The established automotive press has privileges that your humble Internet authors simply don’t. Thanks to long-established connections in the auto industry, these guys are often the first people in the hot seat when it comes to fresh new cars. And no car is hotter right now than the 2013 Shelby GT500.

Car & Driver was lucky enough to ride shotgun with Ford’s Gene Martindale for some track time in the GT500. Their impression? This Mustang feels like an M3…and that’s a good thing.

Unfortunately for Car &Driver, all the industry connections in the world can’t affect the weather, and as such the GT500 was unfortunately fitted with not-very-stick winter tires. While that did bring down the performance of the GT500 a bit, with 650 horsepower and an estimated top speed of over 200 mph, there was still plenty to be impressed about.

So what did Car & Driver think about the 2013 Shelby? The different track settings sometimes had a profound affect on performance; other times it was hard to tell the difference. The suspension does a great job of keeping the tires planted in elevated corners, and the launch control is as impressive as Ford claims.

Check out the whole Car & Driver release for details, and hopefully we’ll have our own first impressions to bring you soon.