Buying an S550 Need help/Advice

[Brice80]

Brice,

My biased opinion is to get the PP and don't look back. I daily drive mine in bug it traffic and wouldn't change that for anyanything other than medical reason.that would require an auto. I am installing roush axle backs and a Ford racing x pipe this weekend, which will probably be my only mods for a while. This car is pretty dialed in.

Good luck with your decision.

Franklin, Thanks man! That's what I like to hear. I had planned to do x pipe and roush axlebacks, however the PP i'm looking at seems to have an exhaust (Hoping it's a nice catback or something).

But I really appreciate the advice, that's what I like to hear, I'll be in traffic like you, and just wanted to hear that it's tolerable/still enjoyable when you have to sit in traffic like that.

We'll have to meet up sometime, I'm down in Houston. Looking to join one of the clubs here if/when I make my purchase.

Thanks again,

Brice

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[Chameleon]

Either way you will love to mod the car. Good luck on the purchase.

 

[fionic]

PP

you'll be fine. especially since you don't have roads punished by salt+plows for 3 months.

 

[113]

The reason I went PP is because I'm at a time in my life where I am single and relatively young and can afford to kind of "go all out" on a sports car. I don't know if I'll ever have this opportunity again, if wife or kids happen in a few years, so I decided I didn't want to make any serious compromises on what I want.

Yeah I had to drop a few options that would have been nice like 401a and Adaptive Cruise, but PP was more important to me than those. I also intend to start going to the track so I want the most capable car I can afford.

 

[bluebeastsrt]

To me it comes down to how much traffic you'll be sitting in. If your comute is in the city do your left leg a favor and get the automatic trans car. If your commute is mostly highway or back roads then get the PP. I'd get the PP just for the Brembos.

 

[Socalmustang]

I don't track my car and without a doubt, I'm glad I got the PP! You get so much for the price, brakes were the primary reason.

You will later regret not getting it

 

[Anthony 05 GT]

I think you should lay out the pros and cons of non PP and PP cars. I already have a big bad 597 rwhp '05 which is my performance car. I recently ordered a 2015 and drove a PP car and a non PP car with 3.31 gears. I decided to order a non PP manual car for a few reasons. 3.73's are a bit much in the PP car for what I will be using the car for which is a car to mod minimally and be able to drive it in the rain. Also, I do not want black wheels.

My new one instead of the PP I opted to upgrade to the 401A and some optional wheels. I will lower it, make it louder, do some performance upgrades for sure, but I want to have a car I can jump in when it's raining on a Saturday when my '05 with drag radials has to sit.

My point is overall...the standard 4 piston brakes feel great, the transmission is very close ratio and the 3.73's allow easy 2nd gear take offs which seems a bit short for my taste for a driver. The 3.31's felt good for my needs. Just drive both and list your pros and cons of both and make a decision. For me, it wasn't easy, but I made the decision based on pros and cons resulting from driving the cars. The Brembos are better, but it wasn't a deal breaker so I opted for the 401A package and optional wheels instead. Money wasn't too much of an issue.

 

[Brice80]

The reason I went PP is because I'm at a time in my life where I am single and relatively young and can afford to kind of "go all out" on a sports car. I don't know if I'll ever have this opportunity again, if wife or kids happen in a few years, so I decided I didn't want to make any serious compromises on what I want.

Yeah I had to drop a few options that would have been nice like 401a and Adaptive Cruise, but PP was more important to me than those. I also intend to start going to the track so I want the most capable car I can afford.

To me it comes down to how much traffic you'll be sitting in. If your comute is in the city do your left leg a favor and get the automatic trans car. If your commute is mostly highway or back roads then get the PP. I'd get the PP just for the Brembos.

I don't track my car and without a doubt, I'm glad I got the PP! You get so much for the price, brakes were the primary reason.

You will later regret not getting it

I think you should lay out the pros and cons of non PP and PP cars. I already have a big bad 597 rwhp '05 which is my performance car. I recently ordered a 2015 and drove a PP car and a non PP car with 3.31 gears. I decided to order a non PP manual car for a few reasons. 3.73's are a bit much in the PP car for what I will be using the car for which is a car to mod minimally and be able to drive it in the rain. Also, I do not want black wheels.

My new one instead of the PP I opted to upgrade to the 401A and some optional wheels. I will lower it, make it louder, do some performance upgrades for sure, but I want to have a car I can jump in when it's raining on a Saturday when my '05 with drag radials has to sit.

My point is overall...the standard 4 piston brakes feel great, the transmission is very close ratio and the 3.73's allow easy 2nd gear take offs which seems a bit short for my taste for a driver. The 3.31's felt good for my needs. Just drive both and list your pros and cons of both and make a decision. For me, it wasn't easy, but I made the decision based on pros and cons resulting from driving the cars. The Brembos are better, but it wasn't a deal breaker so I opted for the 401A package and optional wheels instead. Money wasn't too much of an issue.

You guys are the best, I can tell this forum is going to be very helpful down the road. I plan on contributing as much as possible.

So an update, I went and drove the PP car. It turns out it had either an x pipe or not couldn't tell, but it had the muffler delete flowmaster on it (loud as hell) which amounted to AWFUL drone. I LOVE exhaust and I love it loud, but this was ridiculous. Also I put the seat cooler on full blast, and the back of the seat got pretty hot while the actual butt part of the seat cooled off. Anyone have this problem?

Anyways, I might see if they'll negotiate down, and get the FRPP sport catback or something. not 100% sure. Sort of disappointing:/

Brice

 

[cbrookre]

You guys are the best, I can tell this forum is going to be very helpful down the road. I plan on contributing as much as possible.

