snaf2u

Sunday I drove from Kalamazoo to near Chesterton In. for a USPSA pistol match. I had a 375 lb friend with me in the vert. Distance is roughly 100 miles each way. This was mostly freeway with about 10 miles of stop-and go.

This was the first real road test for the vert and the following are my impressions of this car. I have driven circle track and road course races much earlier in my life and am very sensitive to the feel of a car.

We averaged 28.6 mpg for this trip. We were following another car and ran about 75 mph most of the time. There are some small freeway hills and several kinds of pavement on this run ranging from smooth blacktop to heavy patching. Temps were in high 40`s when we left to the low 80`s on the way back.

The car was absoutely glued to the road. At no time did the tires "dance" or cause the car to wander even on grooved pavement. There were several long streaches where steering corrections were not needed. Tracks very well. There were no shivers in the chasis, very moderate wind noise with top up, and we still held conversations with top down. When traffic allowed I hit 90-95 for very short runs ( MSP cars everywhere) and car remained easy to drive even though one of those sprints was on the roughest area of road on this trip. The ride was always good with no pounding of the driver or passenger.

Areas of concern are the top of the dash glares badly in the windshield and the radio digital screen is not readable in the sun when top down. There is also an oily coating on the windshield which so far has defied removel.

Overall I give this car very high marks for a stock auto direct from the manufacture. Ford did well and I am going to enjoy this car for many years (or untill I forget my own name) whichever comes first!

j0nx

Consider yourself lucky. My car wobbles like an egg at 65+ and to me feels unsafe at 75mph or faster. 3 sets of tires later and it's still shaking. Some days it's not that bad and other days like this morning it's terrible and I just want to get rid of it. But according to multiple Ford dealers all is well...

I just got my highest average mpg on a tank this last week and I have owned my car about a year now. It was 24.5mpg and was about 60% highway and 40% mild stop and go. I can't believe the increase in mpg of these new cars compared to mine and the HP increases with them. Incredible.

snaf2u

j0nx, I am sorry to hear of your wobbles. I had an `07 vert v6 and while it was not as bad as yours, it was not what the `11 is. I made this exact trip in the `07 and two areas of this highway would unsettle the car. The wheels felt like they were what I call "dancing" instead of staying planted on the road.

I also got about 25 mpg in the `07 but I was alone and without my 350 lb friend or our shooting gear. As I said, Ford did well IMHO.

Nuke

I've made in excess of 30, 420 mile one-way trips with my Stang (plus numerous long distance trips in other vehicles; lots of mileage data logging) and you need to be aware that your mileage can vary by as much as 3-4 MPG regardless of how well you duplicate your drive. Also, be sure to hand calculate your mileage and compare it to the onboard. The on-board is typically 1-2 MPG conservative in the vast majority of the S197's.

Regardless, those are good numbers and should improve slightly. As far as the handling, I've found my GT to be incredibly stable up to my current attained max speed of 130 MPH (sorry, I always seem to wimp out at 130). I've made quite a few sustained (1-2 hour) runs at 90+ MPH and she's as comfortable if not more there as she is at 50.

ufstang

Ya I'm very impressed by these '11s. I averaged 27.1 mpg on my last tank and that was about 50/50 highway/city.