The convertible gets the same muscular V-8.

[Torello]

"It would be tough to find fault with this V-8. If there's something wrong here, it's that Ford doesn't make a decently economical V-8 (either in terms of performance per displacement or in terms of mileage). But then again, do muscle-car shoppers think about this?

We only bring this up, in fact, because SVT folks like to whisper about how this car boasts a 0-to-60 time (4.5 seconds) on par with the $41,650 Corvette, a vehicle that gets excellent gas mileage (25 highway miles per gallon) considering its road-racing character. And the Cobra? Mileage numbers aren't out yet, but don't expect to average better than about 17 mpg.

It's also worth mentioning fuel because Ford wants you to use higher-test petrol, which will cost you more if you're burning more.

Enough on that topic? Fine, off to the track--where, you'll find, especially in first and second gear, an engine that fairly rips this car above the legal limit and you still have four more gears to go!

Yes, this is a six-speed, and yes, it's got the same Tremec gearbox--supplied by Dana (nyse: DCN - news - people )--you'll find in Corvettes and Vipers. And it also has the same Eaton supercharger that's bolted to the Lightning V-8. Here, that air sucker produces not only wickedly fast street starts, but highly usable midrange response. We not only tested that theory out on the track, but also put 700 miles on a slightly less tautly sprung Convertible Cobra (which goes for $38,995, and which you can read more about in the Cobra Impressions section).

In the cloth-top car, we found that you could tool down the highway at 80 mph, barely turning 2,500 rpm in sixth gear, then drop the transmission into fourth gear and stomp on the gas. Thank not only the supercharger for that usable torque (390 foot-pounds at 3,500 rpm), but also entirely reworked cams, pistons and heads.

You can put all that engineering prowess to good use, too, not only passing WWII veterans in their Florida-plated Grand Marquis but also launching, as we did, after a BMW M3 convertible on the New Jersey Turnpike well past 100 mph. Not that we'd advise such recklessness, but when you can shake up the average executive type in his Autobahn cruiser, it'll make you proud to be an American.

One thought, though: As is the case with the Lightning, that supercharger has a circular-saw mechanical rasp that, after you hear it 1,000 times, might just get annoying.

Then again, the low-end torque you get from this V-8 never gets tiring. And you can also put that power to great use on the track, but here we found something holding us back--that six-speed gearbox.

It's the same one from the 'Vette, right? The gearbox is, yes, but the linkage isn't. Although the entire assembly has been made more robust for abuse by Cobra owners, the actual work of shifting is just that: real labor.

You cannot easily discern downshifts from fourth to third, or from fifth to fourth. Why? Not only are the throws between gears miles long, but the spring that centers the shift knob between third and fourth gears simply never takes hold.

That leaves you guessing about the geography of the gearbox--am I about to drop into second from third as I want, or am I going to find myself bogged down in fourth?--especially if you rush a shift. At VIR, even the official SVT test driver missed a gear when we were in the car with him.

You do eventually get the hang of this transmission, and even grow used to putting all your leg strength into depressing the clutch, but considering we found it easier to shift a nearly 600-hp Lamborghini Murcielago, we think the SVT team can do better--and have no doubt they will for 2004.

Again, such misgivings don't discount the pure thrill of the Cobra. This kind of muscle is absolutely unheard-of at this price, and being able to blast down the highway behind the noise of that supercharged V-8 is like a great roller-coaster ride--a pure adrenaline shot for your soul."