Downgrading Mustang GT?

[ethonlee]

We do know a rough estimate for the payoff, actually. OP said about 60 months, $527 monthly, 4.6% interest. That means OP's looking at about a $28k-30k payoff, depending on just how close to 60 remaining payments OP actually is. Even a base in okay condition should net OP at least $1k (according to KBB) given what's been shared so far.

Yea your pretty much right, at most I would get $3000 out of it if I put the stock exhaust and wheels back on but as is right now I’ll get $1000-1500

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[OldPhart]

Hi - At age 81 it’s nostalgic reading about the financial decisions that you younger folks are having to make. Been there done that of course. When I was fresh out of college without much debt (college was less costly back then) I bought a new ‘65 GTO. Got married and traded for a ‘68 GTO with auto tranny for the new wife. Two cars in a family were just becoming the norm. When that occurred and a child arrived, the fun cars ended. For the next 20 or so years, cars were just a necessary expense that we tried to minimize. That’s okay, because when I could finally start buying fun cars again in my mid 50s, I really appreciated them. So don’t feel bad about giving up your fun car. For most of us in that middle period of life, staying financially sound with minimal debt allows you to increase the funding of your retirement years and hopefully leave you in good shape so you can once again have fun cars. Since my mid 50s I’ve had a C4 Corvette, a restored ‘65 GTO, my ‘19 Bullitt, comfortable family cars, great vacations, etc, all paid for with cash. My one piece of advice is to have zero debt when you retire and keep it that way. When you don’t have to turn over your SS check for mortgage or car loan payments it will feel great. Happy travels… Bruce

 

[ShadesOfBloo]

I looked it up and its closer to 60 months rather than 70...

60 months left? Jeez, my Mustang loan was 60 months in the first place. You really stretched your finances to buy that car, didn't you? Between the interest rate and the loan period, maybe you should ask someone to show you the calculation for how much interest you'll pay by the time it's paid off.
...But in a way, what's done is done and you have to pay back the money, and it sounds like selling the car won't help but so much.

If you owe more than the car is worth (as seems likely) that means trading it in won't get you back what you owe. So, even that option will cost you a lot of money.
If you're buying the next car from a dealer (and you probably shouldn't) they'll be happy to roll your old loan into your new payments and give you another long-ass payoff period, because they'd make a ****ton of money on your interest. Don't let that happen.

A car that pops into my mind is a used 2016 Hyundai Genesis coupe 3.8

Let it pop right back out. I agree with RowdyRam about that car:

...I'd stay away from:
Anything German/European as repairs are expensive
Anything Korean as repairs can be numerous and sometimes expensive

If an old V6 car is okay with you, a V6 Mustang might be a better idea. It's less likely that the owner was a drift weeb and beat on it, and replacement parts will be available for decades.
On the other hand, replacing your Mustang needs to save you a boatload of money, and replacing it with an older V6 Mustang might not save you enough.

If you're looking at a new lease, could you move into some place smaller and cheaper?
Are you sure you can't find a new roommate? If you're the least bit sociable (i.e. not like me) they're only a stranger for a little while.

The military isn't the worst idea... I made it 8 years as an officer in the world's most power Chair Force.
The uncertain part is whether you'll get a job you like. A recruiter will tell you what you want to hear, because it's their job. They don't purposely lie, but they might tell you things that aren't true because it's what someone told them, and they don't know any better.
Like "If you complete 4 years in this career field, you can transfer to something else."
No, Sgt Israel, it turns out you can't. Civil Engineering doesn't release officers to other fields. And when we transferred enlisted people to other units/jobs it often had to do with disciplinary action.
One major benefit to the military is, if you can't make the car payments or rent for some reason (like, you got deployed, or Finance forgot to pay you) the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act gives you a lot of protection until you can sort it out.

EDIT: And now it occurs to me that if you're a new enlisted guy in the military, you shouldn't have rent. Your starting pay is peanuts, but you have free food and housing.
...With a few caveats.

