Turbo302

Congrats! I think you will love being in a Mustang . You buying up in Alaska? I had a friend buy 3 new cars right before he moved back down to Minnesota. He said that he saved a ton as there was no sales tax. That was a big chunk of savings when he was buying $100k of new cars!

tetstang

"Blowfish" is the description that comes to my mind when I see the front of the new mustang. Looks a lot like one of those Siamese fighting fish, or something. They fixed it with the GT350 - fixed the hood too.


I have not driven a '15 GT PP yet. I love the raucous feeling of my '12 GT with the Ford Racing suspension, so that will be my point of comparison. It just feels fast, and engaging. IF I become interested in a '15 or '16, it will likely be a GT350 or some other stripped-ish down performance version.


On appearances alone, I am would not move out of my car.

David Young

I thought the 2015 Mustang would win Motortrend car of the year, but the VW Golf won it . The main thing they (Motortrend) didn't like about the Mustang was the loose handling. Just saying.........................

laserred38

Thought the F-150 would win TOTY too. Clearly Ford didn't pay their advertising bills this year lol

LQQK

They (F-150 & S550) have a chance at a more prestigious award...Both made the Final Three for TOTH & COTY.

The other cars on the short list were the Acura TLX, Audi A3, Chrysler 200, Honda Fit, Hyundai Sonata, Mercedes-Benz C class and Toyota Camry.

The other trucks on the short list were the Audi Q3, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Canyon, Lexus NX, Mercedes-Benz GLA class, Nissan Murano, Porsche Macan, Subaru Outback and Toyota Highlander.

North American Car & Truck of the Year

David Young

True.

rhumb

Just a decent set of shocks away!

BOSS MAN 13

HARLEY, over a HONDA? I guess you have never heard a Honda RC 51, it's race V-Twin sounds like an old Ford 427, the sweetest sounding motorcycle I've ever owned!!

montreal ponies

That my friend is the real truth. VW shooting to become #1 auto manufacturer by next year.

JoeMidnight

The Boss 302 was one of the best mustangs ever built. I have a feeling that anyone who currently owns a Boss, is going to be as happy as a pig in $hit. Ford stops productions on one of their best Pony production lines, I can only imagine what they'll be worth in a few years time.

tetstang

Stopped at a dealer the other day to look at the '15 GT's....but there was a '13 BOSS 302 GHIG on the used lot. 26K miles on the ODO and the asking was $44K.... not even a SECA. That's about the same as new msrp.


So, this gave me a great chance to stand beside a new '15 GT with the PP and the '13. I went back and forth, and I began to notice that the body panels on the '15 didn't fit so well. The '13 still looked killer, muscular, all business. All Mustang.


Still not smitten with the '15, altho I haven't driven one...yet.


Also, a '15 GT rolled up beside my window the other day and it was very quiet. Hardly a burble... What's with that?

FlyTexas

Ok, this won't be a popular post... but...

If you have to finance the new car, then you can't afford it. You can afford it when you can pay cash and not one second sooner.

Note 1: This does not mean you SHOULD pay cash, I financed my current truck at 1.9%, at that rate I'd be crazy not to... but I can pay it off any time I want...

If you HAVE to finance, then you shouldn't buy it unless you have no other choice because you have to have a working car. It is a depreciating asset, never buy those unless you have the money.

*takes father hat off now*

Note 2: You can do anything you want, I'm just telling you what is in your financial best interest, you're free to join the rest of America in debt.

Note 3: Houses are different, you have to have a place to live and they generally appreciate in value, so financing them does make sense, to a point.

FlyTexas

Having driven both cars, one just like your old one and the new one (both automatics), I think you are correct here, the older model was more... of a driver's experience...

The new one? More of a comfortable daily driver...

...

You know what? The old one wasn't selling like Mustangs usually do, I predict this new one will outsell the old one over the next 5 years. Time will tell, but the Mustang has joined the modern world. It will lose some fans in the process, but it has a chance to gain a whole lot of new ones.

FlyTexas

I've posted more than once now that I think it is a mistake to not offer the Premium trim level with the V6.

guitar

That is my feeling exactly....won't buy the EB, won't buy a down graded interior and don't need a GT.

NewToMustang

I think your point is good in general terms, but one has to appreciate the fact that so much car buying is irrational anyway. We're talking a mustang here. The premium you pay to get a bigger engine and less basic car functionality (like usable rear seats for adults) is far greater than the hundreds of bucks you spend in financing at rates as low as they are now.

