Mustang

2011 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

2010-12-29T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ford’s most incendiary pony car loses a whole lot of weight underhood and gets the performance and handling it has always deserved.
No matter how good the Shelby GT500 has looked on paper, the car has always fallen short in reality, not unlike LeBron and the Cavs. Part of the reason could be its live rear axle, a component junked by virtually every carmaker decades ago, and rightly so—it’s awfully hard to get a car to handle and ride optimally without an independent rear suspension.

But more important, perhaps, is that the supercharged truck engine stuffed under the GT500’s hood added weight to the front end of a car that was already nose heavy. The last Shelby we tested was more than 300 pounds heavier than a GT, and almost all of those extra pounds were over the front axle. Much as we enjoyed the 2007 to 2010 Shelbys, we didn’t like the way they overworked their brakes or understeered. They liked entering corners about as much as a pig enjoys being measured for an open pit. Plus, their engines suffered from heat soak during track work and wouldn’t produce full power during lapping sessions.

About a year ago, a couple of Ford insiders told us that a fix was in the works for the Shelby’s recalcitrant behavior. “A lighter engine,” they murmured. When the 2011 Shelby GT500 was revealed at the Chicago auto show earlier this year, Jamal Hameedi, SVT chief nameplate engineer, and Hermann Salenbauch, director of advanced product creation and global performance vehicles, took us over to the car on the show floor and proudly lifted the hood. There, nestled in the engine bay, was an aluminum-block 5.4-liter V-8, topped by a Roots-type blower.
The engine is essentially a wet-sump evolution of the Ford GT’s (which was itself a dry-sump evolution of the SVT Mustang’s). The aluminum block is different, however: It features six-bolt, billet main bearing caps and Ford’s first use of “plasma transferred wire arc” liner coatings on the cylinder bores, which adds enough strength to get around using cast-iron liners and sounds awfully similar to what Mercedes-Benz started doing five years ago on its 6.2-liter AMG V-8. The GT500’s engine retains the same 90.2-millimeter bore and 105.8-mm stroke of the iron-block engine, as well as the 8.4:1 compression ratio. A larger, two-row intercooler is said to have 40 percent more cooling capacity than the single-row unit it replaces.

The new engine makes 550 horsepower at 6200 rpm, an improvement of 10 horses over the 2010 GT500. Peak torque remains unchanged at 510 pound-feet, but it’s delivered 250 revs lower, at 4250 rpm. Most important, the new engine shaves 102 pounds off the iron-block V-8’s weight.

Otherwise, the base 2011 GT500 is relatively unchanged compared with the 2010 model, except that it gets electric power assist for the steering instead of hydraulic boosting; even the spring rates are unchanged, though the new car is lighter than the old. Inside and out, it remains virtually the same, except there’s now an optional glass roof, standard high-intensity discharge headlamps, and a programmable key.

Also newsworthy for 2011 is the availability of an SVT Performance package ($3495). It features Goodyear’s latest Eagle F1 Supercar rubber, the G:2. The P265/40 front and P285/35 back tires mount on 19-inch front and 20-inch rear forged aluminum wheels, each one inch larger than the base GT500’s.

To match the tires, Ford engineers increased the front spring rate by 20.5 percent and the rear by 9.5 percent, while lowering the ride height by 0.4 and 0.3 inch, respectively, compared with the base GT500’s. The engineers also modified the shock valving for stiffer damping and added a new front underbody-closeout panel and a shorter, 3.73:1 final-drive ratio. Externally, cars with the Performance package get narrower body stripes than the base GT500’s. Our test car came without stripes—they’re a delete option, and that would be our choice because the car still looks brawny but a bit more understated.

Thanks to the new engine, the electric power steering, and the lighter wheels, the car we drove tipped our scales at 3751 pounds, 146 less than the last GT500 we tested. More important, the amount of weight over the front wheels has gone from 57.4 percent to 55.7 percent. This less porky GT500 also gets better EPA gas mileage—up from 14 mpg city and 22 mpg highway to 15 and 23—making it the first GT500 to avoid a gas-guzzler penalty.

The combination of less weight, more power, better tires, and a revised suspension turns the Shelby into the car it always should have been. At the test track, we recorded 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds, 0 to 100 in 9.1 seconds, and the standing quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds at 117 mph. Our last 2010 test car ran those sprints in 4.5, 9.6, and 12.7 seconds, respectively. The 70-to-0 braking took 151 feet, an improvement from 165. Grip came in at an impressive 1.00 g, with far less understeer than the last car’s 0.91-g effort. Those numbers are right up with a Corvette Grand Sport’s and better overall than the last BMW M3 we tested.

