Am I Trading my 2014 Shelby for a 2020 Shelby GT500?

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.

I've Posted My 2014 Shelby GT500 FOR SALE

I’ve decided to finally put my triple black 2014 GT500 up for sale.  As I say in the ad it’s a very nice, very fast car that sits in my garage and does nothing.  So why do I have it?  I’ve posted it as $69,000 but that is negotiable.  I'm really just looking to get the loan paid off and out of my hair.

 

It’s stock expect for a few small cosmetic additions like headlight covers and fender scoops added by the previous owner.  It has the supercharged 5.8L rated at 662hp. There is really nothing wrong with it but the front spoiler is scratched up I assume from driveways, they were there when I got it.

I’ve really enjoyed the car.  It’s one of those vehicles that no matter how much you drive it you still get butterflies before starting it up.  Here in Canada we don’t get enough nice days to justify having a rear-wheel drive monster which is why my daily is the Focus RS.

If you're interest I'm in the Greater Toronto Area here in Ontario.  You can view the ad posting HERE

Finally Awoke the Shelby

This Sunday was finally a nice enough day to start getting ready for the summer car season.  So I took the opportunity to get the Shelby off the jacks stands and see where we're at.

The first thing was the battery was totally dead which sucked.  During the winter I noticed my trickle charger had dies and allowed the battery to croak.  But I went and bought a new one as well as let the car run for a solid hour but apparently that wasn't enough.  The new charger was working but the battery was still dead.  So I grabbed my portable jumper and got it running.That thing is the best purchase.  Saved me so many times.

Immediately the computer started telling me that the tire pressures were back.  Again the portable jumper to the rescue.  It has a compressor as well and I got the pressures up high enough to get it to the station.

After fiddling around with the jack I finally got it down on the ground and backed it out.  Everything seemed good but I needed to drive it to be sure.  So I took it to the station and filled up with air and fresh fuel.  Drove around for about an hour.  It was about 45 F so way too cold for those tires forcing me to be reserved and driving like an old man.

My old '07 Mustang GT would require that you set the idle if the battery went completely dead but this doesn't seem to be the case with the Shelby.  It all seemed just fine.  After I got back I let it sit a couple hours and then attempted to start it again and it popped to life right away.  So I might get away without buying a new battery.  I'm going to take the portable jumper with me for awhile just to be safe but it all seems fine so far.

The next nice weekend I'm going to swap the Focus RS winter tires to summer ones.

Shelby GT500: Do I REALLY need it?

Two years ago I bought the GT500 because I wanted to replace my 2007 Mustang GT.  At the time I had the Mustang for a fun car and a Hummer H3 as a daily.  But the Mustang with just a 300 hp 4.5L wasn't all that much fun anymore.  If you read my old posts you'd see I went through quite a struggle figuring out what I wanted and finding it in my price range before I settled on the GT500.  It's now been two years and since then I've replaced the H3 with a 2017 Focus RS as my daily.  So I now have a fun car and a fun car which has left me feeling a bit weird about owning the Shelby.  Do I really need it?  No, of course not.  I guess the real question would be do I really want it?

Just the fact that I'm questioning it really means I'm not having the fun I expected to have with the Shelby.  The car is a beast.  With 662hp under your foot whenever you want it there is no lack of power.  The issue I've been encountering is when do I want that much power?  Really not that often.  Driving around on public roads on days it doesn't rain I find myself putting slowly behind traffic.  The pedal is dying to be mashed to the floor to let that supercharger whine but there is just no place to do it.  Most of the time the Shelby sits in the garage and of course it spends all winter in there under a car cover.  Meanwhile I pay insurance and the nearly $1000 a month loan.

The Focus RS on the other hand is always ready for some spirited driving in any weather.  You can really push the car to it's limits without fear that the big horsepower is going to toss you in a ditch.  The insurance is cheaper and so are the payments.  I'm starting to feel maybe the Shelby needs to find a new home.  Maybe if the Shelby is gone I could modify the RS or look to fixing up my '70 Plymouth back home.

If I was to sell the Shelby I couldn't be too flexible on the amount because the sale price needs to pay off the loan against it but looking at the local Canadian Auto Trader I believe these are in the correct range.

So what do you think?  Should I sell it?  Interested?

