You don’t need to do anything to a Shelby GT350 for it to put up a good fight in a straight line. Yes, it’s more of a track car, so to speak, but that 5.2-liter flat-plane crank V8 engine is pretty darn potent regardless of your surroundings.
With a production run spanning five years, the Shelby GT350 Mustang and its GT350R sibling both use the previously mentioned engine, to the tune of 526 hp (533 PS) and 429 lb-ft (582 Nm) of torque. Everything gets sent to the rear wheels via Ford’s Tremec TR-3160 six-speed manual gearbox.
Its rival here, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (before they started calling them Mercedes-AMG C 63), also uses a naturally aspirated V8 unit, albeit one with 6.2-liters of displacement—it's the same engine that powered older E63, ML63, S63, CL63, CLS 63, and SL63 models.
Originally, it had an output of 451 hp (457 PS), but then Mercedes introduced various performance packages throughout the years. Yet, it’s not easy finding a W204 C63 sedan with more than 500 hp. During its life cycle, it was mostly the two-door Black Series variant that saw its power rating raised to 510 hp (517 PS) and 457 lb-ft (620 Nm) of torque, while the German market C63 AMG Edition 507 cars were among the few that produced 500 hp (507 PS) out the gate.
According to the video’s title, this C63 also packs a few bolt-on mods, but nothing too groundbreaking by the looks of it. Now, unlike the Mustang, the Merc sends its power down using a 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission. We must say, the driver of that GT350 did an excellent job shifting gears. To be fair, though, that 7G-Tronic unit isn’t quite as lightning fast as the German carmaker’s newer nine-speed 9G-Tronic box.
The two cars also weigh about the same, which means it all comes down to the drivetrains, mostly.
Its rival here, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (before they started calling them Mercedes-AMG C 63), also uses a naturally aspirated V8 unit, albeit one with 6.2-liters of displacement—it's the same engine that powered older E63, ML63, S63, CL63, CLS 63, and SL63 models.
Originally, it had an output of 451 hp (457 PS), but then Mercedes introduced various performance packages throughout the years. Yet, it’s not easy finding a W204 C63 sedan with more than 500 hp. During its life cycle, it was mostly the two-door Black Series variant that saw its power rating raised to 510 hp (517 PS) and 457 lb-ft (620 Nm) of torque, while the German market C63 AMG Edition 507 cars were among the few that produced 500 hp (507 PS) out the gate.
According to the video’s title, this C63 also packs a few bolt-on mods, but nothing too groundbreaking by the looks of it. Now, unlike the Mustang, the Merc sends its power down using a 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission. We must say, the driver of that GT350 did an excellent job shifting gears. To be fair, though, that 7G-Tronic unit isn’t quite as lightning fast as the German carmaker’s newer nine-speed 9G-Tronic box.
The two cars also weigh about the same, which means it all comes down to the drivetrains, mostly.