 

[XFactor7889]

Yea your pretty much right, at most I would get $3000 out of it if I put the stock exhaust and wheels back on but as is right now I’ll get $1000-1500

That's good news. Are you factoring in your proceeds from selling the aftermarket exhaust and wheels separately upon the sale of the Mustang or would those be in addition to the $3k? Either way, you could definitely go the route that several have suggested of paying cash for a beater that gets you around for a while. The risk with that is understanding you will likely have more maintenance in the near-term for something like that, and it could be quite expensive. The good news in this scenario, you'll be saving about $700/month compared to right now between your car payment and insurance, so that'll be a big help for something like that.

Alternatively, $3k would be a solid 20% downpayment on a $15k car. Let's say you'd be looking at about a 7% interest rate on a 3 year loan in that case (I'm guessing you'd have a shot at this if you've been good about your payments on the Mustang so far, but I recognize this rate may be optimistic right now.). For simplicity, we're assuming $15k is your out-the-door price. In this case, you'd be looking at a monthly payment of about $370. So, while it's still a little bigger chunk of your monthly income than ideal (it's 13-14% based on the numbers you provided earlier), you're saving $150/month AND you'll have the car paid off in about half the time you would the Mustang; and that's just assuming you simply make the minimum monthly payments. Not to mention, you've theoretically put yourself in a car that will be more reliable than something you could get for that $3-4k in cash. You could also make the loan 4-5 years if you want to see more monthly savings, but keep in mind longer loan terms come with higher interest rates, which obviously equates to higher costs. If you did something like this, I would recommend aiming to pay down the loan faster once you've established a comfortable emergency fund.

If your estimate was excluding your proceeds from selling the exhaust and wheels separately, then what makes this sweeter is those sales will allow you to fund your short-term emergency fund far more easily (as long as you can avoid the temptation of using those proceeds to buy a nicer car right now).

Just giving you some ideas to think about at this point. Whatever decision you make won't be an easy one for one reason or another. As the varying responses have shown you, it's very difficult to defer gratification, especially once you've already gotten a taste of it. It's also very difficult to make choices that have you envious of everyone around you with nice, new things all in the name of financial freedom. Ultimately, if you take all of the advice you've been receiving here, consider what matters most to you, and come up with what fits your goals the best, you can make a decision that you'll feel comfortable with. No matter what you decide, people won't agree with you while others will; that's why it's so important that you know that you are happy with your choice moving forward. Because you're the one that has to live with it.

 

[Spartan1]

A hyundai? Jesus man, have some dignity.

 

[MCS]

I'd sell it. This is all part of growing up (which we never finish doing, no matter how old we are). I'd be willing to bet that you will be paying damn close attention to interest rates, FICO scores, term of the loan etc. etc. etc. Getting a brand new car at 24 (and one that is expensive to begin with) and not having a 6 figure income is tough.

Why do you think you see so many of us old guys driving around in souped-up hot rod cars? We've done all our....

- Apartments (with or without roommates)
- Wives (1st, 2nd or 3rd wives)
- Girlfriends (prior to, during or post-wife)
- Kids (1? 2? 3? More?)
- University of the Kids

It takes time on this earth to make the level of money to have some freedom. Time, some luck, some foresight and a lot of hard work. If you are stressing about finances now, you best sell it, even if you have to take a loss and move on to something in your bracket. You've owned a Mustang so can check that box.

If you stay in the service, get a few years and promotions under your belt then you can see what is what.

Before all you youngsters say it; yes it is always easier to look back and provide guidance than it is to be in that moment when "But girls like my car, and I like girls so it's win win. I want to have fun while I'm young".

Just gonna leave this here: Girls like cars. Women like successful independent and financially responsible men.

 

[skinnyb]

My man, I have had to do this exact thing. I sold a really nice car when I was younger to make my financial situation better and got a beater. Many years later, I finally got me a Stang, it sucked at the time but worked out better in the long run.

