tdbrown75

A couple of thougths from a guy with stripes and an auto:

I posted my thoughts on the auto tranny here: https://mustangforums.com/m_4357241/...tm.htm#4361211

Options: I got mine loaded in 06, no regrets. And with a HUGE aftermarket, there really is no end to the possibilities/options you have.

Stripes - Get aftermarket stripes. There are many styles/options available in both the over the car and side stripes. They will run you a couple hundred dollars and you can put them on yourself with a little patience.

A final thought on the Leasing versus buying thing - Leasing is almost never a good idea, just another way to have somthing you can't afford. It's not that people who lease cars are ignorant, its just that what they know is wrong!

Tim

htvsean1

I live just north of dc and travel down 95 and 495 a few times a week, so i know how bad the traffic can be. However I would not give up my manual for an auto. IMO all sports cars should be manuals but test drive both to see what works for you.

The dealer installed stripes are a waste of money as someone said before.

Get a x-plan code to get the best price.

Welcome to the club. Post some pic's when you get it!

tdbrown75

What about Pony or Muscle cars?

Tim

jlmphillips

Hi Luke - Welcome to the Forum!

I bought my deluxe because it was on the lot and I am more interested in building performance than looks. I do wonder about stripes, though. Perhaps one of these days. :-)

I would not trade my manual and don't regret the purchase. To me, automatics are just not as much fun. With that in mind, I drive another car with an automatic transmission as my daily driver. :-P

You can purchase a car at or below invoice. I talked the salesman down so far that he came back to me from his supervisor's office, somewhat sheepishly, and asked if he could reduce the discount that he had given me. I agreed because I felt that he was in serious trouble. Evidently, the car had sat for awhile. We had to charge the battery to start it.

I think that, with the modifications I have added, my car is almost perfect. See my signature. I do agree that a Whipple or Kenne Bell is obligatory for what I consider a muscle car. I am saving my money now for a supercharger in the spring.

I have never leased a car although a friend of mine leases a new corvette every three years.

exx1976

I have an 06 vert manual. Traffic around here isn't TOO bad, but on road trips to various destinations, I have been stuck in some REAL bad traffic.. Like on 90 going through Chicago.. THAT SUCKED! If I had to do that every day, I might have considered an auto.

I didn't order my car, I bought it off the lot in march of 07, so it had been sitting a while. It has every option except Sirius and heated seats. Being a vert, heated seats are something I really want, and I plan to have them added this speing when the car comes out of hibernation.

The Shaker 1k isn't worth it, IMHO. If you're that into radios, you're going to end up replacing it anyway, so don't spend the extra $1200 on it.

I paid ~$3k under invoice for mine.

As a few others have said, the first thing to do is geta CAI and tune. I was hesitant at first, but the install was a breeze, and it REALLY woke the car up. With an auto, and changing the shift points, I can only imagine it would be that much better.

Enjoy!!!

ljj116

Wow, thanks for all the great responses so far! A lot of great information in there.

I'm still in the process of evaluating lease vs. buy. I'll figure out what works out best financially once I get all of the lease figures. (The opposing thought is that you lease and invest the difference in monthly payment...it *can* turn out better to lease, financially) I'll have to hunt around a little bit more, and possily post over on the blue oval forums to figure that stuff out. Also thanks for the advice on the xplan pin, I wasn't aware such a thing existed.

As far as the auto vs. manual....I may opt for the manual, despite the traffic. Another reason why I was considering an auto was because my wife has never driven a stick, and there may be some situation where she would *have* to drive *my* car. The more I think about it...that's probably a rare situation anyway, and I think she could learn to drive a stick if she needed to.

A couple more questions that have come out of all of this:

Aftermarket Stripes - I'm guessing these are vinyl, right? Are the stock stripes vinyl, or painted? Someone mentioned that they make stripes that are "pre-cut", does this include going around any lights, etc? I helped put vinyl stripes on a ranger once, and it looked great except where we had to cut out around the tailgate handle and the cab brake light...

