Derf00

Keep the car. Rather than trying to buy (spend) money to save money which is a losing proposition, focus on paying the car off. Save yourself the extra money in interest you'd pay out if you simply paid the minimum monthly payment.

darcane

I would agree with the above recommendations, although I typically run tire pressure at/near the max pressure on the sidewall rather than what is recommended on the door sill information sticker. Ride quality will get harsher as pressure increases, but rolling resistance decreases.

Driving habits make a big difference as well. Slow down, no WOT, coast rather than brake. Does your Mustang have an instant and average MPG readout (I'm not sure when they first were added)? If so, pay close attention to that and change your driving habits to keep your instant MPGs high. If you don't have the Instant MPG readout on your dash, you can display it using an UltraGauge. They are about $70 and plug into your OBDII port. They can pay for themselves pretty quickly if you pay attention to it, plus it can show a bunch of other gauges that aren't on your instrument cluster, show you trouble codes, show your calibrated speed (if you have altered the tire size or gearing), and more.

For reference, my daily driver is an '01 Civic coupe that I average about 47mpg in (52mpg hwy).

03gt04mach1

I was thinking along those same lines.

CPTCO

Do the math. 2400 a year for gas isn't very much. If you were to improve that by buying a newer car/fuel miser, you might save four or five hundred bucks a YEAR on gas. Could you upgrade your car for $500? If you bought a used Prius, it might still need new tires. There goes your gas savings for the year. Any used car can break down a week after you buy it. There goes your savings. The mods your looking at are going to be $1000+. I agree with the other guys, tune it up, use your cruise, air up the tires, or ride the bus. Good luck, I hope this helps.

Daehawk

Wait wait.....you STILL owe $5000 on a used 04? Seems a tad high.

mustangman02232

beat me to it, I would deffinately say keep the car because of the note, when I got my 09 f350 in january (that I daily drive 90 miles a day) 36-60 months with my (very good) credit rating was 1.9% so I took the loan for 60 months........6 months later I have 46 payments left, im not a millionaire by any means, but buying a few less cases of beer per month can go a far way, and having a title in hand for a vehicle will beat gas milage and repairs any day of the week

jthorn9

YOU STILL OWE $5000 on a 9 year old V6!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! They took you to the bank!!!!

99austin99

its probably closer to 4500, I have made 17 payments on the $7500 loan... The car only had 65,000 miles on it when i got it...

Now for the math...
Mustang --
$185-mo car payment + $120-mo ins + (60miles-day x 15days-mo to work / 24mpg x $3.50-gallon) = $436.25-mo

CRZ --
$280-mo car payment + $150-mo ins + (60miles-day x 15days-mo to work / 37mpg x $3.5-gallon) = $515.14-mo

Prius --
$280-mo car payment + $125-mo ins + (60miles-day x 15days-mo to work / 50mpg x $3.5-gallon) = $468-mo

Ins rates will probably be a little higher on Crz and Prius based off of how new they are, and maintenance will be higher cost because they are hybrid, so that will also raise the cost... but my wife and i would use it for more than just to and from work so it would save us a little bit more money... But overall it seems to be cheaper to keep my mustang. Thank you all for your input, got me looking at it from different angles and thinking about all the variables that i overlooked. so thank you, I think i can make a final decision now.

darcane

The other part of the equation that you are missing is that switching to the CRZ or Prius will add 17 months of payments (or more, with those numbers you might be looking at a 60mo instead of 48mo loan). You are far better off sticking with the Mustang, paying it off, and keeping it for at least a few years after it is paid for.

TomKat

you need too keep it and use a economy tune instead of high octane... its v6. do an oil change rotation of tire properly inflated.