More Details Leak on the 2011 Shelby GT500

I am sorry kingkhalas while dual clutches are nice the shelby is not just a performance vehicle it is a car that has a great heritage behind it. With that heritage is a nice happy cueball shifter. While most cars are going to gravitate towards dual clutches for various and understandable reasons i.e. they shift like a greased pig struck by lighting. i would prefer the shelby to be untarnished at least for now. when they start ecoboosting these things by all means start dual clutching them =D

I was thinking of waiting for the Challenger with the 6.4 Hemi, but I'm beginning to really like the Mustang, especially with 550 HP.

I agree with kingkhalas, Ford needs to get out of the past and bring us the dual clutch (as an option).

Damm those rims are ugly

"I wish they had a dual clutch transmission option for the Shelby."
That too much class for an American muscle car... Next thing you know people will start asking for modern suspension setups

If I had any I would wager money that the '11 GT with the 412HP engine is going to be an overall better car, and only slightly slower than the GT500. And it's what, $30k cheaper? The GT500 made more send when you got a 71% bump in power, now that it's only 33% the big jump in price is harder to justify. And frankly, Shelby's name means less to me now than it used to.

Heck, in C&D's latest lightning lap the Shelby wasn't mucg faster than the standard GT that's down 100hp on the 2011 model.

I find it strange that the SVT option is not standard on the 550hp car.

Anyone know how much weight the glass roof option adds to the car?

Again, what´s the big deal? 10 horses?
Or what else....it is that interesting vrs the upgrades of the 11 mustang lineup.?

10 horsepower. Big whoop.

Let me know when it can break into the 11's.

I have to agree with dc325ix, those rims are not the best for this car. Coincidentally, I was surfing youtube last night and came upon the Top Gear episode where they tested the last GT500. Wow was that car garbage.. I hope this one is even marginally better. It needed an extensive suspension upgrade.

A Dual Clutch on a Mustang? Ha, get real!

They don't even have IRS but rather a lame live axle like just they did over 45 years ago.

Ford talks about their "Smart Trucks" but the Mustang is absolutely a "Dumb Car."

The 10 horsepower bump isn't the big deal... it's the fact that the engine will now be aluminum and therefore lighter and be responsible for a better balanced vehicle...

Cannot say I like those wheels, though.

The rims look like fine, kind of like something that BBS might make out of forged aluminum. I guess it takes a post on a Shelby to bring the tools out of the woodwork. The dual clutch suggestion is just lame. Grow a pair and get a stick.

Grow a pair? Mustangs are driven mostly by Women.

Not to mention, the Mustang is only good in a straight line. Cheap interior, clunky steering, subpar engine which I think the last GT500 was getting like sub 400 horses. I wouldn't spend more than $15K on this junk.

The Challenger is still a better looking and easier to drive car. When I look at a Mustang, all I see are cheap rental car seats, intereior and all the rattling plastic trim pieces that go with it.

I agree the Challenger is good looking, but it's a fat pig. Hefty Hefty Hefty. Needs to go on a diet,but that will never happen because there is no R&D $ at that POS company that all of us now own with the French!!! La Pew

Since all GT500 come with 500 or more horsepower your 400 quote is pure is fantasy. Also all the press has stated the Mustang has the best interior of all the pony cars. So I quess the Challenger would be like driving in a rattling tin with a interior made out of mattle plastic.

The Challenger is my favorite of the modern musclecars, but it its terribly overweight. Its interior doesn't please me either, but its better than that gimmicky Mustang interior with those ugly gauges.

As for the horses, look at the Top Gear video, look around the Mustang Forums and SVT Performance ones, you'll find a deal of people making around 460-480 horses.

The GT seems to be the better executed package and the new 5L V8 will only amplify that.

Thats to the rear wheels everyone knows that Manufacturers rate Horsepower at the crank not the rear wheels well maybe you. Challenger makes only 340 to rear wheels thats the SRT, the 500 horsepower M5 makes 390 horsepower to the rear wheels. Get educated when quoting numbers, rearwheel horsepower is different than crank. No Manufacture rates at the wheels and to fiqure crank horsepower add 20 to 15 % to the rear wheel horsepower and you will get the crank horsepower.

Thats to the rear wheels everyone knows that Manufacturers rate Horsepower at the crank not the rear wheels well maybe you. Challenger makes only 340 to rear wheels thats the SRT, the 500 horsepower M5 makes 390 horsepower to the rear wheels. Get educated when quoting numbers, rearwheel horsepower is different than crank. No Manufacture rates at the wheels and to fiqure crank horsepower add 20 to 15 % to the rear wheel horsepower and you will get the crank horsepower.

Edmunds put the 2010 Mustang Gt500 on the dyno. And got 511hp at the wheels. Not crank.
The thing is a monster. Just has problems putting all that powah to the ground.

http://www.insideline.com/ford/shelby-gt500/2010/2010-ford-shelby-gt500-vs-2010-hennessey-performance-hpe550-camaro.html

The 2011 is going to have a 10hp boost, but much more importantly, a much lighter motor.

Great choice on tire sidewall height. Too thin tires don't look performance orientated nor to they offer up much extra performance. On a car like this, bigger wheels would cheapen the point of the car.

