The Mio Knight Rider GPS is coming soon to a store near you, as long as that retailer is a Radio Shack. The tech store and Mio struck an exclusive deal for the $279 navigation system, which features the original voice of KITT, William Daniels. We were able to try out the Knight Rider GPS when we had KITT in the Autoblog Garage, and it scored some extra novelty points while also working well as your standard, run of the mill nav system. Anyone who went for a ride in our KITT Shelby GT500KR tester was almost as interested in the talking nav system as the car itself. It's a little disappointing, however, that you can only get one at Radio Shack, though the sub-$300 price tag makes it all better.
Hey kids, don't forget: the new, not-at-all-improved Knight Rider becomes a weekly series on Wednesday, September 24th. As was the case during the pilot that aired back in February, I'll be on my couch with my laptop, liveblogging the proceedings and adding much-needed "perspective" each week, right until the show's cancellation. Maybe you couldn't care less about the liveblog, though. Or maybe you're just a glutton for punishment. If that's the case, you're in luck -- the Peacock is posting the season premiere online at NBC.com and Hulu.com on September 17, a week before the network broadcast. I'm gonna pass on the sneak peek, because I don't want want to taint my initial reaction to KITT's new Attack Mode (above). That, I'm saving for you guys. Mark your calendars. In the meantime, I'll watch this again instead.
At age 8, I had a bed time that ranged from 8:30-9:00 PM. That time went unmodified for years, until my dad decided that I could stay up once a week to watch a new show called Knight Rider. It featured my favorite new car at the time; the Pontiac Firebird. The original KITT was black, looked fast, and had more whiz-bang features than any of Bond's Astons. Fast forward to 2008 and blogging can keep me up to 1:00 AM or later, but my late night job has some serious benefits. I get to drive the cars of my dreams. About a week before this year's Woodward Dream Cruise, though, I had just such a vehicle drop into my lap. We got a call from Ford that a very exciting vehicle was available for the taking; a replica of the actual Ford Mustang GT500 KR that plays KITT in the upcoming television series. It's no Firebird and it certainly doesn't come from General Motors, but it just may be one of the coolest vehicles on the road today at any price. Hit the jump to read our starry-eyed rendezvous with KITT.
There's horsepower, and then there's dyno-tested, can't-lie-to-your-friends horsepower. If you want to know how much power a car really makes, you've got to strap it to a dyno and spin it to redline. The guys over at 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords are always eager to find the true horsepower of a car, and so when they took delivery of a GT500KR to review they headed straight to the dyno to see how much power the supercharged V8 is putting out. What they found was somewhat surprising -- the KR produced 509 horsepower and 467.7 lb.-ft. torque to the wheels. Adjusting for an estimated driveline loss of 15 percent, the actual output at the flywheel is 589.82 hp and 550.24 lb-ft torque -- nearly 50 more horsepower and 40 more lb-ft than Ford is claiming. Take that Z06!
When I first gazed upon the Shelby GT500KR at a Ford event, I leaned over to fellow blogger Sam Abuelsamid and told him that dealers would try to get $100k for the limited edition road-ruling 'Stangs. Well, as it turns out it wasn't even a ballpark guess, as Lone Star Ford is looking to fetch $155k for his allotted KR on eBay. That's almost double the KR's $79,995 MSRP, but with only 1,000 special edition GT500's scheduled for this year, there is bound to be drastic markup. It is worth pointing out that the Ford GT's MSRP was roughly $155k, and for the same price you can get a BMW M3, a Mustang GT500, and one hell of a vacation.
If money means little to you and you're seriously thinking about shelling out $155k for this Shelby GT500KR, you won't find out a whole lot of information on the eBay page. Part of the reason for that is because Lone Star Ford hasn't yet taken delivery of the 540 hp Mustang that's up for auction. It also explains why the dealer has a photo of a standard GT500 sticker instead of that of the $80k KR.
