Break open the piggy banks, kids. All the rumors you've heard about a supercharged Cobra are true. The 2003 SVT Cobra is scheduled to go on sale the end of May and it's potentially the quickest, most powerful street car ever to wear a Blue Oval. Thanks to the hard work of Ford's Special Vehicle Team, the Terminator lives.
We have met the new Cobra (due to its early introduction, all will be badged as 2003 models; there will be no 2002s) and it is as mean as they come. It's got all the horsepower we ever asked for, torque to match and the kind of performance that'll have most Corvettes heading for the hills.
The front fascia, hood, rear spoiler, rockers, side scoops and bumper cover are all unique to the Cobra, as are the breakaway mirrors and wheels. The seats have more adjustments than before and the convertible top is now the same cloth used on the Jaguar XK8. But let's face it--you're not reading this because you care about the convertible top material.
We have not driven the Terminator, but we have ridden in it and we cannot wait for our chance behind the wheel. It doesn't just accelerate--it explodes from a stop. The 4-valve 4.6 is not the revver it once was--peak power comes at 6000 rpm--but that hardly seems to matter. Standard, finally, is the Tremec T56 6-speed manual and it is mated to a 390-horsepower 4.6-liter dual-overhead cam V8. The aluminum block is gone, replaced by one of cast iron, but the weight penalty from this (about 70 lbs.) should barely be noticeable thanks to the 390 lbs.-ft. of torque. In fact the new engine makes as much torque at 2000 rpm (320) as the 1999-2001 Cobras do at peak.
Most of this power comes from a Gen-IV Eaton supercharger, which makes 8 psi boost max. It's the same M112 used on the Lightning, but it is fed from the rear for a lower hoodline. That's not all, though. There is also a new design 4-valve cylinder head, with better flow for improved torque and the cams were also designed with more torque in mind. The lift is the same, but the duration has been altered. A 90mm MAF and twin 57mm throttle body deliver the air to the blower.
Compression will be about 8.5:1. A forged crank and Manley H-beam rods swing forged pistons and the offset of the pin and the ring pack have been altered to withstand all the boost. The head gaskets are also supposed to be a trick design, more resistant to blowing.
It wasn't just the engine and tranny that got reworked. The entire car, from front to rear, was revamped to accommodate all the extra power. There's a stiffer pressure plate and aluminum flywheel, an aluminum driveshaft and better halfshafts and U-joints in the IRS. Stiffer springs, fatter sway bars and harder durometer bushings. Bilstein monotube shocks and struts. The front rotors are better, the rear brake pads are improved.
Naturally, weight is up too. With the blower, intercooler, iron block, larger oil cooler, etc., the '03 Cobra is about 180 lbs. portlier than the '01. Bias is about 57/43, front to rear. Still, handling is more neutral than before. Richard Parry-Jones, Ford's group vice president of Global Product Development and an accomplished rally driver, used to say the car "pushed like a pig," referring to its predisposition to understeer. Of the new Cobra, he says they did a splendid job.
To show you how closely SVT has been paying attention to our pleas, 3.55 gears will either be standard or optional depending on how the EPA numbers shake out. OK, they aren't the 4.88s that drag racers want, but SVT doesn't dwell in the same never-never land that we do. Even the windshield wipers have little wings on them and are good up to about 140 mph. Not that we'd suggest doing that in the rain, but just in case ...
Price will be higher than we've come to expect for a Mustang, but not out of line given the power--about $35,000 for a coupe, a few grand more for a ragtop. Still, it will be significantly less than a Corvette coupe, which the Cobra should run circles around, according to SVT marketing manager Tom Scarpello. The only downside is that the car is computer-limited to 155 mph due to the aero of the Mustang. Unlike the Cobra R, which had the splitter and rear wing to keep it stable above that speed, SVT chose not to go that route with the Terminator. This means given enough road, the 172 mph Corvette will ultimately be faster.
We'll give you the complete tech details after we've driven the car. We'll reserve final judgement until then, too. We should be behind the wheel by the time the Spring Break Shootout rolls around in March; that means we'll have our first drive report and possibly a strip test in the July issue.
Can the Terminator beat the 2000 R, which went 12.51 in our testing (March 2001)? We can't wait to find out.