Sweet!!
Give us driving impressions!!!!
So far so good. I had a Five Hundred for a little bit, which has a nice solid feel, but was really lacking in the HP department.
The high beltline takes a little getting used to. The Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercars are super sticky and handling is outstanding with the Performance pack. The lower ratio also helps. Brakes are awesome, but I'll be upgrading to the Police Brakes when the parts become available. Electric power steering has great feel.
The engine is sweet, but its very quiet, no exhaust note like the MM. Transmission shifting is really good but there is a little room for improvement. Paddle shifters are cool but the PCM still doesnt allow you to lug or over-rev. Car's really sweet spot is midrange acceleration. Pulls hard. Not bad in all other situations, but once its moving and you mash it, thats where it really shines. Fuel economy has been around 18mpg, 80% city, 20% freeway driving. Driving overall is a joy. Very nimble and car tracks wonderfully. I drove a non performance pack car and it was nice, but did not feel as 'sharp' as the performance pack car.
The sync is nice, as is the standard stereo. The "base" car has ambient lighting, 7 speaker stereo, backup Camera, etc, so its well loaded. Interior fit and finish is great, but the leather quality is not as great as the MM was. Still better than the crap GM puts in their cars. Exterior fit and finish are very good, but the right rear door is misaligned. Im not going to ask them to do anything with it. My previous experience is that once you ask them to start fussing with it, it only gets worse.
The car is very quiet inside. Laminated double pane front glass and acoustic windshield make it almost vault like. A lot of people have asked me "is that a Lexus?" before seeing the Ford Oval. Its funny.
lord vader said:
Congrats on the new ride. Jury is still out for me on whether this design is growing on me. Still seems a little slab sided to me, kind of in the mold of the Chrysler 300's. But the color is good, the wheels look great and it's still in the family.
Yeah the slab siding takes time to get used to, but the car is growing on me. I didn't like the rear end at all, but the spoiler makes it look nicer. Other Taurus without the spoiler look funny.
DJCV said:
Great-looking car!
I would buy/order one just like that one....................and then I'd want to drop it about an inch all around and then de-chrome the front grille a bit.
I'm NOT HATING---it's a great-looking car---I'd just want to customize it a bit.
Thats why I had to order the dang car. All the SHOs out there were 401 pkg (Sunroof, 12 speaker sony, heated and cooled seats) or 402, which added more superfluous Lexus like crap I dont want. And the Perfomance Pack was only available in 400 ( base SHO) or 401. Not to mention, the 401 package was 2000 more, and 402 package cars out there all had additional addons, like Nav, distronic cruise etc. Pushing the sticker price of the car to 43-45 grand. Ford really was pushing people to buy the loaded versions, so I waited. The good part is, I ordered during job #1, got a job #2 car, which has the backup camera inside the rearview mirror, but increased the price by 600 bucks. My dealer filed for price protection so I paid job #1 price!
The only other 400 package cars that were out there had no performance pack, so I ordered.
I also thought about dechroming. I'll be swapping out for the honeycomb PI grille, but I like the silver cutouts in the bumper. The rear chrome has also has grown on me, it sets the rear end off. I would like to lower the car but I dont want ride height to suffer, we'll see. Eibach has springs out already.
What size and offset are those beautiful rims?.....:hmmm:
Similar to the 05+ Mustang, so should fit 03+ panthers pretty good.
Unless I missed it--------you should tell those who don't know--------------the power it comes with--------like the 365HP, etc...unless the stripped , stripped some of that ............????????
a lot of folks want to cut to meat ( car club thingy ).......know what I mean............
my thoughts --....
Yes, all SHOs are 365 HP. No stripping of HP, I was trying to strip the price and weight of the car down as low as possible. Also the Performance pack car has no spare (silly), you get a can of 'sealant' and a compressor.
Cruztaker said:
Congratulations WES!
I'll tell you man, my brother in law gets a free car yearly from Ford as part of his incentive package.
He has had a black SHO for some time now.
The interior is fabulous, and this one is loaded with every extra available.
Very nice indeed, and very handsome.
However, I took for a private spin, beat the crap out of it, and just wasn't impressed with the power.
We
must be spoiled.
Good to hear from you Barry!
Since hes got the loaded car, its got no perf pack and is chunkier than my car. LOL, I'm sure your MM would walk all over it.
FWIW, theres folks at the SHO board that are running 12.9s at the track with a tune and intake.
One guy ran a 12.7 but he ventilated his block shortly afterwards.
Fords being very careful about denying warranty claims on blown motors, so I'm gunshy about tuning my car.
Lets just say that when I was in Mexico, it held its own so far against a G37 6 speed, Challenger R/T, CLS550, and a 06 Mustang GT .
