HERE ARE THE PICTURES in case you just want to look at those and not read anythingtl;dr: I love it.About a month ago, I finally bought the car I had been dreaming about for over a year. This is the story of how it came to be and my first impressions after putting about 900 miles on it.Background: I've been driving for about 7 years, and 6 of those years were spent driving my parents' 2004 Corolla. My first time buying a car of my own was last year, when I bought a used 6MT Mk6 Volkswagen GTI. The reason for buying that particular car was that I wanted a car to learn how to drive a stick shift in (I couldn't before this, as my username suggests) and to finally own something a bit more fun and sporty. The GTI lived up to all of my expectations and was a spectacularly fun car to drive, but I had always had my sights set on something more powerful.At first I wanted an F8x M3 or M4, but they're super common in my area and I wanted something that would sound great without having to sink $8k for a good aftermarket exhaust. I then considered the C63S AMG, but it was too sleeper-like for my taste (although I know that appeals to lots of people), and I didn't feel like I'd be happy going back to driving an automatic after having so much fun in my manual GTI. Then, one day, I saw an M2 in person and loved everything about it. It looked and sounded great, and all the reviews seemed to indicate that it was one of the best M cars ever made. While in the process of calling dealers to try and secure an allocation for an M2, I saw a GT350 in person for the first time, and it blew me away. I had remembered reading lots of great reviews on this car when it first came out, but I forgot about it until I finally got to see one. Pictures and videos do not do this car justice. The road presence and the glorious noise of the GT350's 5.2L FPC V8 made all of my other considerations a distant memory, and at that point I decided that I had to have one, despite never having been an American muscle enthusiast.Buying it: I quickly found out that it was going to be really difficult to buy this car anywhere near MSRP. I called all of the local dealers in the Bay Area and they wanted anywhere from $10k-30k over MSRP for this car, which I most certainly was not willing (or able) to pay. I then started calling dealers around the country and found one that promised me an allocation for a 2018 model at MSRP. However, the 2018 MY had not even been officially announced yet and they did not know when they would get the allocation. In the meanwhile, I joined an owners group on Facebook and got in touch with a salesman there who offered me a 2017 MY allocation that could be built to order immediately for a relatively small markup over MSRP. Given that it would have cost me about the same to arrange transport for an out of state car, I agreed and placed the order.The car was built and delivered pretty quickly since it was getting to the end of the 2017 MY run, and at the end of May I took delivery.Build options: I love the simplicity of the build options for this car. You can't really do much other than select the color, stripes, and one of two packages (electronic and convenience) that add the bigger center console screen, dual zone climate control, etc. The difference between the two packages is the seats: the electronics package comes with suede manually adjustable Recaro seats, and the convenience package comes with partial leather power adjustable heated and cooled seats. I didn't really have a choice here because they stopped producing the convenience package at some point in the 2017 model year, but I was happy with getting the Recaros as they looked nicer, had more bolstering, and seemed to better fit the character of the car.Engine: Having never owned anything with more than 4 cylinders before, this was quite a step up. I would be lying if I said I felt comfortable at all driving something with this much power, so I took it real easy for the first week. What made things easier was that the engine doesn't have a lot of torque down low, so it's actually pretty easy to cruise around in the city without getting into much trouble. As the dyno graphs for this car show, most of the torque kicks in between 3500 and 4000 RPM, and at that point it really shoves you back into your seat. I eventually got around to hitting redline (8250 RPM) and was totally blown away -- what a brute of a machine. It feels so weird because every natural instinct I have is telling me to shift around 4-5k, but there's an entire half of the tach left to go!Exhaust: This was one of the main selling points of this car for me, and it did not disappoint. Hitting the start button in the morning and hearing that filthy sounding cold start is one of the highlights of my day. This car is LOUD, even cruising around at 3k RPM. At higher RPM's, it can literally be heard a mile away. The exhaust note has so much character and it just sounds... different from any other V8 I've heard. People love to say that it's a muscle car that sounds like a Ferrari because of the flat plane crank, but it doesn't really sound like a Ferrari even at high RPMs. It has its own unique exhaust note, almost like a combination of a Ferrari V8 and a traditional muscle car V8. The GT350 also has the active exhaust with the two exhaust modes (normal and sport). It sounds pretty civilized in the normal mode, but I change the exhaust to sport mode as soon as I start the car because it makes the driving experience so much better.Transmission: The Tremec TR-3160 6 speed transmission is excellent. I can't compare it to the MT-82 in the other Mustangs because I've never driven one, but I've heard that it's a major improvement. The shifter is pretty good by most standards (definitely better than my GTI shifter), but it could be better. It feels tight and precise most of the time, but I've had a few times where it doesn't give me much confidence that I'm actually in gear even though it feels like I should be -- I find out it's not in gear when I release the clutch and hear it grind and have the shifter pop back to neutral. This usually only happens when I'm going from neutral -> first, so I just have to remember to kind of put some force into the shift to be sure that it's in gear. The aftermarket MGW shifter for this car has received high praise as being much more solid and precise feeling than the stock shifter, so I may decide to get that installed at some point.Suspension: The MagneRide suspension is fantastic. In normal mode, the ride is super comfortable and makes this a great GT car. In sport