On the street, it’s now a much more coherent machine. The engine sounds sensational, with a malevolent snarl at high revs that’s enhanced by a muted whine from the supercharger. Power delivery is very linear, with meaningful thrust above 2000 rpm, and the shifter for the six-speed manual has short throws and a narrow gate with a positive, if somewhat notchy, action. Brake-pedal feel is superb and involving, but—despite being accurate and direct—the steering could use a little more weighting.

2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 - Short Take Road Test

2010-12-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

The new 5.0 is one hell of an engine, and it’s installed in one hell of a car.
The ingredients needed to make a Mustang: horsepower, horsepower, and more horsepower, plus a chrome pony, a glove box, and a cigarette lighter. Thankfully, Ford has embellished on this old-fashioned recipe with a car that handles, gets decent fuel economy when driven mildly, and doesn’t consume your driveway like the much larger and heavier Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger.

Since the Mustang went into production 46 years ago, Ford has made steady and incremental improvements almost every year. The car has benefited, rising to the top of the muscle-car heap as others stagnated or went out of production. This year the changes are big, starting with a new four-cam, 32-valve, aluminum-constructed 5.0-liter V-8.

Oh, That Fabulous Five-Point-O

You can read the minute technical details of this engine elsewhere on this site, but here’s what you need to know: It’s utterly fabulous, a 7000-rpm cavalry charge that generates incredibly smooth, linear thrust across its broad rev band. Were you to paint the cam lids red and stick on a chrome trident, most Maserati owners would never know the difference. Yes, it’s that good.

The 412 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque, the latter on a gloriously flat curve that peaks at 4250 rpm, are achievements. It’s enough to knock out a 60-mph sprint in 4.6 seconds, and the quarter-mile in 13.2 seconds at 109 mph, which are more or less Camaro SS times. Finally, a Mustang engine that doesn’t have to eat dust from a small-block.

But horsepower doesn’t tell the whole story. This V-8 is a major evolutionary step for Ford, perhaps the best gasoline burner the company has ever produced. It twists the tach needle quickly and without vibration but with a roar so menacing it makes the Camaro SS sound like a pickup truck. Detroit has long made cars that leap off the line in a burst and then flame out shortly thereafter. Ford has tuned the V-8’s throttle to be remarkably gentle and progressive, as if road racers in ballet shoes were the final editors of the software. Dare we say it? This engine is too good for this car.

For 2010, Ford spruced up the Mustang’s interior with soft-touch materials and more brightwork. But to get the full effect, you have to buy the Premium upgrade, a $3200 hit. On the base GT, plain, deep-grained plastic abounds, the steering rim a no more thrilling ring of plastic to grip than a Hula Hoop. The base interior is a bit impoverished considering the $30,495 starting price, much less our $32,980 as-tested sticker.

There are two new six-speed transmissions, and the manual we tested has very closely spaced gates maneuvered by a short shifter that slides your forearm across the center console and parking-brake handle and brings it into conflict with anything in the cup holders.

What Was Good Is Now Even Better

Fitted with the 255/40ZR-19 Pirelli P Zero tires that are standard on the GT, the car pulled 0.94 g on the skidpad, a testament to the grip afforded by these tires (which are now found on both Mustangs and Camaros). Last year, a 2010 Mustang beat a Camaro and a Challenger in a comparison test based largely on its handling merits, and the new model is even better. It turns sharply and holds a precise trajectory through a turn. Although the rear end remains a live axle, the body isn’t tossed off course by pitching pavement or camber changes. In matchups with the independently sprung Camaro, we’ve come away lauding Ford’s decision to stick with the live axle. The company has made it work, and if it saves weight and the customer money, so much the better.

What’s not better is the capless fuel port Ford adopted last year. The idea of getting rid of a fussy, hard-to-turn cap is great—except that we always seem to spill fuel on the car and on our shoes. And after some hard cornering on a full tank, we noticed signs of weeping down the Mustang’s quarter-panel where dust had collected in the dampness. Last year, Ford told us there was a problem with early filler necks and that it had been fixed. What does it have to tell us now?

Although its neighbors have come and gone from this area of the market, Ford has stuck it out, and its perseverance has paid off. If the new “Coyote” 5.0-liter isn’t the best engine the company has ever made, this is unquestionably the best Mustang in a long line and probably the best car Ford sells in the United States. It accomplishes its mission with such aplomb that you wonder why Ford can’t attack the weak points in its lineup—the Taurus, for example—with the same fervor.

