Re: 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 vs. Crossfire
I'd been looking at a new "road" car for several years. Criteria set were: 1) price 2) manual transmission 3) rear wheel drive 4) had to be faster than my old '91 SHO.
Lots of BMW's would do this, but failed test 1. Other candidates were the 350Z - cool, fast, but zip luggage space and somehow I couldn't get excited about it. Got real interested in the RX8, read a lot of positive press, then I drove one. Positive expectations fell flat when the rubber hit the road.
The Crossfire hit my radar screen when it came out, but as has been said, it was panned as being "underpowered". Last fall had a slow day, went by the Chrysler dealer at lunch and they had a new 2004 6 speed on the lot.
While not scientific, I like testing cars on a bit of interstate that has exits nominally 2 miles apart. While quite an abbreviated test, running this ramp to ramp lets me test the car on curvy bits (the ramps themselves), see how it goes in a straight line, and how the brakes work. Testing the RX8 and the Crossfire on this same section of interstate, the Mazda won't hit 130 (indicated). The Crossfire does. Real world vs magazine road tests? Don't really know, just what I saw. Heck, could have been speedometer error, but the Crossfire FELT faster. Torque of the V6 vs the rotary? Could be, but I buzzed the rotamotor to redline to keep its power up on the curve.
Impressed me enough so that I really started looking for one in the used arena. Finally found an '05 base with only 6,850 miles. Love it so far - just can't find enough excuses or time to drive it! The bottom line is that a car is more than one part of the performance envelope - its a package. Like my Miata, the Crossfire isn't the fastest thing in a straight line. But add curves to the equation, factor in a sexy body, the Mercedes blood line and you have a real winner.
Henry Payne
'05 Base