Why did you choose your S-550

[LSchicago]

No worries, I have Zero interest in SCCA.

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[Fordever]

I guess I should have been more specific. Why did you choose the color and options you have?

I have been an American sports/pony/muscle car fan for a long time. I owned a 79 Camaro way back when and shortly after purchasing it, I sadly had to resell. Anyway, since then I was hooked. But life takes over, wife, house, kids...etc and for a lot of us the "car" becomes a happy and sad memory at the same time.

Fast forward 30+ years, when you get your life back and you find yourself thinking seriously about cars again. I have always liked convertibles (with the top down). But like most, I found a convertible with the top up not very appealing.................then came along the S550.

I started looking at these cars in 2014. I built one over and over on line and before I knew it the 2016's were coming out. I saw the CS trim and was instantly hooked. My old Camaro was an auto, so I knew that wasn't gonna happen again. By now, the Camaro dream had left me and I was never a Dodge fan, so the only choice was a Mustang.

As I stated above the convertible look was great with the top down, but these cars look so much better than any other vert with the top up.

So because of an old dream and a lot of patience, I got exactly what I wanted. I built my car as a CS convertible with a 401a and a manual in Oxford White. I printed my specs, drove to the dealership and handed my salesman the papers. we went to the managers office and together we filled out the order/build. I paid a deposit as it was a special order and 2 months later I had MY car.

I wanted white, because I think the CS in white, with black trim is a classic look. I always wanted a convertible and these look sooooo good. And I wanted a manual because an auto just isn't me. I have EXACTLY what I want...…….excluding mods...

I absolutely love my car and have NEVER regretted my purchase, not for a second.

 

[Bubba Bear]

My wife likes velocity blue, and I like that this engine can be boosted to 700+ WHP without spending that much. All other equivalent car options, aside from the ZL1, just don't have the potential to be boosted to big numbers without significant expense and a lot of annoyance

Went PP1 because I wanted magneride, and it was so cheap compared to anything else in contention

 

[CrashOverride]

Great thread. I cross-shopped the following and this was my rationale for each:

• Gen 3 Dodge Viper (Used)...Simply awesome car. Faster than all heck. Parts unbelievably expensive, almost zero smog-legal aftermarket parts. Only one(!) tire that fits it is still made and costs almost $400 each!
• C7 Corvette...I love everything about it except that a Z51 (Mandatory for me) was too expensive, even a 2014 used one. I seriously contemplated waiting until the fabulous C8 came out so as to depreciate the crap out of the C7's making it more affordable, but I decided not to wait.
• Camaro...I loved that it is lighter, and I've had four Camaros before. I love the gearbox. The engine is pretty good for a 2-valve mill, but doesn't rev like the coyote. It was more expensive than My mustang on the used market. Maybe $5k more. Plus, modded/supercharged power levels were about the same as the Mustang.
• Cadillac CTS-V Coupe? I thought long and hard about this one. It ticked all the right boxes, but wholly molly is that pig heavy!!!
• Used GTR? Even if I could afford it...No Manual, no thank you.
• Used Benz C63? Even if I could afford it...No manual, no thank you.
• Audi R8? In my dreams
• Porsche Cayman S? The only ones I could afford had the IMS bearing issue and not worth the risk.
• Nissan 370z? How old is that design?
• Didn't want 4 doors, so that kicks out the EVO's and STI's, Kia Stingers and all the other "4 door coupes"
• Needed to crack 60 in under 5 seconds...Preferably 4 seconds. So the BRZ was't going to cut the mustard.
• No Trucks/SUVs
• Challenger was too heavy
• I had a BMW 135i and loved it, but I didn't want the N55 engine, and the N54's (Older than 2011) were too high in price, expensive to mod, and not smog legal anyway. Plus, they have heat problems on the track.
• Lexus RC350/RC-F? Very nice, very expensive, and very heavy.
• Acura? Wait - they only have one two door car and costs as much as a house.
• Hyundai Genesis Coupe? Eh, if I wanted something like that, I'd just get the 370z.

Mustang?

• Fast enough stock (For now ha ha)
• Could beat a 3rd gen viper when supercharged
• Might be able to hit a 4 sec 0-60 when supercharged. Yeah it's an arbitrary number, but it's my dime, so I can make the rules!
• Probably the best car currently made for aftermarket stuff
• lots of superchargers that are smog legal
• Love, Love, Love the sound of Ford V8's
• It has a manual. No, not a great one, but I'll take it.
• The Mustang is cheaper for a newer used ride compared to other (realistic) competitors above.
• I think the tail lights of the mustang are the best I've ever seen. I know it's funny, but I just love the back.
• The Coyote engine is amazing what it can do with 5 Liters. And loves to rev more than any OHV engine could dream of.
• It came in Yellow....But, when I saw the Competition Orange, I had to buy it.

I'm very happy with my purchase. This was my second mustang (Had an 1989 LX 5.0 Hatch). This was something like my 31st car...Let's just say I'm overly picky. I once owned a car for 2 weeks...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I guess I should have been more specific. Why did you choose the color and options you have?

No real bad colors, but I think the S550s look best in white. And as a bonus, left more options for stripe colors down the road. Not much clashes with white.

I ordered pretty much every option but Recaros and Security (or things that conflicted with more important options). The regular seats are more comfortable and the car is rarely parked where it is at risk. I think Ford shot themselves in the foot on a few options. For example, Adaptive Cruise gets canceled when the clutch is depressed. My 2013 Cadillac doesn't make me resume cruise after every shift, so why does my 3 year newer Ford? And to make it worse, the resume button is in a worse location with ACC to accommodate the buttons to raise and lower following distances. So it's harder to not tap "off" or something else while trying to resume than in a non-ACC car.

