Hello from Germany: new member, new car
01-29-2012, 03:32 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 48
Hello from Germany: new member, new car
Hello everyone, I thought I'd say hi from Germany. I just joined the Mustang Forums today, but have been looking into and reading the threads in this forum for the better part of a year. Why? Because I was trying to decide upon which Mustang I should get.
Believe it or not, a few years ago, I was seriously considering the purchase of a C6 Z06. But as the size of my family grew, I reluctantly shelved the idea of getting a two seater. Then, in early 2010 it was revealed that Ford was bringing back the the Mustang 5.0. Having been a hard-core 5.0 guy back in the fox-body days, Ford had my full and undivided attention. I was immediately thrown back 15 years to the time I used to live in Canada. The time when I had several 302-powered Foxies (not all at the same time, of course). Anyhow I was hell bent on getting a 2011 GT 5.0.
After some work-related procrastination, I finally took an '11 5.0 for a test drive. The high-revving Coyote immediately made me want one. I knew what I wanted: 5.0, Brembo, 3.73's.
The problem was, trying to find one over here. You see, here in Germany, Ford doesn't import Mustangs. But there are several "grey-imports", which are smaller companies that bring in cars from the US, Canada or Mexico, do the necessary conversions and sell them here. There were several GT 5.0's available, about half of which are automatics, and only a hand full of the manuals are Bembo cars and even fewer of those had 3.73 gearing. And of those few that were indeed matching, all were black in color, which was the only color I really didn't want. So I kept looking...
...and decided one day that the Boss 302 was the better way to go, given the fact that it has a forged bottom end and a suspension setup most suitable for German roads. So I started looking. And found exactly 4 cars in all of Germany. Two of those were blue with white stripes (which I didn't want), one was orange but w/o the Recaro/Torsen option (so that one was out) and the remaining one met all criteria. So I phoned the dealer, who told me he had just sold it yesterday. By now, it was late 2011 and the LA Autoshow had just revealed the 2013 models. And the dealers here made no secret of the fact that they were holding off a few months till the 13's are available before they bring in any new ones. What to do?
I always loved Shelby's but they were always way more expensive than I was willing to spend on a car. Especially for a car that I was buying for fun rather than utility. So I did what every Mustang-crazed gearhead would do in this situation: start looking for Shelby's.
You may ask: why not wait for the 2013's to come out? Especially the 2013 Shelby's. Well there are a few reasons.
First, I'd been putting off the purchase for a number of years and thought it was time to act now.
Second, the exchange rate (USD-Euros) is getting worse with no end in sight, which means that cars imported from the US are getting more expensive from month to month.
Third, when the 2013 Shelby hits the market in the US, it will prolly be at least 5 Grand more expensive than the 2012's.
Fourthly, they're prolly going to sell for another 5-10 grand on top of MSRP for the first 6 months or longer.
Fifth, I planned on financing a part of the purchase, and interest rates are in the basement, and they can basically only go up (especially in light of the inflation they're predicting for the Euro Zone).
To make a long story short, I found a gorgeous new 2012 GT500, white, red stripes, Performance Pack, Recaros and decided to jump at the chance. I signed the deal last week, and hope to pick it up at the end of next week. Yay, I feel like I'm 18 again!
Sorry for the out-of-control long post. Future posts will be shorter.
Oh yeah, I'll post some pics once the car is at home. Only have some really crappy pics taken with my mobile with really bad lighting.
Believe it or not, a few years ago, I was seriously considering the purchase of a C6 Z06. But as the size of my family grew, I reluctantly shelved the idea of getting a two seater. Then, in early 2010 it was revealed that Ford was bringing back the the Mustang 5.0. Having been a hard-core 5.0 guy back in the fox-body days, Ford had my full and undivided attention. I was immediately thrown back 15 years to the time I used to live in Canada. The time when I had several 302-powered Foxies (not all at the same time, of course). Anyhow I was hell bent on getting a 2011 GT 5.0.
After some work-related procrastination, I finally took an '11 5.0 for a test drive. The high-revving Coyote immediately made me want one. I knew what I wanted: 5.0, Brembo, 3.73's.
The problem was, trying to find one over here. You see, here in Germany, Ford doesn't import Mustangs. But there are several "grey-imports", which are smaller companies that bring in cars from the US, Canada or Mexico, do the necessary conversions and sell them here. There were several GT 5.0's available, about half of which are automatics, and only a hand full of the manuals are Bembo cars and even fewer of those had 3.73 gearing. And of those few that were indeed matching, all were black in color, which was the only color I really didn't want. So I kept looking...
...and decided one day that the Boss 302 was the better way to go, given the fact that it has a forged bottom end and a suspension setup most suitable for German roads. So I started looking. And found exactly 4 cars in all of Germany. Two of those were blue with white stripes (which I didn't want), one was orange but w/o the Recaro/Torsen option (so that one was out) and the remaining one met all criteria. So I phoned the dealer, who told me he had just sold it yesterday. By now, it was late 2011 and the LA Autoshow had just revealed the 2013 models. And the dealers here made no secret of the fact that they were holding off a few months till the 13's are available before they bring in any new ones. What to do?
I always loved Shelby's but they were always way more expensive than I was willing to spend on a car. Especially for a car that I was buying for fun rather than utility. So I did what every Mustang-crazed gearhead would do in this situation: start looking for Shelby's.
You may ask: why not wait for the 2013's to come out? Especially the 2013 Shelby's. Well there are a few reasons.
First, I'd been putting off the purchase for a number of years and thought it was time to act now.
Second, the exchange rate (USD-Euros) is getting worse with no end in sight, which means that cars imported from the US are getting more expensive from month to month.
Third, when the 2013 Shelby hits the market in the US, it will prolly be at least 5 Grand more expensive than the 2012's.
Fourthly, they're prolly going to sell for another 5-10 grand on top of MSRP for the first 6 months or longer.
Fifth, I planned on financing a part of the purchase, and interest rates are in the basement, and they can basically only go up (especially in light of the inflation they're predicting for the Euro Zone).
To make a long story short, I found a gorgeous new 2012 GT500, white, red stripes, Performance Pack, Recaros and decided to jump at the chance. I signed the deal last week, and hope to pick it up at the end of next week. Yay, I feel like I'm 18 again!
Sorry for the out-of-control long post. Future posts will be shorter.
Oh yeah, I'll post some pics once the car is at home. Only have some really crappy pics taken with my mobile with really bad lighting.
...pics?!
01-30-2012, 03:42 AM
#8
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 48
Thanks, all of you.
I don't have any decent pics yet. I'm picking the car up on Friday. Here's what I have so far, taken with my scratched camera on my 6 year old Nokia:
Notice the headlamp washers (mandatory installation on non-German spec cars without headlamp height adjustment). Makes no sence, I know, but over here we invented bureaucracy.
I don't have any decent pics yet. I'm picking the car up on Friday. Here's what I have so far, taken with my scratched camera on my 6 year old Nokia:
Notice the headlamp washers (mandatory installation on non-German spec cars without headlamp height adjustment). Makes no sence, I know, but over here we invented bureaucracy.
