Shelby GT350 vs Boss 302 - The Best Mustangs Compared - Everyday Driver

when we drove the Mustang Boss 302 we declared it a favorite and the best Mustang ever but now there's this the Shelby gt350 we all drive cars every day they need to meet our budget and our needs but they should also be fun that's our whole premise we're a small outlet and we love what we do for YouTube we do these big comparisons like the one you're about to see but we also do single cars with our fast blasts and long terms outside YouTube once a year we make a huge feature film from the only full retrospective of the 911s first 50 years - a celebration of affordable exotics and amazing roads - the ultimate enthusiasts road trip across Germany plus every week we do an audio podcast the car debate where we help you find a fun car that fits your situation so we hope you'll join us for all of it subscribe please make comments and make sure to share you start up on the boss this is going to be an interesting day because we have driven the boss it is a four-star car for both Todd and I we have it here along with the GT 350 as reference we're in the bay area where Justin one of our show's followers actually has both of these cars this 2013 boss and a 2016 I'll admit I've never been much of a Mustang guy and my dad had some growing up has never been cars are really excited me until I got to the boss 302 when we drove this the first time I realized I kind of couldn't help myself this was a four-star car it was the first Mustang I ever really liked I remember liking this car it's angry it's very raw and as soon as you could get hard onto it it can be a little scared driving this by itself in isolation I remember this is a really good Mustang this is a car that's intriguing to me the problem is that when you put it with the new one you realize massive shifts and changes have been made and when you get them side by side they look strikingly different styling wise the last generation of the Mustang didn't really excite me that much however the subtle differences across the board for the boss it just suggests something's going on here it looks a little bit sinister but not like the gt3 ship this car looks rather pissed off like a road predator you see it behind you and you just kind of think it's going to swallow you up it seems like the case with American cars they look angrier than their European counterparts and this one in particular I will acknowledge that this car isn't aging very well especially in the interior it's kind of cheap feeling I feel like I've been in Subarus that feel more expensive and higher quality however the seats aren't good I do like the seats the seating position I remember is good I like the seats in this car the six feet has a nice very positive feeling you know exactly what gear you're in you can tell the movement very easily pedals are a little bit wide but by and large this is a decent setup for driving apart from the same kinda blah interior the seats brilliant brilliant now this has different seats than the boss but I actually kind of like the ones in the boss better I say that because my shoulders are floating a bit too much and your butt is really low and your knees are really high I did look I can't get it to go any lower now I can quickly get over it it has a tiny screen there's no gigantic nav screen there's nothing what we're used to in terms of here's the future of cars none of that it feels very analog in that sense the things that you get are the oil pressure gauges in the oil temp gauge is right dead smack in the middle of the IP here everything else it's kind of something you're going to ignore that's not what you're buying this car okay so that's just a Nishal start up this is now support well this is this is no different at all it's exactly the same it's exactly the same you can go away now it's fine you got good the same car no changes at all this is not the r the r is extra money get you carbon wheels get you more arrow this is not that version the r is a really track focused car if you have track availability and you can go use that car when it's this light but the 350 is something we can drive like this we can find our favorite roads in the mountains and do nearly the same thing this car as exactly SPECT was $51,000 which okay on one level that's expensive but on another level you got a car that is competing with essentially the Corvette c7 s of the world in almost every stat and capability and it's cheaper a lot of me wants to tell you about the history I want to tell you the lineage and the reason why and what Ford did and none of that matters with this car yes it has history but you don't have to look back to be able to appreciate what this one is this car feels European and by that I mean all the things that we love about European cars in terms of their dynamic ability the way they're built the way it feels it feels like a BMW or a Porsche this has two things about it right away that are totally different than the ball is the first of course is that 5.2 liter v8 with a flat plane crank we'll get back to that later it also has an independent rear suspension and it hasn't been since like the Cobras that the high performance Mustang has had that everybody's talking about the benefits of a flat plane crank and there are many it sounds unbelievably angry from the outside of the car but it's really not bad on the inside I can hear it certainly but it's not annoying I just want more of it acceleration this engine sounds like Chewbacca gargling and then on the overrun it has an unbelievable crackle through the air like the aftermath of fireworks that's only 4500 rpm this goes to 8200 now here's a problem you get up about 5,000 rpm and that engine starts to resonate pretty terribly in this center console it picks up a plastic rattle right here in the center console this is not an old car it has 3,000 miles on it it hasn't been beat on but yet it has that rattle which makes me think it has it period and that's the first thing in this car that has made me think this is a cheap automobile so a flat plane crank is something that you'd normally would have heard on a Ferrari it's one of the things that helps give them such a unique whale but Ferrari has always kept theirs under five liters Ford figured out a way to make this engine not shake itself to death at over five liters so a 5.2 liter v8 flat plane crank now what that actually means is that the cylinders are firing on opposite banks and you never have an overlap in exhaust pressures so as a result it can rev harder faster higher the flat crank is more easily controllable it enables you to execute the heel until so much more efficiently and quickly this is now in the category of the harder you drive at the better it gets you would need a track with some long stretches to really run this engine out we don't have that I'm having fun anyway so this has over 500 horsepower nearly a hundred more that the boss has and more than 50 pound-feet of torque that's a significant change in the power level of this car and you think okay only 444 doesn't sound like very much in the day and age that we now live in it's fun but by now it seems like we've all felt this or felt this kind of power how far we come how fast are we going in terms of technology driving the dynamic brilliance of our cars one of those cars that it's old-school muscle car attitude means it you can't hide anything from it and it's not going to cover over your mistake this car feels rowdy it's still just raw and rowdy and it wants to be the life of the party it walks in kicks the door open might have already had a little bit too much to drink that is the boss Mustang it rewards you when you get things right and it punishes you when you screw things up shifting healing towing getting it wrong into the corner it'll let you know there we go see it rewarded me it likes that there's not a lot of steering information but there's a lot of car information and you are you're bouncing around a little bit Matt suspension set up that we're but nothing's really surprising even when it steps out it just steps out in a way that you go okay or I will catch it we'll keep going like that car manufacturers keep pushing each other they keep getting better at the point of driving this the boss is only three years old yeah it's at the tail end of its life cycle as far as styling in the model and the chassis but the model year is only three years old and so then it was excellent but it doesn't have this real sharp feedback now that doesn't mean that it won't hold the line there's just some vagueness some I'm not sure what the car is doing what are those front wheels telling me and there is a point where you just sort of unwind the steering and give it throttle that's the thing the front end on this cuts in pretty quickly