When Ford announced the GT500KR's based price of $79,995, many of you thought that it was pretty steep for a Mustang. Even though it's a limited edition Shelby with 540 horsepower, $80,000 can buy a lot of really nice cars. What's even more insane is that we know people will not only buy the KR, but they will pay tens of thousands of dollars over MSRP just to have one. The only question was how much dealers would try and gouge. That question has been answered. Lone Star Ford in Houston, TX has put up a red GT500KR on eBay Motors with a "Buy It Now" price of...$154,991.00. That's nearly double the MSRP. Who knows if anyone will actually buy it at that price, but going off what happened with the standard GT500, then it's quite possible.
Ford will be producing 1,000 GT500KR Mustangs this year, with another 700 in 2009, so FoMoCo is pricing the ultimate 'Stang accordingly. For $79,995 (including destination and gas-guzzler tax), you get everything included in the "standard" GT500, plus Ford Racing's Power Upgrade Package, which includes a new exhaust and a recalibrated ECU to push out 540 hp and 510 lb.-ft. of torque from the supercharged 5.4-liter V8. The only options on the ordering form are a Shaker 1000 stereo, Sirius satellite radio and a navigation system. Ford hasn't disclosed fuel economy numbers yet, but we doubt anyone willing to drop $80k on a blown V8 is troubled by topping off their own KR with $4.00-a-gallon premium. Get your orders in now; sales begin later this month.
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Our initial drive of the Shelby GT500KR on public roads revealed that Ford, SVT and Shelby had addressed many of the issues that we had with the standard GT500. The KR's revised suspension is better balanced and more capable of handling the excessive amounts of horsepower and torque that the blown 5.4L generates, and a new short-throw Hurst shifter makes changing gears a joy instead of a chore. To top it all off, a Ford Racing cold air intake, new exhaust system, and 3.73 gears give the KR an extra kick in the pants. The changes were so spot-on that we wondered why Ford didn't build the GT500 this way in the first place.
With a ride like the GT500KR, however, only so much of the car can be experienced on public roads. At 540 horsepower and 510 lb-ft torque, the KR quickly reaches posted speed limits and the car stays well under its limits around corners. Fortunately, Ford let us loose to run hot laps around Miller Motorsports Park. Follow the jump to see how the "King of the Road" fared at the track.
We got a chance to visit Shelby Automotive out in Las Vegas a week or so ago to witness the first 2009 GT500KR going through final assembly. Although the KR was originally intended to be an '08-only model release, demand for the new King of the Road was high enough that Ford and Shelby decided to keep on rollin' for another year and plans to offer an additional 746 units for 2009. As a refresher, these beasts are powered by a 540-horsepower version of the GT500's supercharged V8. If you love special edition versions of the Mustang like this one but aren't ready yet to buy, fear not... we have a feeling that there will be many more to choose from in the coming years.
Coupes seem to be somewhat resurgent lately, and the stupendously awesome Pontiac G8 GXP might be set to lose a pair of doors. While that would make it essentially a repeat of what came here as a revived GTO not too long ago, the name is not likely to return. The basic idea has been outlined in the Holden Coupe 60, itself starting out as an updated GTO, but turning out much cooler. The neo-ponycar wars will require the fitment of the 400 horsepower LS3 to run with the Shelby GT500KR, Challenger, and cousin Camaro.
The newly unveiled G8 GXP serves as the benchmark for what this coupe will likely come equipped with. That means big 19-inch wheels, uprated suspension, a meaner fascia and, most importantly, an available Tremec six-speed manual transmission. There should be a GT version, too, with "only" 361 horsepower, which should still offer a significant kick in the pants for less cash. The biggest impediment to the G8 Coupe actually seeing the light of day are looming new CAFE regulations, but we don't see how selling a bulk of these cars with the still-excellent 3.6 liter V6 to less performance-addled customers would be a bad thing. It'd hopefully prevent Pontiac from running afoul of the fuel economy rules while getting another car out there that enthusiasts can embrace in a variety of flavors.