As for wheel style. I think it matches the modern-retro mix quite well. But its an opinion anyway.

As for dual-clutch. Why? They are really good automatics, but nothing can compare to the feel of shifting a car with your left foot and hand. Not everybody wants to give up that day-to-day interaction with their car for 0.1-0.2 sec reduction in acceleration times. Driving is not always a track test.

Now, if they offer an auto, then yes I will concede a dct would make sense. Then again, with 550 NA hp, a well set-up auto will also work for that purpose too. Just look at MB autos.

As far as I'm concerned an automated manual is as good as its full auto mode. If you get tired of shifting put it in auto mode and forget about it. But if Ford doesn't have it perfect they're doing us a favor not offering it. The M5 transmission for instance is like a fish out of water trying to drive like most normal people do.

" agree the Challenger is good looking, but it's a fat pig. Hefty Hefty Hefty. Needs to go on a diet,but that will never happen because there is no R&D $ at that POS company that all of us now own with the French!!! La Pew"

Ummm Fiat is an Italian company.......look it up.

"Not to mention, the Mustang is only good in a straight line. "

WRONG! Take a look at every test from the past year and NOT ONE agrees with that statement. Ford has shown that a solid rear axle is still competitive if done right.....read up on a few articles then come back.

racerxl: try driving one instead of reading blogs. The challenger is such a better car for both fun, and daily driving. That's the true definition of a muscle car. So far, it's the only that has stayed true to its roots and doesn't apologize.

Fiat, by the way, is Italian. They make some pretty good stuff. As you've been told, look them up.

Of the 3 discussed here; the Mustang is the best rental car. it looks like a rental, drives like a rental, feels like a rental and rattles like a rental. It doesn't matter what's under the hood, it's a rental.

The Camaro is the best Porsche Caymen. It's very flighty, lightweight, impossible to see out of and very cramped.

The Challenger is perfect. yeah, it's heavier but the driving dynamics, power, daily driving characteristics are all spot on.

FYI, the GT500 BEAT the Camaro (IRS) in handling on numerous track tests so the SRA with SVT tuning is better than an IRS, lighter too and can easily handle more torque and drag racing. The other improvements (3.73, 10HP, aluminum block, 20" rear tires, suspension tuning, etc.) will all add up to much better 0-60 times and 1/4 mile runs...!

The name of the game at Ford, thanks to CEO Alan Mulally is "continuous improvement" ever year... hense leaving the competition in the dust... Just watch the SVT annoucements on Monday...!

As great as the Mustang is, the GT500 just isnt a complete package to me, especially for the money. I could get a Corvette for similar money add a few options and still send the Pony limping home and have a far more refined piece and a better all around package.

I think If Ford wants to truly compete in this price range they need to make a dedicated high powered sports car.

Ford can add all the horsepower that they want. That still don't mean s#@*&% without Z-Rated performance tires. It's embarrassing enough that the Shelby Super Snake got smoked by a stock Nissan GT-R on a drag strip, which is an all out horsepower war.

IRS is better, even Ford agrees. There point on keeping a live axle is to maintain certain handling traits (and for the most part the "feel" of a pony car).

But, today's mustang does handle well, and in the end that is what matters. Many IRS cars can't perform to the same level (some do) as a mustang so discounting the mustang because of this doesn't take into account actual facts.

Finally, live axles are great for the drag strip with slicks. But IRS designs have proven to be just as reliable with high torque loads. Its all a matter of design, material spec, and QC.

10hp isnt that much because so far there is still a live rear axel , a dule clutch transmission would be a horrible pair for this car because its not some itilan pasta burner, and for those of you who think a mustang is a girls car then you are right but wrong cuz the only mustangs that girls drive are v6 convertables. seriosly you dont see any women driving a gt500

I wish Detroit would get the hell away from all of these "RETRO" interiors. I was in the market for a car a month ago. I drove the Camaro SS, the Ford Shelby GT and the Challenger SRT. The interiors on both the ford and the Camaro came off as just cheap and awkward. The Camaro also felt very tinny to me. The Challenger felt like I was in a cheap rental Charger. The thing that really turned me off about the GT 500 was my local dealer was trying to burn me for $ 68,000 as it is a "demand" vehicle. I had my phone with me and called up EBAY motors and showed him that most of the GT500's similary equipped were around the low to mid $ 50's. He wouldn't come down a dime. The Camaro interior is just crap. I love the look of the exterior of all 3 cars and love the sound of a V-8. I finally went to my local Audi dealer and picked up a beautiful red S4. Yes I know it was more money and not an American muscle car, but the interior is beautiful, it has four doors and is very fast. I find it sad that Detroit seems to always want to settle into the old mindset that when they have a hot seller, they can put out anything and the public will just take it. They forget that when these cars were in the original iteration ( the 1960s-1970s) they didn't have strong European or Japanese competition. Too bad.

The reason for the perpetuation of the live axle is quite simply to keep costs down. They've done a pretty good job with this old technology.

PS I agree that the upcoming '11 GT model will make the GT500 a moot point.

What i think... the new Shelby'11 is not gonna be so great against mustang GT (5.0, as shelby'10 vs 10 mustang GT... for 150 more Horses... for around 20-25 grands... i guess it's not worth it... u can supercharge ur 11 mustang... and save a lot of money