Looking to get GT500

Hey fellas,
Ive owned 3, terminators with all different mods. Basically, I sold my last one in 2015... And have regretted every freaking day without it..
So, fast forward to today.
I own a Wrangler Rubicon, and i miss my cobras.. Been looking at several 2013-2014 gt500 and several in my price range. Now, my question(s) are:

Can you drive this gt500 everyday? I LOVED my other cobras, driving, wrenching, etc. My last one had 130k miles and 0 issues, and wasnt affraid to drive it anywhere (as long as i kept a spare alternator and clutch cable in the trunk)..

2nd: Is there anything that breaks, or needs to get replaced often? Im a airplane mechanic during the day, so im not that scared of fixing anything (that i have the tools for).
3rd. Mods, I understand the power of the car, trust me. Im not some idiot young kid. But, I would like to make it a fun and respectable car.. And I also have a neighbor with a 2016 Z06... So how about long tubes and xpipe, pulley, intake, tune, about what should i expect from that? Is there anything else I should do for cooling?
4th: Is there anyone in central NC that can take me for a ride in there's? Ill buy food/beer....? Lol.. Seriously, I will.

1. Yes you can drive everyday and some people do but this car wants to kill you so I really don’t see driving it every day. Way too raw and angry to daily. Every time you do drive it you will be grinning.

2. Tires. Lots of tires.

3. All the mods you listed plus at least the price you pay for car in mods you haven’t listed. You should do everything for cooling upgrades. These babies hate heat.

4. This ain’t Uber. We don’t give strangers a ride over the internet.

Seriously, this is a great vehicle and a great year to get. Good luck to you and hope you get one. Oh, Glass roof for the win.

Not sure on your price, but there was a beautiful blue example in the classified section here. From Cleveland area, looks to have been from gauge maker Aeroforce.
Happy hunting!
-J

I thought I was reading about myself.....
Cobras, Shelby, Airplane Mechanic, Jeep Rubicon....check lol

I'm in Savannah if you ever get down here. On the 13-14 if you plan to daily it a lot, start with a pulley, tune, cooling. Them things are making 720ish rwhp with just bolt ons

As an owner of a 13 Gt500, as amazing as this car is, I don't think I would drive it everyday. To have an extra vehicle for the rainy days, trips to the box stores etc, is a must. It comes out of the factory as a beast, but drives like a normal everyday car till you get into the pedal, so on that account I would say you could drive "everyday". You WANT to drive it everyday for sure, so it depends if you care about mileage, road conditions, etc., than not a daily driver. Driving it the rain, hold on tight, 700 at the wheels is a lot of power to deal with. So go get one, dump 2 k into some mods, you'll be at 700 plus at the wheels, and drive it when your heart desires, its a bad ass car !!

My '12 is my daily drive and rain or shine I drive it and the car does great, granted I don't have to deal with snow or below 30-40F temps. As long as you don't get into boost the car drives very civilized. Personally I think the all motor (no boost) torque of the 5.4/5.8 makes these cars easier to drive than say a GT/5.0 car. The torque allows for less downshifting when in traffic, with the exception of 6th gear I can be in any gear just off idle and still accelerate like an average passenger car.

Only bad thing I have to say is not really about the GT500 per say but more about the S197 chassis, the chassis is not the smoothest riding no matter what suspension you have under it.

Edit: Also the mods you have listed are great but 1st I would focus on;
Cooling - 170 Thermostat, maybe HE but 13-14 already have pretty good HE.
Suspension - LCA at min and if you really want to plant the power a torque are and watts link.
Tires - Ditch the GY tires instantly.
Once you can keep her cool and plant the factory power then focus on more power.

I have a '14 Vert and also miss my modded Term. Vert every day, especially the set-up suspension. The newer GT 500's are great and I have had 1 of each model, get the newer one if you can. Drive it for a while, get used to it, then Mod. Passenger side Oil Separator from JLT, Bob's, or??
A Tuner, Tune and Twin Throttle Body from Ford Racing or VMP should Net you 40-50 additional to the Wheel. Add the JLT or Pmas if you are going further. Lund, VMP or Venemous [BJ] for the Tune, good to go.. Make sure you get the Vin # and any Ford Dealer can run you a Free Oasis Report , before you buy. Good luck!

Thanks fellas!! Alot of good info!! I do have a daily driver so thats not a problem.

See your in kernersville. I'm in Hickory. Have a 14 Gt500. Buy it and enjoy. I too have owned a few Stangs. My favorite car of the bunch.

1. Daily drive - Yes. If it looks like rain I drive my truck. Have driven in the rain many times without problems. Just like any car with power...you have to be careful.
2. Break often - No. Not yet. Extended warrantee for power train is an great option. Cost up front but piece of mind is worth it to me.
3. Mods - Yes. Best mod I have so far is Michelin PS4s. Revan Racing 13-6 Kit with upper pully, Twin TB, plugs, T-stat, Lund tune, ARH long tubes, H-pipe, will get you very close or over 700 to the rear. Will be about $3.5K in parts. Installing headers on this is a bitch.
4. Come down to Charleston in the next few weeks and will toss ya the keys.
5. SGM w/Black stripes is the fastest color combo.
6. Good luck

When I had just the upper 2.4 pulley, CAI, tune, VMP Twin 67, Ported Elbow, AMR H-Pipe headers, Corsa Sport Axle backs the car pulled 680rwhp 678rwtq thru 4.10's . With that set up my car from 10-15mph then from 40-50 roll pulled 3/4-1 car on a much lighter slightly modified(670HP) 2012 ZR1. It seemed to take 2-3 feet after each shift indicating to our surprise there was a little more on the big end in the Shelby.

