2011 Shelby GT500 - Too much Car for my SO? *UPDATED WITH CAR PICS*

[TakeNoPrisoners]

If it is a stick it would be significantly harder to drive. If auto, well computers control everything in those kind of cars anyway so she will be fine.

 

[Pariah]

I would be more than a bit embarrassed if people on the internet who have never met my wife knew more about her and her driving ability than I did. If your wife is Danica Patrick, she's probably going to be OK with a GT500. If she isn't, who knows, certainly none of us do.

 

[exdeath]

That is a lot of car, but my advice would be no different for a guy.

Take the car out to the track so she can see how the car behaves under full throttle conditions (because there is no way you do this type of testing in a 550hp car on public roads).

I'm not saying drive like an dangerous ass in public, but the "take it to the track" thing is overblown for learning how to drive a car like that on the street. You're more likely to wreck your $40,000 car at the track when there is a wall 3 feet from you than you are messing around in a empty parking lot on a Sunday afternoon.

Also a track is MUCH stickier and smoother than your average dusty, cracked, and pothole riddled public road. IMO it's best to know how the car handles traction wise on a public road because the limit is much much lower. On VHT you can mash the pedal to the floor and stick even with 550 HP but you will get instant wheel spin in 3 gears on a normal road even with the best tires. Never mind when all seems to be going well until you hit an expansion crack in the asphalt at 60 mph WOT.

Learning how a car like that runs WOT on a clean VHT prepped track instills a false sense of security and doesn't really hit home the many reasons it may be inappropriate on a normal road. I'm not saying a track is useless, but it doesn't really prepare someone to drive a 500+ HP car safely on a crappy public road.

This is why I never understood super high horsepower for public roads, you will never be able to use all that power safely, so it's probably too much car for ANYONE, but that is another topic.

I drive under full throttle with my 624 RWHP 03 Cobra quite often and quite safely. The only reason I don't most times is only because I'm conscious and considerate of the noise it produces doing so.

 

[Baked]

Wow, she's going from 300hp to 550hp... that's almost double. She is going to die.

Ah yes, nothing brings out a smile more than misery on others.

 

[exdeath]

Wow, she's going from 300hp to 550hp... that's almost double. She is going to die.

I went from a 130HP '95 Camry to a 700HP '03 Cobra. I didn't die.

 

[Throckmorton]

I went from a 130HP '95 Camry to a 700HP '03 Cobra. I didn't die.

You had the benefit of IRS 😀

 

[DaTT]

You had the benefit of IRS 😀

And a penis...... I kid, I kid

 

[Doppel]

Another thing against the take it to the track is that I only know two people, literally two in my entire life, who have ever taken their street cars to the track. It's like saying learn how to shoot a gun by hiring a a team of marksmen for a week. It's better, but not realistic. For all intents and purposes very few, with slow or fast cars, ever will track it.

 

[JCH13]

An auto-x school, or auto-x, is very different from "taking it to the track". There aren't generally walls or anything serious to hit, speeds are low, and the driving surface is anything but perfect. Better yet, go to an auto-x in the rain.

I would NOT take a GT500 to a real road course to "learn" how to drive it.

 

[Insomniator]

This sounds like a terrible idea.

 

[justfrank]

So, is this going to be a daily driver or a weekend warrior? IMO, that car is a weekend warrior only. Why drive a car with that kind of power (and with gas prices) daily? In city and rush hour freeway traffic, it's pointless.

 

[jlee]

Another thing against the take it to the track is that I only know two people, literally two in my entire life, who have ever taken their street cars to the track. It's like saying learn how to shoot a gun by hiring a a team of marksmen for a week. It's better, but not realistic. For all intents and purposes very few, with slow or fast cars, ever will track it.

Honestly I'd be a little scared of taking my car to a proper track. Mistakes are expensive...Chump/LeMons is where racing is really fun - scraping a body panel doesn't make you cry. 😛

 

[OCGuy]

Also, after looking at ebay, $45K is decent but nothing too spectacular. I see a 2012 w/ 3000 miles with "Buy it Now" at $47k.

The credit union booked it out at $54k. We booked it out on the NADA guide higher than that because it has the SVT performance package (lighter wheels, track suspension, thiner stripes, spoiler, which those two alone add at least 60hp! 😉 )


Also it is a family transfer, so no 7.75% use/sales tax will apply. That is another $3487 that we will not be paying.

If it is a stick it would be significantly harder to drive. If auto, well computers control everything in those kind of cars anyway so she will be fine.

Yep, manual 6 speed. Had a short-shifter in the last one too.

So it looks like there some controversy as to taking it to the track or not. I am not a AT Garage regular, is this a common disagreement here? 😛

I would be more than a bit embarrassed if people on the internet who have never met my wife knew more about her and her driving ability than I did. If your wife is Danica Patrick, she's probably going to be OK with a GT500. If she isn't, who knows, certainly none of us do.

