"Numbers Game That Doesn't Add Up:" R&T Tests Shelby Super Snake

[El Kabong]

"Full disclosure: I love Shelbys. I've owned, driven, and raced them for years. I wanted to love this Shelby and its numbers. Unfortunately, that didn't happen."

"The Super Snake is definitely a fast car. The numbers it laid down at our test track are strong by any measure. Problem is, they should have been better. A stock Camaro ZL1 is quicker... the car's 12.3-second, 116-mph quarter-mile run speaks to a horsepower number far less than 750, let alone 850. Confused? So were we. Consider the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, with its SAE-certified 707 hp and a curb weight 627 pounds above the Shelby's. The last Hellcat we tested did a 12.0-second quarter-mile at 124.8 mph-enough to make any old drag racer doubt the Super Snake has anywhere close to the Dodge's beans."

"Super Snake can definitely stop. What the numbers won't tell you is how difficult the brakes are to modulate. They're nearly an on-off switch... With a mass-produced car, these things are all carefully tuned. The Super Snake's software is struggling with its hardware."

"On the skidpad, the Shelby returned numbers you'd expect from a 2015 Mustang with big tires, stiff springs, and big anti-roll bars. The only issue we encountered was a disturbing one-the car was virtually impossible to keep from spinning once it stepped out."

...and all yours for a mere 50 grand, plus the cost of the donor Mustang. Erm.

More at the link:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/road-tests/a26666/shelby-super-snake-road-test/

[ccap41]

Sounds like one massive disappointment for anybody with 100k. They better hope nobody who has 100k disposable reads this review because I know it won't make me buy the car. I'd rather buy a GT and do what I want with it myself, have it tuned by who I choose, and pick all of the parts myself. Sorry Shelby, but you guys either shouldn't have sent an unfinished car or made a mistake.

 

I REALLY wanted them to be able to dyno the car with everything they said.. " (Schedule conflicts kept us from dynoing the car during its time with us.)"

[G. David Felt]

Ouch that is one black eye.

[FAPTurbo]

Anyone spending 100K on a Mustang (or Camaro or Challenger) deserves disappointment. 

[Drew Dowdell]

Seems like a package that is about bragging about numbers rather than returning them. 

 

I'd always pick the car with better control over the car with more power (and less control)