Since you asked: My driving experience is somewhat limited, as it's been cold and rainy since I got it. When I've had dry pavement, it hasn't been warmer than 45. When it's been warmer than 45, the pavement's been wet. But I have put about 800 miles on the car since Tuesday at lunch when I picked it up. Did about 140 miles Tuesday night, then Wednesday night I drove to Fairbanks (350 miles) rather than fly up for meetings on Thursday like I was scheduled to do. Drove back Friday morning. Trip up was relatively dry, but it got dark on me about half way. Even with our HIDs, the prospect of having a moose or caribou wander out in front of you makes you think twice about pushing it too hard. Trip back was in daylight, but I hit heavy rain for the second half of it, and when I started out the day temps were just above freezing. Given the warnings about these tires in temps below 40, along with the fact that conditions were perfect for black ice, I was a little restrained even before the rain started.
Observations:
*Acceleration--not sure how much is because of the ambient temps effecting tire performance, but hard launches are just about impossible without breaking this thing loose. I didn't have an opportunity to play with the launch control doohickey, but just pulling into traffic called for a light foot and feathering the throttle. Even on ramps, I'd be rolling at 40 in 2nd, and hit it hard to half-throttle, and I invariably had to back off it to get the rear end back in line. At highway speeds, acceleration is amazing. Pulling out to pass is a treat. You start hoping to catch up to cars so you'll have to drop it to third and punch it. That said, even then the rear-end could get a little wiggly if you are super aggressive with the go pedal. 60-100 acceleration is surprisingly quick. No stats, but the first time I did it, I would have guessed I was doing about 80, when I looked down to see the needle passing triple digits.
*Braking--Obviously, I was not at Sebring pulling multiple laps, so I was no where near the braking demands that reviewers have claimed overtaxed the braking system. For street use, we have some impressive brakes. Strong, firm, confident, and balanced. Hard braking doesn't stand you on your nose like it does with previous gen Stangs.
*Handling--This is where the car stands out in my mind. What am I comparing to? Primarily two cars: My 95 GT vert, which I've done extensive suspension mods on, to get it to handle just as well as the second car I'm comparing to--the C6 ZHZ Vette convertible I spent some time with in California a year ago. As far as comparisons: The Shelby is better planted than my 95 at triple digit speeds--probably due to being what feels like a larger, heavier car. Like my 95, it handles power oversteer very smoothly and confidently. It's much more balanced than the Vette, which seemed a lot more, not really nose-heavy, but nose-biased, if that makes sense? The Shelby feels like about half the car is in front of me, and half behind me. The Vette feels like 75% of the car is in front of me. Sorry, not a trained racer, so I don't have all the proper terminology. In my 95, +100 speeds induce adrenaline surges--you know you're on the edge. In the Vette, you knew you were hauling, but still felt confident. In the Shelby, 100 feels like 80 in a good performance car. 125 feels like "spirited driving", but certainly still feels well in control. Can't comment much past that. In the twisties, I was able to put the car confidently at 85-90 in curves marked 45 mph; my biggest reservation was that I was in marginal adhesion conditions, between ambient temps and the potential for black ice, so I wasn't pulling hard Gs. Two words: balanced and confident. But also knowing you're right foot is standing on dynamite. :bigthumb:
All of this in a vert. Never got to put the top down, but I never felt any of the typical body flex you get with a vert.
We've got another big storm coming through this weekend, so the car's probably going to stay inside until Monday. I hope to have another 4-5 weeks of driving before I have to store it for the winter.
Summing it all up: AMAZING!