S550 Mustang GT PP long term reliability, and resale value?

[truckinguy92]

Well I’ve never owned an import car EVER so I can’t compare what I’ve driven to one of those. I’m on my 5th Mustang, unfortunately I owned 2 of them for a year or less (2011 GT500 & a 2020 convertible). The ‘11 I got rid of because of problems beyond my control, the ‘20 a dealer made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I’m now driving a 2021 Premium PP w/magnaride. What a world of difference having the Performance Package & magnaride.

I’m a person that keeps them stock. I consider it a waste to spend money on add ons after spending almost $60K for a car other than ceramic coating and other things to help preserve its longevity. If there was maybe one thing I’d change it would be to replace the middle resonators/mufflers with an H-Pipe. But I don’t want to do anything like that till the warranty is up (not taking any chances no matter what others say). After all I’m not going to track the car on a regular basis, although I’d love to do the Pocono Raceway Experience just to say I’ve done it and I can go as fast as I want legally. So my needs are different from those that mod the car before the ink is dry on the buying contract.

Like others have said no vehicle is perfect and they all have their quirks and problems. The Mustang has been around for 56 years after all so they’ve had time to perfect it. No matter what, all of the manufacturers cut corners to save a buck and any one of them could be a real . Exotic/semi exotic cars become endless money pits as they age so I’d stay away from them like the plague.

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[olerodder]

I've spent 15 minutes reading through all the threads and I guess I don't get it!
I've had half a dozen Mustangs since 1970, yes I'm in my mid 70's and buying a Mustang is just for me, nobody else, it's not a daily driver, that's what my 2016 ATS-V is for. It is always garaged and looked as good if not better than when I bought it June of 19. It was a base GT PP1/A10 with every option except Magnaride. It's was realiable, fun to drive fairly fast for a 3800lb car. It turned a 11.926 in the 1/[email protected] and that was on a 1.897 60' on stock Michelins and no mods and 91 octane gas. The fit and finish was good and I replaced the cloth seats with Katzkin Cardinal Red interior, put jacking rails, resonator delete...changed the tire size to 265's in front and 285's in the rear but kept it stock ride height. It was a great road car and driving 1389 miles in 1-1/2 days was just a lot of fun and didn't tire me out. As a canyon carver, it wasn't, but it was 100% more comfortable to drive than my heavily mod'd 2014 TrkPak, but my TrkPak faced of with a Focus RS for over 15 miles of switchbacks, 45/55 mph curves and he couldn't lose me but I couldn't overtake him...for some of you whom have never ridden in a Focus RS, if you ever get a chance take it.
I bought my 19 for $36k in June of 19, and two months ago I was offered $40.5k for the car with 10,466 miles on the ground speed indicator...I took it like any normal business person would, because driving it for 2 years and making a profit of $4,500 seemed like a good deal. The Ford dealer had it on his show room floor for less than a week and sold it for MSRP of $46,730. I'm now waiting for the car world to readjust itself and then I'll find a 2018/2019 GT 350 because it'll be the last car I'll have and I want to feel that "Raw" feeling like I did in my 2014.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you're worried about resale value, buy a BMW, Mercedes, or some other foreign sports car, maybe even a BMW M5. Right now the car market is like nothing I've seen in over 55 years, and just like the housing market in 2008/2009, it's going to come down to where it was before COVID...IMHO

 

[mnm4ever]

That red interior looks fantastic… great color for the car. How much was that to get done?

I quibble over your comment on resale value though. BMW and Mercedes are not good cars for resale. They are about the worst. Same for reliability as well. Typically Mustangs are terrible for resale value as well, although the GT350 doesn’t count there. You are right we are living in crazy times for car prices and they will go back to how they were pre covid. I wouldn’t buy any car at all if I had a choice right now, you are pretty much guaranteed to pay too much. But if you have to buy then I think the OP is on the right track… buy new and keep it as nice as possible, and drive the heck out of it.

 

[jblue]

Well I’ve never owned an import car EVER so I can’t compare what I’ve driven to one of those. I’m on my 5th Mustang, unfortunately I owned 2 of them for a year or less (2011 GT500 & a 2020 convertible). The ‘11 I got rid of because of problems beyond my control, the ‘20 a dealer made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I’m now driving a 2021 Premium PP w/magnaride. What a world of difference having the Performance Package & magnaride.

I’m a person that keeps them stock. I consider it a waste to spend money on add ons after spending almost $60K for a car other than ceramic coating and other things to help preserve its longevity. If there was maybe one thing I’d change it would be to replace the middle resonators/mufflers with an H-Pipe. But I don’t want to do anything like that till the warranty is up (not taking any chances no matter what others say). After all I’m not going to track the car on a regular basis, although I’d love to do the Pocono Raceway Experience just to say I’ve done it and I can go as fast as I want legally. So my needs are different from those that mod the car before the ink is dry on the buying contract.

Like others have said no vehicle is perfect and they all have their quirks and problems. The Mustang has been around for 56 years after all so they’ve had time to perfect it. No matter what, all of the manufacturers cut corners to save a buck and any one of them could be a real . Exotic/semi exotic cars become endless money pits as they age so I’d stay away from them like the plague.

