Mishri

So. you sell your car for 10k(if you are lucky) and you have 2k in the bank (which I'd save atleast 1k for mods) you can find a 2005 GT with 50,000 miles on it for 14k so you still need to make payments on 3,000? get a 3 year loan (if they'll let you) and your payments would be like 100.00 a month or hopefully you can just pay it off before modding it.. sounds doable to me.

S/C your V6 is a nice option.. if you can get to that 400rwhp with new pistons you'll be faster than a lot of GTs.. but I dunno about a whipple pushing 500rwhp on a GT

Ato

It's not like he owns the car outright, he owes around $9k so he would unlikely break even right now and even if he did he would be financing $14k if he got one for that, not $3k.

HT

True, but I'm not paying all of it. Keep in mind that I am not going that deep into debt. We still have 3 years on this payment plan (for the V6, was a 5 year) so I do want to go for a 3 year plan (to keep it even for the parents). They are still going to pay the $13,900, regardless. So, they are going to put around $9,500 into the GT when I get it. It won't be on the down payment, but they will be making the majority of the monthly. I will just be supplying them with the difference between the monthly payment now and what the monthly payment will be on the GT. I make at least $150 a month, usually around $300 so I don't really feel like I'm digging to deep of a hole. Correct me if I am mistaken but it just doesn't seem that bad...

What monthly payment difference am I looking at between $215 and a used GT on a 3 year plan (what is it now, around $15,000)?

HT

Looking at a monthly payment calculator, I really need to sell my car for $11,000. If I can do that and get a GT for $14,000 then I can do it. Because then, I'll be able to get $1,500 out of my car (owing around $9,500). Then, I have around $2,000, making my down payment $3,500. So my payment plan would be on $10,500. At 5% or 6% (not much difference) it's $319.43 (6%). Thats around $100 dollar difference; a little more than I wanted but definately doable... If I get $9,999 for my car (more realistic from comments here), then I am looking at $349.88 (6%). That is a little more stringent, as on bad months I make $150 and that is an increase of $135. I don't really have other expenses (gas and insurance is payed for) but on those bad months I have $15 left over...but I usually pull in $200 month (average) so I still have some dealing room...

I don't know, this is tough. I might list my car high and see if I can sell it high. If so, it's a go. If not, time for some mods ...

Comments/Opinions on this? This is a big decision for a 17 year old so I appreciate all the help.

Thanks,

HT

vashthe3rd

That's what I was getting at. On the realistic thing you'd be having a mid 300$ payment and that's on a rather cheap GT, potentially with problems. Looking around right now I don't think you'd get a decent quality GT without searching REALLY hard.

I really don't think it's a good idea if your payments hinge that much on how much you sell the V6 for.

PS: I don't want to come across as outright discouraging. I can definitely understand wanting a GT, I just don't think it's worth the hassle of having to make everything work right for it not to make you have to break your back. Plus at 17 I'd imagine going off to college or something similar is on the horizon for you, you're probably going to be adjusting to new things and will definitely want some breathing room for your finances

limitedex

OP - I just sold my 05 GT Premium Vert w/ only 17k on it for $16,000 cash.

kevinmalec

What's the rush on getting a GT??

Mishri

It sounds like you will be cutting your budget too tight, I wouldn't do it. Have you discussed this with your parents? or do they suck at financial decisions?

HT

Nah they are helping. Only thing is, they don't agree with modding a car...which was my initial plan. At first, I was not going to be allowed to even think about a GT. But, I joined up on this forum and got exposed to all the different possibilities with the car and starting deciding on mods. The parentals think modding is equivalent to "screwing a car up" so they decided to let me have a GT, given the financial arrangements I have provided...

So, it's either, mod the car and **** of the parents or get a GT, or do nothing.

Do nothing is not really an option, because after seeing all the awesome cars on here I really have some cool ideas in mind...

And then, if I do mod I still have to be careful with the situation because, technically speaking, it is not my car, per say. So, I figured if I went the GT route, I would be able to fight that battle more because the car is partially mine...

If any of that makes sense. At this point I'm thinking about just working on the car, both performance wise and appearance wise, regardless of what the parents want. If I could just get them to understand that I am not trying to butcher the car I would be set.

Still not sure though. This is a tough one. Oh, and with the college situation. Just though about it, I may be looking at a new car in a year and a half regardless. It's looking like I may be able to get some serious scholarships so I think I get a "reward" for not costing my parents all the college money (obviously, more than a Mustang would cost...)

So, if we assume I get a new Mustang in a year, what should I do now? All of the performance mods I do will be bunk if I switch to a GT. Appearance mods will be a part by part transition, I assume. And everything will be shot if I get a 2010/2011.

I'm confusing myself now...lol.

Opinions?

vashthe3rd

I cannot relate to your situation at all, I got lucky between having a dad who
word for word, no offense here "If I was going to buy a sports car, I wasn't about to buy a ***** one" and we found an absolutely RIDICULOUS deal on my GT a couple years back.

Let me just put it like this.You can have a nicer looking, slightly peppier V6 now, or you can save all that money, work hard to guarantee that scholarship as an incentive for upgrading with your parents, then you have a nice pool of saved up bank to mod with. That's how I went about it. Worked jobs I don't think any highschool student should even be allowed to do. (Starbucks opening and closing shifts for one, 4 AM wake-up call? or staying at the shop in a slightly ghetto area til midnight? Never again) but I digress. let's say you get a 2010/11 GT. The money you save now, if in a year or so you still want to be doing this, can transform into a chin spoiler, cool set of vinyl stripes, intake, tune, maybe a cam, and maybe wheels if you wanted. on top of a short-throw, tint, other minor visual upgrades here and there. All on a GT.


Long story short: Mod the V6 now and you'll be throwing alot of money into a car that might be replaced very soon and not seeing a whole lot of it returned if the car is sold/traded in.(If a year doesn't seem short yet, wait until senior year, it goes by like nothing) or wait, save up and go modding crazy. You might be surprised at how much a hard working student can save up over 2-3 years.