They are blazing fast in a straight line, and, according to a couple tests pretty decent on the track in so much as you remember you are driving around in 4000lbs of car. Brakes hold up, etc., but it'd be a lot better with 900lbs lobbed off!!!!
They sort of get short changed in the car magazines because those folks don't push them hard in the 1/4 mile, and the times are high 12s, even a low 13 I saw. Car is much faster than that with real world folks pulling some mid/low 12s out of the box on street tires.
On
www.svtperformance.com there are lots of them putting down some fairly boggling numbers with little cash investment - couple hundred bucks for a quickchange pulley and tune, bam, over 600 rwhp and basically equal amount of rear wheel torque.
Did your buddy end up paying over sticker? I've seen some folks on Club Cobra that paid quite a bit, as well as on svtperformance.com. I imagine they will be far less expensive as Jac Mac pointed out in a year or two. They have some good colors though in that lineup......maybe my folks need one for their upcoming 50th Wedding Anniversary......
....maybe????
R