Camera Mods and GT500 Sound Test

Modified my camera mics then took the 2014 GT500 out for a little thrashing & sound test to see if I made them any better.  Did cold start, revs, external cam mounts & internal. Then a short walk around at the end. I don't think I made the sound quality any better but it was still fun making the video anyway.

Posted The First Episode of The Daily Drive!

Hey everyone PLEASE check out my first episode of the Daily Drive.  It's a little rough around the edges but I really hope it's something you can find interesting.

In this episode I drive the Shelby, give an overview of my plans for the series, we talk about being an American living in Canada, and how I came to the decision to buy a Shelby GT500.  I do a few small pulls to hear the engine whine as well.

I'd really appreciate if you would check it out.  Feel free to give some feedback.  Give a like if you feel it's worthy.

Welcome to YouTube

American Motoring just started a YouTube channel.  So please feel free to follow us.  We'd appreciate it.  To start off the channel we posted a quick video or our 2014 GT500 Shelby Cobra starting up and backing out of a garage.  It's short but we hope you enjoy the sound of 662 hp.  American Motoring YouTube

Low Ball GT500 Offer

The Shelby is all put away for the winter but this summer I took it to Barrie Ford here in Ontario for service.  It was no big deal, just a oil change but since then I would periodically get a message from the dealer asking if I'd be interested in selling it.  I know this is just a tactic to spark an interest in trading in your car for something new but after three of these emails I was curious what they would offer.

So I replied to the last email they sent asking what the offer would be.  They said, "Well it depends on your VIN and miles but the number would start with a 5 or a 3."

A 5 or a 3??  So $50,000 or $30,000??  Are they nuts?  You can't find them here in Canada for anything near that price.  I searched and searched to find the one I have and that was listed at $68,000.

So my curiosity is now satisfied. Yikes!

Check This Out

Of course I'm a little bias but today YouTube suggested a Hellcat VS GT500 video to me so I thought I would pass it along.

662 HP Can Be Tricky

Yesterday I was playing with my Shelby at a stoplight and did a hard pull.  I got grip, shifted to second, got grip and then at about 70mph I lost grip and the tails started to come around.  It didn't become a crazy disaster because I lifted and it straightened right out, but this seems to be the common reason why GT500s end up tangled in the trees.  You really aren't expecting to lose grip once the tires have traction after the shift.  Just like the guy in the video below.  I didn't get as squirrely as this guy because I lifted but I can certainly see how things could get out of hand quickly.

I have a pretty solid respect for this car so I'm usually ready for anything when I'm giving it the beans but still it was pretty unnerving.  The Drive Channel listed the 2013 and 14 Shelby GT500 among the top 10 cars out there that is trying to kill you.  Perhaps more serious tires are in order.

2014 GT500 Miles Per Gallon

When I picked up the GT500 I was cycling through the car's menus and I found fuel economy.  This was something I didn't give a crap about, because who buys a 662 HP car for the gas mileage?  Well the menu said 9.5 miles per gallon.  I thought what the???

I guess when a car like that is at a dealership the salesmen probably take it out and beat it.  It's hard to avoid that.  So I reset the number and continued on my way.  After a few weeks of driving two or three days per weeks I went back and looked at the number.  It was 12.5 miles per gallon and I was driving nice.  I was still getting to know this monster so I was "grandpa driving" everywhere.  12.5?  Geez.  I think that is worse than my Hummer.  Ouch

The car has a 16 gallon tank and when it's really low it takes not quite $60 CAD ($47 US) to fill it up with the highest octane.  So basically I can drive to work and back twice, then I need a refill.  The 07' Mustang GT could go almost a full week with its 4.6L V8.

This week was all sun so I could have driven it every day.  But I took a few days off and drive my eco Hummer just to give my wallet a break.  lol

Picking Up the Shelby

I drove the Shelby home Tuesday night from the pickup location.  Basically I just dropped off my ’07 Mustang and picked up the Shelby without any sort of event.  So suddenly I went from getting out of a 300hp car and into a 662hp one in a matter of minutes.  How was it?  Well I found it fairly intimidating frankly.  You think you understand what “fast” means but then you drive something that redefines it.  This is one of those cars.  My 1968 Firebird 400 was a 400+hp car so I really felt I understood how a fast car felt.  I'm now certain if I got out of the GT500 and into a supercar or hypercar I would experience the same feeling.  There is always something faster.  Happily this realization created a great deal of excitement for me because I now have a lot to learn.  I look forward to this summer to start learning.

