled with astronomical charges from gas stations. I drive to get places, not to have fun (I'm sure there's a chicken-egg argument in there somewhere, but that's for another day).
Of course, there's no way Ford's concerned about people like me, given there are plenty of drivers out there who think about driving in precisely the opposite way. And if someone like me can enjoy driving the GT500 as much as I did, I can only imagine what they'll think of it.
-Beth Palmer
Read all about Beth and Dave's drive in the Shelby GT500 here. For a photo gallery click the link below.
I’ve read just about every article written about the new Shelby GT500, but there were still a few things that surprised me after I finally met it face to face.
One: It’s loud as heck … on the outside. Seriously. Click on the video to hear it. With the hood up and engine revving it sounded as violent as any Harley you’ll come across. But inside, the engine didn’t sound much louder than the regular 300-hp Mustang GT that the Shelby is based on.
Two: Even though its suspension isn’t as sophisticated as the Corvette Z06, I felt much more in control of the Shelby’s 500 horses than I did the 'Vette's 505. This goes a long way to validating Ford’s claim that a large percentage of Shelby owners will actually use them as daily drivers. Beth also commented on how she couldn’t tell much of a difference in the around-town driving personality.
Three: This thing is bad. So bad that I want one. I’m not endorsing the Shelby GT500 straight out — it was registering just over 8 mpg at the end of a long day of journalist testing, though auto journalists don’t take it easy on cars like this. But the Shelby GT500 is the kind of car that will tempt you to open your checkbook at the dealership and apologize to your wife — or husband — at home. I also understand that because of the exclusivity and limited numbers some buyers might not actually get a chance to test drive one before they have to commit to it. Hopefully this series of posts will alleviate any fears about what is usually a very risky way to buy a car.
Buckled into the GT500, my biggest concern was not hurting anyone, followed closely by not making a total idiot of myself. I’m happy to report neither happened; the closest I came was automatically pushing the gear shift all the way down and to the right in an attempt to back up. That’s obviously not how it works in a six-speed, but I realized my mistake before anything too humiliating had happened.
Once I got moving, I was surprised at how normal it felt — heavier than what I was used to, but not enough to make it strange. I don’t have a lot to compare the experience to, but according to Dave the GT500 is easy to drive for a car that powerful. I’d second that; it wasn’t at all intimidating or difficult. In fact, Dave took it out first, and while I waited my turn the nice people from Ford were kind enough to toss me the keys to the regular Mustang GT they’d brought. I took that one out first, and aside from the GT500’s obvious additional power, the experience wasn’t too different. Handling felt the same to this untrained observer, and the noise level was comparable.
I’d also guess it would have felt less normal had I driven it like you’re really supposed to drive a car like that. I’m sad to tell you the experience was limited to suburban streets at rush hour; I never even got it into fourth gear (thanks for all that indoctrination about obeying the laws of the land, Mom).
But even for someone who isn’t wired to find driving particularly exciting, punching the GT500 as hard as I dared through the first three gears was a rush. The couple of stretches of open road I found were just enough to give me a taste for how much fun it would have been to have had the freedom to really accelerate. What initially felt like a heavy car soon just felt like a powerful one, and while I don't consider myself anything more than an everyday driver, guiding the GT500 around for 15 minutes made me feel like I was. And I liked it.
-Beth Palmer
Stay tuned for more of Beth and Dave's drive in the Shelby GT500. For all of their posts click here.
Driving the Shelby GT500 is a lot easier than I thought it would be, at least driving it fast. I wondered if Beth, my fellow editor at Cars.com but not a normal reviewer, would feel the same after her drive. Ford claims a large number of GT500 owners will use the car as their daily driver, and I’ll admit that I felt much more in control of the Shelby’s 500 horses than I did the Corvette Z06's 505. The Z06 is faster than the Shelby in almost every measure, but it also gives you the same feeling as other high-powered exotic cars. For me that feeling is usually “I hope I don’t crash this.”
In the GT500 there was always a sense of anticipation to see what the car could do, and it never lost grip — even on the slick roads you find in light rain.* We hit tremendous pre-rush-hour traffic on single and two-lane roads for nearly 15 minutes. There was nowhere to go. It was killing me. This is NOT how you want to drive this car. Plus its gaping front maw just looks out of place moving along among suburban minivans and wagons at slow speeds. I just needed to find more open spaces.
Luckily a quick right turn led to a lightening fast transition through the first four gears on an empty road. I’m not going to admit how fast I was going, but I managed to slow down in plenty of time to make my next left turn ... right in front of two of the area’s finest. It seems karma was paying me back for the weather, and it was the perfect display of the delicate balance all GT500 owners will have to live with: Responsible driving in a totally irresponsible machine.
*Tip: Newly wet roads are often more dangerous than thoroughly drenched ones because of slickness from oil and rubber mixing with the falling water. Eventually this slick mixture will wash off the roads, but early on in a rainstorm is when to be most cautious. We always recommend obeying speed limits and traffic regulations.
For the record, I'm not a car person. When I was shopping for my first car, all I cared about was that it wouldn't break down on me all the time, didn't cost too much and looked cute.
But that was before I had a job that has me thinking more about cars than I ever thought I would, so when my boss approached me last week and said he wanted me to drive a Shelby GT500, I knew enough to get excited. And a little nervous.
As job perks go, getting to drive new cars every week is a pretty good one. But between the occasional sports car and luxury sedan, you’re usually in the same commute buggies that most of the country drives. That means when you get the chance to test one of the most extreme – and desirable – vehicles on the market, you take it. And that’s just what I did when Ford offered Cars.com some alone time with its all-new 500-hp Shelby GT500.
I had been looking forward to this test drive all week. I’ll admit I’m a fan of muscle cars, as impractical and politically incorrect as they are. But the GT500 isn’t the most impractical, and there's only one other 500-hp car available for under $70,000 — the $66,465 Corvette Z06, which I’ve also been fortunate enough to drive. The GT500 seems almost reasonable at $40,930 for the coupe and $45,755 for the convertible. Of course, neither price includes the $1,300 gas-guzzler fee buyers must swallow to enjoy their Shelby.
This is also the one vehicle that lets buyers skip the heavy research process.* There’s no need to see if the trunk is big enough (although it’s plenty big) or if there is a long warranty (you do get Ford’s three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper). No, this purchase is pure joy for anyone lucky enough to find one of the roughly 8,000 - 10,000 models hitting dealerships right around now. However, my anticipation dwindled on the long car ride to meet the GT500 in a Chicago suburb.
Previous
Subscribe to our feed
Email us your tips!