Do the math: 540 horsepower for $47-grand adds up to one helluva big bang for your buck, says HOWARD WALKER!
Shelby and Mustang. The words knit together as tightly as Tiger and fire hydrants. Ol’ Shel built his first, the iconic GT350 back in 1965, and at the ripe old age of 87, is still knocking them out of the ballpark.
Witness the very latest Shelby GT500. Undoubtedly the quickest, most-accomplished, most erectile-functional Mustang ever! Oh what a beast. A horny 540 horsepower from its 5.4-litre supercharged V8. Enough torque to lay parallel lines of rubber from here to Detroit. Zero to 60 in just 4.3 seconds. And all for $47-grand.
The motor is the same that powered the $80k 2008 GT500KR ‘King of the Road’. It’s all old school, with a big iron block, alloy heads and a serious Eaton 2300 intercooled blower. It’s all business, cranking out an awesome 540 horsepower at 6,200 rpm and whopping 510 lb-ft of torque at 4,500.
All that power goes to the rear through a twin-disc clutch that’s a lot easier on your left leg than the one in the KR. It’s lighter, a lot smoother and more progressive on take-up.
For the suspension, they stiffened the spring rates but made the front anti-roll bar less rigid to tame understeer and deliver sharper turn-in. They then added a set of gorgeous 19-inch alloys shod with fat Goodyear Eagle F1s designed for the car.
Climb aboard and settle in to the new buckets with fancy sewn-in striping that matches the exterior stripes – bright red on our test car.
As much as Ford tries to improve the quality of the Mustang’s trim it never quite succeeds. There’s still a look and feel of post-Glasnost Trabant about the cheap, brittle plastics and gaping panel gaps. And their attempt at machine-turned aluminum ends up looking like polka dots!
There’s no skill needed to launch the GT500. Dial up 2,500 rpm, step off the clutch and the Mustang lunges at the horizon. Tame the wheelspin and you should see the quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 115 mph.
Point the Shelby’s pouty snout at a corner and it does a mightily impressive job of working with its compromises to sweep around. Nothing with 58 percent of its porky 4,000 pounds over its front wheels is ever going to handle like an Elise. Nor is something with a live rear axle.
Amazingly, it all works. Drive it hard and fast and the car feels supremely confident and capable, thanks to its precise, naturally weighted steering, terrific body control and taut suspension.
Yes, the ride will jiggle your eyeballs over rough roads, and with all that weight up front, the nose dives like Michael Phelps in Beijing when you nail the big Brembos.
But the bottom line is that for $47,575 ($52,550 for the Convertible), the brutish GT500 delivers one almighty bang for the buck. Nothing with 540 horsepower comes close to being this affordable. Just don’t tell anyone it’s named after an 87-year-old with a bunch of replacement body parts!