Vauxhall Monaro VXR 500 v Ford Shelby GT500
James Mills compares two similar-seeming but utterly different V8-powered animals
Ford SHelby GT500 v Vauxhall Monaro VXR500
I've seen the future and it ain't pretty. Oil shortages, famines, coastal erosion, floods, war. Mother Earth is heading, slowly, inevitably, toward turmoil. But that's nothing.
I've seen the future, and it ain't pretty for car drivers. Black boxes, pay-as-you-go mileage tax, automatically generated traffic offences being added to your license that you use to start your car. Queues of cars that drive themselves stretching for 30 miles every rush hour, their drivers not driving but working away slavishly on laptops as the car's brain delivers them to and from work in a safe, sedentary fashion.
Can you see it too? Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That ain't no way to live. And it sure ain't no way to drive.
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Light at the end of the tunnel
Fear not. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Not a faint, flickering glimmer of hope. No. This is a search-light burst of power, energy and clarity, cutting through the fear of the future and revealing a rude wake up call: the new Vauxhall Monaro VXR 500 and Ford Shelby GT500.
There's a small hint in the names about what type of animals we're dealing with here: muscle cars. Both pack supercharged V8s. Both have 500bhp. And both make the hair leap up on the back of your neck just thinking about them.
Now, like me, you may not have paid much attention in your maths lessons at school. But I don't think you'll struggle too much to work out that between these two we're dealing with 1,000bhp. It was only back in the late 1970s that Cosworth-DFV powered F1 cars were putting out that sort of figure. Sure, today, you can buy yourself cars with twice that figure – Bugatti's unreal Veyron – but you can't buy anything like this new VXR 500 for so little money.
Heritage
A mere £35,995 secures you the keys to Vauxhall's new super coupé. Unbelievably, that's cheaper than the standard 398bhp Monaro VXR on which it's based. (Should help Vauxhall shift the last 50 VXRs, which linger unsold round the back of Luton somewhere.) And for the record, that's £12,000 cheaper than 1990's Lotus Carlton, the twin-turbo, headline-hogging, super saloon that would shape up as a relative lightweight these days at just 377bhp. How time flies.
Talking of the past, Ford and a certain Mr Carroll Shelby have bedded one another before. The original 1964 Shelby GT350 was the first official tie up between two of America's greatest icons, and the Shelby GT500 you see here (circa £45,000 via a typical internet importer) faithfully pays homage to the 1966 GT500. Both its forebears were packing supercharged V8s (later on, in the case of the GT350), but neither could hope to come close to today's 5.4-litre supercharged V8, which thumps out 506bhp. All through a live rear axle. Er, nurse?
Headturning
And boy do these cars look like the full monty, the real deal. You know their spec sheets will make for impressive reading from the visuals alone. Especially the Shelby GT500. It grabs your attention like a fist in the face. There's nothing subtle about it. It doesn't make any apologies. This is loud and proud, the stars and stripes through and through. A car from the place where you have the right to bear firearms, and most of the population exercise that right with arsenals the size of a modest army.
Thanks heavens for that. Not everyone aspires to German engineering, right?
Comically overbearing detailing abounds, from the over-developed power bulge which you literally strain to see over the top of, to the venomous Cobra badging on the nose, tail and steering wheel. Add in the electric blue paintjob and twin white stripes from tip to tail, and this is one of the few cars where 'headturner' isn't some tired cliché.
What a shame then that, as I enjoy the inevitable petrol station forecourt Q&As en route to great driving roads in Wales' Brecon Beacons, I can't quite shake off the feeling that the arse end rides too high and the sharply cut, machined-look alloys look a little lost in the arches. No surprise there. They're only 18s, inadequate for a road hog like this.
The VXR 500 isn't quite as anti-social looking. But it's hardly the chosen wheels of your local Conservative MP, either. It seems longer than the GT500, but truth is they're identical. The lower roofline, laid-back windscreen and sloping nose create an illusion of Titanic-proportions.
There are enough scoops, vents and bulges plastered about the place to make the average WRC car designer feel at home. But the reality is that above the surface, nothing's changed from the standard Monaro VXR, save for the addition of a 500 badge on the back. Not that other drivers will be getting a good look at that for long.
