Ford has at long last revealed a key Mustang Shelby GT350 specification: the lightweight, hard-core R model’s weight. The automaker’s just-revealed 3650-pound weight claim for its latest super-Mustang is promising, especially paired with the coupe’s 526-hp special flat-plane-crankshaft 5.2-liter V-8. And yet that assumes Ford’s curb weight is accurate; different automakers measure curb weights differently, with some using a full tank of fuel and others not. When we test a vehicle, we fill it with a full tank of fuel before hitting the scales. Seeing as how we’ve tested numerous new-generation Mustangs, we crunched the numbers to put together a clearer estimate of the 2015 Mustang Shelby GT350R’s curb weight—at least until we can get one on our scales.
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Before we do that, let’s recap our weight history with the new-for-2015 Mustang. The lightest model we’ve tested happens to be a base V-6–powered coupe with the automatic transmission, which weighed in at 3588 pounds. Next came the manual- and automatic-equipped turbo four–powered Mustang EcoBoost coupes, at 3657 pounds and 3663 pounds. Finally, quite a few pounds later, we reach the stick-shift 2015 Mustang GT, which tallied a beefier 3810-pound curb weight on our equipment. That puts Ford’s quote of 3650 pounds for the also manually shifted, V-8–powered Shelby GT350R model in a rather optimistic position. Or does it?
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When Ford first introduced the GT350R—it’s still a GT350, only with an “R” package that deletes things such as the back seat, trunk carpeting, radio, air conditioning, and the backup camera—it promised that the special Shelby variant would weigh as much as 130 pounds less than a run-of-the-mill GT350. Given how we estimate the GT350 to weigh between 3700 and 3800 pounds, the brand’s 3650-pound spec for the GT350R seems plausible. The R package’s deletion of several large interior items certainly would save weight, but some of that loss would be offset by the car’s standard differential and oil coolers (and customers can order climate-control and a radio if they’re not into the whole hard-core thing). We asked Ford how it arrived at the GT350R’s official curb weight and were told the car was analyzed with a full tank of fuel and a full belly of coolant, just as we would weigh it. But that’s just it—Ford’s number is Ford’s number, and our number will have to wait until Ford sends us a GT350R to roll onto our testing gear. Hopefully that’s soon.
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