ford dealership experience + question to mustang owners

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

The Cayman S is an amazing car. Perfectly done. But it is insanely expensive when you can get relative performance for much cheaper. But if you've got the money to blow on one they are super nice. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, which is why I bought the 370.

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

I love P cars... always have. I think if I buy one (and it's really when, not if), it's going to be the 911. It just isn't a P-car if it's not a 911. The 2012 redesign has stolen my heart.

If I bought one now, though, I wouldn't be able to spend nearly as much money on the other important things in life... like computers, guns, cigars, etc.

Originally Posted by Pharmacist

really? i actually think that porsche achieved the impossible and made the 911 even uglier with the new 991 generation. can't doubt the performance upgrade though.

Originally Posted by Pharmacist

really? i actually think that porsche achieved the impossible and made the 911 even uglier with the new 991 generation. can't doubt the performance upgrade though.

Originally Posted by FL 4Motion

I do agree the new 991 911 is very very much improved over the 997 in the places where it counts and looks very good. I think all car guys have at least some love for the P cars, (911s specifically) regardless of whether they'd own one or not.

PS--glad to know your priorities are in the right place.

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

As much as I love cars I need to make sure I don't spend all my money on them because I have very, very expensive taste.

Originally Posted by FL 4Motion

lol. Yeah, it's hard to have self control sometimes.

(waiting for m4 to post pics of his new bugatti veyron at some point on here).

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

You know, I'm actually surprisingly content with the Mustang right now. It's been a lot of fun and I have some fun things planned for it in the next couple of months. I definitely think I will be able to hold on to it for at least another year, maybe two.

The only thing I'm trying to keep in check is my ongoing idea to drop $15k or so on an AP1 to play around with. I've successfully defeated that desire a handful of times already over the past year... I think I'll end up trying one out sooner or later, though. As an addition to the current car, of course.

Originally Posted by FL 4Motion

TBH, at your (assumed on my part) income level, dropping $15K for an AP1 is FAR FAR more responsible than selling the 'stang and jumping into a 100K+ 991 911 (no way you can get the 911 optioned halfway decent on the left side of 100K imo).

/\ I know that wasn't very helpful tho was it? Sorry.

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

I agree. Buying the Porsche would not be a good decision. I've pretty much written that idea off for a while. A modestly optioned 991 comes in at around $115k. I don't even want to think about spending $60-70k on a used GT-R right now (even though I do think about it... a lot).

I am tempted every day to go out and get an S2K... the only thing holding me back is knowing that at some point in the next 2-5 years I need to grow up and buy a ring and a house. Damnit.

Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

You know, I'm actually surprisingly content with the Mustang right now. It's been a lot of fun and I have some fun things planned for it in the next couple of months. I definitely think I will be able to hold on to it for at least another year, maybe two.

The only thing I'm trying to keep in check is my ongoing idea to drop $15k or so on an AP1 to play around with. I've successfully defeated that desire a handful of times already over the past year... I think I'll end up trying one out sooner or later, though. As an addition to the current car, of course.

Originally Posted by Pharmacist

Had a pretty interesting experience today while car shopping. I went to Markville Ford to check out mustangs. Hardly any sales people working there. I walk around and check out some mustangs in the backyard. Then I sat in a gt500 convertible inside the showroom for a few minutes checking out the interior. I try to get a feel for the clutch and manual gearbox. A sales man tells me I shouldn't do that because the transmission is dry because the car doesn't get driven or moved from its place. He asks if he can help me with something. I tell him I wanna know about mustangs. Right off the bat, he asks me my age!?!?!?!?! Him: How old are you? Me: 28. Him: Because you look young. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then he asks me what I would like to know and I tell him I'm interested in 5.0 gt models, manual, coupe with brembo package. He checks his inventory and finds only a 2012 convertible. He has some company demo models from 2011 but without brembo pack. I ask if I can possibly test drive it. He says they don't do test drives on them in the winter because their summer tires get very hard in the cold and due to the torque the back end slides and spins out. Ok fair enough. Even though it was bone dry out there, but it was a bit cold at -3 celsius. So I ask if can test drive the base model without brembo pack since they come with all season tires. He said the same thing happens with all seasons too so no test drives on these either. I ask if he'll be getting more cars soon, and he tells me in a couple of weeks they will get another delivery which might have something to my preferences. I tell him to take down my contact info and let me know. His tone suddenly becomes less hostile and now he's actually more willing to talk and chat as opposed to a few minutes ago when he seemed to be eager to show me the exit. He gets my contact info and give me his business card which I of course tossed into the trash as soon as i went home.

I was never a big fan of fords or mustangs but I tried to keep an open mind. But that experience just left a sour taste in my mouth. Needless to say, even if by some miracle I do get a mustang, markville ford won't be seeing a single penny of my money. I was actually shocked at the way he treated me. I would have expected to be treated like crap at porsche or bmw, being young in casual dress, and looking out of place among the well heeled crowds that go to such dealers. Yet surprisingly enough, the porsche sales rep was very polite and actually offered me to test drive an 2006 c4s with a laundry list of options they had in stock, and sent me an email a few days later asking me again to test drive it. I would have, but their asking price is too steep for me so I never followed up on it. And the bmw experience was even better. I went there to check out M3 right after the ford visit, and talked to a very nice sales lady that offered me a coffee, and chatted with me. She was very open to the idea of me taking a test drive, agreeing i have to like the car before i decide to buy it, only they didn't have any cars available. They had a new one inside the showroom on a trickle charger that's never moved, and they had a used one but it was just sold so i couldn't test drive it. But she will call me in a few days when they get more inventory.

So seriously, here I am, young, dressed in casual clothes, and I get VIP treatment at luxury car dealers like porsche and bmw, while i get treated like crap at FORD of all places!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the lowest tier car makers out there, a company that nearly went bankrupt a couple of years ago. I remember the same crappy treatment i.e. no test drive allowed BS I experienced a couple of years ago at a Mitsu dealer when i was cross shopping an EVO X.


Anyway, that brings me to my question to mustang owners. That gt500 I sat in, when i tried getting a feel for the shifter, must have been the roughest, clunkiest, harshest shifter i ever touched! I actually think it aggravated an elbow injury i had or something. It took quite a tremendous effort to get the shifter into any of the 6 gears. Heck, even just moving the shifter sideways in neutral was heavy. I really don't get the salesman's logic that the gearbox is dry as the oil isn't sloshing around since the car isn't driven. I parked my 370 for a couple of weeks at a time when on vacation and i never had such a problem. I remember messing around with the shifter in other 370's and even other cars in dealership showrooms that were never driven either. Heck, even the new m3 at that bmw dealer i mentioned, the one on the trickle charger that hasn't moved from its location for weeks if not month, still had a buttery smooth shifter you can move into gear with a single finger if you wanted. Was there something seriously messed up with that gt500 i saw today or are all mustang manual gearboxes so damn rough and clunky?