 

[WildHorse]

You gotta look at the remaining 60 months if you wanna keep it. Would suck to have to turn it in with like 5k remaining. Also, not to many folk wanna buy a car with money owing still. Trade-in you'll never get what it's worth.

You shoulda figured out everything beforehand to avoid situations like this. WITHOUT relying on unreliable sources on income, & have at least 3 months worth of payments in reserve when those sources dry up.

Consider this a life lesson on what not to do.

 

[n2ofusion]

My man, I have had to do this exact thing. I sold a really nice car when I was younger to make my financial situation better and got a beater. Many years later, I finally got me a Stang, it sucked at the time but worked out better in the long run.

This. I did exactly this. Traded down from a 2005 GT to a 1999 Corolla which I then put 300k on. Get your cost of ownership down as low as possible. Best mpg and a little bit of fun is a base economy car with a 6 speed. If you’re going to downgrade, to me, the only fun is in the total savings.

 

[shogun32]

(maybe I should read all the pages...)
why not flip the script, become the roommate. That way you're not on the hook (directly) for making rent. The economy is going to get steadily worse.

I would still sell because it's now or never to get whatever value is in the car. in a year the value will be a LOT worse because the buyers will have evaporated.

 

[shogun32]

A hyundai? Jesus man, have some dignity.

that's uncalled for. Some of them can scoot pretty damn good. And the fit/finish/panel/paint is way better than Mustang. It's amazing what can happen when you have a non-union workforce and suppliers who are suitably motivated.

And if you're gonna enlist, USAF (or possibly Navy, but CG is better) all the way. I pity you Army folk...

 

[XFactor7889]

@ethonlee, one more thing. It looks like my posts keep getting lengthier, so I'll make sure this is my last long one.

I want to piggyback off the time, luck, foresight, and hard work point made by @MCS. I don't want you to think selling your cool car now means no more cool cars or things for decades. I'll be 34 in just over 2 weeks, so I'm still young in the grand scheme of things, just not as young as you. I was the first in my family to graduate from college, which I did at 22 (2 months away from my 23rd b-day) with $60k in student loan debt. I needed a reliable car to get to work, so I borrowed another $10k, making my total debt $70k at 23. I made it a priority to knock that out as soon as possible, and it was all paid off by the time I was 28. For the first 2 years post-grad, I was making less than you're making right now. I got married at 26 (about to celebrate my 8th wedding anniversary in a few weeks). In that time, I've briefly had a Focus ST, then a Civic Si for ~3 years, then an EB Mustang for 4+ years before getting my brand new 23 GT in February this year. I paid off the Civic in less than 2 years, paid off the EB Mustang in ~1 year, and just paid cash for the GT. My wife got a brand new Bronco Sport last August; we also paid cash for that.

I might have had a few more expenses over the years having met my wife as young as I did (date nights and wedding rings add up!), but it didn't hinder my ability to knock out debt and still have some fun toys. As a matter of fact, she was the one that encouraged me to get the GT; I wouldn't have done it this soon if not for her. I don't want you to think that SOs will get in the way of financial independence or fun toys while you're still young. If you already have or want a SO, the right one will be supportive, even if they get frustrated by the budget or roll their eyes from time to time at your quirky hobbies. (I only add this based on some of the comments I've seen from others.)

Once my student loans were paid off, my wife and I celebrated with a 2 week trip to the UK. After that, we both went back to school; I got my MBA, she got her DNP. We were able to fund this out-of-pocket, with her working part-time for much of her program, and not at all for the final year. Once we both graduated, we went on another big trip to celebrate. During all this, we bought our first house when I was 27 (a modest, starter home), and after moving across the country last summer, we are both now individually making more than what we were both making collectively before grad school, and we just bought a nicer house in our new city a couple months ago.

