Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 VS BMW M2 -TRACK REVIEW // One Track Mind Ep. 4

[Music] I suppose this is an unlikely comparison you would think the m4 is the better rival but the m2 with the DCT in this Shelby gt350 come in at just about $70,000 and when you see my racing driver Colin set a lap time later on you'll see that they're closer than you think these two have different philosophies the m2 is a lightweight refined sports coupe with a smooth turbocharged inline six and the gt350 is a hardcore fire-breathing muscle car with a shocking v8 the m2 is a sophisticated active differential that uses an electric motor to apply a calculated amount of lock to the diff giving you power to the correct wheel when you need it the GT 350 just has a regular tours and mechanical diff the m2 manages 0 to 60 and 4.3 seconds while the GT 350 can apparently manage it in as low as 4.1 and it also comes with line lock so you can do easy Burnett's how awesomely childish is that it's clear that the m2 sees itself is a serious German sports car arguably it's the most playful of the M Linna but it still sits there like it wants to have a conversation about compression ratios while the Mustang just looks like it wants to beat you over the head with your own legs this particular GT 350 belongs to the co-president of the Ontario Mustang Club and after it had a minor thermostat malfunction this morning he hustled it down for us just in time so now that it's here it can go up against the m2 where they both belong at the track the BMW m2 literally I've been waiting I'm not even sure how long for this car [Music] alright so we've got the DVD right it's about the manual but honestly that is not a problem because immediately the shifts are crisp they're fast it just feels awesome [Music] so I'm running in Sport+ right now which will allow a little bit of slip rice and not that much it's not going to put the traction control off completely oh that that comes around so angrily it's not just a really solid front end yep third gear around here wonderful break Township breaks feel fantastic late apex is some have said actually many have said this is a spiritual successor to the e46 m3 or the e36 s3 because it's the right size the m4 is big in three now it's big this feels small and feels like this is just what you want in an EM car [Music] hyah but does it feel like super rock planted you know what I mean but it just kind of dances through the corner there's just such a wonderful front end the m2s electric power steering is very clever they designed it so that it turns off the motor coming out of the corner so you feel genuine weight through the steering wheel as it tries to come back to Center it doesn't feel like an old M car but it feels good if I was going to buy one I would probably still buy the manual but I'm not worried not right now I have a free racetrack and a BMW m2 possibly the greatest em car in the last 10 years [Music] it loads up the harder you push it into the corner and the front engine digs in it just dig in I want to talk about the sound a little bit it's not really lighting my pants on fire if I'm honest [Music] sounds good but there's it's lacking like the frantic nature of the old em cars if you've driven an e46 m3 it has a rasp to it that just kind of like hits you right in here you know I mean and the knee 92 m3 fat small-block v8 it just wail it wails and it wails this kind of feels muted a little bit in an age where cars are so electronic and so there's so much interference this is a remarkably pure car it really is it feels really unfiltered for a car that you can easily commute to work in every single day tale comes around a little bit of opposite lock this is a car that you can steer with a throttle just like that the m2 is very well balanced and very easy to drive fast you have oversteer on tap and it rotates at the limit easily but the fancy rear diff does a really good job of keeping it all controllable even though the m2 is very very good I was worrying I was going to like the Mustang the Emma car is supposed to have a lot of charisma right and it's dud yeah we're about to go drive a GT 350 that could be amazing yep it was it really really was [Music] you and yet my pending the awesome call me sold on Mustang that's all it took the talking oh my lord sounds like freedom this car is nowhere near as refined as the m2 like not even in the same ballpark covered in hard plastic car filled hollow and plasticky but that's not what this cars about this car is about a 5.2 liter flat plane crank v8 which makes an astonishing noise and revs to 8,000 rpm yeah it's completely unrefined yes yes it is without a doubt there's literally like look at this this is where you put your elbow that's a hard plastic it's like shiny cheap plastic it looks like a fisher-price toy but pretty much as soon as you get past 3000 rpm the interior becomes irrelevant immediately I've got the exhaust in loud mode because obviously yeah 526 horsepower 526 horsepower it's like there's five Miatas under the hood literally haven't found a need to leave third gear yet okay so flat plane crank v8 why is that special here's the reason why I care about this car I'm not in all honesty I'm not a huge v8 fan I'm actually not I find them to kind of feel like warbly and unrefined they're amazing when you get a really good loud one of course I love that like anybody does but the flat plane crank changes the exhaust pulses so there's not an uneven pulse coming out of the exhaust things like Ferraris have flat plane crank and unlike a Ferrari though it doesn't sound hyper exotic it still sounds angry still sounds American the v8 has a higher compression ratio and less friction than the regular Mustang and feels well engineered on the straightaway it just sounds insane Oh God the engine sounds unbelievable can you hear that I hope you can hear that exhaust okay I got to talk about things like how it drives I forgot the engine is kind of just blowing me away right now it actually feels incredibly flat in the corners it doesn't feel that big the front end when you're driving on the road it kind of feels big but then that's amazing and then it shrinks down on the track actually the front end feels planted steering isn't as good as the m2 believe it or not German cars can take a page out of this book please I turned the traction control off with a toggle switch all cars should just have a toggle switch off please thank you you know what I thought this car was going to be scary not actually scary to drive like the power delivery is so linear and so predictable bottle response is fantastic the engine is just for describing it's just there for you right when you need it right now every single time I look down I'm like oh I should probably shift soon I'm at 4,000 rpm the m2 feels a little bit better balanced it feels like it can the front end will get turned in quicker this feels smaller than it is but it still feels big compared to the m2 so the m2 is going to have it in the infield the m2 is going to have it in the infield but there is nothing that m2 can do about this v8 I don't think it has a chance the GT 350 doesn't feel as engaging as the m2 in fast corners it doesn't rotate as readily and its size shows in the really tight flip it will understeer if you don't drive it right the shifter and clutch are just okay and sometimes you feel like you have decided to drive it fast but the engine makes up for all of that I headed back to the pits in Colin was suiting up to set a lap time in the m2 first he had told me before that he's not a huge fan of newer M cars so I went over to try to convince him that he would like it actually like any BMW seer I like the older ones ok well this feels like an older one I promise you it feels like an older one we'll find it we will find out to find out I think that this is going to win in the infield I think so yeah I think I honestly think it is I think it has a chance yeah but I mean the gt350 is insane on the straightaway so straightaways the GT 250 is going to win yes I'm going to resent having driven those already yeah I think and power-to-weight it's going to win yeah so this it's just the way that it turns in initially it's going to get through the infield so much faster I'm hoping it could do like a 122 or 121 as I'm hoping it'll do all right well I haven't driven it so I'm just getting alright let's do it let's do it I'm going to keep my mouth shut and let you watch Collins driving the m2 is in the top left and the gt350 is in the bottom right pay attention to how consistent he is with apexis you were looking at the fastest lap you could do with each of these cars [Music] there's your answer the m2 takes it by four-tenths doesn't get much closer than that round two in the Mustangs natural habitat all right here we go left foot hard on the brake foot down [Music] I think of a mass card this car is unbelievably good off the line it just it just lends it is when I could see that we got to do that again [Music] so childish so jobs I mean a sophisticated German sedan coupe whatever we're going to run again because uh Colin said he didn't get a very good launch in the gt350 and that car deserves a good launch because it should it should take this car I think I was absolutely a rocket off the line I couldn't even believe it I couldn't believe it okay launch control is on J's gonna send us off from the front this time and [Music] every time I shifted I was pulling on you a little bit I could see that yeah I think I talked I know I start pulling away again yep there was a big delay after I let off the brake but when I actually went I thought I saw that yeah sure it was like Italy easily 1/2 second that might be worth doing it one more time Oh rapture we did run after run and even when everything went right with the m2 his launch control the Mustang still took almost all of the races so by the end of the day the BMW did a 121 zero on the track and a 121 for for the Mustang that's incredibly close and it's a really different philosophy between the two cars obviously big massive crazy power tight German engineering so on the infield the BMW made up the time on the straights the Mustang didn't quite make up the time but if the straightaway was this much longer the Mustang probably would have taken it on the track now in the drag strip a bit of a different story we did a couple different runs things got a little bit confusing with how to launch control works on the m2 but in the end the Mustang took it by just that much overall that high end power from that v8 just wins and it should the muscle car now which one would I have that's really the question because at first I came out and I was like you know what I want the m2 100 percent of a BMW guy and as an all-around car it wins a hundred percent it's way more refined it's pretty much as quick in every respect it's easier to drive fast but honestly I would take this car just because of everything that happens past 6,000 rpm end of story [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music]

