GT500 vs Vette

[Stang|ess]

Direct copy and paste from Corral

Car and driver does the first production car road test and puts the gt 500 up against the 06 6 soeed corvette (not a Z06).

On paper the Mustang has 100 more hp.

On paper the Mustang weighs in at a horribly fat 3,896 lbs.
The vette weighs only 3280.

So don't tell me Ford can't make the Mustang lighters, as the corvette has stayed virtually the same weight since the c4 of the 80's....

Onto the acceleration runs....

Gt 500: Vette

0to 60: 4.5 - 4.3
0-100: 10.3 - 9.8
0-150: 30.3 - 26.8
1/4 mile: 12.9@112 - 12.8 @113


At Grattan Raceway raceway the GT 500 was 3 seconds a lap slower.

Car and driver questions the true power output of the GT 500, as even with the 600 lbs of extra weight over the vette they think it still should have outrun it in the straight line...


What do I think?

Three years ago I was in the market for a Mustang to replace my 2000 6 speed FRC Corvette (I slipped over to the dark side for about 10 months, missing my Mustang the whole time). I was about to purchase a Saleen S 351 R. I happened by the Ford dealer the day before I went to test drive the Saleen, there was one of the first 03 Cobras I had ever seen. I thought maybe I want a new car this time. I pulled in and test drove a bright orange 03. I was very dissapointed with everything except for the supercharger whine. My virtually stock Vette would smoke it. The 03 cobra had great power, but was a pig, and the new GT 500 is even more of a pig.

Car and driver goes on to say that a 03 Cobra would outrun the new GT 500. Its just too fat.

If I were in the market for a new car right now I would sadly have top pick the C6 over the GT 500. The best factory Mustang ever made is also the fattest...

I know a pulley and a tune can change a lot of this. But how light could we get a GT 500 and still keep it compfortable to for the street?

I await the next Cobra R and hope for gets it right and gets the weight down to 3,000 lbs. Hell, I'd settle for 3,200....

Even my s351 weighs a little too much at 3360 lbs, but its still 500 lbs lighter than a GT 500.....
Not to say ford did not make a good car with the GT 500 (if you like the retro look), but they could have made one of the GREATEST cars of all time, but they chose to make a fat pig.

EDIT

Price of Shelby as well

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shelby Coupe Base MSRP 40930.00
Shelby Vert Base MSRP 45755.00
Plus
Gas Guzzler tax of $1300

 

[helty]

Its car and driver, what do you expect? Read the below article, pay particular attention to the script circled in RED. Also note the GT500 pulled a 4.3 0-60, same as C&D got out of the Vette.

View attachment 465613

Im guessing it was C&D ir Motor Trend editors that pulled the 12.9. Wait til MMFF lets Evan Smith take a few passes at Englishtown

As far as the road course times go, I dont know why everyone is making a big stink out of the GT500 being slower. It was built to compete with the Vette in SALES, NOT Road Course performance, as evident by the decision to go with a solid rear axle and appease the Mustang minions.

 

[Stang|ess]

Tis true, but those are cars on different tracks on different days. The Vette and the Shelby were on the same track, on the same day, racing in the same conditions.

I don't really look at ETs from magazines anymore after Hotrod only got a 13 second pass from an 03 Cobra trapping 110. But the Vette is still out trapping the Shelby which has more power albeit weighs a hefty bit more.

 

[helty]

Good point, but there's not a C6 LS2 in stock form that can run a 12.25 at any track, on any day, Z51 or not.

Now, I dont know all the details of that run, who drove it, and if it was done on stock rubber; Im assuming it was. If O'Connell is actually reporting a 12.25 and they used Drag Radials or something, then thats BS and I'll eat my words. Im going out on a limb and trusting that SVT is being up front about it.

I think both cars are awesome. Ive driven a C6 and it was nice. You said it, the GT500's weight is what kills it. Just seems that no matter what SVT does, theres always something that slows them down at the strip. Like an IRS in the 03/04s, and the GT500 being a fat-ass.

 

[Stang|ess]

Good point, but there's not a C6 LS2 in stock form that can run a 12.25 at any track, on any day, Z51 or not.

Now, I dont know all the details of that run, who drove it, and if it was done on stock rubber; Im assuming it was. If O'Connell is actually reporting a 12.25 and they used Drag Radials or something, then thats BS and I'll eat my words. Im going out on a limb and trusting that SVT is being up front about it.

I think both cars are awesome. Ive driven a C6 and it was nice. You said it, the GT500's weight is what kills it. Just seems that no matter what SVT does, theres always something that slows them down at the strip. Like an IRS in the 03/04s, and the GT500 being a fat-ass.

I have a video clip of a stock c6 on drags running 11.58 @ 116.

 

[DerekStangGT]

DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE NEW GT500. ford must be on crack/hash/heroin/pcp/stimulants etc for letting that gt500 go into production like that. i got a magazine last night, i think it was the C&D. anyway, they tested the GT500 at 4,1xx lbs!!!! who the HELL builds a sports car/super car that weighs over 4k lbs?!?! im thoroughly disappointed in ford. i never thought i'd say this, but im actually starting to like where chevy is going. their new C6 model corvette is really nice, and truly what a modern muscle car should be like-high hp/tq, low weight, indie rear, solid suspension.

