2017 Ford Mustang GT350.....time for a name change

J-LO

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Jul 9, 2013
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In Da Hood
Well it was a long and very hard decision to make, but after serious time and thought I have parted ways with my Viper and have picked up a new 2017 Mustang GT350.

The Viper was an amazing car when driving extremely fast and I did that often, however once the pace slowed down below ludicrous speed it was not a fun car to drive. In fact it was laborious. I also have a desire to include both wife and son in some driving adventures at the same time and with the viper just not possible.

That left me searching for a vehicle that could accommodate all of us, still fast and most importantly still capable on a track. I thought about a GTR, M2/3/4/5/6, dodge hellcat charger. The Mustang at first wasn't on the list. In fact I was at the dodge dealer trying to work #s so I could test drive the charger when we decided to go up to McHenry and see if they had any caddy ats/cts v's. They didn't so we went to buss ford and they had a white with blue stripe GT350 that was waiting for the owner to pick up. Simply beautiful I thought.

At lunch I hit [MENTION=5]Mook[/MENTION] up for [MENTION=4923]The Beast[/MENTION] information to see if he could help me locate one. Well just my luck John had a White w/blue stripe one just like the McHenry one on the show room floor! John worked hard to get me the right # on the viper and a fair price on the GT 350 while I was in and out of Internet access in the foot hills of Tennessee with the family doing some trail riding.

Late Wednesday night John and I agreed to a deal and late last night I picked her up.

Just my luck my first drive in her was through a monsoon down 290/90. Very nerve racking!

So for now here is a teaser photo

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Thanks again to Mook and John for the help!
 

J-LO

TCG Elite Member
Jul 9, 2013
3,093
1,719
In Da Hood
Street review

Street review:
Day to day casual driving is a joy in the mustang compared to the Viper. The air conditioned seating is a very nice feature. Clutch engagement is easy and accurate and makes traffic driving almost automatic like LOL. Gauges are easy to read, stereo is wayyyy better than in the Viper. The vipers being almost non existent. The ford sync/ Apple car play works great and makes sending text, making calls, Spotify and maps easy to use, though I wish it would bring Waze into the screen instead of the Apple maps. Today i found the rev light heads up display while driving around, will be a nice feature for track days. You can pick which rpm you want it to warn to shift at from 3k rpm to 8200. There is also the other track app features like g meter, launch control etc,etc will work with them as I get the time. All in all a great car to daily if needed.

Back road review:
Some of you know my back road route and the challenges it throws at you, and that I tend to attack them with a track day fevered pace ;) (mook insert images of Sentra on 3 wheels here lol).

Sunday a group of us left from coffee and headed to the route so I could test some things out. I backed my pace down on straights but did test out braking , and cornering. Brakes are strong and provide plenty of feed back, car transitions from on the brake to corner entry with no drama, car remains neutral and ready for corner input information.

Corner entry is confidence inspiring and as we progressed through the route so did my entry speed. One thing I did notice compared to the viper, is the viper you could feel the grip and know you are not worthy of its ability, on the mustang as much grip as it offered, you do not hear it, feel it gripping the road, not to say it isn't but from a feel stand point it's not like the viper.

Corner exit, here is something that I say this car is better than the viper. Because of the high rev, horsepower vs torque motor, you can carry rpm and use hp vs torque to exit corners, allowing you to get on throttle sooner and harder than you could with viper. Viper would bite with throttle to early or to hard. Looking forward to a track day with this. I do wish it had rev match, not sure why anyone in 2017 puts out a manual transmission car and not have rev match.

I will mention I did this back road run in the cars Sport mode. Sport mode firms up suspension and tightens the steering, both a great feature on the car.

In conclusion I can say to this point, I made a great choice of car to replace the viper with but the track day will be the tell all on that. Stay tuned for a review on that and lap time comparisons.
 
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Bru

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May 24, 2007
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Congrats, Jim. Fantastic automobile you got there. One of my favorites from last year. Glad they straightened out the packaging for 2017 and put the track pack in more people's hands who will drive it how they intended.
 

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