Stomach-turning
It's the Mustang I'm aching to drive. I can kind of imagine what the VXR 500 is like: a faster, more sideways-to-victory, Monaro. But the visitor from America has got my attention. It is, after all, something of an icon. Call me an old romantic, but the appeal of driving a genuine muscle car is too much to resist.
For such a big car, there's not a great deal of room inside, and the seats themselves aren't all that special. But the driving position is good, the aluminium pedals well spaced, I can see the dials and if I raise the seat a touch I can even see out over the power bulge without the need for a periscope.
It all looks cool too. In a retro, minimalist kind of way. But don't go expecting Audi or Porsche-rivalling build quality. Most of the plastics and switchgear can be found in Ford's mass-consumption shopping trolleys. A pity, but what the hell, it helps keep the price so reasonable.
There's no faddish starter button in here. Instead, it's clutch to the floor and a twist of the (cheap) key in the ignition. The Shelby GT500 bursts to life with a deep-chested roar, and patters off down the road burbling away. Once things warm through, it's quickly apparent that there's something missing: noise. The supercharger's whine is this car's most dominant feature, and the standard exhaust system is disappointingly muted. It's not what you expect.
The performance, however, is everything you'd expect. This is a big mule of an engine. It hauls from 800rpm in sixth, but when you shift down and swing the rev counter's needle past 4,500rpm, the 480lb-ft of peak torque hits you in the back and sends the GT500 belting toward the horizon. How quickly? Try 0-60mph in a tried and tested 4.9 seconds.
It calls for some careful recalibrating of your driving style, braking points and closing speeds on other traffic. Or else you'll end up with one sick pony on your hands.
But for all its might, you're more aware of its bulk. By the end of a day belting across Wales, I'm feeling like Kowalski from Vanishing Point. The Shelby GT500 is a tiring thing. It saps every last bit of mental and nervous energy to keep it moving along at a decent lick. Driving it back to London isn't going to be much fun either.
The finger of blame lies firmly at the suspension. It's primitive, to say the least, with a live rear axle that goes to pieces over bumps, be it in a straight line or, more scary still, mid-bend.
The primary ride is harsh and jittery, yet the secondary ride is wallowy and poorly damped – the worst possible combination, and quite a feat by Ford's Special Vehicle Team (SVT).
That said, traction isn't too bad and switching off the TCS isn't quite the sudden hair-loss experience I'd expected. You have to manhandle it. Take it by the scruff of the neck and show the thing who really is The Boss. Easier said than done, however, when you're sat on the left side, it weighs 1,778kgs and the thing tends to straddle the white line.
Power
By way of contrast, the VXR 500 is deadly ordinary inside. It's dull beyond belief, and cheap with it. You sit too high and -- again -- the seats are nothing special. This thing feels like a Daewoo'd Vauxhall. Or should that be Chevrolet these days? Whatever, it's tacky and devoid of design flair, and unlikely to impress anyone who's come in search of high speed thrills from something like a Porsche 911. But then you start it.
And you don't give a flying f***. The optional sports exhaust (an extra £960) snaps your senses alert sharply. It reminds you that this is a 500bhp beast, unlike the Shelby GT500, which seems a bit timid.
In a bid to rid itself of its last 50 unsold Monaro VXRs, Vauxhall turned to specialist Monaro tuners Wortec, and the VXR 500 features a new positive displacement supercharger, uprated fuelling and ignition systems and clutch revisions. The latter is undoubtedly a wise move. The good news for existing Monaro VXR owners is they can retro fit all of it. And believe me, it's worth it.
Let's start with the engine. The conversion means the 6.0-litre (Corvette-sourced) V8 now musters a true 493bhp and 499lb-ft. Sufficient, I think you'll find, to give the GT500 a very hard time indeed. One thing's for sure, it feels and sounds faster on the road. Carrying 100kg less, packing slightly more torque, and bombarding you with its TVR Griffith-esque exhaust note, it takes some beating in the exhilaration stakes.
Control
It also takes some beating in the dynamics department. The VXR'd Monaro chassis was always a cracker. Exploitable, engaging and entertaining, it refreshed the driver's parts other so-called sports cars couldn't reach. Our VXR 500's adjustable sports suspension (£1,695) goes one step further, giving the chassis a more taut, tied-down feel without robbing the big super coupe of its essential character: big, lairy power oversteer.
