My GT350R Initial Impressions
- Thread starter GT Premi
- Start date
$92k?! When will the madness stop?
Thanks. I couldn't see myself trading my GT500 for it. I've put too much time and money making it mine to trade "down". Now, if Ford brings out a GT500 that uses the GT350R as its jumping off point...
On another note, I just remembered back when the GT350 wasn't even out yet that I was giving my "critical" opinions about minor issues that I could see; read:nitpicking. I can't remember who, but there were a few people giving me nothing but shit about my critiques and accusing me of "hating" on the car, even though I said countless times how much I admired the thing. Turns out I like it so much that I subjected myself to a dealership giving me the proverbial butt sex to get one.
Ford performance is really good at building cars that need to be pushed past 7/10s for your eyes to really open up. Just wait.
The RS was the same way, 8 hour drive home and it felt like an ST with more legs and I was slightly let down. After my first canyon run when I started to push it I was genuinely surprised. Now I've had 5 track days with the car and it's the most fun car in the price range.
Get to the track.
PS I'm glad you got one. That's my hero car right now.
The RS was the same way, 8 hour drive home and it felt like an ST with more legs and I was slightly let down. After my first canyon run when I started to push it I was genuinely surprised. Now I've had 5 track days with the car and it's the most fun car in the price range.
Get to the track.
PS I'm glad you got one. That's my hero car right now.
Congrats man, your cars look great. Once you've had some time behind the wheel I think you're really going to love your R.
I'm not sure you analysis is correct. I'm going to have to take the R for a week and and see for myself.
LOL great honest review and I think it will grow on you. If not I'll take it off your hands.
I hope to get one once the madness at the dealership stops. I'm a patient person.
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LOL great honest review and I think it will grow on you. If not I'll take it off your hands.
I hope to get one once the madness at the dealership stops. I'm a patient person.
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
I hear ya. I'm patient, too, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get a new GT350R. I'm sure the novelty of it will wear off for the early adopters who paid a bigger fortune for it, and they will start unloading them onto the used market. That'll be a great opportunity for a lot of people. If Ford continues the GT350 through the '18 model year, that'll bring prices down even more. It'll also sting a little bit for those of us who paid markups. Some more than others.
Not knowing whether or not Ford would continue the car for '18 or how far over the horizon the next GT500 is weighed very heavily on my decision to bite the bullet.
Not knowing whether or not Ford would continue the car for '18 or how far over the horizon the next GT500 is weighed very heavily on my decision to bite the bullet.
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Thanks for that review - actually affirmed my decision to not touch a gt350. I really love my 13 GT500 - that combo is perfect in stock form!!
LOL
Then it was here.
I have read a lot of complaints on that website as well. Some have traded in their car for something different.
That's stuff that can be remedied with aftermarket parts. I was referring to just the chassis itself, not its attachments and body panels.
Anyway...
I was finally able to take it out of the garage yesterday for a second drive. This time I was able to fiddle around with the settings to try to find a sweet spot. Setting the steering to Comfort helped a lot with the "unsettled" feeling as it wanders all over the road. I'm not a fan of excessively heavy steering. Steering feel and steering weight are not the same thing. It still wandered, just not as severely.
I set the suspension to Sport to see if it would get worse, but to be honest, I couldn't really tell a difference over bumpy surfaces. If I was forced to give a difference, I'd say Sport mode felt more compliant than Normal mode. I hit a bridge joint at about 77MPH in Normal mode, and it literally bucked me up out of the seat. I'm saying my butt came up off the seat. And I'm not a small man! Good thing I always wear my seat belt.
Since it was still daylight out, I made sure to pay attention to rearward visibility. Through the rear glass is a little better. I still can't see anything out of the rear quarter windows. Which I think that's just an S550 thing. It seems they made outward visibility worse. Can't poke fun at the Camaros anymore.
The Cup 2 tires are AMAZING!! The only other time I've ever felt a tire stick so hard was on the high banks of Charlotte Motor Speedway in a NASCAR race car. I wish they came in the right size to fit the front wheels on my GT500. I have to "settle" for the Super Sport tires on the GT500. Which is also a great tire. Back to the steering for a second, the R does take a set much sooner than my GT500. You just hint at a direction change and it just goes! My GT500 hesitates a little bit with direction changes. It's like the front goes, then the back goes, then the rear tires join the party. I'm hoping a Watts link will clean that up. (It would be nice if I could speed up the steering ratio.)
Attention-wise, it got a lot of attention as I was leaving Baltimore. Here, not so much. It could've been because people were too preoccupied with getting home from work to notice it. My GT500 garners more attention, even in rush hour traffic. I think that's also an S550 thing. I haven't come across too many people who are fans of it. If the weather holds, I'll take it out again this weekend (when car enthusiasts are usually out) and see if anybody notices it.
You sure are critical of this car. I find it hard to believe you spent 100k on it. You could have spent 2k on sport cup 2's for your 500 and been just as happy.
How would I know, if I didn't own one to compare it against? And how do you know what would make me "just as happy"? But yeah, a set of Cup 2s (which I said don't come in my front size), some adjustable dampers and a Watts link might put the GT500 right there. It already weighs +/-100 lbs less than my R. So it can probably make due with "just" the Super Sport tires.
Now that I own an R, I can be as "critical" as I want. Heck, there are other GT350 owners on this board complaining about bumper alignment and the hood being uneven. At least I'm talking about the actual performance of the car. I bought it to drive, not to rub on it and stare at it like garage art. Other people might find my personal experience with the car useful in their decision to purchase one. If you don't like my "criticisms", don't read them. Or do read them and keep your thoughts to yourself, unless you have some personal GT350/GT350R ownership experience to counter what I'm saying or you have questions about why I said what I said.
4 corner weight of 500? I don't believe it weighs anywhere near 3550 with full tank.
Dumb question maybe; but did you check to ensure that the dealer removed the transport blocks from the rear suspension?
I saw a delivery video about that yesterday morning and immediately went out to check. Yes, they're removed.
Neither does my R. I've taken over 200 lbs of weight out of my GT500. Ford rated the non-SVTPP '11 GT500 at 3824. 3824 - 200 = 3624. And like I said, I've taken over 200 pounds out of it, so it's hovering somewhere around the 3600 lbs mark with a full tank. Ford rates the GT350R w/ Electronics Pkg at 3714.
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