Help me!! Car decision gets harder - Your thoughts, anybody know of any reviews?

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Just been out in the Mustang and I'm

 

[olv]

When are you gonna drive a 911?

 

[JRS]

Hi there

Just been out in the Mustang and I'm

You have to buy the Mustang mate. The 911 is brilliant, but the Mustang....well, it's a Mustang!

 

[Gibbo]

HI there

Well had a good look round the car today and certainly can't fault the build quality as it seems and feels very solid. The interior also seems very good but I think thats down to Saleen replacing it all and adding nice touches like Ford GT40 dials etc.

We set off out on the road with traction control disabled as he assured me the chassis provides plenty of grip and gives good warning when its gonna lose it....

I was expecting it not to corner so well or for him to nurse it round the corner. How wrong was I driving around little tight country lanes and the car just cornered greatly and never once lost its grip even when going through a few twisties around the 3 figure mark. That too me says that Saleen have definetely done something special with the suspension as this car was handling as well as most european sports cars. The owner reckons it handles just as well as his two BMW's one is a 535 Twin Turbo Diesel estate and the other is a new BMW M3. Before I got into the car I did not believe him regarding the handling but upon him taking me out I have to agree that its handling can't be far behind the M3's at all maybe even matching it and throughout the test drive he drove it fast with traction control off.
He demonstrated a bit of sideways action when you want it and that with TC on it just saps the power preventing you from doing such things.
All in all compared to my 3000 GT the Mustang would leave it through the twisties in the dry, only in the wet would the 3000GT out handle/grip over the Mustang.
The ride quality was a tad harsh but we were on a farm trail at the time on normal B-Roads is was smooth and comfy, just a tad harsher than the Mitsubishi's tour mode but not quite as stiff as the sport mode.

So I was worried about a few things which were:-
Left hand drive
Insurance
Handling
Depreciation

Left hand drive - is not so bad, will take lots of getting used too but it had no effect on how well he drove the car.
Insurance - I need to look into this as this is a Ford Mustang but is really a Saleen Mustang as everything is modified, engine, exhaust, suspension, alloys, bodywork and interior are all different so getting a quote maybe hard and expensive. Anybody know of decent car insurers for American cars?
Handling - No longer a worry, it handles great and for poor weather turn on TC and take it very easy.
Depreciation - Cars of the same spec in the Autotrader are going for between £32,000 - £40,000 and I getting this car if I want it for a lot less than 32k. That says to me if I wanted to re-sell within 6 months I could make money or after a year or two not lose much if anything at all.

So I love the looks, the sound, it handles better than my current car in the dry and its brand spanking new, not even done 1000 miles yet. Plus this really is a car to just love cruising around in listening to that gorgeous V8 rumble in a car that nobody else in the UK has and a car that nobody knows what it is, they just point and go wow. MPG is similar to my current car as well with mixed town/motorway averaging 21 miles per gallon and that dropping down too around 16MPG with more town driving.

I really think I am going to buy this as my other options were an 8 year old Porsche 911 C2/C4 for same money or a new Vauxhall Monaro 5.7l but I think the Porsche could turn into a lot of money keeping it running and should really look into buying a new one in a year or so time and the Vauxhall though it maybe great in every department its just a Vauxhall and its not a car that I look at and think wow.

Will post some pics and video's in a bit.

 

[willd58]

Will post some pics and video's in a bit.

Looking foward to it.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

which of these two cars would i borrow for any length of time?
the Mustang every time...for rarity/novelty value if for nothing else.

which would i buy?
the Porsche every single time unless i had a serious amount of money behind me and could take on the chin the time and cost of resale.

i think that it's easy for people to say "if i had the money i'd go for the mustang",when in reality if you put the best part of £30k in their hands they'd play safe and go for the german.it'll hold it's value much better,it'll sell in a heartbeat,parts and servicing are less of a concern etc and it will propel you much quicker along on your quest for your next better/faster/more expensive car.

Cars of the same spec in the Autotrader are going for between £32,000 - £40,000 and I getting this car if I want it for a lot less than 32k. That says to me if I wanted to re-sell within 6 months I could make money or after a year or two not lose much if anything at all.

correction,cars of the same spec have ASKING PRICES in that region.
i can put a Morris Marina in the trader for 20 grand...it doesn't mean that's what i'll get for it though.

out of curiosity if the real value of this car is so much higher,why have you been offered it for a knock-down price?

 

[Gibbo]

out of curiosity if the real value of this car is so much higher,why have you been offered it for a knock-down price?

He is losing 5k as it cost him 5k more than he selling for to bring it and get it all SVA approved blah blah and shortly after he bought and took delivery Saleen released a new Supercharged 331 F150 Pickup truck which he has arriving 8th March.

So he is desperate to clear his drive in time as he has far too many cars and some have gotta go.

Hence the price for a quick sale.

 

[andi]

Did you drive it, or did the owner?

