...I have divested myself of my 10-second 2007 GT500 and picked up a 2010 version of the same car on Monday morning.
I had held off on creating a thread in the hopes that I could get the car detailed and take some quality pictures to go along with the narrative, but, since the weather is not going to cooperate, I will just go ahead and post up the crappy pics I took Monday evening.
The car is a red/silver stripe car and from an options standpoint, the only difference between it and the ’07 is that the new car does not have navigation.
What I can tell you from the 125 miles I’ve put on the car since buying it, is that the 2010 version of the Shelby is better in every way than the previous ’07-’09 examples. It seem like the folks at Ford/SVT really listened to the feedback they received regarding shortcomings of the previous model and tried their best to fix them while keeping the price point almost the same. I can say they did a great job at that, as I actually paid less for the 2010 (under $49K out the door) than I did for the 2007 at the time of its purchase. (Of course, not having the navigation system saved me about $2,195 on the MSRP).
The 2010 is significantly improved. In addition to a revised exterior styling, of which I am a fan (yes, even the rear end!), the suspension tweaks and the addition of an adjustable stability control not only gives the car a much improved ride quality, it has greatly enhanced its handling prowess. There is also much less cabin noise, a better shifter, lower gear (’07-‘09’s came stock with 3.23’s;2010’s with 3.55’s), taller overdrive gears and a voice-activated multi-media system. It is just a better car than the one it replaces in all aspects.
From a performance standpoint, it’s hard for me to tell a lot about the car, seat-of-the-pants. Yes, the new car has 540 horsepower (up from 500 hp on the ‘07), but when you’ve been driving around in a car with ~650rwhp on tap at any time for over a year, 540 crank horsepower seems pedestrian by comparison. Still, I think the car is capable of mid-to-low 12’s on the stock 19” Goodyear’s and I believe, with nothing more than some sticky tires and cool weather, it might be capable of dipping into the 11-second zone.