Channel: Throttle House

Views: 1,350,998

Rating: 4.480967 out of 5

Keywords: gt350, mustang, gt350 exhaust, bmw, bmw m2, bmw m4, shelby mustang gt350, reviews with t.h., e46 reviews with t.h., one track mind, road to time attack, the straight pipes, shelby gt350, gt350 quarter mile, gt350 drag race, mustang drag race, m3, f80 m3, m2, gt350 0-60, m2 0-60, chris harris, top gear, track test, bmw exhaust, bmw drift, m2 drift, m2 review, mustang review, gt350 review, Throttle House

Id: 2JALQO7rLRw

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/crashspeeder]

As a former E46 M3 owner and current GT350 owner, I approve. I think it may have been a little different if both cars had been manual, but a win is a win. I think the GT350 is a more capable track car than he lets on, really. He keeps calling it a muscle car, but it's absolutely not. This car is at home in the twisties, 100%. It actually lacks torque down low, but once it's at about 4000RPM it really comes alive.

I took my car to Watkins Glen in April and am going again in October. I was able to improve my driving by leaps and bounds thanks to how predictable and linear this car is. He absolutely nailed that point in the video. Yes, it understeers a bit, but believe me it's not much. Drive it right and you'll minimize that understeer and the front end just digs in. You have to remember that this car is about 3800lb. It's heavy. It wears it's weight and size well, though. I used to own a B8.5 Audi S5 that I also took to Watkins Glen. That car weighed 4000lb, and it showed. The GT350 is more capable, by far, when it comes to handling.

[u/Lateralus____]

Cool Vid.

[u/FettesBrot]

Pretty impressive that the GT350 makes almost 200 more HP and the M2 can still beat it around a track that isn't terribly tight. Great review!!

Both fun cars, but definitely have to go with an M2 as the overall winner as a daily/track machine.