New Ford GT

[Bill Pritchard]

Anyone have any insight into these cars? Any feedback on performance, driveability, good things/bad things, etc?? Have a friend who's thinking about one and want to know what to advise him, as I am clueless (all right, hold the smartass comments )

[DarrenX33]

Bill talk to Stefano.

[Stefano]

Bill,
I've got one for sale/consignment. Haven't spent as much time as I'd like with one, but it is a street legal race car and the suspension reminds you of that at low speeds,cruising around town, Kinda like the late model Vipers ,the faster you go and harder you corner the better/smoother the car feels. The GT has few compromises.

If he's getting the car as a daily Luxury cruiser than he's better off with the MB/SLR.

[Les Quam]

I spent about 45 minutes riding in one and was very disappointed. Very quiet almost no exhaust note from the factory which Ford says they were required to do and offer a aftermarket one from their parts department. Car feels like about 450 HP while in the passenger seat. Of the four friends I know who have purchased a Ford GT all of them think it's a dog in factory configuration and are looking at adding HP through a variety of different methods. Three of the four bought 2005 models which spent a minimum of a month at the dealer resolving the various recalls needed on the early to mid 2005s. The fit and finish is very good and the looks of the car are incredible so with a few inexpensive aftermarket bolt on parts the car is a 650 HP killer.

Dealers have provided a variety of answers for their customers when they bring the GT back and ask why it is so slow. One is that from the factory the computer won't let the valves fully open until around 1000 miles. Another is that the motor and supercharger are tight and will get much faster as the owner puts more miles on the car. The final one is that the car is so smooth that it just doesn't feel fast. My local Ford service manager told me their all BS that the car was delivered in a conservative mode to the level of the prospective drivers skill. But with a few extra's the car comes alive.

Dealers are offering at least 10K under MSRP more for 2005s and in some cases free shipping. It's presently a buyers market for a Ford GT IMHO.

[agtw31]

look for a lot of these to be getting wrecked by unskilled drivers,like a lot of Vipers when they first came out.

[csx289]

Les' observations are close to mine, and I think some of his thoughts on the GT also came from my feedback, as I recently got my 2006 GT.

It sure feels like more that 450HP to me, but it is also deceptively smooth. At 80 mph in 2nd gear if you nail it, run the thing to the fuel cut off, grab third and keep after it, the car is really very fast. But it doesn't neccesarily feel fast if that makes sense. It is not violent, Ford did want a flat torque curve and it has that. If you drive the car in anger, i.e., jump on it in first gear, it will smoke the tires and go sideways like the 550HP car it is.

The exhaust is WAY too quiet. Ford Racing does sell a $2500 Borla muffler though to fix that - will somebody please make a bandit graemlin? LOL

I have researched upgrades and am currently waiting for a comptuter reflash program that I can swap the super conservative factory tune with. For example, in a stock car, at 150 degrees water temp the engine has something like 32 degrees total timing. At 190, standard operating temp, they pull out 10 degrees of timing! Now go take your Yenko and set the total timing at 22 degrees. I bet Les would be bitching from the passenger's seat about that thing being a dog also.

I am told by a very reliable source inside Ford AND by an aftermarket tuner that a new supercharger pulley of 2.7" in diameter will give you 18 psi boost vs. 12 psi stock. This with a computer reflash will gain over 100 Hp and 115 ft./lbs of torque AT THE WHEELS. Supposedly near 700 HP at the crank.

The exhaust, while quiet, costs no horsepower from dyno testing. The car is no more quiet than a new Ferrari, let's say, that also has to meet strict European noise standards.

I have not seen 2005's selling at $10k off sticker, but that does not mean they haven't. I think the market has finally settled down and you can buy a car for MSRP. The new Z06 likely caused a lot of this, as it is this year's girl. However, with Ford having just announced the GT is done and they are stopping production early, I think the market may firm up a little? Who knows - all I know is that this is the kind of car you want to buy NEW, not a 2 year old one that has been thrashed by many owners or perhaps crashed and put back together. I think GT's on the secondary market in a few years will be like Mustang Cobras or the Grand Nationals were - a lot of "low mile crean puffs" that really have had a hard life. Check out www.fordgtprices.com for a market report.

Oh, and I agree with Les about the fit and finish. The car is really put together well and I think is a nicely done car. It is a true American Supercar, and in spite of its early problems and the corporate types de-tuning it and muffling it within an inch of its life, it is a hell of a car for the money.

One last tip: Don't make the same mistake I did and get the McIntosh stereo. The ONLY storage space in the whole damn interior is between the seats, and when you get the stereo they put a big bazooka subwoofer in there. When I say the only space, I mean it - no door pockets, no glove box, no bin behind the seats, etc. So when it gets dark you have to throw your sunglasses out the window. LOL

Colin

[Charley Lillard]

"So when it gets dark you have to throw your sunglasses out the window. LOL"


Ha !!!!

[JoeG]

--How do you think we got ours..

[budnate]

hey Colin do they o-ring the heads or block on these critters??? wondering outloud if the head gaskets will take 18lbs of boost without kicking them out to lunch...

[Les Quam]

Cramer,
I wasn't complaining from the passenger seat. My Neighbor got one of the first ones since he owns a Ford dealership and took me for a ride. During the ride I mentioned the car was a dog and he agreed so he and I spent the better part of an hour trying to get the thing to live up to the hype in it's factory configuration. We never did get very happy about it. Both of us own 2003 SVT Cobra's and it felt a lot like the Cobra no bottom end torgue , all the power was at the upper end of the power curve. I have driven an 04 Viper and that car has torque every freakin place and feels like an old muscle car. Feels like 510 freakin ponies from the minute you get in the drivers seat. Feels like a car a man would drive and not some guy complaining his 150K Ford GT has no cup holders for his Starbucks Mocha Latte and no storage space for his purse. LOL

I have watched a couple stock Ford GTs out at the track and the two I saw couldn't get below 12.40 at about 121 in the quarter. Meanwhile some joker in his stock Mercedes SL 65 was out there ripping off consistent 11.90s and 12s all night long.

IMHO all those mid 11 second quarter mile times we read about were performed in pre-production high boost GTs and not production GTs. You know how all those guys are who write for the car magazines? Just well lubed shills for the manufacturers? LOL

Yesterday I bumped into my neighbor in his GT and it sounded fantastic and he wants to take me for another ride. He says it's finally broken in and running right. I figure he has the exhaust and a pulley and the car is a ground pounding rip roaring animal now.

I personally love the Ford GT but am not that happy about having to mod it to be happy with it. Ford GTs can be bought for 10K under MSRP and think I will wait until they can be bought at dealer cost and you tell me which mods work and which ones don't. Or wait another year and pick them up even cheaper. I would rather over pay for a premium muscle car from my favorite muscle car dealer than buy a late model depreciation bomb.