The car was being stored at a massive car dealer auction lot. Acres and acres of cars. I went to the gate they instructed and went to the trailer/office.  The guy inside looked at my ID and instructed me to go get the Shelby and pull it around to the exit gate to be checked through.  I walked over and got in, adjusted all the mirrors and started it up.  Wow, louder than I expected.  The shifter felt a little mushy after driving the notchy Hurst shifter in my GT.  I thought, "Okay, take it easy" and put it in first.

Noob Story 1: The clutch in the Shelby has a weird kind of uneven tension.  You seem to hit a mid-position and it wants to spring out.  I felt a similar feeling with the gas where a tiny tap seemed to make it scream.  The combo of these two things made me fairly terrified. David Freiburger over at Hot Rod mentioned this in a Roadkill video and I totally see what he was talking about.  After checking the car through the gate the guy cleared me to take it.  Luckily he thought I was revving the car for his benefit and cheered me on, but in reality I just didn't know what I was doing.  Down the road I quickly pulled over, composed myself, and removed the tags from the windshield so I could see out and headed home.  Traffic was heavy though so with the constant stopping and starting I got plenty of practice.  After about a mile or two I started to get the hang of it and by the time I got it home it seemed less terrifying.

Noob Story 2: The car had no gas when I picked it up so I had to pull into the closest station.  Looking at the fuel door I assumed there was an a button inside to release it.  I wasted a bunch of time looking for it and then looking through the manual before I realised there was no button and you just press the fuel door and it springs open.  Duh.

There are a few things I don’t yet understand about the car.  For instance it beeps at me when I accelerate hard.  I think this might be a traction warning or maybe a shift warning although I was not near redline.  I’ll have to figure it out and see if I can turn it off, extremely annoying.  I was trying to get the supercharger to whine but when it would start beeping I’d let off so I have yet to really hear it.  To be fair I shouldn’t be doing that anyway.  It’s cold and the car has summer tires so it just wants to spin.  Even when I was in third gear and hit it hard I could feel the car’s traction systems trying to keep the tires from spinning.

In regards to the reaction it got on the way home I just noticed two people checking it out but I was very "focused" you could say.  One guy with a tricked out Honda zipped past me in a different lane and seemed to almost snap his neck looking back.  The other guy was an Audi, didn't notice what type but he was revving like crazy at me.  I was in no way prepared for any racing so I just gave him a rev back and kept going.

Since then the car has been sitting in my rather crappy garage waiting for the snowstorm to end.  I haven't gotten a chance to even look at it because the garage is so small and I'd really rather pull it out so I have some room.  I think this summer I might at least paint the garage interior so it would seem a little more worthy of the GT500's presence, maybe even some nice flooring.

Overall I have some mixed feelings about the purchase.  It's always a little sad to see your previous car go but you can't keep them all.  Plus I swore to myself  I wouldn't get another Mustang and I'd try something different but I guess this really isn't a Mustang.  Also this car is way into the high end of my budget so I'm nervous about it's impact on my finances.  It should all work out but we'll see.  Also I've been a little disappointed with the response I get from most friends and even some family.  Seems they kind of hate me for having it.  I plan to write more about this in a different article.

So now we wait for warm temps.

The Dream Is Dying

The guy that was selling the 2014 Mustang GT500 I wanted told me he was going to store it until spring before he listed it for sale again.  I was really hoping I would be able to find a buyer for my Mustang before spring so I could have first shot at it.  Just for the hell of it I thought I would take a look online and I see he has listed it again.  Apparently spring wasn’t soon enough for him and the car has been listed for the past 6 weeks.  I'm really disappointed.  I really had my mine set on this car.  Of course nobody has bought it yet but I assume it's just a matter of time.   

My Mustang being a car from the States has really screwed my ability to sell it off in Canada.  Realistically trading it would be the better option but I don't really want a new car.  

