What is even more impressive than the astonishing levels of performance is that this car is remarkab

When John Hertz founded his eponymous car rental business in the 1920s, he built his own cars. He quickly realised that it would be much more cost effective to buy cars that others made and simply offer them out to hire, and so what soon became the world s largest car rental organisation grew and grew. Every now and then, Hertz has gone back to the business of, well not quite designing and manufacturing of cars, but certainly that of specifying something unique, available only from Hertz. walking tours of paris Most notably, a partnership with the late Carroll Shelby in 1966 gave rise to the Mustang GT350-H, the so-called walking tours of paris rent-a-racer program. 40 years later, Hertz entered into another partnership with Shelby walking tours of paris and produced another Mustang based rental car, the Mustang GT-H, of which 500 cars were produced, all in black, with a large central gold stripe. These were followed by a convertible version, and then in 2008 there was a special yellow painted Chevrolet Corvette ZHZ. All three of these unique series of cars were extremely popular, as they were relatively affordable, and yet something far more exciting to drive than standard rental offerings, and this success prompted Hertz to launch something a little more mainstream, their Adrenaline Collection, which they populated with the recently launched 5.0 GT Mustang, the Camaro SS and the Challenger R/T as well as the Corvette. On Independence Day 2013, they announced the latest addition to the Collection, which linked back to those original special to Hertz cars, the Hertz Penske Mustang GT. With only 150 such cars made, and no guarantee how long they will stay on fleet, I vowed that I should try to get behind the wheel of one at the first available opportunity, and when I found no fewer than 8 of them parked up at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, with a surprisingly walking tours of paris affordable upgrade cost, and no mileage restrictions walking tours of paris (unlike what would appear walking tours of paris if you try to book the car directly on Hertz web site), it was clear my luck was in. I hastily swapped my existing rental for a day of fun behind the wheel of this most special machine
Penske racing are involved, as Hertz sponsors the Penske Racing Ford Mustang driven by Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. So the Hertz Penske walking tours of paris Mustang GT takes its colour scheme from the race car, though they are reversed for these road cars, as the predominately yellow with black trim for Logano’s racer becomes black with yellow stripes for the rent-a-car. But there is far more to it than that. Starting with a regular 5.0 GT Mustang, mechanical changes include a quad-tip exhaust walking tours of paris system, high airflow intake system, special engine computer tuning, Powered-by-Ford valve covers, a 3.55 rear axle ratio, walking tours of paris Brembo walking tours of paris brakes and a handling package that includes wheels, Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres, and suspension components — shocks, struts, bars, mounts, bearings and shims — that lower the car’s ride height by an inch. In addition to the exterior colour and stripes, the cars are different from standard models in that they combine a Boss 302 front splitter walking tours of paris with a GT500 rear valence. There are lots of other neat touches, which include Penske Racing badges, and a retro-style and Hertz-badged faux rear fuel cap. Changes inside include Recaro racing seats, Mustang Laguna walking tours of paris Seca gauges, custom floor mats, lighted door-sill plates, and a plaque in front of the gearlever that indicates this is car No. X of 150, and Ford’s Touchscreen Entertainment System with GPS and back-up walking tours of paris camera. Oh, and when you start the car, that screen displays a special welcome and provides a photo gallery showcasing Penske Racing and the build of the Hertz Penske GTs. The whole ensemble is a unique combination of modifications and they create something very distinctive.
