bigblue95z

I'd keep it. No doubt about it. Why would you wanna loose that kind of money? So you sell it to get out of the payment. Say its $500/mo. You loose $5000 on the deal due to mods. They you turn around and buy another car with a more conservative $300/mo payment. Well the $$ you just lost makes your payment really around $400/mo because of $$ lost. Now you've got a mundane car, that could have been a badd *** whip for $100/mo more.

Cal26Stang

keep it for your kids, one day they will be driving, there is your excuse...

and if that doesn't work, ill take your after market parts you can have my stock ones, and everyone will be happy

mustangrider48

Yea, since you wanna get rid of it let's just trade. Seriously though, I think you should try to keep it if it makes you happy. If your over it, then I guess you are asking the wrong crowd. lol

chidrock

Just thought that I'd share my story...I had an 06 GT that I had custom painted and with all of the bolt-ons put on. I traded it in last year even though I loved it, but the itch/regret didn't go away. Every time I saw a mustang it really stunk - I even packed up any Mustang stuff I had in the house and tried to forget about it. (the worst was seeing my old car on the road every once in a while or hearing people at work tell me how they saw it) I wound up getting a cheap motorcycle to cure it, but that didn't really work. I wound up trading my truck in to get 2010 a month ago. My wife was cool with it and understood how much I missed the car.

One thing that you have to remember in all of this - the older the kids are, the more expensive they are going to be. If you have to sell the car now to get into a house that's stretching it, that house might not be the best choice unless you have raises coming in the future at your job. I say keep the car and the payment and by the time your car payments are done, the real bills will start coming in for your kids. At least now you'll have some room when the car payments are done rather than trying to stretch it further with a house payment that might be just a little too high.

ptaylor_9849

I'm with most everyone else on this. When my kids were young, I sold my mustang for the same reasons you are describing here. All that did was make me unhappy that I gave up the one thing I really enjoyed for myself. Over time, I bought another mustang and then spent lots of cash modding that one so it really didn't SAVE me anything. Here's another VERY important thing to consider. Raising children and owning a home can be a daunting task. You give up a lot of your personal identity for the betterment of the family. Having something for yourself like your mustang will provide you with an escape from the sometimes screaming crying kids and nagging wife. The mustang is not just a car, it's your hobby. Don't give away that much of yourself!

neo1985

i love your car man

robs

You're upside down. Selling it simply means you'll be paying for a major toy you no longer have. Not sure that makes a lot of sense.

I don't have a good answer. I was in the same boat 23 years ago. I parked my toy and it's been parked ever since. I have no desire to do any restoration at this point. I just bought a new toy this year.

Brass tax. You make it through. Life goes on. Some choices don't seam to matter. Cars wear out. 10 years is about the limit w/o major modifications / upgrades.... 10 years goes like the drop of a hat.

flinkpoyd01

This is a great thread, I just went through the exact same thought processes and it appears that I am in a similar spot as the OP. Married for a couple of years but close to being in the market for a house, kids to follow shortly thereafter, etc. After the input from Nuke and my dad (which both had very similar past experiences) I decided to keep my '05 GT that I have 3.5 years of payments left on. My issue was that paying about $4300/year on a fun toy is money that could be better spent put away for a down payment on a house. The fact is that the common theme that I have heard from others who are now about 20 years past my current situation is that after selling their "baby", they were unable to justify getting back into one until the kids had basically moved out. There are going to be so many additional expenses coming your way with the house, kids, etc and I am not naive enough to think I know what they all are, because I do not. The point is, you already have the car, and it is modded exactly how YOU wanted it. If you can swing the payments and you really love the car, do what you can to keep it. Unless it truly is an extra vehicle, you are going to need to replace it and if you want a decent replacement that is reliable and somewhat nice you are most likely going to have a payment on it anyway. But it's not going to be what you really want. Plus in your case you'll end up upside down on it, and this is the worst time of year to try to get top dollar for it. The point of the 2010s coming out will also decrease the value of it, which I have come to terms with.

Overall: do what you have to do. If you must sell it, then sell it. But really work out your finances beforehand and see if selling it really makes sense monetarily, then think of the intangible aspects that come along with the "mustang lifestyle" and imagine yourself without the car.

White05GT

I'd work 3 jobs if I had to so I could keep mine. Luckily thats not the case.

Fort LiquordaleGT

You put 10k into a 30k car... So you spent 40k on a Mustang. You live and you learn. Are the mods paid for as well? Or are they on credit cards? I'm a dave ramsey debt is dumb kind of guy. Dump that thing, take your lumps and put a plan together for wifey, kids house and a new car...

Mustangs all drive faster and handle better when they are paid off. In fact you get an extra 25rwhp once it's paid off. If you took that 10k in mods and applied it to the car assuming the mods are paid for in cash, you would be still driving your Stang, and it would be paid off in a year or two thus you could keep it.