Have a look at this: Ford Shelby GT500.
Available in 2006. 450+ HP, great handling.
This may be the best ‘muscle car’ ever made.
It’s also going to be $40,000. Sigh.
Wicked.
Ford and Daimler/Chrysler have done a marvelous job of designing new cars with retro appeal. A trend I really like!
Love it, love it, love it. My dad has a '68 GT500, this really echoes the lines and feel of that car.
I want one.
It’s nice. Can you get it without the skunk stripes?
My current favourites are: the RS4 or the new Z06. :eek:
Both a little more expensive, but performance, class and style by the mile.
Of course, I’m SO taking the GT500 out for a test drive. At that price point, it’s certain to be the highest performance/$ ratio.
How is Ford build quality and reliability for these performance models?
Word on the new Mustang is that its initial quality is very high. Close seams on panels, tight tolerances all over. It’s really a world-beating car. Motorweek just made it car of the year.
So what do you have to do on that link to find a picture of the damn thing? I don’t see any new Mustang or Cobra anywhere on that site. 
Oh, and the engine that they’re putting in this thing isn’t a stroked Mustang engine. They’ve dropped the very high tech 5.4L V-8 from the $150,000 Ford GT into it. 32 valves, supercharged. It’s also getting a 6-speed tremec manual transmission.
That’s basically a supercar drivetrain in a $40,000 car. This thing might eat C6 Corvettes and give the BMW M3 a run for its money (although I hear the new M3 will have 500HP - the horsepower wars are ON).
You don’t? I just clicked it and went straight to the GT500 site.
Anyway, here’s another page to look at: GT500 reborn as modern thoroughbred
Looks like it’s going to have some great performance.
Shame about the blocky, overweight look. The side view just screams “dull,” especially with that horrid little ducktail spoiler. Yecch.
I don’t care much for Audi’s new corporate big-ass grill look.
It’s crossed over to Volkswagen, too. On the VWs, the chrome seems out of place.
To each his own, I guess. I love the look. I’m getting tired of all the swoopy curves on other new cars. This thing just looks flat-out aggressive. Kicks the ass of BMW’s new styling, IMO.
I kind of agree. It’s an acquired taste. But with 420bhp and almost as much torque from a very refined V8- 32valve powerplant matched to a 6 speed with all wheel drive. :eek: We’re talking street ralley! 
A sports car for every day and every season. Plus the fit, finish and styling is very teutonic… if you like that kind of thing. 
Yeah, I was disappointed by the new 5 styling. Bloated and uninspired. Bleh! 
The 7 seems to carry it off a little better but that’s perhaps due to the longer dimensions.
But the driving experience is still fantastic. They do make a great handling car.
Yeah, but you’re not exactly setting the bar very high.
The mess that they’ve made of the back end of the new 5 and 7 series is a travesty. While BMW styling has never been radically innovative, at least it was always clean and balanced.
The only excuse i can think of for the current models is that the company got a great deal on 200 tons of steel and fiberglass moldings, and had to find somewhere to put them.
It’s almost as bad as this monstrosity from Cadillac in the 80s.
I think one of the host of the English car enthusiast show “5th gear” described the new 5/7 design as, “The result of equiping baboons with welding equipment”.
Not only that, but BMW’s iDrive is a usability disaster. What in hell were they thinking? When I’m driving, I don’t want to be using a freaking computer interface to change radio stations. Rotate the knob, press a button, rotate some more… And don’t forget to keep those eyes on the road, kids!
I wouldn’t buy a BMW with iDrive in it. And Audi and a few other manufacturers seem to have not learned the lesson and are adding their own goofball computer interfaces to their electronics. Stupid.
Let me guess, you’re using Firefox, right? I had to open it with IE to see it, my Firefox couldn’t display it.
I fired up IE, but still got nothing on the bottom of the page, only a giant grey area. Ideas?