Autoblog

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.


[Source: CNET]

Click above for high-res gallery of the KITT Shelby GT500 KR

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.


All photos Copyright ©2008 Chris Shunk / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for a high resolution image

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!

[Source: 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords]

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.



[Source: eBay via Carscoop]

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. While we enjoyed our first drive in the GT500KR (check out Part 1 and Part 2), we can think of quite a few cars we'd rather have for $150,000.

[Source: eBay Motors]

Click above for a high resolution gallery of the 2008 Shelby GT500KR

I have to admit, the Shelby GT500 was somewhat of a letdown. I have no complaints about the 500 horsepower or the muscular lines, but at nearly 4,000 pounds, it's got a serious weight problem. The iron block, 5.4-liter V8 and the addition of a supercharger puts much the weight in the worst possible place -- the front -- so the GT500 feels unmotivated around the corners compared to a regular Mustang GT. Other complaints include a suspension that doesn't seem up to snuff to handle the prodigious power, as well as a vague and rubbery shifter. Despite its shortcomings, the GT500 is one of the world's best performance bargains. Never before has such a powerful car been available for so little cash (although the Ford dealers did a pretty good job of ruining its value with markups). Still, one couldn't help but think that the GT500 could have been better.

All photos Copyright ©2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

Check out First Drive: 2008 Shelby GT500KR, Part 2 by clicking here.

Click on the image for more live shots of the 2009 GT500KR

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.




Travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer, as were the photos, since our camera was stolen on this trip.

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. Thanks for the tip, Matthew!

[Source: Inside Line, Photo illustration by Nick Wilcox, Inside Line]

While we wouldn't give high ratings to the Knight Rider pilot movie on NBC, we are still fans of the star of the show, KITT. When Ford and Barrett-Jackson announced that a pair of KITTs would be sold in Palm Beach this year, we immediately went to check the balance in our savings account.

The two cars auctioned were not actually KR models, but regular GT models made to look like the KR for the movie. The "hero" KITT still has quite a few upgrades, including a Whipple supercharger system, Brembo brakes, upgraded suspension and exhaust, and an interior with props for the movie, while the "attack" mode KITT has the stock motor with an automatic transmission and a KR body kit with two-tiered spoiler.

The auction, which will donate all proceeds to the Salute to Education charity, started slowly but climbed steadily to $160,000. At that point, Mark Fields of Ford got on the microphone and announced the winning bidder would also get the rights to a single allocation of the 1576 GT500 KRs. That doesn't mean they would get the car for free but at msrp - a significant savings. With that announcement, the bidders had renewed interest and the highest bid climbed up to $240,000. However, Ford and Shelby had one more twist. The single GT500 KR allocation was not just a random KR. It would be the LAST KR produced in 2009 - #1576. At that point, the bidding turned into a fight for the last KR and the two KITT movie cars were forgotten. The final bid ended at an even $300,000, with the winner writing a check directly to charity.

Click the image above for a high resolution gallery

[We originally listed a final selling price of $605,000, accounting the 10% auction fees. Since this auction was for charity, there were no additional fees and the final selling price is actually $550,000]

What does it cost to be the King of the Road? Apparently $550,000. That's how much Ron Pratte, who seems to be buying just about every Shelby at Barrett-Jackson, paid for the right to own the very first 2008 Shelby GT500 KR Glass Roof. That will only last for a while, though, since at least 999 more KR's will be built and are currently being assembled at the Shelby plant in Las Vegas. Numero uno features a black-on-black paint scheme that looks stunning in person, as well as a glass roof option that won't be available for the rest of production. As usual, Carroll Shelby was on hand to send the car off, reminding buyers why they are paying this much money for a Mustang. All the proceeds from the sale went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, so it's all for a good cause.