A/W: 2016 Ford Mustang GT350 first drive

[kevm14]

http://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews ... dailydrive

This sounds pretty good. A few comments...

There was a lot of discussion about how they had such a hard time winding it out all the way. You could argue that's just because an "American-sounding" V8 isn't supposed to rev that high, but I wonder if there is also a sense of unwillingness that doesn't necessarily convince you that it SHOULD be wound out, which is not really an ideal feature in something with a very high RPM power peak.

I do like the quick revving nature of the engine, something that is hard to achieve with a cross-plane crank V8 (even with a light flywheel).

The brakes sound a little grabby but I'd expect you could adjust to that.

The price is also impressive. A base model GT350 is $48,695, although some of the trick stuff is going set you back another $6500-$7500. Or step all the way up to the GT350R at $62,195, which is still less than the outgoing Z/28.

I think GM will have to copy this model and make a progressive Z/28 with the Gen VI. I'd argue they could charge $75k because it only came one way, and there was technically no competition at the time. The shock tech in the Z/28 is still superior to MR in the GT350 but it doesn't matter if it doesn't make the car faster.

[kevm14]

M/T drives the GT350R.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/cou ... ve_review/

This thing certainly seems impressive. The R seems to have all of the performance, or more, of the Z/28 but with better street manners, for less money. That is an accomplishment.

[kevm14]

Some interesting tests come to mind.

GT350 vs ATS-V coupe
GT350 vs Corvette Stingray Z51
GT350R vs Camaro Z/28

[kevm14]

I think Ford did a good job with the model differentiation here. Both cars will be rare, but the GT350R will be exceedingly rare. So all of the fame from the GT350R will fall onto the GT350, and the GT350 itself, of course, is already very good. So that's good on them.

[kevm14]

Hmm.

For less money? I highly doubt it. "Ford will build a limited run of Shelby GT350 and Shelby GT350R models for the 2015 model year. Just 100 examples of the 2015 Ford Shelby GT350 and 37 examples of the 2015 Ford Shelby GT350R models will be built. The 37 Shelby GT350R models commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Shelby GT350 competition model."

But for 2016:

While the Blue Oval is still tight-lipped on such matters, we can tell you that the world will be treated with 5,000 GT350s per year, while the GT350R will arrive in as little as 500 cars per year.