Airwolf

Contemplating spending 33 thousand on a new Mustang. I was looking at the price of a equally as expensive very nice fully loaded truck. Why is it that a vehicle like the Mustang GT, which is a car, on the inside available with standard sedan-like features, with a few cool styling cues and an available V8. Is just as expensive as an F-150 FX4 which is also available with standard luxury features, a bigger engine, 4 wheel drive, is a bigger vehicle with more metal, more space, from what i would think would cost more to engineer and produce, is equal in price to a fully loaded GT Mustang? Granted the Mustang has special suspension, but so does the truck. Is it just the cool factor that drives the price up?

jeffvistagtcs

If you have to ask the question, then maybe the Mustang is not for you.......

GrabberPony.com

I suspect that volumes have a large influence on the content you receive in an F-series truck.

For example, if you look at the year-end sales figures for 2006 you will see that Ford sold 166,530 Mustangs compared to 796,033 F-series trucks.

Of course there are many other factors involved in why trucks may be better contented than Mustangs but when trucks are selling at nearly 5 times the sales volumes of Mustangs you can start to see one of the major reasons.

Mark

Dixie_Flatline

Trucks are cheaper to make - that bed doesn't have to be finished with leather and carpeting and safety belts and airbags.

And if you're looking to spend 33k, that means you're looking at a Bullitt. It was the Bullitt that got me in to buy my Mustang GT ( Iguess the Bullitt is a halo car then?). If you want a cheap Mustang GT, ask a dealer near you what you can get a GT for after incentives and his best deal.

Right now the fact that Bullitts are MSRP at best makes them $3310 + $1,000 rebate + salesman's deal more expensive than a regular GT. (That's why an ADM on the Bullitt means the dealer isn't aware of his market.)

I was fully prepared to buy that Bullitt, but changed my mind when I saw an Alloy GT with spoiler delete and no scoops.

If you think Mustangs are overpiced though... that means you haven't seriously looked around at what else is out there, besides Ford. Cars are getting expensive, it's certainly not just the Mustang.

CarRamRod

What drives the price up versus a truck: Gas mileage, cool factor, Type of transport, performance, available seating etc. etc. etc.

I came to my GT/CS from only driving trucks. I'm sold. I will never go back. I daily drive my mustang and have been nothing but totally happy with the experience. Mileage with the 3.31 rear is 24 city 30 highway. I've been totally absolutely blown away by the performance versus mileage. I'll upgrade later if I am going to be racing to 4.10's. Drive one with the 3.31 versus 3.55's. Tell me what you think. Go test drive the crap out of them. You don't have to buy it now and you need to be sure you get what you want.

The only things that bother me with my mustang are:
Initially finding a dealer to buy the car from who would be reasonable. First dealer tried to charge me a premium for a GT/CS. Like almost 36,000 versus what I paid for mine. People who drive slow, Slow speed limits. People who want to race all the time in busted *** cheap crappy pos vehicles. People who drive crappy chevy vehicles reving engines at me. Truck drivers who don't look where they are going.

Also why are you buying a Mustang for 33,000? My brand new GT/CS was like 28,000 with incentives and deals and xplan is pretty close to that for mine with the GT/CS package, sirius radio, wheel locking, IUP. Is it a convertible or something? Thats fine if it is but you have to be really careful about only getting the things you will care about. Who really needs ambient lighting? I mean come on. You could do a better job of that yourself and probably make some cooler colors if you did it yourself. Nothing wrong with buying it if its your type of thing but its not a must have for most people. I got a Nuvi 200 for christmas and its awesome having a portable GPS. Works like a champ and I like the shaker 500.

The car is like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. Words do not begin to describe how cool it is and can be to drive a Mustang. If the Mustang had a wallet it would be just like the one in that movie.

c25sailor

+1
At 33K you're either looking at MSRP or a 'Vert.

It's a Mustang -- that's all.

lodom

Your question isn't unreasonable and there are a lot of variables to consider it answering it. As mentioned previously, higher production volume has a lot to do with the price, since it lowers fixed costs per vehicle. The F-150 is also likely built in an older factory that is fully depreciated, where the Mustang and it's Mazda cousin, are built on a newer production line with newer equipment that probably isn't. This would also increase fixed costs per vehicle. We'd have also have to know the labor hours per vehicle, the cost of materials, etc.