and that live rear axle tries really hard to follow well driven by itself it feels great you'd never notice driven with the gt350 back to back this feels like the back ends half-asleep what's interesting is we found the steering ratios are actually slightly slower on the gt350 which shocked all of us I'm driving a European car I must be the road-holding ability the way it throws the power down and the biggest difference that I'm noting from the boss is that independent rear undulation z' don't upset it I'm really struck after getting out of that boss how precise this is and how much the back end feels fused to the front I mean it feels almost like 4-wheel steering in comparison to that boss no longer can we put these into two different camps and say Oh American car and European cars and they do things differently I challenge the Porsche 911 ahead of me to this kind of feeling and that's coming from a Porsche guy I can't believe I'm saying this I'm getting the same love the same feeling that I get when I Drive European cars that I am in this that's huge it's huge you just want to drive Lord you want to shift a lot I'm gonna get on the brakes late when you drive the boss you get to a place where you realize these brakes aren't great but they never really let you down most of the time then you get in this car and you realize that the brakes on the boss are woeful by comparison I mean these brakes are some of the most aggressive brakes I've ever encountered on a street car honestly okay the brakes unbelievable now this part does not have the Magna ride dampers which I'm kind of surprised by because we're huge proponents of that technology it improves just about every car now with the independent rear suspension this car sticks to the road much better than that boss does it's very controllable it's very predictable however I do think if you get this you want the Magna ride I'm not finding a reason to and especially if that's going to keep you from getting into it as far as caused as far as the final MSRP on this car every car I've ever driven with that kind of technology on it is even better than it would be without it the ability to actually have those dampers sucking the car down and absorbing what needs to go on even more than this it's kind of hard to fathom to be honest because this is really well set up without them don't know that it needs it what I like to have it sure does it need it know and I keep coming back to that because of the price this is what makes American car so great the noise the handling the stellar brakes and I need a track to get a sense of how hard this can go I'm just aware I need a track no matter what we're doing on this road you just can't really get to the limits they're so high so Justin the owner he's got both these cars and funny enough the boss is his favorites it is the car that scares him a bit it's funny these cars are only three years apart yet when you get into them back-to-back this feels old-school and yet the way this handles is much more like a modern sports car it's stuck with features out of both worlds it feels American work with what you got engine live axle this is the chassis so with what you have let's make it as good as we can that seems like the pinnacle of what the boss represents the Mustang but make no mistake boss is still really fast and it makes me laugh it does it's a drunken party animal that's what the boss is this is the car that handles well it sounds good the gearbox is easy and while it does have some muscle car brawler less than refined moments about it like the live your axle by and large this is a very capable sports car I'm pushing everything there is about the performance cars that we drive after having driven the gt350 I'm questioning price I'm questioning dynamic ability speed power everything because this is now no longer in the category about oh it's you know bang for the buck just get it you can't say that anymore I can't say that anymore I'm astonished at this collar I want one you've got to be kidding me I would maybe still argue that that Boss 302 is the best Mustang because the Shelby gt350 is another animal entirely it's a completely different car listen to this except for that resonance that's lawful so now this car is not perfect I mean I don't love the seating position I'm not thrilled with the way these seats shove my knees so high oh they almost touch the wheel that bugs me I really don't like the fact that this center console resonates as badly as it does that's awful there's a couple strikes against it however you start pushing this car those things are irrelevant because the seat won't let you go and if you're driving it's certainly really hard you just want it to be loud so while it's not perfect it's a spectacular car to drive and it makes me lust after a Mustang and I have never said that before it is a rare thing that we have here you know this this is a four-star car that both you and I rated from both of us which is not common to be good with the next generation of that has surpassed it so entirely that I feel like this is a Mustang in name only that whole you know this is the Mustang you know and love oh that you know that feeling we feel the muscle car we like that kind of feeling and then we get in this car and everybody's ranted and raved and we've read everything that you guys have yeah and we think all right we need to drive this for ourselves it's bound to be good its boundary good it's gotta be they've dramatically improved it this is Ford Performance at its peak and then we come out of this car astonished yeah it's European hmm I feel that feeling that you have well that I get that I talk about all the time that's sort of unattainable I can explain why do you want this car over that I have to throw that out now and Here I am European snob car guy whatever you're sure and getting out of this car I'm going look feels very European and you know what I think interesting I actually think the current GT obviously the same chassis as this yeah feels a lot more Mustang than this does it feels like somewhere in the middle between these two this doesn't feel like a must name to me that's a great muscle car this is a great sports car nothing too quite ARP it hangs on you very well it is so coherent front to back and I know part of that is the IRS now I get that but still it's amazing to throw this down a back road and they get to 5,500 rpms look at it be like oh wait I've got 3,000 left how did that happened right this engine is another reason that it just feels so unique this feels like a moment in time at Ford who's killing it right now by the way with the Fiesta and the focus though think about the Fiesta ST and the Focus ST and the RS coming right and they have this Mustang which honestly this is for its competition to the Corvette of all things I'm soured on all Mustangs below this one finally I don't want another Mustang balota if you could afford it this the one you have to get but that's the other thing about it we're talking 50 grand which well that's not nothing for what you're getting here in formitz and power and attitude with this engine it's a shockingly good deal well Ford has a car that will compete with GM's zl1 the Camaro and the Corvette they only have one car to do that yeah and I think they have where are you on the Ford lineup are you seeing what we're seeing here have you driven this car I can't wait to recommend this on the podcast to somebody well yeah no kidding I was like we have to do Grand yes you can get balls every - or you could just go right wire it be done somewhere right right I'm finding that so interesting how you revisit a car and you have this fond memory of a car and your mind and then you drive it again you go huh yeah it's still good still good I still like it but what's next I will say this if you look at the Shelby and you're thinking wow what an amazing Mustang and you want a Mustang with character and presence and you can't get the Shelby the boss is a great alternative I will acknowledge this is the $30,000 equivalent I mean these were 45 new and they've actually hung on to their value really well I mean people have recognized that this is a unique moment in Mustang time and it is I feel like that transition from pure muscle car transitioning to full sports car this is the midpoint if you're even close to considering this car I couldn't recommend it more highly I almost feel like I have to give this four and a half stars or maybe five out of our four star rating it's that good so thereby proving you don't have to spend all your money on a Ferrari or a super expensive exotic to get this kind of feeling I come away realizing that the boss is the first Mustang I like and the Shelby gt350 is the first Mustang I really want Wow don't forget to subscribe for videos on Thursdays Oh

