My Watch Has Ended...

[GoldenHand]

Over the last 18 months, I've been waiting on a Dark Horse Premium allocation. My dealership and Ford have been egging me on to keep my allocation with discounts and price protection guarantees. I got to the stage of giving up on this car because I feared of being told that it'll be Summer of 2025 before I get an allocation and that was something I was unwilling to entertain after waiting this long. It's been a long dream of mine to have a car I enjoy driving and want to drive every time I get in the driver seat.

About two weeks ago, a gentleman in Iowa posted his Dark Horse for sale on Autotrader PSX which was the same exact spec as my current order: 700A, AP, HP, manual. He owned it for 10 months and this car had a little under 2,400 miles. Already did everything to the car that I would have done: decontamination wash, partial PPF on the the important parts of the body, full ceramic coating, and serviced after 1,200 miles. Original tires still on with plenty of tread left. All for $2K less than what I would have paid for my Dark Horse if Ford and the dealership honored my price protection that they agreed to previously. I jumped all over it, bought it sight unseen.

Took delivery on Thursday and I've owned it for 3 days thus far. Boy, it's been an amazing experience that keeps getting better every time I get behind the wheel. I'm teaching myself how to drive manual so trying to take as many baby steps as possible and learning how to use and prolong the life of the clutch. Today was the first day where I took a 30-50 mile trip outside of town and managed not to stall my car in the process which I already done plenty of times the first couple days. Still trying to get used to reversing out and rev match getting back into gear after coasting in neutral (coasting up to red light and turning green before I fully stop). Shifting through gears for the first time and revving out the V8 is absolutely visceral.

In the long run, the more I grow as a driver, the more I'm able to push the car. Looking forward to my first track day next year. Going to love and cherish this DH as long as I can.

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[roadpilot]

Congrats!

 

[smurfslayer]

#OneLessprius

 

[DarkMatterGrey]

Wow, that color is beautiful (Blue Ember?). Congrats and enjoy the 6 speed. I love my manual, I know they had some bad teething pains early on with the MT-82 (I had it in my 2022 Ecoboost as well), but I can't imagine how nice your Tremec is.

 

[mrnavy2]

Welcome to The Family.

 

[OppoLock]

Congrats! Patience pays off.

The best practice I could suggest to someone new to manuals is to find an empty lot or remote back road and get used to using the clutch to get moving. Just repeat that for the course of an hour and it'll pay off dividends.

These clutches are resilient. Outside of mashing the throttle while the clutch is slipping on a daily basis, you likely aren't going to shorten the life of it by any practical measure with any other activity. Get used to slipping it at low speeds/low throttle without fear.

 

[GoldenHand]

Wow, that color is beautiful (Blue Ember?). Congrats and enjoy the 6 speed. I love my manual, I know they had some bad teething pains early on with the MT-82 (I had it in my 2022 Ecoboost as well), but I can't imagine how nice your Tremec is.

Yes sir, Blue Ember. I agree with the consensus that pictures don't do the paint justice, looks stunning in person. The car collected a lot of grime on the front during transport. The pics in the OP was immediately after a hand wash. I can't speak much on the Tremec compared to other transmissions like the MT-82 since this is my first manual, but I've always been told the Tremec is a beaut to shift. No complaints on my end so far, gate feels tight.

 

[GoldenHand]

Congrats! Patience pays off.

The best practice I could suggest to someone new to manuals is to find an empty lot or remote back road and get used to using the clutch to get moving. Just repeat that for the course of an hour and it'll pay off dividends.

These clutches are resilient. Outside of mashing the throttle while the clutch is slipping on a daily basis, you likely aren't going to shorten the life of it by any practical measure with any other activity. Get used to slipping it at low speeds/low throttle without fear.

Yes, did that for a good hour or two on my first day. Starting to get a good feel of the bite point to where I'm getting the car rolling faster after a stop without bucking or stalling. Went on the highway and touched 5th and 6th for the first time today.

Good to hear the clutches are pretty strong because that is my biggest fear along with money shifting, but those will fade away the more seat time I get. People are telling me to feather the gas while reversing but the car wants to take off as soon as the clutch starts re-engaging. I haven't found a better method other than feathering/riding the clutch to reverse out of my parking space.

