2020 Mustang GT500 vs. the competition: Which American muscle is the best?

[MUSIC] Okay, so one of the hottest cars at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show is Ford's GT500. And it's attracting so much attention, and it's such a serious competitor that we thought we'd do a little bit of an impromptu shootout. Shootout. [SOUND] On the ->> Come on, you knew that was coming. [SOUND] I knew it was coming. [LAUGH] Doesn't make me any less disappointed. [LAUGH] So we're gonna compare it to the Hellcat Challenger Redeye and the Camaro ZL1. Right, so those are the primary competitors in the sort of pony car turned high power sports car, muscle car. Crazy, crazy, what I love is the fact that, especially here at Roadshow, we're all about, yeah, the next autonomous EV. It's gonna be this. It's gonna be that. And then our favorite cars here have been these crazy muscle things. Well, I mean, this is the Detroit show. It's the best place for it, right? Yeah. So let's start by talking about what we know, right? Cuz for right now- Yes, we don't actually know a lot about the last thing. Right, Ford hasn't given a ton of information. We know what size its engine is, what kinda power it's got, some estimate on performance. So let's start with Displacement like you said. Right, for which there is no replacement. there's definitely no replacement and Ford might be about to prove that because the competitors, the Challenger and the Camaro both have six point two litter super charged engines, And this one is a five point two 2 liter. 5.2, right. So, that means that it's got a slightly smaller engine. Right, yes, I know what smaller displacement means. Yeah, well, clear it up for our friends here. [LAUGH] On the Internet. But [UNKNOWN] bring this to the next number which is gonna be horsepower. Right. And this. One of the few things we have sort of a ball park estimate for. Yeah, and this is where I really, really, we can get so excited, right? Because the Camaro is even horsepower and torque 650, 650. Right. The Red eye is 797 and then 707 horsepower. Pound feet. Sorry, 707 pound feet This guy, all we know is that the horse power's somewhere in the 700's, we're thinking probably like 750 maybe. Based on some of the other estimates we're gonna get to later. Exactly. But we haven't really gotten any kind of numbers on torque. Right. I think it'll probably be in low 700's We can definitely- Don't you think that's a good estimation? Estimate that it's gonna be somewhere in the 700s based on what we know. We know that it is basically the voodoo engine that we saw in the GT 350. We know that instead of using the flat plane crank they're going with a more traditional crank for strength. So we know that they're going to be Putting some serious power and torque through that bad boy. Right. Right. So 700 sounds about right. And that's because we do know that Ford estimates something like 3.5 seconds, zero to 60. Right. And all those zero to 60 times are really close. Right. So the Camaro is 3.5. Right. The Challenger is 3.4. Right. This one is estimated around 3.5. So judging by those times as well, that means the Camaro is down on power 650 yet still has a really fast 0 to 60 time. So the Camaro, lighter weight probably then this guy. So then this guy is gonna be more heavy It's gonna be more heavy. It's gonna be heavier than the Mustang. Right and that tells us a lot about the nature of these vehicles also. Challengers, those are straight line cars. Yeah. Hellcat is all about straight lines. The demon's all about popping wheelies. Right. That's what Dodge does. Yeah. Straight line power. Meanwhile, the VL1- That thing turns. One of the best handling cars in its segment, so it's an amazing handling car. Ford has already proven with the GT350 that they can make a fantastic handling car I think that with the 500, we're gonna sort of split the difference there. We're gonna get something that handles about as well as the VL1 but with some serious straight line performance. Now the last time I drove a GTE500, I had a manual transmission And this time around Those days are over my friend. Nope. Nope, although we do get a dual clutch seven speed. But the only thing you can get in a manual transmssion in is the camero. Is it six or seven speed manual? Six speed 6 speed manual, 10 speed auto. And then the red eye is still an eight speed regual Torque convertor Automatic. Yeah, right. Of those I'm pretty sure the purists are thinking that the manual is where I want to go. And that means the people who really want to shift their own gears are going to lean towards the Camaro. Yeah. But the DCT is a proven transmission technology. And if you're talking about the fastest possible shifts. It's the way to go. Yeah, if you want the fastest, right. I mean, I get it. You lose a little bit of that connectedness to the car and connectedness to the road But what you gain is super fast shifts, super fast about 60 times>> Meanwhile that just kind of showing that it's technology is aging, they still get that talking vertic automatic, which is perfectly alright for straigth line speed but it's not. The best gear box for performance driving. What else do we go to kinda compare as far as like the specs on that. That's really, anybody think that we have in terms of information. We don't have specs on this. Do you have like an estimate for like what the top speed of this bad boy is gonna be. I mean it's gotta be close to 200, right? We're living in a world where you can buy a Mustang that Might tickle 200 miles an hour, like how crazy is that? What's the fastest speed you've ever gone? Like 50. Like 50, I hit 209. Well, yeah. [LAUGH] I just had to throw that in there. Good for you. But now can you imagine like a 209 miles an hour on a regular car without any kind of modifications, just right out of the box with a warranty? Would be crazy. That's ridiculous. So, so, yeah, it's insane. But I mean, these are insane vehicles. Right. These are insane times we're living in, and I mean- And I love it. We live in a world where cars are becoming increasingly more electrified. So if you want to get people electrified about- Right. These gasoline cars, you got to like really kick out the big numbers. Yeah. I thought of one more thing we can compare. Going really fast means that, you know, at some point, you're gonna have to bring it to a stop. We do have some more numbers. Right, right, overrated. Well, the Challenger and the Camaro have 390 millimeter brake rotors. 14.5, 15 inches or so. Something like that. Yeah, it's pretty. This guy's got 420 millimeters. That's like 16.5. Really, 420? 420, that means when you bring it to a stop, you're smoking the competition See, I even get bad jokes every now and then. So, knowing what we know. Knowing what kind of cars you love. Like, which one would you go with? Based on what we know. I would go with the challenger only because I've always, I know it's a boat. I know it. I get it. But it's the big car that make me cheat on my small little Miata. I love the way it looks I wouldn't go for the red eye I would play direct down a little bit with this gas pack but I really enjoy the challenger. I have kind of of the three always been Mustang guy and I think that I'm probably gonna continue to be that for this generation based on what I learned driving 350 and based on what I'm expecting from this car. I'm thinking that it just makes me really happy that the Ford is actually. Yeah. Getting to the point where it can compete with that Chevy again. Especially cuz I don't particularly love the look of the Camaro and I definitely don't like sitting in it because the visibility's bad. Yeah you're kind of like. But that's none of that's performance stuff that we're talking about. Yeah. But we should Should be learning more about this car coming later on this year as we get closer to the launch. So we'll probably have to have some more time where we sit down and talk about it. Again, as we get more information and we can get more accurate [INAUDIBLE] And we are getting our Red Eye into Road Show HQ, I think a little bit later this month. So, that should be good. And then once we get you int this one, then we'll get a [INAUDIBLE] and we'll have a Real [UNKNOWN] where we actually drive them. [SOUND] Should be fun. So that's been your, I guess, sort of our estimation of where we think that the Ford Shelby GT 500 will compare against, well, the competition in sort of muscle car segment. Be sure to check out the rest of our coverage of the 2019 Detroit Auto Show for even more cool unveils like this. And hit is up on the roadshow.com for all the news related to Detroit. See you. [MUSIC]