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Driving Impressions
At some point in their lives, every car lover should get to drive a car like the 2005 Ford GT. This car is a dream come true, it's that simple. Turn the key, press the big red button, and the symphony begins. Needles swing this way and that around their dials on the dash, then settle in to their basic idle position. Adjust the seat, buckle up and ready, set, go.Power is immediate and stunning, the engine pulling smoothly all the way to the rev limiter. Clutch action is light, take up is deceptively smooth. Freeway speeds are surpassed in mere blinks of the eye. At legal speeds, the massive torque renders superfluous half the transaxle's six gears. Only when engaging in speed exhibitions outlawed in every jurisdiction in the U.S. or while playing at the edge on a closed, purpose-built course, do you need to bother lodging the shift lever in each and every notch while winding the engine out to redline. Vented discs at all four corners haul the car down to socially responsible speeds repeatedly (and rapidly enough to foil all but instant-on radar guns) with zero fade. Steering is delightfully precise and responsive, especially for a car this heavy. Opened up on a lonely rural interstate, the GT brings a giddy grin to the face of all but the most jaded. Getting around left-lane hogs is a snap, managed with the slightest pressure on the gas and without bothering to drop down even to fifth gear. Pay attention to the speedometer, though, as the needle reaches the low three digits with almost scary ease, and there's hardly anything stealthy about this car. Which isn't all bad, on the other hand, as all but the most recalcitrant do-gooders seem to feel the GT coming up behind them and move over often before you feel compelled to lift off the gas. Wind noise is nicely muted at legal speeds, although the combination of that and the ever-present resonance from the tires' oversized footprints requires cranking up the volume on the stereo (and on the radar detector) at speeds somewhat in excess of the posted maximum. Despite this and the constant inputs from the car's mechanicals and external sources, long drives are not especially tiring. Those same tires add an harmonious note to the symphony of the engine, though, when you steer the GT off the interstate and introduce it to your own, secret back road. First, there's the off ramp, which you sweep through at a rate of travel that'd be at 12/10s in any mass-produced sports car you've driven 'til now. Then come the whoop-de-do's and tight, left-right-lefts separated by longish straight stretches you've come to know so well, only in the GT you'll see them as you never have. We never managed to unsettle the GT, even when we briefly pushed it beyond where we've gone in any other car. This credits its super-stiff, space-age space frame, its race-age suspension, its superb overall balance and, of course, those grippy tires. Urban rush hour is another story and clearly not the GT's forte, not the least when the outside temperature approaches 100 degrees. The air conditioning is hard put to keep you cool, and calm is not a state of mind consistent with having to fuss with a manual transmission in stop-and-go traffic. The quick acceleration and sharp steering do allow you to slip the car into momentary gaps in traffic, provided you can spot them in time to take advantage of them and that there's enough room.
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