mode, it feels... sporty (more road feel). Not much else I can say here, I'm not a suspension connoisseur.Steering: The electric steering in this car has a lot more feedback (especially in sport mode) than my GTI's electric steering. I don't have any other reference point to compare this to, but I like it. I haven't played much with the other modes.Handling: I'm an amateur driver, so I have not felt comfortable throwing this car into corners at really high speeds like a more experienced driver would, and I don't think I'll feel comfortable doing that until I've done some HPDE events. I've driven it at reasonable speeds on twisty roads and it handles really well, which I expected after reading the reviews but was still surprised by for such a large car that weighs 3700+ pounds. I haven't really felt like this car was less nimble than my GTI on the road, which says a lot. The one thing I will note is that this car does what is known as "tramlining". I had not heard of this until reading some other owner impressions of this car, but this is definitely a quirk of this car thanks to the wide (295) front tires. Basically, if there are imperfections in the road surface, the car will jerk a bit in that direction as you drive over them. Not that big of a deal, just have to make sure you're paying attention and driving with both hands on the wheel, this isn't a car you can lazily roam around in.Brakes: They're gigantic. 394mm rotors with 6 piston Brembos up front, 380mm 4 piston in the rear. Consequently, they have ridiculous stopping power. No complaints here.Exterior: It's a stunning car, and as I said before, pictures do not do it justice and you have to see it in person. The entire front of the car (up to the A pillars) is a different design from the other S550 Mustangs. The front is lower and wider, and it makes a world of difference in how aggressive the car looks. Now, for the complaints: The fit and finish is OK, but not what you'd expect for a car that costs this much money. The paint was in such bad condition from the factory that my detailer spent ~50 hours correcting it before I had XPEL and Opti-Coat applied. Since it's a black car, any and all imperfections show easily. It looks flawless now, but this is not what you'd expect to have to do for a brand new car. There have also been numerous complaints about the panel alignment on this car and the problems are real. My car hasn't had any significant issues, but all GT350's have a problem where there's a sizable gap where the rear bumper meets the rear quarter panel. I've heard that this is because the valance for the GT350 is heavier than the other Mustangs, so the clips aren't strong enough to secure it tightly. I'll leave it as-is for now because it's not a huge deal, but if the gap starts getting bigger I'll probably have to get a body shop to look at it.Interior: I was really surprised by how much of an improvement the S550 interior is compared to the last generation of Mustang. People I've shown this car to have been similarly surprised, as it feels a lot more high quality than a typical American car interior. It's not a luxury interior by any means, but it is a nice place to be. I'd say it's as good or better than most entry level German cars. The GT350 has the additional benefit of some nice touches like the blacked out center console (no chrome switches) and the Alcantara steering wheel. The Recaro seats look great are also super comfy for both spirited driving and long distance cruises. Overall, I'm very satisfied with the interior quality.Infotainment: The SYNC3 system is solid and I've heard it's a big improvement over the last gen systems. It's responsive, and the built in navigation system is good enough that I can use it instead of Apple Maps or Google Maps with confidence. It also supports CarPlay and Android Auto. I can't speak for Android Auto since I have an iPhone, but CarPlay was a pretty big disappointment to me (Apple's fault, of course, not Ford). The sound system is garbage, even though I have the "upgraded" 9 speaker system. I guess it's not much of a priority for a performance car, but I don't even have audiophile standards for quality and it is still unbearable to listen to. I'll have it swapped for something better soon.Practicality: As you may expect, fuel economy is bad, but no one buys this car to save on gas. I'm averaging about 15mpg (mostly city driving), but have gotten low 20's mpg on highway cruises. I don't have a long enough commute for gas mileage to be a concern for me right now. The car is a comfortable daily driver. The main problem with the practicality of this car is that the ground clearance is so small that it will scrape on the majority of entryways, even with a small incline, if you don't approach at a 45 degree angle. This became a habit pretty quickly after cringing the first few times I heard it scrape (luckily no visible damage besides scratches on the bottom of the plastic splitter). As with all Mustangs, the rear seats don't have enough room for an average sized adult to sit there comfortably, but I rarely have more than a single passenger so this isn't a problem for me. The trunk space is more than adequate. That's about it.Mods:So far:XPEL on full front, rocker panels, rear bumper, rear quarter impact areaOpti-Coat on the entire car3M Crystalline tint on all glassRed Brembo calipers from the GT350R -- yes, I paid for an entire new set of calipers just to switch the color from black -> red, but this makes a huge difference in the aesthetics especially with this car being blackFord Performance catch cans on both sidesPlanned:Hood struts -- the car comes with an old fashioned prop rod, no idea whyLED rear sidemarker lights -- the incandescent lights on these are ugly because they only light up 1/3 of the side marker, luckily most of the rest of the exterior lighting is LEDLED interior lightingDashcam and sound systemMGW shifterMore Alcantara trim pieces for the interior to replace the vinyl (shifter boot, e-brake boot, center console cover)No plans for any powertrain or exhaust mods. I already can't use most of this power on the street, and the exhaust sounds incredible already.Overall, I'm super happy with this car and I plan on keeping it forever even if I have to get something more practical at some point. NA V8's and manual transmissions are getting more and more uncommon, so this car will only become more special over time.Thanks for reading, and I would be happy to answer any questions! via /r/cars http://ift.tt/2tC3RYl
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