 

[DerekStangGT]

I have a video clip of a stock c6 on drags running 11.58 @ 116.

stock C6? sorry, but thats not happnin. my buddy has an '05 C6 Z51. he's done his research, he's seen all the times. they are low 12 sec cars from the factory. add DRs and there have been only a handful that dipped into the 11s. they only have ~350 rwhp/350 tq stock.

 

[Stang|ess]

Shelby Coupe Base MSRP 40930.00
Shelby Vert Base MSRP 45755.00
Plus
Gas Guzzler tax of $1300

 

[Stang|ess]

Yeah I just watched the clip and they don't say stock.

 

[helty]

You know regardless of what this thing does stock, just think about this: pulley swap, tune, exhaust, maybe a CAI will do for this thing? Throw on a set of MT ETs and see how deep into 11s it will go.

 

[Mike97gt]

DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE NEW GT500. ford must be on crack/hash/heroin/pcp/stimulants etc for letting that gt500 go into production like that. i got a magazine last night, i think it was the C&D. anyway, they tested the GT500 at 4,1xx lbs!!!! who the HELL builds a sports car/super car that weighs over 4k lbs?!?! im thoroughly disappointed in ford. i never thought i'd say this, but im actually starting to like where chevy is going. their new C6 model corvette is really nice, and truly what a modern muscle car should be like-high hp/tq, low weight, indie rear, solid suspension.

I was with you untill the indie rear.. corner carvers might like them but I can't stand them.

I was very disapointed when I saw the weight of this car.

 

[CatmanJJ]

Who gives a **** about all the haters, GT500 will be bad ass nonetheless, just that fact that others are even comparing it to "Americas Supercar" is compliments enough. I'm sure in the right hands the GT500 will own a regular C6, just like the Terminator did to the C5.

 

[gtstangau]

You know regardless of what this thing does stock, just think about this: pulley swap, tune, exhaust, maybe a CAI will do for this thing? Throw on a set of MT ETs and see how deep into 11s it will go.

Yeah, but for what that thing costs I would rather buy the motor and put it my car! The new body style is just to much like a big boat, those things are huge. It should have been a lot lighter, that thing needs to go on a diet.

 

[Uncle Meat]

You guys need to stop regarding these tests of PRE-PRODUCTION GT500's as the gospel!!!! I'm not saying the results will be any better or any worse... but at least wait until we see some test results from production line vehicles…

U.M.

 

[GT02MG]

Either way if you are rolling in a new GT500 people are going to flock to the car....get in a vette and you might pick up some gold diggers in your little penis mobile.
I have seen this arguement so much lately all over sites with babies bickering over each car they like and most people dont even own a vette or a def not a gt500 yet and idiots are running their mouths rampant.
Yea the GT500 will probably go for well over sticker in a lot of places but guess what thats life....supply and demand.
Car and Driver are tards when it comes to drag racing.....12.90 please....that car is going to make better times than that...wait until Evan Smith gets behind the wheels and you will see those times drop like no other.
I think everyone should just be happy with the car they own and just try and have fun

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Why is the GT500 so heavy?

 

[Stang|ess]

Car and Driver are tards when it comes to drag racing.....12.90 please....that car is going to make better times than that...wait until Evan Smith gets behind the wheels and you will see those times drop like no other.
I think everyone should just be happy with the car they own and just try and have fun

Yes they are, but look at the trap speeds. Base Vette > GT 500. Yes someone can get a better ET with the Shelby, but a better ET can also be had with the Vette.

 

[DBMSTNG]

Why is the GT500 so heavy?

big ass iron 5.4L block vs. the 05/06 GT's aluminum 4.6L. then add the big eaton, intercooler and bigger wheels

 

[PonyboyIsaac]

i think the magazines make a car look bad on purpose sometimes, i'm gonna forget what c&d said in that issue and let the streets and the track do the talking in the future. Mark my words the GT500 is a legend in the making, bang for the buck wise anyway.

 

[DerekStangGT]

I was with you untill the indie rear.. corner carvers might like them but I can't stand them.

I was very disapointed when I saw the weight of this car.

i think the modern muscle car has gotten much more refined than the old heavy a$$, huge displacement, raw powered muscle car of the 60s-70s. the general auto enthusiast population is now calling for a car that has the power to go straight, as well as the technology to turn. IMO the old muscle cars were so unbelievably straight line biased that many were turned off to the solid rear entirely. dont get me wrong, there are many who still favor a solid rearend, like myself at times, but i think the technological advances in independant suspensions have corrected many inherent flaws in early indie rears. wheel hop is/will always be an issue, but not even to the extremity it used to be. for example, the C6's lateral leif spring design, or whatever they call it, on the Z51 package. i almost wet myself the first time i crawled under that car and looked. my buddy has launched the balls outta that car ('05 C6 Z51) and gotten very very little, if any, wheel hop.

Who gives a **** about all the haters, GT500 will be bad ass nonetheless, just that fact that others are even comparing it to "Americas Supercar" is compliments enough. I'm sure in the right hands the GT500 will own a regular C6, just like the Terminator did to the C5.

comparing it to America's Supercar? IMHO Shelby is and always was "America's Supercar". Ive never considered a vette a supercar until chevy put out the new Z06. that thing is def worthy of being called a supercar.
the point is though, ford shouldnt have to use a 500 hp F/I supercar to "own" a 400 hp N/A sports car. that car could have been so much. many ford enthusiasts were really looking to that shelby gt 500 to answer chevy and dodge's sports car war. i think ford failed big time