Rolling in a Ford GT

I was tempted to call this a test drive, but I didn't actually drive. I'd be too scared to drive a car that would take a decade for me to pay off - if I ignored every other bill I had.

If you've never heard of the car, it starts at $150,000. V-8 with 550 horsepower, 0-60 in 3.9 secs. This isn't the exact car - ours was navy blue, not red - but a photo from Ford's site:

Price of this baby, I was told, was $170,000, being sold by my wife's uncle's Ford dealership in Oregon. I asked if I could get it for something closer to my price range - say, $25,000 - and the uncle-in-law generously offered it to me for $169,990.

Some highlights from the test drive:
-- Acceleration felt like I was on a runway, particularly when I thought the uncle-in-law (UIL) cranked up the engine at the first chance. Nope. "That was with the pedal halfway down," he said.
-- A whistling sound during acceleration let you know that the supercharger was working (not that the car really needed it). There was even a vacuum boost gauge on the dashboard, and the thing sounded like a Cup car with a muffler.
-- We caught up to one car in a passing lane on a straight road, which was going 35-40 mph. Literally - and I do mean literally - within the slow blink of an eye, we passed the car.
-- The UIL turned onto a barren, flat, smooth road and put the hammer down. My head bounced off the seat as he shifted from second to third. We peaked at 130 before jamming on the breaks to take a gentle curve where the posted speed was 45.

I guess the most telling aspect of the ride was that the car had A/C, and both passenger side vents were pointed straight on me for the whole 25-minute trip. When I stepped out of the car at the in-laws' house, I was sweating.

Kinda like that guy in the car commercial who arrives home at the same time as his neighbor who biked home. Except this car was, well, legit.

 

How is she on gas?

 

I love the GT, but that $170,000 price tag is way too steep. I'd love to own one someday though.

 

I was told if you drive it like a normal car, it's pretty average, 25 mpg IIRC. If you use all the power it has, the mileage drops pretty significantly.

 

I believe this is the last year of production for the Ford GT, which delivers only 50 more horsepower than the Corvette Z06 and Dodge Viper at much more twice the price (a Z06 will cost you roughly one-third what your Ford dealer will demand for a GT). The Corvette's also more usable on a daily basis.

 

dang, javadude, that's a lot of jack for only 50 more hossies.

 

It looks 10 times better than either of the other two though, IMO.

 

Looks good, yes. Looks 10 times better than the other two? Here; try my contact lenses. The C6 Corvette is quite a stylish ride. Overpriced for what the GT provides? Well, yeah.

And I tend to be extremely untrusting of forced induction (turbocharging or supercharging) as a long-term performance option due to the wear and tear on the engine.

 

I agree the C6 is sharp, but the GT is the baddest looking machine this side of Italy.

 

Somewhere there is a dumbass redneck thinking that he has a Mustang that will beat that car, before realizing that the car in the picture is also a Ford, then falling over dead from an aneurysm brought on by a severe state of confusion.

 

It's not even the best looking domestic Ford performance car (that would be the Mustang GT), and it's not even in the same ballpark as the Aston Martin DB9 (another Ford product). It's not nearly as good-looking as the 911 or the Cayman, both from Porsche.

For that matter, it's not as good-looking as the original 1965 Ford GT40 --- the 2003 remake has serious flaws in its hindquarters.

And if you're going for "baddest-looking this side of Italy," the discussion starts and ends with the current Dodge Viper. Simply looks 100% badass. Pain in the ass to drive, though --- the shifter is reminiscent of Ferrari circa 1981. Seems to be a problem with the in-house shifter and not the transmission, since GM buys the same Borg-Warner Tremec T-56 six-speed tranny for the Corvette and GTO that DCX buys for the Viper.

 

There are plenty of beautiful cars around, but if I had $170,000 to drop, I'm buying the GT without thinking twice. I can't disagree with anything you say because it's all a matter of style.