1967 Mustang GT500 E

2010-12-28T03:41:00.000-08:00

New 2010 Nationwide NASCAR Mustang

2010-08-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

CONCORD, NC and ANN ARBOR, MI – A new era of Mustang racing rolled out here today, piloted by an All-American driver and with a returning sponsor familiar to loyal NASCAR fans.

Three major events were rolled into one today as Ford teamed up with Roush Fenway Racing and Con-way Freight (NYSE: CNW) to unveil the No. 16 Con-way Freight Mustang with driver Colin Braun at Roush Fenway Racing headquarters in Concord, N.C.

Ford announced in July that Mustang, the iconic pony car that has raced for all 45 years of its existence, would compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series beginning in July 2010 when a limited rollout of NASCAR’s new car begins at Daytona International Speedway. Today marked the first time the NASCAR Mustang was seen in public.

Braun, 21, a native of Ovalo, Texas, will make the move from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, where he was the 2008 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, to a full-time Nationwide program next season, along with Con-way Freight, which has been his sponsor for the last two years. Roush Fenway and Con-way Freight recently agreed on a contract extension to remain as a primary sponsor for 18 Nationwide races within the organization.

2011 Mustang Details Emerge

2010-08-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Mustang is poised to set a new standard in sports coupes. A new all-aluminum 3.7-liter V-6 using Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing and six-speed automatic results in 305 hp and 30 mpg highway – an unbeatable combination in its class.

The 2011 Ford Mustang puts 305 high-performance horses in the hands of V-6 coupe buyers with a new all-aluminum dual-overhead cam (DOHC) engine that delivers a projected 30 mpg on the highway with a six-speed automatic transmission and fun for drivers on nearly every road.

For 2011, Mustang’s new 3.7-liter Duratec 24-valve V-6 uses advanced engineering to deliver its power and economy: Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT) adjusts the valvetrain in microseconds. Aluminum construction means light weight. It’s an engine designed to crank out torque down low, rev to 7,000 rpm and deliver the mechanical music sports coupe lovers crave everywhere in between.

Ford Mustang GT - Front Angle

2010-06-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

Ford Mustang Black

Ford Mustang GT - Front Angle, 2005

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2010-06-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

Ford Mustang GT 520

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2010-06-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

Shelby Prudhomme

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2010-06-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Mustang Roush Vs Mustang Shelby

2010-06-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

Mustang Roush Vs Mustang Shelby - Funny bloopers R us

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2010-05-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

Mustang 1969

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MEGA MUSTANG: 2010 Ford Mustang by Ford Racing Performance

2010-05-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

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2010-05-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Shelby Ford Mustang GT500KR

2010-05-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

New Ford Mustang Concept

2010-05-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Camaro Fights Mustang and Challenger - Muscle Car Comparison

2010-05-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

2011 Mustang GT 5.0L 4V Runs 10.88@127MPH!

2010-05-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ford Shelby GT 500: "Germany"

2010-05-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

1967 Shelby GT 500 Eleanor

2010-05-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

1968 Mustang Fastback Burnout

2010-05-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

2005 Mustang GT Kenne Bell Supercharged Burnout

2010-05-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

Ford Mustang Burnout

2010-05-14T00:31:00.001-07:00

1000 hp Mustang!

2010-05-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Supercharged 2005 Mustang

2010-05-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

SuperCharged Mustang Cobra Donuts 517hp

2010-05-13T04:36:00.000-07:00

Mustang GT500 car review - Top Gear - BBC

2010-05-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

2011 Ford Mustang GT

2010-05-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

2011 Ford Mustang V6 – Short Take Road Test – Car and Driver

2010-04-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ford shows its base pony car some love and churns out a sweetheart. 2011 Ford Mustang V-6 – Short Take Road Test www.caranddriver.com 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 – Short Take Road Test www.caranddriver.com

Ford Mustang 1964

2010-04-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

Mustang 1964

The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured car by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car.Introduced early on April 17, 1964,the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A.
Mustang 1964

"Mustang 1964"

Mustang 1964

Mustang 1964

Mustang 1964

Mustang 1964

The Mustang created the "pony car" class of American automobile — sports car-like coupes with long hoods and short rear decks — and gave rise to competitors such as GM's Chevrolet Camaro,AMC's Javelin,and Chrysler's revamped Plymouth Barracuda.