So an update, I went and drove the PP car. It turns out it had either an x pipe or not couldn't tell, but it had the muffler delete flowmaster on it (loud as hell) which amounted to AWFUL drone. I LOVE exhaust and I love it loud, but this was ridiculous. Also I put the seat cooler on full blast, and the back of the seat got pretty hot while the actual butt part of the seat cooled off. Anyone have this problem?

Anyways, I might see if they'll negotiate down, and get the FRPP sport catback or something. not 100% sure. Sort of disappointing:/

Brice

My seat coolers work as advertised, cools on both seat bottom and seat back. Feels more significant on the seat bottom, but can feel it on the back too. Not extremely powerful, so on a really hot day it is barely noticeable but it does pull it down to body temperature at the least.

I do not blame you, would not be able to handle an exhaust like that, but luckily that is a pretty reasonable change to make that does not cost too much. Might want to look at the lifetime MPG, not to see if it is above 20 or something but if it is <12/13 then they were either driving like they stole it or stuck in traffic. Would, to me at least, be a reason to be wary.

Good luck, sir!

 

[Brice80]

My seat coolers work as advertised, cools on both seat bottom and seat back. Feels more significant on the seat bottom, but can feel it on the back too. Not extremely powerful, so on a really hot day it is barely noticeable but it does pull it down to body temperature at the least.

I do not blame you, would not be able to handle an exhaust like that, but luckily that is a pretty reasonable change to make that does not cost too much. Might want to look at the lifetime MPG, not to see if it is above 20 or something but if it is <12/13 then they were either driving like they stole it or stuck in traffic. Would, to me at least, be a reason to be wary.

Good luck, sir!

Yea it was a little odd, I'll have to go back and pay more attention to the seat in regards to the cooling/heating.

The exhaust was cool, but only for 10 seconds. I'd need to replace it, not sure what to get, but I couldn't do that for even a week. Not sure how to negotiate that (just negotiate price down and figure out a resolution?

Lifetime MPG looked like 19.2 mpg, so decently reasonable I assume?

Also: It was a 2 owner... is that super strange, only 5200 miles. The guy said both traded it in for corvettes.

Thanks,
B

 

[cbrookre]

Yea it was a little odd, I'll have to go back and pay more attention to the seat in regards to the cooling/heating.

The exhaust was cool, but only for 10 seconds. I'd need to replace it, not sure what to get, but I couldn't do that for even a week. Not sure how to negotiate that (just negotiate price down and figure out a resolution?

Lifetime MPG looked like 19.2 mpg, so decently reasonable I assume?

Also: It was a 2 owner... is that super strange, only 5200 miles. The guy said both traded it in for corvettes.

Thanks,
B

Yeah, 19.2 is reasonable, would not be concerned about that. Might be concerned about the two owner thing, but that is your call I suppose. You are free to offer what you want to for any reason that you want. My dad always offers stupid low prices on things, way below what I would, and gets great deals out of it.

 

[thehunterooo]

Yea it was a little odd, I'll have to go back and pay more attention to the seat in regards to the cooling/heating.

The exhaust was cool, but only for 10 seconds. I'd need to replace it, not sure what to get, but I couldn't do that for even a week. Not sure how to negotiate that (just negotiate price down and figure out a resolution?

Lifetime MPG looked like 19.2 mpg, so decently reasonable I assume?

Also: It was a 2 owner... is that super strange, only 5200 miles. The guy said both traded it in for corvettes.

Thanks,
B

That would worry me, I would get a corvette if I had the money but twice on the same car? Warranty should cover anything major but who knows. 19.2 is not too bad, these things are pretty much bulletproof. For the heck of it, check the app results like the 0-60 times and such, may offer some more insight.

 

[Brice80]

Yeah, 19.2 is reasonable, would not be concerned about that. Might be concerned about the two owner thing, but that is your call I suppose. You are free to offer what you want to for any reason that you want. My dad always offers stupid low prices on things, way below what I would, and gets great deals out of it.

Maybe I was going a little crazy with the exhaust and everything. The bottom of the seat worked just as you described, felt great, the back just seemed to get pretty warm, I'll have to check it out.

I am pretty concerned about the 2 owner dilemma. Very odd. I might go in with a low ball offer because of the 2 owner and need to fix the exhaust.

That would worry me, I would get a corvette if I had the money but twice on the same car? Warranty should cover anything major but who knows. 19.2 is not too bad, these things are pretty much bulletproof. For the heck of it, check the app results like the 0-60 times and such, may offer some more insight.

Yea I told him I'd need to take it to ford to have them do an inspection before I could move on the car at all. He said that's fine. I figure they can look up any services or anything done, but wouldn't that show up on the carfax?

Any suggestion on what to ask Ford to do? An inspection and just pay them ~$100 or what?

Thanks,
B

 

[TNcoupe]

Torsen and Brembos make up for the shortfalls of the MT82 and make the PP the best value for the money in the car market right now.

 

[DRKHR5]

OP... my own advice to your first post.

Youre young... have some fun.. go manual and get all the doo-dads that come with such a well priced package. Brakes alone are worth PP.

The real advice I have to offer tho is.... BUY NEW. At 36 and 37K respectively... all your doing is paying for the handful of burnouts the first owners got to do.

I paid 38 out the door for a brand new Premium trim, PP, and Recaros.

Your mistake.. will be buying used when it is only saving you like 1 or 2 thousand.. which finance is only like 28 bux a month.

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