It's Getting Real Now!
- Thread starter Shmee150
- Start date
A quick update with 175 miles on the clock; still very early days but having had it back from Topaz with full PPF I've driven it every day since to get the run-in completed as quickly as I can.
First observation is that the car is a complete and total spaceship; every single traffic light or time you're alongside somebody it's a case of "What type of car is that?", "It's a Ford", "No way is that a Ford". Most Brits have absolutely no idea what the GT is! Each person who has been in my passenger seat has commented about the view they have in the mirror whereby they can see down the length of the teardrop cabin and through the buttress - in a way it's a shame the mirrors have to be positioned that the driver doesn't get that luxury. Equally though, they've all mentioned the limited footwell space and as an experiment we removed the 'foot rest' piece which isn't actually seemingly doing anything at all and blocks out a good 25cms of space - am I being stupid or why is that even there? Given the relative lack of storage in this car, a little more room down there for a laptop bag or something would be appreciated.
The general quality and standard of the finishing of the car is incredibly high; both the paintwork and fitment of components. I'm used to McLarens whereby you'd find multiple issues on any new car but with the GT it all seems to be assembled well and tidily. I for one appreciate the simple components (like switchgear and SYNC which match my Focuses) while allowing the driving dynamics to be their own.
From the early miles, driving LHD in London isn't an issue at all so far and fortunately hopping in and out is so easy (compared to McLarens or my 911 GT3) that running around for parking barriers could be much worse. No question the car is low, really, low, but the sill is relatively easy to cross and the A-pillar is far enough forward to give easy leg swinging room. Admittedly I'm not the tallest person (5'10) but to the taller drivers out there, is headroom an issue?
On my first ever drive I had a strange issue whereby the passenger door managed to 'pop itself' 4 times and required me to stop and pull it back down, but this hasn't happened since. My car also has the dreaded front end creak that I've heard about before but it's about to head back to Multimatic here in the UK to have that looked into, which it's been suggested might potentially be the "rocker assembly". There's one peculiar thing that is hastening its return to Multimatic which is an usual, almost burning like smell that's coming from the exhaust accompanied by gentle smoke after a drive of more than 5 miles/15 mins and I'm not taking chances with investigating what this might be.
General observations though:
- Reversing camera is configured to let you get incredibly close to objects behind you (much more so than my Focuses with the same guidelines)
- Audio system isn't exactly the best and the speakers are physically very low, not what the car was built for though!
- SYNC with Android Auto etc makes life all very convenient and easy
- Dropping it into Track makes jaws drop every time!
- Cup holders are too big to hold European drinks without them flinging around
- It's much quieter than I expected, I have the standard exhaust and I suppose from previous comments we have a quieter muffler
Of course these are all comments before I've been able to really push on to an extent; firstly due to only driving in and around London and nowhere with open roads but secondly due to the low mileage as I intend to get it up to the 600 and then have the oil change service done before the real travels and adventures begin.
First observation is that the car is a complete and total spaceship; every single traffic light or time you're alongside somebody it's a case of "What type of car is that?", "It's a Ford", "No way is that a Ford". Most Brits have absolutely no idea what the GT is! Each person who has been in my passenger seat has commented about the view they have in the mirror whereby they can see down the length of the teardrop cabin and through the buttress - in a way it's a shame the mirrors have to be positioned that the driver doesn't get that luxury. Equally though, they've all mentioned the limited footwell space and as an experiment we removed the 'foot rest' piece which isn't actually seemingly doing anything at all and blocks out a good 25cms of space - am I being stupid or why is that even there? Given the relative lack of storage in this car, a little more room down there for a laptop bag or something would be appreciated.
The general quality and standard of the finishing of the car is incredibly high; both the paintwork and fitment of components. I'm used to McLarens whereby you'd find multiple issues on any new car but with the GT it all seems to be assembled well and tidily. I for one appreciate the simple components (like switchgear and SYNC which match my Focuses) while allowing the driving dynamics to be their own.
From the early miles, driving LHD in London isn't an issue at all so far and fortunately hopping in and out is so easy (compared to McLarens or my 911 GT3) that running around for parking barriers could be much worse. No question the car is low, really, low, but the sill is relatively easy to cross and the A-pillar is far enough forward to give easy leg swinging room. Admittedly I'm not the tallest person (5'10) but to the taller drivers out there, is headroom an issue?
On my first ever drive I had a strange issue whereby the passenger door managed to 'pop itself' 4 times and required me to stop and pull it back down, but this hasn't happened since. My car also has the dreaded front end creak that I've heard about before but it's about to head back to Multimatic here in the UK to have that looked into, which it's been suggested might potentially be the "rocker assembly". There's one peculiar thing that is hastening its return to Multimatic which is an usual, almost burning like smell that's coming from the exhaust accompanied by gentle smoke after a drive of more than 5 miles/15 mins and I'm not taking chances with investigating what this might be.
General observations though:
- Reversing camera is configured to let you get incredibly close to objects behind you (much more so than my Focuses with the same guidelines)
- Audio system isn't exactly the best and the speakers are physically very low, not what the car was built for though!
- SYNC with Android Auto etc makes life all very convenient and easy
- Dropping it into Track makes jaws drop every time!
- Cup holders are too big to hold European drinks without them flinging around
- It's much quieter than I expected, I have the standard exhaust and I suppose from previous comments we have a quieter muffler
Of course these are all comments before I've been able to really push on to an extent; firstly due to only driving in and around London and nowhere with open roads but secondly due to the low mileage as I intend to get it up to the 600 and then have the oil change service done before the real travels and adventures begin.
Haven't done much with it yet!
The Senna is now having PPF fitted but that bodywork is so complicated thanks to the aero it'll be 2-3 weeks more. What will be interesting is the first time to drive them back somewhere interesting to get a feel for two cars that do something similar - immense track performance while being road legal - but in quite different ways.
STORMCAT
GT
Apollo
GT Owner
Sinovac
GT Owner
SYCO GT
GT Owner
Schmee, thank you for the real world update experience! Love the insight about the day to day use and observations!
I'm not sure if these were ever discussed before but my partner was doing some Googling and came upon the Deakin & Francis Ford GT Owners Cufflinks which I've promptly gone out to buy:
They aren't cheap at £380 but are a Ford Official Licensed Product and come from a lovely boutique in the Piccadilly Arcade in central London.
http://deakinandfrancis.co.uk/sterling-silver-ford-gt-supercar-cufflinks.html
They aren't cheap at £380 but are a Ford Official Licensed Product and come from a lovely boutique in the Piccadilly Arcade in central London.
http://deakinandfrancis.co.uk/sterling-silver-ford-gt-supercar-cufflinks.html
Triheart7
GT Owner