Obviously I wasn't thinking anyone here specifically knows her driving abilities. I was asking for advice based off of people's experience with higher horsepower vehicles and 25 year old women. (Not to be sexist).

 

[Squisher]

I went from a 130HP '95 Camry to a 700HP '03 Cobra. I didn't die.

I would think being exdeath meant you've divorced yourself from the concept of death, you've passed death, you've moved beyond death.

OP, just bring a life insurance policy along when she has to sign the title. She'll get the hint.

 

[sdifox]

I went from a 130HP '95 Camry to a 700HP '03 Cobra. I didn't die.

you just don't know you are dead, you know, like The Sixth Sense?

 

[jlee]

So it looks like there some controversy as to taking it to the track or not. I am not a AT Garage regular, is this a common disagreement here? 😛

Not really, but I personally wouldn't want to take anything to a track that I couldn't easily afford to wreck. I'm not a baller like ATers are. 😛

Autocross, on the other hand, has a very low risk of hitting anything other than a cone. So does a track day if you go easy, but a lot of the fun is in finding the limits of car and driver...which I'm much more comfortable doing when there's minimal chance of a crash.

 

[Throckmorton]

Obviously I wasn't thinking anyone here specifically knows her driving abilities. I was asking for advice based off of people's experience with higher horsepower vehicles and 25 year old women. (Not to be sexist).

It seems to me that if she's a normal 25 year old woman, even if she was a 50 year old man, or whatever... she probably can't handle that much car. What regular person could?

It's not like you came and said "My GF is a racing driver and wants to get a 650hp musclecar".

 

[JackBurton]

It seems to me that if she's a normal 25 year old woman, even if she was a 50 year old man, or whatever... she probably can't handle that much car. What regular person could?

It's not like you came and said "My GF is a racing driver and wants to get a 650hp musclecar".

She should be fine. It's not like she is going to be participating in professional races. Just tell her to drive it the same as her old Mustang with a little less gas. 😉

 

[cbrsurfr]

What about a Boss? Should be a little lighter and cheaper, no? Personally I'd rather have the Boss, you see nothing but guys in their 60-70's puttering along in GT500's here.

 

[OCGuy]

What about a Boss? Should be a little lighter and cheaper, no? Personally I'd rather have the Boss, you see nothing but guys in their 60-70's puttering along in GT500's here.

If I could find one under BB value and no sales tax, I would recommend that to her.

We can get the X-Pin for Ford any time we want. Brought my truck from 37k to 31k. But still I dont think it would be as good of a deal.

 

[A5]

What about a Boss? Should be a little lighter and cheaper, no? Personally I'd rather have the Boss, you see nothing but guys in their 60-70's puttering along in GT500's here.

The Boss is a straight-up track special. The GT500 at least tries to act like it's a street car.

 

[HarryLui]

Another thing against the take it to the track is that I only know two people, literally two in my entire life, who have ever taken their street cars to the track.

You need to get out more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfUEJRGG6XY

 

[AMDZen]

Two angles I see here. First off, the 4.6 was a terrible car in the bends. As with nearly all American muscle cars until very very recently, they had a live rear axle and they weren't made to turn.

The newer GT500 should have independent rear suspension, and although its still not up to the standards of European and Japanese cars, as well as other American cars like from Cadillac - its still a huge difference from the live axle that plagued mustangs for their entire existence.

So in that sense, its better in that its a lot easier to recover from a mistake.

However, on the flip side - thats too much power IMO for any women that I've ever known save 1 or 2. Biased or sexist? Whatever, but the facts are there. Some women can drive but they are the exception, and not the rule.

 

[cbrsurfr]

The Boss is a straight-up track special. The GT500 at least tries to act like it's a street car.

The Boss comes in two flavors, regular and Leguna Seca. The LS is definately track only with that front splitter, rear seat delete, x brace, and r-comps. The normal Boss wouldn't be as cushy as the GT500, but it could be daily driven.

 

[JackBurton]

Two angles I see here. First off, the 4.6 was a terrible car in the bends. As with nearly all American muscle cars until very very recently, they had a live rear axle and they weren't made to turn.

The newer GT500 should have independent rear suspension, and although its still not up to the standards of European and Japanese cars, as well as other American cars like from Cadillac - its still a huge difference from the live axle that plagued mustangs for their entire existence.

So in that sense, its better in that its a lot easier to recover from a mistake.

However, on the flip side - thats too much power IMO for any women that I've ever known save 1 or 2. Biased or sexist? Whatever, but the facts are there. Some women can drive but they are the exception, and not the rule.

I don't get this. You know the car doesn't have to be driven at break neck speeds to be enjoyed, right? My wife has a 2011 Mustang GT that I'm contemplating putting a 624HP rated supercharger in, and I think she'll be just fine.