 

[WildHorse]

I ordered pretty much every option

Whereas I specifically wanted to have a ZERO optioned base Grabber Blue GT.. which was exceedingly difficult to get. But I got one.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Whereas I specifically wanted to have a ZERO optioned base Grabber Blue GT.. which was exceedingly difficult to get. But I got one.

That's what I did for my 2011 also a base in Grabber Blue but with the ONE option I wanted. Budget notwithstanding, the value of options depend a lot on how you plan to use a particular vehicle.

 

[17again]

I went to my dealer to "test drive" my grabber blue that was the cheapest base model in town. I had been considering a 2008 GT500 or the 2017 GT auto. I really wanted to get away from manual so the GT500 was difficult to pass up. Tough call until I drove the S550. The seats just hug you, power to $$ ratio is unreal and 2017 was the last year for grabber blue. Called the wife and broke the news. Surprisingly she went along with it. Best car I've owned, upgraded some of the stupid little features I wanted on premium and I don't miss any of the other features. Been waiting 10 years for a car like this, and the modding is probably the best part of it all. All for under $28K before tax, title, etc, etc.

 

[Zinc03svt]

We are all blessed to see a 2nd muscle car (alpha car) era. I was born in 72 when all the fun begun to seriously stop. 73 to 84 was pretty much pathetic performance wise.

I feel this 18 plus GT really put the P back into performance with the gen3 coyote. Comparing to my 15 c7 a8 it gives like overall performance for half the retail cost new on the vette.

Muscle car/coupe/sedan/pony...whatever you call it. .

 

[fast88fox]

The S550 was the first body style I liked since the Fox bodies and it was time to upgrade. I really like a dark blue and the DIB color really did it for me. On top of the DIB I wanted a premium version with the PP option. I wanted to wait till at least 2016 so they would work the new model bugs out of the car. Once I realized that DIB was leaving after 2016 that made my mind up and I purchased a 2016 in early 2017. It took me approx. 4 months to find the exact one I wanted within driving distance. My local dealer would have picked it up but wanted full retail if they did. This dealer that was about 300 miles away offered me the car new for $32k since the 17s were now filling their lot.

 

[CrashOverride]

We are all blessed to see a 2nd muscle car (alpha car) era. I was born in 72 when all the fun begun to seriously stop. 73 to 84 was pretty much pathetic performance wise.

Totally agreed. I remember test driving a *Camaro* with (Yes you're reading this right) a 2.5L 4-cylinder pushing maybe 90HP. It was shockingly terrible. I ended up getting an 82 Berlinetta with the almost-as-bad 305 because I didn't want the automatic which was the only trans available with the 350. I was foolish enough to make the same mistake with an 88 RS with the 305. I sold it and got my 89 Fox body 5.0 and I loved it. I sold the car only because the chassis was pretty beat up (You could hear it flex from me hammering it so much) and because the engine was running low oil pressure.

One of the legendary cars did emerge during that time though, and I was lucky (Well, maybe) enough to have one...the 82 Rabbit GTI. It was still slow, but it had a close-ratio 5-speed and it "felt" fast. I think some people hate the EPA/CARB because of exhaust issues, but if we are honest with ourselves, we can see that emissions required re-thinking a lot of things, and more or less forced multiple cams and fuel injection upon us. Same thing with overdrive transmissions. If not for it, We'd be driving around with 502 engines with two valves and twin rochester carburetors making all of 300hp and getting 7 mpg...And spinning at 4500 RPM because it was a 3-speed.

 

[Mustangman]

I was running out of time to get a brand new 2017 V-6 since ford stopped making them.So I got this one last week.

 

[BmoreRuby]

I was running out of time to get a brand new 2017 V-6 since ford stopped making them.So I got this one last week.

My V6 has been great to me. You'll love it. See my previous post; it's a great very under rated car. Excellent engine.

 

[BmoreRuby]

This is an easy one.


Even better, when I compare it to a - please no gasping, ridicule or flaming – 3 Series I get a car that will never use in maintenance or repair costs the difference in price between the two. Not to mention expected reliability and cost of parts and repairs, none of which favor the Germans these days.

I will happily do required maintenance at whatever early schedule I like and change out wear items well before their time. There will still be DWS indicators when I get another set of Contis. At the first hint of softness in the ride, on go the KYBs. A few mil off the rotors? Time for the Max Brakes kit. I'll change every fluid at a rate that would make Pat Goss proud. In ten years I'll have a car that performs much as it does today. I'll do all that and still have money in my pocket over the just the purchase price of a 3 Series or even a GT. Not that there's anything wrong with either.

Saw the following earlier and thought it confirmed some of the reasons I was thrilled to get an S550:

I have been looking at used BMWs and Mercedes yearning for something more! I have always had a love for the W211 E-Class, especially the AMG variants, and I realized they can now be had for less than $20k! I found this 1 owner example that looks great, it has over 100k mile...my brief experience with the A4 is not reassuring. I can afford to spend $1000 every few months for service (would plan to budget about $2-3000 per year), but I am concerned that I would be hit with a $5k+ repair bill at some point

And love for 17 inch tires in the city:

All I do is replace the low profile tires on my car after damage from New York City potholes.

You are correct that the more sidewall you have the less likely your rims are going to take a beating on trash New York streets.

https://jalopnik.com/why-wont-car-dealers-respond-to-emails-1831668748

So basically I am back to where I started. All things considered, a base Mustang, especially if you were able to save even an extra $1500 by getting a V6 over an Ecoboost (not that there's anything wrong with that), is an excellent value and quite practical in many ways.

Sorry if I did not separate the quotes from my writing clearly enough. Married to an academic; I could get kicked out of my own house for improper citations. Shhh. Don't say anything, please...

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