Few names evoke as much passion or power among Mustang fans as Saleen. The company, founded by Steve Saleen in 1983, has been making high performance Mustangs for almost 30 years now. While Steve himself has left the company, going on to form SMS Supercars, Saleen itself soldiers on, with its first new product the S302 Mustang going on sale soon.
Official pricing for the Saleen S302 has not been released, but Mustangs Daily snuck a peak at the price at the Mustangs at Queen Mary show. This bad boy will set you back $54,990, including the cost of a 2011 Mustang GT.
That’s actually not that bad, considering the long list of features that come with the S302. To be clear, the package itself runs $20,305 over the MSRP of a Mustang GT Premium (which costs around $35,000 before you start adding features). For that kind of scratch, the engine gets a slight power bump to 425 horsepower and 395 lb/ft of torque from a Saleen air filter and performance exhaust system.
While Saleens are generally very fast cars, their “secret sauce”, if you will, has always been their excellent handling. That’s where the major modifications come in. Thus Saleen adds its Racecraft suspension, front sway bars, front and rear springs and adjustable shocks and a strut tower brace. Of course, any Saleen needs to stand out, and to that end Saleen-specific wheels, custom graphics, a “Power Flow” hood, and new front and rear fascia are among the many exterior modifications.
Still, $54,990 is a lot of money. Would you rather have the Saleen S302, or the comparably-priced Shelby GT500?