 

[The_Dark_Side]

He is losing 5k as it cost him 5k more than he selling for to bring it and get it all SVA approved blah blah and shortly after he bought and took delivery Saleen released a new Supercharged 331 F150 Pickup truck which he has arriving 8th March.

So he is desperate to clear his drive in time as he has far too many cars and some have gotta go.

Hence the price for a quick sale.

sounds like a bargain....but still a brave move on your behalf unless you're SURE you will have no trouble moving it on in the future.
either that or if the depreciation isn't really important to you in which case buy with the heart.

the Porsche doesn't have the same presence,won't turn as many heads or be anywhere near as much of a talking point as the Saleen will.
bottom line? treat yourself as you're a long time dead....something i've found out recently.

 

[eidolon]

If you can get the Mustang for less than the going rate then I reckon you should do it. Then if you get bored in 6 months you won't have lost anything and you can try the Porsche out if necessary.

 

[geiger]

This is just a little out of the remit of the Parkers guide so its dam hard to know what the price should be of one of these except for how much it would cost you to import it with all that hassle.

I think you should haggle the price down some if you can, Iam crap at that kind of thing but good luck

Does anywhere trade these in, would be good to know how much they would give if the worst case scenario should occur

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

As promised some more pictures and video clips:-

Sorry about the blurry interior shot but the my camera skills are lacking...

Here's a couple of video clips of the exhaust on tickover and a couple of slow flyby's:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.gibbson/Mustang/stang1.AVI
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.gibbson/Mustang/stang2.AVI
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.gibbson/Mustang/stang3.AVI


Enjoy!!

Gibbo

 

[JRS]

Looks (and sounds!) damn good Gibbo

 

[The_Dark_Side]

Hi there

Gibbo is that a Saleen mustang? it's just so hard to tell as they use such small detailing

incidentally one of the ways to make sure you WON'T beat the guy down to a good deal is to walk around the car video-ing it before you buy it.
he knows you REALLY want it before negotiating.

btw it certainly fits the description of "muscle car" doesn't it?

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo is that a Saleen mustang? it's just so hard to tell as they use such small detailing

incidentally one of the ways to make sure you WON'T beat the guy down to a good deal is to walk around the car video-ing it before you buy it.
he knows you REALLY want it before negotiating.

btw it certainly fits the description of "muscle car" doesn't it?

Already done the beating down m8.

Just gotta find insurance as I am a right tight git and I like paying insurance upfront so if its more than grand I will go in a mood....
A Vauxhall Monaro VXR will cost £700 for me to insure and a C5 Corvette is about £600, so am hoping when I find somewhere decent the Mustang will cost sub 1k to insure and that'll make me happy.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

Already done the beating down m8.

so unless i've missed a post of yours are we saying this is all wrapped up and decided?
if it plays out as you've described,and you can run the car for a while,sell it and not only break even but possibly make a couple of doubloons,then you would indeed have been a fool not to buy it.

 

[Gibbo]

so unless i've missed a post of yours are we saying this is all wrapped up and decided?
if it plays out as you've described,and you can run the car for a while,sell it and not only break even but possibly make a couple of doubloons,then you would indeed have been a fool not to buy it.

Well from been in it m8 I think this could be one of the first cars I keep for longer than a year, hehe, plus the fact its brand new and don't need MOT's for 3 years etc. make it more tempting to keep a little longer plus the fact nobody else will have a car like it on UK roads no doubt.

Anybody wanna buy my 3000GT.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

Well from been in it m8 I think this could be one of the first cars I keep for longer than a year, hehe, plus the fact its brand new and don't need MOT's for 3 years etc. make it more tempting to keep a little longer plus the fact nobody else will have a car like it on UK roads no doubt.

Anybody wanna buy my 3000GT.

the only unknown factor here is depreciation.
and as it's such a rare vehicle here we could be talking about a "throw a six to start" system of calculating how much it will lose.
tbh this is exactly the type of vehicle that will have potential buyers come upto you and ask you if you'd be interested in selling it.
and when that happens you're always guaranteed to get a good price.

as a sidenote can i make a small request?

 

[Gibbo]

the only unknown factor here is depreciation.
and as it's such a rare vehicle here we could be talking about a "throw a six to start" system of calculating how much it will lose.
tbh this is exactly the type of vehicle that will have potential buyers come upto you and ask you if you'd be interested in selling it.
and when that happens you're always guaranteed to get a good price.

as a sidenote can i make a small request?

If I buy it and do lose money its not end of the world as unless your very lucky you always tend to lose money on a car. Decent Mustangs go for 25k in the UK and I'm paying approx this for a Saleen edition which has a base price of $42,000 in the US then you've got shipping, VAT and all the other government charges to pay and plus this car has several extras.....

What is the request?

 

[The_Dark_Side]

What is the request?

post a decent quality sound file of a couple of red-lines when stationary.