So how about long tubes and xpipe, pulley, intake, tune, about what should i expect from that? Is there anything else I should do for cooling?

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With those bolt ons and 373's you should not have a problem with your buddy's stock Z06. But I'd highly recommend swapping the stock TB for a FRPP65, VMP 67 & swapping the stock plenum for the BPS O-Sized to get the most from the set up.
If you want to go Mono-Blade TB add another 17-20rwhp but please read all the threads on that hot topic first! Congrats & best of luck !

I daily drove my 2013 500 for a year everyday to work and back and everything in between. put about 13k miles on her. Until one day on the freeway a truck bumped into me at about 3 mph. noting serious at all but had to replace the back bumper. that was enough to get me worried to not DD. the biggest thing is that the car felt SOOOOO much more special when i got in it less and was not taking it everywhere. I paid cash for a 2008 VW Passat with 140k miles I drive to work in heavy traffic now and proud of it. When I get in my mustangs now it feels so much better

Great thread, saved me from asking the same thing. Thinking of buying a low mileage 13 or 14 and driving it daily. Not sure I want to give up my '14 Jeep Rubicon (highly modded for offroad). Also have owned Harleys forever but only rode 5 times last year so thinking of flipping the whole garage. Also looking at C6 Z06's but not sure I want to be a "vette owner".

Can it be driven daily: YES
Do I know people who drive them daily: YES
Would I drive it daily? NO

Mine is a fair-weather, gotta-be-in-the-right-mood car. The street manners are excellent in stock and mildly-modified form. The torque these things put out is why I wouldn't DD mine- the stock tires are absolutely horrible, I do not care what anyone says. 1st gear is useless unless it's the hottest day of summer and you shift at 3k. Wet roads would be a death trap for these cars, but mine doesn't know what a wet road feels like for that reason.

As for the cooling... I got stuck in "Clemson foosball zealot" traffic one time while driving to work, which basically means you're stuck moving at 2mph for the next hour or so. This was a 90+ day and the car didn't care one bit.

I live in Winston Salem and would’ve let you ride in mine. They are great cars! Drove mine 5 days a week and it did fine. Gas mileage was terrible of course. Pretty comfortable considering what it was designed to do

CV355 said:

As for the cooling... I got stuck in "Clemson foosball zealot" traffic one time while driving to work, which basically means you're stuck moving at 2mph for the next hour or so. This was a 90+ day and the car didn't care one bit.

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We are close, havent met to many fellow GT500 owners in Anderson area. What year/color do you have?

CV355 said:

Wet roads would be a death trap for these cars,

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Any car driven irresponsibly on wet roads is a death trap. A GT500 with acceptable tire tread depth/wear will act no different than any other passenger car would on wet road.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to drive these cars on wet roads, I completely understand that. I just can't stand when people say high performance cars are not safe on wet roads, cause if driven responsibly there is no issue.

merkyworks said:

Any car driven irresponsibly on wet roads is a death trap. A GT500 with acceptable tire tread depth/wear will act no different than any other passenger car would on wet road.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to drive these cars on wet roads, I completely understand that. I just can't stand when people say high performance cars are not safe on wet roads, cause if driven responsibly there is no issue.

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It is far easier to hydroplane with a high-torque, RWD, lightweight vehicle than a low-torque FWD/AWD 4,000lb+ vehicle. That's just physics. You can mitigate the risk by driving responsibly, but certain vehicles are inherently more dangerous in non-ideal road conditions.

My damn rear tires scuff along when letting out of the clutch slowly. I won't let those garbage Goodyears touch water.

fearthesnake said:

We are close, havent met to many fellow GT500 owners in Anderson area. What year/color do you have?

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'14 Ingot Silver w/ Stripes.

fearthesnake said:

We are close, havent met to many fellow GT500 owners in Anderson area. What year/color do you have?

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The SC up State is full of SVTP members.

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I had an '08 GT500 'vert that I drove all year round in North Jersey/Rockland County NY. In the winter time, I put blizzaks on it and kept driving. Never once did I get stuck. Of course you can't drive it like a hambone; but, I think you know that already. '13 'vert, yup, daily driver as well (in Florida now so that's a lot easier). The '14 glass roof SGM w/ red stripes that I currently own has almost 35k miles on her. Nothing has broken. Only mods are the JLT oil catch can PS and the SVT exhaust. Also, get rid of the Goodyear tires. The Michelin PSS's were a fantastic improvement. This car still brings a smile to my face every time I start it up! I never could see owning expensive cars/toys and not using them.

Beware though, even 5 years old, that car is still a conversation starter at gas pumps, restaurants, home depot parking lot, etc.