 

[MCS]

Damn man, nice deal!!! Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

You've stalled it? I thought this car was a "let off the clutch slowly and it will go itself, then add acceleration".

I haven't had a manual in about 6 years so this will be fun to get back into.

 

[9secondko]

Congratulations! What a great feeling to finally have the dream car and be enjoying it day to day.

 

[DevilDog]

Congratulations! Beautiful car. Enjoy.

 

[GoldenHand]

Damn man, nice deal!!! Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

You've stalled it? I thought this car was a "let off the clutch slowly and it will go itself, then add acceleration".

I haven't had a manual in about 6 years so this will be fun to get back into.

Thank you, sir. I may have missed out on a free day of the Track Attack program, but the price difference covers the cost of admission with money to spare. If Ford decides to continue the program next year I may consider making a weekend trip out of it.

Yeah I was letting the clutch out too fast early on and not allowing the auto rev match to engage, but getting better by the day.

I'm so happy I went with a manual. I don't think I would have bought the Dark Horse if it was an automatic. Not to say the car isn't worth it as an auto, all depends on what you want out of it. But I'd be afraid of getting bored of it if it was an auto IMO.

 

[jboogie1289]

Congratulations on the New Ride!!!!

 

[OppoLock]

Yes, did that for a good hour or two on my first day. Starting to get a good feel of the bite point to where I'm getting the car rolling faster after a stop without bucking or stalling. Went on the highway and touched 5th and 6th for the first time today.

Good to hear the clutches are pretty strong because that is my biggest fear along with money shifting, but those will fade away the more seat time I get. People are telling me to feather the gas while reversing but the car wants to take off as soon as the clutch starts re-engaging. I haven't found a better method other than feathering/riding the clutch to reverse out of my parking space.

You’re doing all the right things.

Feathering’s always a safe method because it introduces such small bursts of torque while the clutch is slipping that it’s easy to meter and blend with your left foot, but they really don’t even need that unless you’re backing up a slope.

I ragged on my GT350’s Tremec—same trans as the DH—for 30k miles and put it through all types of abuse. Did the same to my S550 GT for 100k miles. Those clutches were completely fine by the end of ownership.

Even banging through gears won’t hurt them; your synchros won’t have a fun time, but it’s still nothing they can’t handle.

 

[glenng6]

Over the last 18 months, I've been waiting on a Dark Horse Premium allocation. My dealership and Ford have been egging me on to keep my allocation with discounts and price protection guarantees. I got to the stage of giving up on this car because I feared of being told that it'll be Summer of 2025 before I get an allocation and that was something I was unwilling to entertain after waiting this long. It's been a long dream of mine to have a car I enjoy driving and want to drive every time I get in the driver seat.

About two weeks ago, a gentleman in Iowa posted his Dark Horse for sale on Autotrader PSX which was the same exact spec as my current order: 700A, AP, HP, manual. He owned it for 10 months and this car had a little under 2,400 miles. Already did everything to the car that I would have done: decontamination wash, partial PPF on the the important parts of the body, full ceramic coating, and serviced after 1,200 miles. Original tires still on with plenty of tread left. All for $2K less than what I would have paid for my Dark Horse if Ford and the dealership honored my price protection that they agreed to previously. I jumped all over it, bought it sight unseen.

Took delivery on Thursday and I've owned it for 3 days thus far. Boy, it's been an amazing experience that keeps getting better every time I get behind the wheel. I'm teaching myself how to drive manual so trying to take as many baby steps as possible and learning how to use and prolong the life of the clutch. Today was the first day where I took a 30-50 mile trip outside of town and managed not to stall my car in the process which I already done plenty of times the first couple days. Still trying to get used to reversing out and rev match getting back into gear after coasting in neutral (coasting up to red light and turning green before I fully stop). Shifting through gears for the first time and revving out the V8 is absolutely visceral.

In the long run, the more I grow as a driver, the more I'm able to push the car. Looking forward to my first track day next year. Going to love and cherish this DH as long as I can.

Congrats! ! ! I have no idea what the terrain is like where you live but you will need to teach yourself how to start, on a hill, without any rollback. Start on less steep inclines and progress to steeper inclines. This is imperative, for those inevitable situations, when you have an idiot behind you. Glenn

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