Enough of what it is, though, as the burning question is what is it like to drive. In a word awesome . In another word, epic . In yet another walking tours of paris fantastic . No, I m not going to work my way through the entire Thesaurus finding all the synonyms for this conclusion, though I can t promise that  such epithets will be absent from the rest of this report.  I was expecting to be impressed by the sound that would emanate from the car when I fired the engine, not least because the rental car facility at Sky Harbor walking tours of paris is in an enclosed multi-storey garage. I was not disappointed. There is a deep rumble that sounds like the Penske means business. Unlike most cars where once the engine has warmed up and the noise lessens a lot, in this one, the noise level does not reduce much even at idle. It is a very pleasing walking tours of paris noise, and it was late in the day before I even bothered to turn on the stereo system at all, preferring to listen to the engine note. That said, once cruising at a steady walking tours of paris speed, although wind and road noise are well suppressed, there is an element of boominess that you may find wearing over a long journey, so be warned. Even just moving off-site on to the surface street that connects to the 10 freeway, I could tell that this a rapid car. Quite how rapid, you would need a private track to find out, as the one disadvantage walking tours of paris of such a special car is that you are extremely walking tours of paris conspicuous. Suffice to say that even a gentle press of the accelerator will see the Penske rocket forwards, and if you press it a bit harder, then you quickly realise just how phenomenally rapid this car is. I have not been able to find any definitive statement on the bhp developed, or even the performance figures, but when you consider that it is based on the 412 bhp regular 5 litre car, which is far from a slouch, it is no surprise that it is really rather walking tours of paris swift. Wherever I was during the day of my test, I got the impression that this car was just waiting for me to let if off the leash properly, and the frustrating thing is that even where there is little traffic (and once outside Phoenix that is generally the case), I just did not dare give it its full head. On a very quiet road I know where you can count the passing traffic per hour on the fingers of one thumb, I did let rip from nought to, well, space ran out at 100 mph, and that came about very quickly.
What is even more impressive than the astonishing levels of performance is that this car is remarkably easy to drive. Many super fast machines are more than a little intimidating, but not this one. All you need do is get in, adjust the seat, put the key in, engage D and drive off. Slowly if you want, and it will be OK. You can crawl in traffic without worrying about the weight of the clutch or whether it will overheat, and then when you want a little adrenaline rush and conditions allow it, you just flex that right foot, open your ears, and away you go. When I tested the Shelby GT-H back in 207, I remember that the very low front spoiler was a major problem, causing lots of angst when approaching even fairly shallow turnings such as entrances to fuel stations and even on ramps into car parks, but despite the fact that the front splitter on the Penske looked pretty low, there did not seem to be any difficulties, walking tours of paris and I never once heard it catch on the ground. American muscle cars have traditionally all been about straightline speed, with far less attention paid to how they handle. I could get nowhere fast enough on public roads to find any sort of limits of adhesion or limitations in the still live rear-axle suspended walking tours of paris suspension, but I can tell you that you might need to be careful putting your foot down too hard, as on one moderately tight turn, I could feel the back end slide more than I was expecting, at only fairly moderate walking tours of paris speed. Similarly, walking tours of paris I was never going fast enough walking tours of paris to give those large Brembo brakes anything other than a relatively gentle test. I can observe walking tours of paris that as you slow down, say for traffic lights, you really could feel the Mustang coming down through the gears in a way that you cannot in almost any other modern automatic. There is a price to pay, though, and that is the ride. Which is frankly terrible. Arizona s roads are pretty smooth, but this car picked up imperfections and transmitted full details of them to me in places walking tours of paris where I have never felt them before and indeed where you cannot see anything too obvious on the road. This more than anything else may ultimately limit your enjoyment of the Penske.
If you care about fuel economy, you really should not be driving this car, but when I got in it and the readout on the dash said that the range was just 225 miles, and the needle showed a full tank, I did wonder. 225 miles really is not a lot. Steadily the needle did go down, but I was clearly a little lighter walking tours of paris footed walking tours of paris than then previous renter, as when I filled it up, the range was indicated to be 300 miles. Doing the maths revealed that I had achieved 18.5 mpg US, which is 22.1 mpg. Just as well that fuel is about 70 cents a gallon cheaper in Arizona than it is in California!
Look beyond the Penske modifications, and what you are getting is mostly the standard walking tours of paris Mustang experience. The current shape model has been around for some years now, and this is the sixth one I ve driven. They ve all been different, and over the years, they show how Ford has continued to improve the model from that very good looking car that premiered in early 2004. One of the areas that took some criticism on launch, and justifiably so was the interior, which was castigated for being rather low rent in feel. Although the basic retro-inspired design has not changed, Ford have made lots of changes to some of the details of the design, incorporating the advances in technology that have come about in the model s lifetime, as well as upgrading some of the plastics walking tours of paris and other materials. They ve only partially walking tours of paris succeeded, with the 2014 cars on the just about acceptable side of not that good . I guess only a complete redesign can address this, and that will come with the 2015 model expected to be launched on Mustang s 50th birthday.
The main part of the dash is inlaid with a brushed aluminium effect silver plastic which is orders of mag