The Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 took home top honors as the winner of the 2016 AutoGuide.com Reader’s Choice Car of the Year Award.
With Ford keeping a tight grasp on AutoGuide.com readers, the fifth-generation Mustang also won last year’s Reader’s Choice Car of the Year. This year’s high-performance edition seems to have just as many fans.
Powered by a hand-built, naturally aspirated, flat-plane 5.2-liter V8, the Shelby lives up to its legendary predecessors with 526 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque, and with a redline of 8,250 rpm, it is the highest-revving production V8 in the American automaker’s history. Adding to its appeal is surely its starting price of $49,995, including destination, which cements its place as an attainable and very capable sports car.
“America loves the Ford Mustang. For the second year in a row, a Mustang took home our Reader’s Choice Car of the Year Award,” says AutoGuide.com editorial director Colum Wood. “Last year, it was the new generation that won the hearts of AutoGuide.com readers. This year, it’s the supercar performance of the GT350 with its incredibly powerful and even more incredible sounding 5.2-liter V8 engine.
“Voting continues to gain traction on social media and, as always, the votes poured in for this year’s awards from across the 500+ AutoGuide.com Group forums.”
ALSO SEE: 2016 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 Review
Mike Schlee, AutoGuide.com‘s road test editor, says driving to the GT350 is a religious experience.
“Crank up the GT350, and it’s immediately apparent that this is a loud car. But it gets better,” he says in his review. “Flip the toggle switch to activate the sport exhaust, and the Mustang enters a whole other realm of crazy. It’s like acquiring your own personal volatile on-demand cumulonimbus cloud. Running from 1,000 rpm to 8,200 rpm in the Shelby is a religious experience.”
The Shelby GT350 got more of your votes than the Cadillac ATS-V, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Malibu, Chevrolet Volt, Ford Mustang Shelby GT350, Honda Civic, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Nissan Maxima, Scion iM and Toyota Prius.
With seven different vehicle categories voted for in this year’s 2016 Reader’s Choice Awards, Ford took home two wins: The Shelby GT350 took home Car of the Year, and its Edge was awarded Utility Vehicle of the Year. Chevrolet also took home two Reader’s Choice wins for the Chevrolet Colorado Diesel as the Truck of the Year, and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 as Sports Car of the Year. Tesla’s Model X took home two wins for the Luxury Utility Vehicle of the Year and the Green Car of the Year. The Jaguar XF rounds out the 2016 Reader’s Choice awards as the Luxury Car of the Year.
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