ford mustang is no stranger to special editions some of them in fact are pretty
lame but the all-new shelby gt350 is anything but it's actually been gone
through top to bottom to be 14 it says the most capable handling Mustang
they've ever made and after spending time on the track and street with it i
have to say this is definitely something very unique and very special 5.2 liter
v8 and the gt350 is all new and extremely unique
it's 526 horsepower and that's 91 more than the baseball stang and it can rev
to a sky-high 8250 RPM that accomplishes this because of the design called flat
friendship not going to bore you specifics but what it allows the engine
to do is read faster Rev higher and a conjunction with free-flowing cylinder
heads and
your camshaft make a lot more power and it does that while making a good amount
of torque to in fact there is a whole lot of the usable park that makes the
engine extremely punchy down whoa where you think there wouldn't be a whole lot
of power a whole lot of work but it holds its fantastic just how well this
engine drives both on the street and the track and with that high rpm redline and
all the power that it makes throughout the whole power band this engine is
great on the street or the track something rest over 8,000 rpm you think
will lose a lot of its punch on the street that's not the case at all and
then the noise this thing makes is just fantastic does not like anything else on
the road
it sounds like a v8 up until about 6,000 rpm you still got over 2,000 more rpm to
go above 6000rpm missing almost sounds magical you haven't heard anything like
it to fulfill the claim of the best-handling Mustang a lot of work has
been done to the chassis suspension bushings wheels tires brakes these
brakes are massive and they worked very very well there's six-piston calipers
upfront larger rotors upfront four-piston calipers outback and by far
are the most impressive breaking packages that we've seen on a Mustang
and suspension itself you have two options the base gt350 comes with the
fixed firmness suspension but in the optional track package you can get
Ford's first use ever of a magnetic ride control suspension called magma ride in
this application you have adjustable firmness and also it's always adapting
to different driving situations it's adjustable through five driving modes
now those driving mode control a lot more than just the
ride quality and firmness of the shock absorbers there's a exhaust system on
the gt350 with flaps that opens and closes and in those modes it'll change
the exhaust aggressiveness which my favorite is just wild time sounds so
good but you also have steering firmness engine responsiveness and all those I
are adjustable in various modes sport and track are clearly the favorites for
spirited driving is also normal mode now it's a good thing that they call it
normal mode and not comfort mode because it's not comfortable as soon as you get
in the car
it's immediately apparent that this rides a whole lot different than the GT
there's less body roll less knows die but there's also a lot of noise
vibration harshness that's been introduced in the vehicle now it's not a
dealbreaker by any mean but you do feel everything in the road and there's a
whole lot more road noise in a GT now the mustang GT has recaro seats but
they're more along the lines of you know a sporty seat rather than sports car
seat
this feels like a purpose-built race seat with just great side bolstering
that algae in place and especially with this cloth material which is very grippy
and it looks the part 2
if you find yourself at the track very frequently then you want to look at the
350 are now the r is the most tragic capable version of the mustang gt350
when it comes to the use of extremely sticky michelin cup two tires as well as
aerodynamic downforce from that massive rear spoiler also up 220 pounds lighter
deleting such pedestrian options such as air conditioning a stereo sandal and
insulation and a rear seat now on the track this car carried a lot more speed
through the corners and the regular gt350 on the straight how to come out of
the corner get up to a rev limiter and then hit the brakes
well I'm the are I would just be carrying so much more speed through the
corner and hit that rev limiter whole lot sooner so before where I wouldn't
have to shift in the gt350 are i would have to it just was a lot faster around
the track
I'm the most experienced track driver but in my novice intermediate skill
level i was able to tell the difference
absolutely between the 350 in the 350 are the gt350 starts around forty eight
thousand dollars with destination
now that sounds mighty attractive but you're not getting a whole lot of the
notable features for that money that much talked-about magna right suspension
the adjustable driving modes the oil coolers that's all part of the 6500
dollar track package you take that you add in the 1300 dollar gas-guzzler tax
because well it gets 16 miles per gallon combined your long ways away for
forty-eight thousand dollars in the packaging is a little strange to because
you have a tech package that adds navigation and upgraded stereo and dual
climate control but you don't get all of the track pack features in that you get
some of them like magnetic suspension but not everything you can't have your
cake and eat it too if you want
you know navigation and the track package but still this particular car
that I'm in front of its 57,000 dollars it's the gt350 with the track package
but man every time you hear that exhaust it certainly makes it seem worth it