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Ford/Mustang/MAPLE/Ontario/19_9022415_/?showcpo=ShowCPO&orup=2_15_3

Newmarket Mitsubishi is The Worst Kind of Dealership

UPDATE: After posting this article I was contacted by the dealership's manager.  He feigned concern and claimed he wanted to help but they still have done nothing.

Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dud.  Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dealership that's a dud.  If you’re really unlucky you get a dealership and a car that's a dud.  This is what my girlfriend was unlucky enough to receive when she bought a new 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander from Newmarket Mitsubishi.

When we went out to look for a new car I stressed to her that we should look around at several cars before settling on something.  The first dealership we went to was Newmarket Mitsubishi and the first car we checked out was the 2014 Outlander.  When I saw the car I was instantly ready to keep looking because I’m sorry but that car is UGLY!  She however loved the 7 passenger seating, all the nanny controls, and the 0% financing Mitsubishi was offering.  Paolo the salesman seemed a little sleazy to me but aren’t most car salesmen?  So needless to say she came home with a 2014 Outlander.

When she left they gave her two key fobs.  One was a regular key fob and the other was a key fob with remote start.  I asked her, “Did they give you a second fob that I could carry?”  So we tried to get the car to work with just the remote start fob and it would not work, insisting that the other key be present.  So the two key fobs wouldn't work when separated?  Well one would work independently the other with the remote start would not.  It was like a completely different fob just for remote starts and nothing else.  What sense does this make?  So she called and they said, “Oh so sorry I could have sworn we gave it to you two that worked separately.  We we'll get you one.”  Great!

A second problem was that often when you remote start the car and then get out there and put it in drive it would die.  Then you have to put it back in park and start it again and it would be fine.  After a service appointment the problem still happens.

Now most recently the auto hatch no longer goes up and down but instead just beeps at you and waits for you to do it manually.  So for me the build quality for that car is bad.  It seems that Mitsubishi really can’t handle long term use of fancy and unnecessary electronics. 

So now talking about the dealership.  As I said above she called Newmarket Mitsubishi and asked for a second key fob for the car.  Weeks later still no key, months later, still no key.  She finally decided that she should resort to calling almost daily and rather than helping her they ignored her calls and just wouldn’t answer.  To test this she called on her phone and it would ring and ring forever.  Then she reached over and tried a company phone with a different caller ID and they answered instantly.  I was shocked to hear they actually refused to take her calls.  What kind of business does this?  You sell a car and then kick the customer in the ass and hope to never see them again?  I’ve heard of this asshole service from dealers when the person has a used car but never when it’s a new car is still under warranty.  What kind of bullshit is this?

So currently we still don’t have the correct key fob and the automatic hatch lid is still broken.  I would strongly discourage anyone from buying a Mitsubishi and even more strongly discourage them from buying it from Newmarket Mitsubishi 301 Mulock Dr. Newmarket.

Opinions Please!!

I am quite literally in the cusp of buying a 2014 Mustang GT500.  I have had several loan approvals for the $65,000 price tag being asked by this private seller.  Yesterday I went and test drove it.  The car was amazing and with only 6500 km (about 4000 miles) it is basically a new car.

So what's stopping me?  Well there are several things.  One is of course the fact that's it's a lot of money for a 2014 vehicle, even one with 662 horsepower.  I can make the payments well enough but right now I have no car payments and really like that.  Plus the loan officers look at me like I'm crazy.

The big question in my head is whether this Shelby will follow the trend of other Shelbys and
appreciate in value or am I buying a $65,000 car that will be $30,000 in a few years.  This model is the end of an era in the Mustang styling and the most powerful Mustang to be produced.  It's a factory car that can do 200 mph.  Certainly that is something that will hold value in years to come but if the 2017 GT500 has 700+hp will it cause my car's value to plummet?

Another thing is my 2007 Mustang GT sitting in the garage.  We don't have lots of space and you aren't allowed to park anything on the street longer than 3 hours even in front of your own house.  So what the hell am I going to do with two Mustangs?  Of course I need to sell the 07 but how long will that take?  Especially going into the winter months.

So what should I do?  Should I drop the hammer and purchase it or hold on?  The car is stunning in person and sounds amazing with the Borla exhaust added by the seller.  The interior is crap but that's not why you buy this car.  If you had $65,000 approved loan would you do it or go for something else?  Or do nothing at all?  The pictures here are of the car I intend to buy.