I celebrated hitting 11,000 miles on the Ford GT’s odometer this month, which translates into approximately 100 miles a week since I bought it in August of 2005. That’s not a lot of driving for a Honda Accord, but it’s massive miles for an exotic and it made me very happy to realize the car was being driven as its engineers intended. I also noted the Ford GT’s impressive lifetime fuel efficiency of 16.72 mpg, which is impressive for a car turning zero-to-60 in 3.5 seconds.
Putting a Ford GT in bubble wrap is a crime against great engineering
Ford GT Rule #1: Drive it! No Bubble Wrap Allowed!
November 2, 2007 at 11,000 miles
First rule of new-performance-car ownership: DRIVE IT! I know too many people buy cars like this and essentially bubble wrap them. What are you saving it for? A rainy day? Retirement? The second wife?
Our long-term Ford GT just turned over 11,000 miles after 27 months in service. For the math challenged (that would be me), this translates to an average of just over 400 miles a month, or 100 miles a week. Yes, this one gets driven.
I think about all those guys who bought Hemi ‘Cudas and ZL1 Camaros and Boss 429 Mustangs back in the day. With rare exception, those guys drove the snot out of those muscle cars before the ink had dried on the sales contract. Many were destroyed or parted out, but eventually the market decided they were six-figure cars and any survivors got restored — and bubble wrapped. In other words, only the original owers ever truly enjoyed those cars. For everyone else, including the current owners, they’ve been transformed into musuem displays.
Well, I thinks it’s nuts to bubble wrap a Ford GT for thirty years, only to wake up one day and realize it’s so valuable it needs to be bubble wrapped forever more. This one will be enjoyed as it was meant to be enjoyed, just like those original muscle cars.
Rotissery restorations and bubble wrap are banned for at least the next 20 years — maybe forever.
The Ford GT fuel gauge doesn’t drop as quickly as you might think
Ford GT Fuel Mileage Keeps Getting Better
November 16, 2007 at 11,042 miles
You don’t need an MBA from Stanford to know good fuel mileage is good business these days. I admire the EPA ratings on the new Corvette (including the Z06), but with 11,000 miles on the odo the long-term Ford GT is getting more earth-friendly every day. Current lifetime fuel mileage is at 16.72 mpg. That’s up exactly .5 mpg compared to the lifetime fuel mileage at 8,700 miles, and suggests that somewhere around 150,000 miles it should pass a Prius in terms of fuel efficiency…
In the meantime, I’ll take zero-to-60 in 3.5 seconds and better gas mileage than a brand new Jeep Liberty (that vehicle does NOT do zero-to-60 in 3.5 seconds).