Marketing is also a huge factor, and people are willing to pay a higher price for a fun to drive car. Not to mention the lack of current competition, which keeps prices higher. The F-150 has to maintain a higher perceived value than a Chevy, Toyota, Dodge, etc. to keep its market position. Lastly, the F-150 buyer is probably in a different demographic than a Mustang buyer.

Damestic89

Look at the competition the F150 has to go against. So I bet it's safe to say Ford is making more money by selling a Mustang compared to a F150. But the F150 has numbers on its side.

uberPony

In comparison to other cars the Mustang is the best bang for the buck performance car, period. Compare to other similar cars and not a pick-up to be fair.

Tony Alonso

Actually, the Dearborn Truck Plant is newer (came online during 2004) while Auto Alliance International has been around since 1986 or 1987.

Vermillion06

Saleen S7's have have plastic bodies ,less steel, less room, only seat two, and cant haul or tow anything like a pickup truck can and have don't have much ground clearance and are only 2WD ! How can they sell those things for more than an loaded F150 ? I just don't understand it!

BEW119

I purchased my 07 GT premium, for24k, it stickered at 29k. This is with incentives and the X plan. I feel it was a good deal, the car is great, enjoyable, and fun to drive.

05fordgt

Check out his sig. He's looking at a Bullitt. The price makes sence, if it has most of the options and either Nav or the Shaker 1000 in it. Price sounds like MSRP.

Dixie_Flatline

Yeah, the Bullitt I was going to order should have come out to $32,465 with all the options except Shaker 1000, Navigation, and the accessories.

Maybe $500 rounding fee?

Airwolf

33k is the price of the car plus tax, license, all fees, etc.

Dixie_Flatline

Then that's pretty good with tax. Not many options besides the Bullitt Package? I thought California had higher taxes and car fees than IL, being a progressive state and all.

bob

Its a fair price, I don't know what your economic situation is (you could be Warren Buffett), but I think this points to a bigger problem with wages in America and how they've barely kept pace with inflation in the past, haven't improved in 30 years, and recently been outpaced by inflation. The Mustang is a middle of the road car, beyond its heratige, nothing special in terms of technology, yet more and more people are finding it harder to afford one.

This begs the question, what happens when the Mustang passes beyond the scope of the average consumer? Do you reinvent the car to cater to a more exclusive buyer (ie; make Mustang strictly a BMW M3 - 3 series competitor) or do you slap the name on some crap box to keep it affordable?

poldrv

It does not sound like the Mustang is for you. $33,000.00 for a Bullitt is quite reasonable. But then each to his own.

Dixie_Flatline

Ford as a company has shown over the decades that it does not have the patience to stick with a product and iteratively improve it in order to compete with something like BMW. BMW and Porsche refine things over successive generations and are fiercely controlled by the people who founded it. American production manufacturing packages things up as stand alone product and if it doesn't swim the first go about, then it gets canned and a new package is dreamed up by marketing. It's really short term decisions vs. long term and long term always wins in the end. Of course BMWs are getting outrageously expensive too... you can barely buy a new, stripped down, 3-series for under 40k.

If an American company does stick with something, eventually they listen to the beancounters and put cost cutting ahead of sales and quality. Selling on cost alone will always be a losing proposition because it doesn't think ahead.

By the same token... I challenge anyone who thinks the Mustang, especially the GT, is too expensive - tell me what competes with it and how much it costs. Truth is all cars are getting too expensive compared to a living wage. But we keep buying 'em, don't we...

steevr

You really have to ask yourself, why are trucks so expensive nowadays??

In the old days, if you didn't have a lot of money to spend on a car, you bought a pickup truck. Why are fully loaded pickups over $40K now?? Yes, they may have a nice interior especially in a crew cab setup, but comon, it's half a vehicle on a full frame. The bed is nothing more than a metal box bolted on.

I paid $33K for a new fully loaded '07 convertible. You can get a nice new GT coupe for in the mid to upper $20K's