Quote:
Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium
I have no doubt the GT500 is a great performance vehicle. I don't think those massive 16.5" brakes fade. They are about an inch larger than the ZL1's, and probably dissipate a lot of heat.
I also like your points about the "excitement" or "specialness". I think Ford's done really well with the Shelby name. It has history and lore that people love - and the GT500 also seems to come out in response to the ZL1 and make more power than the competing ZL1 (at least in the last decade since Chevy reintroduced the ZL1 trim). Regarding the Camaro, car people and casual car folks know about the ZL1. Mine gets comments all the time. A guy next to me at a traffic light yesterday in a S550 Mustang GT said "Woah...nice ZL1, those things go hard!!" with a big goofy smile.
You also bring up some good points regarding the gearing. I think an A10 ZL1 has a gearing (and weight distribution) advantage in the lower speeds, which allows it to keep up with the GT500 until half way through 3rd gear in the ZL1, in which the GT500 is still in 2nd gear, and finally able to put more torque to the rear wheels than the ZL1 as torque in 3rd gear starts to trail off. It's interesting to look at the torque to rear wheels analysis of the two cars, which I've done many times. One can see the low speed advantages the ZL1 has when reviewing that data.
At high speeds the ZL1 loses the gearing advantage and the GT500's extra 110 hp takes over.
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You're over on the Mustang forum...have you been noticing any threads related to issues with the GT500? Or have you noticed talk concerning problems with those cars more so that issues and problems with the ZL1 on this forum? Because again, to me it just seems like there are a lot of issues with the Shelby. And this is not coming from a place of criticism. It's more for general knowledge. If there are an alarming amount of issues with these cars then the main impact to me will be that mine will remain stock to stock-ish. If the issues are such that Ford will not have a problem with owners who did minor stuff like a tune, LTs, and pulley, then I might consider taking my chances at some point in the future. But the thing is, I never had to question the reliability and durability of the Camaros I've owned. Or the Mustang GTs or my Hellcat. But I'm a little more reserved about modding the GT500 beyond what can burn my warranty.
I wonder if Ford could have put the A10 in the Base GT500 and then kept the 7 DCT for the CF version. Or if they could have/should have just stuck with the A10 altogether. It seems that the biggest performance hindrance of them is that 7 speed DCT. I think it is fine in the C8. But it just seems like it is holding the GT500 back. I would like to see a comparison one day with someone who can swap in the A10 with a tune and compare it to the 7 DCT with a tune. It would be cool to see if the A10 would have indeed been the better performance choice.
And speaking of the trans, it appears there is a company that does M6 conversions for the GT500. I'm sure that would totally void the warranty and it would likely take someone who is very adventurous to take that on. I certainly wouldn't want my floorboards cut up and other interior modifications to mate a stick shift and clutch pedal inside the car. But it would be interesting to see how it performs.