Ordering - I've been looking around at some of the dealers, and it seem that the selection is rather slim. Since I'm pretty particular, it looks like I might do best ordering mine. If I order, how long can I expect to have to wait? Are the dealers going to give me a harder time about pricing if I order? Or will it be easier to get a good price? I guess with the xplan pin, that won't make as much of a difference though.

Test Driving - I'm still a few months out from actually buying something, in the very early stages of looking around. If I go to a dealer and tell them I just want to test drive an auto and a manual, are they going to tell me to get lost and come back when I'm ready to buy? I've never researched buying a car quite this much. I usually go to the dealer, test drive, and buy all in the period of 1-2 days. I'm rather determined to have the upper hand this time around.

Thanks again! I can't wait to get my Mustang now!

Luke

nymustangGT

i live in nyc i use my carfor work everyday . Drive about anywhere from 80-200 miles a day I have the stick shift and to be honest i have not gotten bored of driving it. Ive been in serious traffic and i just deal with it . ITS A MUSTANG !! btw mine is leased i pay 500 a month payed the taxes and fees no down paymentand 20,000 miles a year .

vack75

http://www.baltimorestreetmods.com/

ensign_lee

Before I start, I'd just like to point out that I just got my mustang. Vista Blue GT Convertible, Automatic. I chose the automatic because I'm going to be using this as my daily driver, and I don't feel like wanting to kill people in heavy traffic. I love my car.

One month in and 2,200 miles later...

So take this advice with the notion that I too am a noob.


I like my automatic. But really, that's personal preference.

At first, I didn't really think I wanted Sirius, but the car already had it (and it had pretty much every other option I wanted), so I agreed to it. One month later, I love the fact that Sirius is in my car and have already bought the lifetime subscription for it for my mustang. It's really quite awesome.


This is going to sound kind of strange, but you can probably get the dealer to give the invoice price to you (otherwise, edmunds.com is good for that). I got one of the dealers near me to do it and wow, did that ever improve my credibility. I ended up getting my mustang from a seperate dealer for 2500 UNDER invoice. You should be able to, at the very least, pay invoice for your car. Personally, I think you should be able to get a dealer to sell you a car at invoice LESS any rebates you qualify for (should be like $1500). Beyond that, know what the holdback will be (4.5% of the MSRP for blue oval certified dealers, 3% for others), and you should be able to dig into that as well. For me, my final price was Invoice, less $2000 in rebates, and then less the last $500 in dealer concessions (which they'd then make up in holdback). All in all, the dealer made about $1000, I think, which is more than fair in my eyes, and I got what I thought was a great price. It's a great feeling knowing that you probably got the best price possible on your car and that if you didn't, you still got it for waaaay less than most people were paying for it.

Negotiations are all about leverage. The dealers REAAAALY want to sell you a car. Make them fight each other for the privilege. I finally agreed on my price when another dealer flat out said "no. We won't match that price. We'd lose too much money" and THEY ended negotiations.

Also, I'm not sure if you're planning on getting one off the lot or ordering, but if you're ordering, you now have IMMENSE leverage, because it doesn't really matter to you WHO you get the car from. The car will be the exact same car. Plus, the dealer will automatically get holdback on it becase it won't ever be an unsold car on his lot; it will be presold to you. Leverage that immensely. But even if you're getting one off the lot, you still have leverage. Oftentimes, car dealers all operate off of a "shared" inventory, which means that you can get that EXACT SAME CAR from someone else, so if the dealership that actually has your car on THEIR lot isn't being cooperative, you can get it from someone else. Oftentimes, the car dealership that actually ahs the car on their lot will be the one that is most willing to give concessions, but sometimes, it's not.

You can get a fantastic price with a bit of work and some patience. Know that YOU hold the power in these negotiations, not them; don't let them turn the tables on you. Good luck, and enjoy your new mustang when you get her!

Arendii

What about (4.10) gears will the car roll without putting gas?