All of this was possible because of all the reasons @MCS pointed out. It required patience and discipline, and it was hard. My dream car has been a Viper ever since I was about 3 years old. Multiple times while I was paying down my student loans, I could have borrowed money to have a Viper. I could have afforded the payments, but at what cost? I probably wouldn't have been able to get my first house. If I didn't get my first house, I wouldn't have benefitted from the insane rise in housing market prices that netted us way more than we should have for our 1,500 sqft house in the Midwest. If I didn't benefit from that insane increase in the housing market, I wouldn't have my 23 GT right now. I might not even have a house in my new city either just yet. I also might not have even been able to go back to school if I was stuck paying for a Viper I didn't need. And if we didn't go back to school, we would have drastically limited our earning potential. (Now, my wife's car would've happened, that was always in the budget and I will always cut my own fun short in favor of hers, but I digress.)

I hope none of this comes across as me bragging in any way, as it's not my intention. I recognize that as much effort and discipline I've practiced so far, I didn't do this on my own. We can't do this on our own. Some call it luck; being the man of faith I am, I call it God's favor/blessings, but no matter what you call it, you can't capitalize on it (or even see it sometimes) if you're not willing to make some sacrifices here and there. I just hope to encourage you, making sure you know that making the wiser financial decisions now can definitely pay off sooner than you think.

And for what it's worth, it's not as if this was all done with no speed bumps. Emergencies happen, homeownership will always have a way of making sure you're prepared for anything and everything (from bath tub leaks, to broken appliances, to raccoons in the attic, to neighbors' pergolas flying into your roof as you're trying to sell your house). And this year, my wife and I both were diagnosed with cancer (not life-threatening, but surgeries were required) and guess who met their out-of-pocket max on a high-deductible plan already this year. Not looking for any sympathy here, just want to make sure you know that we've navigated all of this with bumps in the road, too. And I can thankfully say that there is no worry about missing any mortgage payments (our only debt at this point) or falling into any debt beyond the mortgage thanks to insane medical bills. It's certainly delayed some projects in the new house and for the new car, but at this point, that's no big deal. We've already established the budgeting mindset and we recognize the "luck" we have on our side, so we're in good shape. Alright, last lengthy post. I hope you find it helpful and encouraging.

 

[ethonlee]

@ethonlee, one more thing. It looks like my posts keep getting lengthier, so I'll make sure this is my last long one.

I want to piggyback off the time, luck, foresight, and hard work point made by @MCS. I don't want you to think selling your cool car now means no more cool cars or things for decades. I'll be 34 in just over 2 weeks, so I'm still young in the grand scheme of things, just not as young as you. I was the first in my family to graduate from college, which I did at 22 (2 months away from my 23rd b-day) with $60k in student loan debt. I needed a reliable car to get to work, so I borrowed another $10k, making my total debt $70k at 23. I made it a priority to knock that out as soon as possible, and it was all paid off by the time I was 28. For the first 2 years post-grad, I was making less than you're making right now. I got married at 26 (about to celebrate my 8th wedding anniversary in a few weeks). In that time, I've briefly had a Focus ST, then a Civic Si for ~3 years, then an EB Mustang for 4+ years before getting my brand new 23 GT in February this year. I paid off the Civic in less than 2 years, paid off the EB Mustang in ~1 year, and just paid cash for the GT. My wife got a brand new Bronco Sport last August; we also paid cash for that.

I might have had a few more expenses over the years having met my wife as young as I did (date nights and wedding rings add up!), but it didn't hinder my ability to knock out debt and still have some fun toys. As a matter of fact, she was the one that encouraged me to get the GT; I wouldn't have done it this soon if not for her. I don't want you to think that SOs will get in the way of financial independence or fun toys while you're still young. If you already have or want a SO, the right one will be supportive, even if they get frustrated by the budget or roll their eyes from time to time at your quirky hobbies. (I only add this based on some of the comments I've seen from others.)

