So the new
2020 Shelby GT500 has been announced and it’s coming with 700+ horsepower as we’ve
all heard. So many people have been
asking me, “Chad, are you going to trade in your ’14 GT500 for the new hotness?”
The answer is pretty easy. No. My 2014 GT500 taught me a lot about high
speed, high horsepower cars.
One is that
cars are no fun if you can’t connect that power to the road. Having a car that constanstantly smoke the
tires sounds awesome until you realize that’s about all they can do. My GT500 with its 662hp can roast a set of
tires in multiple gears but it’s hard as hell to launch. So when you’re lined up next to someone you
really have to count on the supercharger to pull you out of the hole because you
most likely aren’t going to win the launch.
So what if
the 2020 GT500 has amazing launch control?
Then would I get one? Still
no. My current GT500 is freakin’ fast
. It claims 0 – 60 in 3.5 sec, a
quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds, and a top speed of 200 mph. None of that can be experienced when I pull
it out of the garage on a sunny day.
Mainly I just experience the excruciating frustration of sitting in
bumper to bumper traffic with very few openings to actually enjoy what the car
was built to do. Certainly there could
be track days I suppose but the closest drag strip is over two hours away and
requires driving across Toronto.
My 2014
Shelby GT500 is a really cool car with incredible abilities that I never get a
chance to use. It mainly sits in the
garage which is exactly what the 2020 GT500 would do if I bought it. There was a time I really craved having the
highest horsepower machine I could buy.
I was drooling for it, but then I got it and it was all a bit of a letdown. On the other hand my 2017 Focus RS is an
absolute blast and a car I can have a lot of fun with no matter where I’m
driving it.
So I’ve
kind of learned my lesson. I’m sure the
2020 GT500 is going to be incredible, it certainly sounds incredible but I’m
going to let it pass. I’ll still be
interested what others think of it though.