Switch off the traction control -- which has trouble keeping up when engaged on wet roads -- and you can make the most of its friendly on-the-limit behaviour, delightful throttle response and limited slip differential, adopting an angle of your choice in second and third gear corners -- depending on the number of brave pills you've got handy.
You can't take such liberties in the Shelby GT500. It doesn't communicate and instil confidence like the VXR 500, which gives great feel for what's happening beneath. Yet none of this comes at the expense of ride comfort. It proves remarkably absorbent yet never soft or sloppy when you open up the loud pedal and revel in that exhaust note.
The VXR 500 is a car drivers can immerse themselves in. That feeling of being a part of the machine is getting increasingly rare these days, especially in larger sports cars. But this Vauxhall pulls it off brilliantly.
Decision time
This pair of 500bhp irrational non-conformists will brighten up any PHer's life. They perfectly capture the national makeup of their respective heartlands – American ham-fisted stubbornness and laid back Australian brawn -- summoning up endless stereotypes before your very eyes.
Despite its crowd-pulling abilities, however, it's obvious the Shelby GT500 can't cut it here in the UK. It's out of its depth, challenged by our peculiar roads and caught off guard by our distinct dynamic tastes. The fact that Ford's SVT department couldn't get round the suspension problem was never going to further its cause, either.
As an example of how to do it, Ford should have checked out the Monaro VXR during its development phase. They'd have found a great car, and one which has leant itself so well to this 500bhp, final-fling conversion. It's a hilarious bit of kit, the VXR 500. And that's before you've even started considering the fact that it's a bloody bargain.
The VXR 500 annoyed neighbours because its comically flatulent sports exhaust made their alarm clocks redundant at five in the morning. The Shelby GT500 wound another up because it took up near-on two spaces in a residents' parking bay.
But do you know what? Good.
Save the planet?
These cars aren't about sophistication. They're not meant to be lavish, cutting edge or achingly fashionable. And there's no danger that they're here on a bold mission to save the planet. No sir.
This pair is for those of us who are fed up with the so-called march of progress. And I, for one, am glad they exist. I'll bet you are too.
Pictures by Nathan Morgan
I would like to drive a right hand drive version of the GT500 just to compare the two, maybe i would change my mind.
Coming from a WRX I'm not surprised
You see, I don't look for ultimate outright grip, I look for predictable handling so you can exploit it at sane speeds. That's the appeal of the 'stang to me just like it is with a Seven, which will allow tail-out-tomfoolery well within the legal limit. Try doing that in a Scoob (and don't even go there in an Ultima
) The 'Stang feels well planted and reassuring. The suspension isn't the latest word in high-tech, but you really need to try it before writing it off (not literally of course
) Edited to add: Other than the front grill, I prefer the GT over the GT500 too
I don't dissagree with what you say asbout the Mustang and although my standard WRX handles OK for what it is i do get bad understeer sometimes so it's not as much fun. The STi however has the DCCD and you can shift most of the drive to the rear so that should be pretty satisfying for the oversteer junkies. However the Mustang is a different kettle of fish and although it looks visually the more striking of the two i have to say the Monaro is a lot of car for the money and therefore bigtime VFM. I saw it on Fifth Gear last night and it looked awesome to drive. I reckon the Monaro would take the Mustang on the TopGear test track.
For something like that i might agree with you and don't they just look how they sound. We do however live the UK and don't have those lovely wide and very long straight roads as they do in the USA so twisties are order of the day and our weather is crap so they are wet more often than not. A car that handles well in all sorts of weather is more important to me right now and in any case I'm more of a G junkie and therefore i go for handling every time.
This one is for sale and is a specially fettled motor. They reckon they can prove it with all the dyno charts etc...so if it is true, that is one awesome Atom.
Sorry to Digress
This one is for sale and is a specially fettled motor. They reckon they can prove it with all the dyno charts etc...so if it is true, that is one awesome Atom.
Sorry to Digress
One to smell the seat of before buying then
Blimey!!
Yes please, and thanks very much
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