That is one of the nicest Mustangs I've seen, and I don't see too many of them in SLC, UT, especially with the stripes. I've ordered a 21 Mustang GT Premium in Twister Orange with ebony stripes and every option except Recaros and the CF interior trim package, so almost 60K, and it is on it's way. I haven't seen Orange here at all, but that red with white looks really good and love the wheels.

 

[truckinguy92]

That is one of the nicest Mustangs I've seen, and I don't see too many of them in SLC, UT, especially with the stripes. I've ordered a 21 Mustang GT Premium in Twister Orange with ebony stripes and every option except Recaros and the CF interior trim package, so almost 60K, and it is on it's way. I haven't seen Orange here at all, but that red with white looks really good and love the wheels.

Thanks for the compliment! I think as time goes by there’s no longer going to be a gasoline version of this iconic Pony Car. I heard a rumor that the next version might not offer the 5.0 and instead use the 3.5L twin turbo for the GT. I guess we’ll have to see.

 

[Rocketeer]

Every car is different, so take it with a grain of salt. At just over 32k miles i have had:
Battery replacement (warranty)
4-wheel alignment and cracked rear driver wheel replaced (some psycho signaled right then threw her car into the carpool lane right were I was - hit/climbed devider wall with the rear wheel)
Oil pooling in spark plug well for #7 - replaced seal, did compression test (warranty)
Failed throttle body (inductive sensor stuck open code (DIY)
Replaced all 4 PS4S's - down to threads in 2 years, no track use (DIY)
Transmission burnt out this may, full rebuild (warranty)

 

[olerodder]

That red interior looks fantastic… great color for the car. How much was that to get done?

I quibble over your comment on resale value though. BMW and Mercedes are not good cars for resale. They are about the worst. Same for reliability as well. Typically Mustangs are terrible for resale value as well, although the GT350 doesn’t count there. You are right we are living in crazy times for car prices and they will go back to how they were pre covid. I wouldn’t buy any car at all if I had a choice right now, you are pretty much guaranteed to pay too much. But if you have to buy then I think the OP is on the right track… buy new and keep it as nice as possible, and drive the heck out of it.

The Ford dealer wanted $2400 to have the Katzkin interior put in, but I paid $700 plus $700 for the install and even got a 3 year, 36000 mile warranty from the installer and Katzkin.

 

[Hack]

There are always outliers, products that fall on the fringes of the bell curve but statistically, Civics are great cars for reliability and durability. If you had to pick a car to keep 300K miles, you'd be a fool to take a Mustang over a Civic or Corolla. I wouldn't even consider buying a 100k mile Mustang unless it was stupid cheap. But a 100K mile Civic I wouldn't bat an eye at. But if it's a play car, the criteria are different. Everyone has their own use case and has to decide what will work for them within their budget. That's why he asked the question, initially.

I think reliability is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy. People who buy "reliable" cars are super careful with them, maintain the crap outta them, don't drive hard, etc.

If you drive a Civic like I drive my Mustang, I don't think it will make it through the warranty period. I owned an Accord and I broke the transmission on it. Street driving only. I didn't take it to the track like I do my Mustangs. I didn't even consider driving it like I drive a Mustang. And I've never broken a transmission on a Mustang. I always granny shift, etc. I'm not particularly hard on cars in an abusive way - I don't think.

But I also don't think that Accord was designed to accomodate hard shifting and full throttle all the time.

 

[cocopanda]

Check the inner edges of the tread, the part you can't see. And check them thoroughly. My tires looked great from what I could see. Put the car on a lift, and all four needed to be replaced. At 18K miles.

OP; See my sig line, and notice the suspension mods. Those are the bare minimum the car needs to handle well.

Definitely get the Magneride, PP1, and Active Exhaust.

For once I can agree. I recently had an allignment chew through the last little bit of my inner fronts. But I was at 28K.

 

[olerodder]

I think reliability is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy. People who buy "reliable" cars are super careful with them, maintain the crap outta them, don't drive hard, etc.

If you drive a Civic like I drive my Mustang, I don't think it will make it through the warranty period. I owned an Accord and I broke the transmission on it. Street driving only. I didn't take it to the track like I do my Mustangs. I didn't even consider driving it like I drive a Mustang. And I've never broken a transmission on a Mustang. I always granny shift, etc. I'm not particularly hard on cars in an abusive way - I don't think.

But I also don't think that Accord was designed to accomodate hard shifting and full throttle all the time.

Some cars are more reliable than others, but every car I've ever had; and that goes for my race cars, have been meticulously maintained, and I've driven all of them hard. My 97 Cobra I had to replace the 5spd and clutch...under warranty, my 2014 TrkPak pinion seal under warranty twice, transmission once, my 2016 ATS-V has had the engine replaced once after it left a rod on the side of the road, on warranty of course. My old 2019 GT never had an issue in the almost 11k miles that I owned it, and I spent a good 1/2 day flogging it down the 1/4 mile with maybe a dozen WOT runs and even when the car had less than 1k miles it was pushed hard.

Personally I think a car is only as reliable as you maintain it, if you don't maintain it, it's on you, not the car...IMHO

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