Stretching a massive 202.9-inches overall with a wingspan of 76.9-inches, this new model is a very big boy indeed. In fact, thanks in part to the weight of the standard front-biased Haldex all-wheel drive system, obscene levels of comfort and safety equipment, and more sound deadening than a top-flight recording studio, this new SHO buries the needle on the scale at 4,368 pounds. Weight and outsized dimensions being the enemy of performance, this isn't exactly a good start.
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Simply put, retuned suspension or no, uprated tires or no, the SHO simply possesses too much mass to feel tossable, too much heft for sporting drivers to want to grab it by the scruff and chuck it into a corner willy-nilly. The car's all-wheel drive system is a great safety net and pulls it through corners faithfully when carrying inadvisable amounts of speed, but we couldn't find much joy carving up the otherwise inviting roads that spaghetti around the Great Smoky Mountains.
Ford's suspension tuners are among the best in the business, but they aren't magicians, and they can't suspend the laws of physics. Maybe Dearborn's SVT team could've exacted some more engaging behavior out of the suspension (they were not a part of the SHO's development), but even that's a stretch. The bottom line is the SHO weighs more than a Mercury Grand Marquis (with 60% of the burden looming on the tires that steer) and combined with a front-biased all-wheel drive system, well... it's a recipe for push, not entertainment.