Channel: EverydayDriver

Views: 613,938

Rating: 4.8738275 out of 5

Keywords: Ford, Mustang, Boss 302, GT350, Shelby, Corvette, Stingray, Comparison, Exhaust, Review, Car, Driving, Corners, Mountains, Canyons, Everyday Driver, Paul Schmucker, Todd Deeken, Chris Harris, Motor Trend, Drive, Top Gear, Film, Cinematic, Epic, Drone

Id: U97I_feu8mE

Length: 23min 58sec (1438 seconds)

Published: Thu May 05 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/watson415]

Really well filmed. I admit that since the GT350 has come out, I've completely forgotten about how much I lusted for the Boss... Still, I think I'm smitten with the flat plane crank.

[u/notreallysrs]

People are sleeping on that everyday driver channel. One of the best reviews (imo) on youtube

[u/badgertheshit]

On accelerating, it sounds like Chewbacca gargling

Then he punches it... bang on description!

[u/[deleted]]

I was hoping for a drag race and some 1/4 mile stats. We all know who would win it though.

[u/Splinterzz]

At points i found it hard to see what car they were talking about, but their content is pretty good. Good enough for tv

[u/idiot_proof]

Always love their videos. Though I will point out that it's odd to me that the GT350 doesn't come with the sync3 headunit. I know the premium trims of the Ecoboost and the GT both come with that, so I'd assume all the upper end cars would get it too. Maybe you need the "tech" package?

[u/SarcasticOptimist]

Apparently these are /u/jbretc 's cars. I think Camaros and Mustangs have really focused on handling to the point where they are threatening and even beating BMWs, Porsches, and GTRs with their driving fun and involvement. With that sound and handling, the GT350 wins for me. Both are far better than the straight piped GTs that roam the nearby campus.

[u/capt_fantastic]

if i were in the market, i would very seriously consider the gt350 over even a 911. my point is that it's amazing how much you can get for your money with the gt350.

[u/hangerbaby]

If there were a proper sedan with the GT350 drivetrain I would, in a heartbeat, sell my BMWs to own it