Yes, financing when you don't have the cash to pay off the loan has some degree of risk. But so does paying cash (or financing even if you have the cash) if you don't have substantially more cash than the purchase price.

That said, I still think you've made a very prudent point. People generally do quite obviously tend to buy over their means with cars. Once someone saves up for the car they want, their tastes get fancier and such. But having cash doesn't necessarily keep you out of trouble unless you've got a good cushion too. Any you can always buy a used Yaris or something

FlyTexas

You are correct, a lot of car buying is completely irrational, in terms of what you *need*.

That being said, there is no crime in buying what you *want*, if you have the cash. The mistake is in buying what you *want* if you DON'T have the cash.

The finance charge is as close as it really matters, zero... The interest isn't the issue, the issue is the lack of savings and reserves for a rainy day and for retirement...

If you want a shiny new Mustang with leather and a V8, is that practical or rational in terms of *need*? Heck no! But who cares, it is FUN! If you have the money, go have FUN and enjoy yourself.

AFTER you have money in the bank, savings for a rainy day, the credit cards paid off, equity in the home, etc. The mistake is that people do this backwards, they buy the shiny new toy while trying to get out of debt, financing that new toy at cheap interest.

If I may be blunt?

If you don't have a lot more than $30-40K cash in the bank, you shouldn't be buying a shiny brand new Mustang, or any car for that matter. This is the grand mistake that so many people make, trying to keep up with the Jones and have the new shiny.

What it really creates is a lot of poor people. It isn't taught in school, which is a shame, but the reality is that we have a lot of fifty thousand dollar millionaires in this county. The person on your street that squeezed into the lease on the pretty new car, so everyone has one. Almost none of them can afford it however.

I used to be very guilty of this, so I am not trying to pass judgement (even if it comes across that way on the Internet). In my 20's, I made good money, I was single, I bought a new car every year for 4 years in a row. Lord was that a complete waste of money. If I had driven one truck for 4 years instead and put the rest of the money in the bank, it would be over a hundred thousand dollars today.

One of my favorite exercises is to take college kids and do a math challenge with them. Take $10 a week from the age of 20, put it into a Roth IRA on an investment plan that has a DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan), and leave it there until they are 60, only increasing the $10 per week by the estimated rate of inflation over time.

If the money earns the historical rate of return of 11% of the stock market, the total number usually surprises them by a LOT.

Now do that at age 30 but do it with the price of that new shiny. You're driving your future paid off house.

NewToMustang

I really agree with almost everything you're saying. The numbers are the numbers. My only point of difference is to suggest that a lot of the issues of money management might not necessarily be tied to cash vs finance.

Even if you have the cash on hand to buy a mustang and have an emergency fund, you're still subject to the lost opportunity of investing that money. And even if you pay cash but swap out cars every other year, you'll be taking big losses. The biggest way to save money on cars, buy or lease, is to buy one and drive it as long as possible. And buy the least pricey car you think you'll realistically keep the longest. Anything outside of that framework is an indulgence (which is totally fine) that comes with costs.

But cash or finance, you're still using money you could have sunk in an IRA, 401k, or whatever else. Practically speaking, the difference to me is that you can't let the financing trick you into a more expensive car versus what you really want to spend now. Which makes your advice great for those who may not have the best discipline.

For what it's worth, I put 30% of my before tax income into retirement, which is very aggressive, and I still get torn up inside knowing that every $1k I spend on consumer items now could easily be $10k down the road. But I know I have a good plan for the future, so I get over it.

2011 Kona Blue

Well , thank goodness people don't listen to this advice about never buying a mustang unless they have the cash in full for it, money put away for rainy day and equity in their home. There wouldn't be any mustangs or majority of cars around. Heck, majority car manufacturers wouldn't be around.

m05fastbackGT

Fly ! Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your post, but if not ? First off, what if someone isn't in the same position as you are who's able to pay off their car anytime they want, are you then suggesting they shouldn't even bother buying the car at all ?

For example, In my situation it took 5 years to pay my car off because I just didn't have the type of disposable income to afford making higher payments on a shorter 3 year finance term, let alone have the ability to pay for the car with cash..

Although I didn't have a large cash deposit to put down, I did have $12,500 in equity via trade in.. So I suppose you can consider that as the same as cash

So despite being successful in completing the terms of my 5 year finance agreement, does this according to your definition mean I wasn't financially able to afford purchasing my car ?