Is that Timex reference in the title too obscure for 2010?
Okay, then I'll state it plainly: the former long-term Ford GT turned over 20,000 miles on my drive in to work this morning.
Between the "summer that wasn't" weather in Southern California this past year, and my weekend schedule in recent months, I haven't driven the car as much as I normally would. In fact, when I went to fill it up in September I noticed the previous fill-up in the fuel log had happened in...April! The odometer has actually been hovering right below 20,000 miles for most of this year, but it finally crossed that milestone today.
The good news? The car still looks and drives like it did over five years ago, when I picked it up at Santa Monica Ford with 7 miles on the odo.
Well, maybe it's got a few battle scars. There are at least five or six noticeable chips on the front clip, and dozens more if you look closely. But otherwise the car is doing an impressive Dorian Gray. I had a professional detailer go through it last summer (inside, outside, underside, etc.) and he brought it back to a near-new appearance.
In terms of driving characteristics I can't find anything to indicate those 20,000 miles. I'm assuming a drive in a low-mileage GT would uncover some "looseness" or other signs of aging in this car, but without that sort of back-to-back experience there's nothing to report in terms of wear.
The car still rides, handles, brakes and accelerates like a crisp supercar, with no steering slop, suspension clunks or abrupt behavior when on the brakes or gas. It's even still got the original Optima battery, though I'm wondering how much longer that will last.
Regardless, its "in the wrapper" status is long gone. Guess the only thing to do now is drive it.
Karl Brauer, Edmunds.com Editor at Large @ 20,000 miles
thegraduate says:
10:54 AM, 12/14/10
So... I had no idea this was in the fleet.
mrb5091 says:
11:05 AM, 12/14/10
The Ford GT is an absolutely beautiful car and you're lucky to own one. If anything you should be proud of putting miles on this car - most cars from this price range are sitting in a collector's garage.
audisport says:
11:16 AM, 12/14/10
@ thegraduate- They bought it forever ago and posted regular updates and then Karl purchased it to be his very own...
zcalvert says:
11:46 AM, 12/14/10
1 tank of gas since april? Criminal!
carguy622 says:
11:55 AM, 12/14/10
My '06 TSX just hit 40,000 miles, what's the big deal?! Oh, who am I kidding, this car is awesome in every conceivable way.
bimmerjay says:
12:29 PM, 12/14/10
"@ thegraduate- They bought it forever ago and posted regular updates and then Karl purchased it to be his very own..."
Actually it was Karl's all along.
bthivierge says:
12:59 PM, 12/14/10
This car deserves its own blog...
desmolicious says:
01:04 PM, 12/14/10
Do any supercars feel worn and loose after 20K miles?
ed124c says:
01:19 PM, 12/14/10
What a beautiful automobile. But, like the Raptor, it apparently is not a vehicle that you are able or willing to drive a lot.
Maybe it's just the lure of the ever-renewing LTRT fleet.
audisport says:
01:35 PM, 12/14/10
@bimmerjay- Thanks for the correction. The memory is a fuzzy one.
joefrompa says:
02:03 PM, 12/14/10
I've never driven a car that started feeling loose in less than 50k miles, unless it had worn out/under-pressured tires on it. But that's not the car.
My '99 boxster, at 12 years of age and 59k miles, feels "worn out and loose" due to a badly deteriorated engine mount that i'm in the midst of replacing. Of course, it's got strut braces, bilsteins, and sway bars, so maybe that's not the best comparison...
bodyblue says:
04:45 PM, 12/14/10
"Actually it was Karl's all along."
Really? I just re read the blog and it states that IL purchased it.....I though Karl bought it later?
v8vroom says:
06:03 PM, 12/14/10
You are my hero.
yellowmiata says:
07:16 PM, 12/14/10
"Is that Timex reference in the title too obscure for 2010?"
No - we're not that dumb.
Kevin
majin_ssj_eric says:
09:24 PM, 12/14/10
Wow they must pay IL editors a lot!!!
bimmerjay says:
09:40 PM, 12/14/10
"Really? I just re read the blog and it states that IL purchased it.....I though Karl bought it later?"
I forget where it was explained, but if you read the blogs, notice pretty much every single one of them is by Karl and Karl alone...
Remember that journalists refer to themselves as "we" in written text.
dougtheeng says:
05:28 AM, 12/15/10
"I just re read the blog and it states that IL purchased it"
i think the old long term test car introduction used to have some weird formatting where it was forced to say "what we bought..." even if they were given the car or obtained it by some other means (i.e. riswick's thievery).
I seem to remember this caused some drama back with one of the BMWs where someone was losing their mind because the introduction said "bought" but it was actually a loaner from BMW.
roadburner says:
06:07 AM, 12/15/10
Why are we wasting time on this car? The truly intelligent people who know everything about automobiles want to read about the Cruze!
bwillz240 says:
07:46 AM, 12/15/10
@roadburner, if you were a truly intelligent person who cared about cares enough to read this blog you'd care more about the ford gt than the chevy cruze. im not saying the cruze isnt a good car, but come on its a ford gt
@dougtheeng, what happened in regards to "riswick's thievery"?
michaell says:
08:22 AM, 12/15/10
Karl bought the car on his own dime ... not sure if it's in the archives, but he documented the story of how / why he bought it.
cr_driver says:
09:36 AM, 12/15/10
So, whats the daily driver of Karl?
bimmerjay says:
10:11 AM, 12/15/10
@bwillz240,
Calm down, he was joking. It was a poke at certain poster who shall remain numerically nameless.
"So, whats the daily driver of Karl?"
I heard he chooses between either a Bugatti Veyron Supersport or a Maybach 62S.
charlesb says:
11:10 AM, 12/15/10
So Ford built it and somebody came. Tissue please!
rigidrider says:
11:30 AM, 07/16/11
Our company will soon be going public. The moment the bell rings, I'll be buying one of these as a present for 4 yrs of 16 hour days and stress. I cannot wait. I'll have mine in black please with stripe delete. Thank you sir.
My wife wants a shoe shopping spree. I'll likely spend less lol
Last company I helped bring to the market some bought the Ferrari 60. I didn't care for that so got my 911 Turbo. Our CFO went from a sensisble 1980s Mazda 626 that after 20 some yrs never seemed to drive down the road straight. Then in to a Ferrari. He made a mess of that car. I think Ferrari ended up banning him lol. Just kidding. He went on to be a movie producer. Lame.
Ford GT is likely the sexiest American car ever made.
johnchun says:
07:31 PM, 07/21/11
I am a Phricken BRUTAL DRIVER! ALMOST A LEGAL FELON ON WHEELS:
1=I burn every day
2=I chirp/clutch break every day
3=I try to use my "SUPER LOUD" air horn every 1/4 mile on a hot chick, kid or animal.
4=I go topless all the time, car wise.
5=I redline every mile if possible!
6=I race almost every weekend
7=I carry max insurance on car, and $10m liability
8=I make sure my back tires last 1/3 of my front tires
9=I change my oil every 2k on the street burner & 1k for my racer.
10=I buy 4-6 rear tires at a time for my rear 35 low profiles.
11=Only Japanese, American or German tires.
12=I try to burn out the rears in under 10k
13=I go to cars/N/Coffee almost every Saturday.
14=At the last auto Cross, a GT40 with twin turbos did 35.6 seconds and I did 40.5 seconds...
15=I have 2 of these turbo 6 speed cars and both have not required any engine work, 155k & 78k of brutal driving, including racing in 8-9 states...
16=I'm rim bender, cracker, warper & tires don't like me at all!