Once my student loans were paid off, my wife and I celebrated with a 2 week trip to the UK. After that, we both went back to school; I got my MBA, she got her DNP. We were able to fund this out-of-pocket, with her working part-time for much of her program, and not at all for the final year. Once we both graduated, we went on another big trip to celebrate. During all this, we bought our first house when I was 27 (a modest, starter home), and after moving across the country last summer, we are both now individually making more than what we were both making collectively before grad school, and we just bought a nicer house in our new city a couple months ago.

All of this was possible because of all the reasons @MCS pointed out. It required patience and discipline, and it was hard. My dream car has been a Viper ever since I was about 3 years old. Multiple times while I was paying down my student loans, I could have borrowed money to have a Viper. I could have afforded the payments, but at what cost? I probably wouldn't have been able to get my first house. If I didn't get my first house, I wouldn't have benefitted from the insane rise in housing market prices that netted us way more than we should have for our 1,500 sqft house in the Midwest. If I didn't benefit from that insane increase in the housing market, I wouldn't have my 23 GT right now. I might not even have a house in my new city either just yet. I also might not have even been able to go back to school if I was stuck paying for a Viper I didn't need. And if we didn't go back to school, we would have drastically limited our earning potential. (Now, my wife's car would've happened, that was always in the budget and I will always cut my own fun short in favor of hers, but I digress.)

I hope none of this comes across as me bragging in any way, as it's not my intention. I recognize that as much effort and discipline I've practiced so far, I didn't do this on my own. We can't do this on our own. Some call it luck; being the man of faith I am, I call it God's favor/blessings, but no matter what you call it, you can't capitalize on it (or even see it sometimes) if you're not willing to make some sacrifices here and there. I just hope to encourage you, making sure you know that making the wiser financial decisions now can definitely pay off sooner than you think.

And for what it's worth, it's not as if this was all done with no speed bumps. Emergencies happen, homeownership will always have a way of making sure you're prepared for anything and everything (from bath tub leaks, to broken appliances, to raccoons in the attic, to neighbors' pergolas flying into your roof as you're trying to sell your house). And this year, my wife and I both were diagnosed with cancer (not life-threatening, but surgeries were required) and guess who met their out-of-pocket max on a high-deductible plan already this year. Not looking for any sympathy here, just want to make sure you know that we've navigated all of this with bumps in the road, too. And I can thankfully say that there is no worry about missing any mortgage payments (our only debt at this point) or falling into any debt beyond the mortgage thanks to insane medical bills. It's certainly delayed some projects in the new house and for the new car, but at this point, that's no big deal. We've already established the budgeting mindset and we recognize the "luck" we have on our side, so we're in good shape. Alright, last lengthy post. I hope you find it helpful and encouraging.

I don’t mind lengthy posts to be honest because I like to take in as much as I can. But I appreciate you taking the time to type all of that out and it did give me another perspective to think about, defiantly hadn’t been thinking about a house in the future when I should be so thanks for bringing that up. Defiantly encouraging

 

[Deleted member 72210]

So right now I have a 2020 mustang GT with mbrp race exhaust, tinted windows, changed all wheels and some other minor things. This car is great and I love it but I am 24 and will probably not have a roommate for my next lease, so I will have to get an apartment without a roommate so I will be spending more money. I was wondering if I were to downgrade from a mustang GT what are some car options I could look at that still can be fun and have aftermarket options and is below the price of $26,500 (ish). I can keep my mustang GT but will probably be strained for money but I also ask you guys if I should keep it or go with a more affordable car. I have already looked at refinancing options as well and none were worth it.

A car that pops into my mind is a used 2016 Hyundai genesis coupe 3.8

Do not sell your Mustang. Get a side hustle. You will regret it.

 

[Q Tip]

Haha, would like to be on a fly on the wall if this happened. I can just hear it in my head. Marine D.I. "Why do you want to be a Marine maggot?!" "To pay off my mustang Sir!"

They probably hear it a couple times a month!

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