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| Road Test: Ford GT (2004-) |
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| Exotic Sports |
by: Andrew Frankel |
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Ford GT Gallery
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| COMFORT AND EQUIPMENT RATING: |
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Like many mid-engined cars, the GT rides surprisingly well. It's not a Lexus but unlike many other overtly sporting cars, nor is it impractically harsh. This is a car you can drive for hours on end and emerge with the only ache being in your heart that the journey's over.
But while the seats are supportive and well shaped, the rest of the interior is something of a mess, an uncomfortable pastiche of the 60's racer that simply does not work. Stripped-out minimalism is a brave game to play in cars costing six figures or more and Porsche and Ferrari are among just a handful over the years who have got away with it. The Ford does not. The overall quality of the cabin is poor, the switchgear is naff and the instruments unattractive. It is the sole bum note in an otherwise captivating car.
If you're over six foot tall, getting into an old GT40 requires a rare feat of mind over matter not to mention a great deal of pain, none less than when you close the door and realise as you scalp yourself that you've forgotten said door cuts into the roof of the car almost to the centre line. The same appears to be true with the GT until you realise how much bigger than its inspiration the new car is: it's a whopping 18 inches longer and 4 inches taller and only fails to appear that way because it has been kept in perfect proportion. Both old and new cars are precisely four times longer than they are tall. The result is that all conventionally proportioned adults will find space to spare in the GT.
Luggage space, however, is very tight. There's nothing at all under the engine cover and precious little up the front. But who needs clothes when you've got a car like this? The GT does have a stereo but it's an off-the-shelf item and not one of the car's stronger points. Happily in such a car you will always have something better to think about. Sat-nav is not fitted.
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Introduction A little over 40 years ago, Ford very nearly bought Ferrari before the... |
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