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GT350: Yay or Nay? Advice wanted :}

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aram_g

aram_g

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OP, you listed most of the good reasons to own a 350. If you like those things you WILL NOT be disappointed. You also thought about the purchase way more in depth than most here I’m sure lol. Go buy the car!

PS...you can find some new under MSRP now:cheers:
New under MSRP? :confused::confused::confused::confused::eyebulge::eyebulge::eyebulge::eyebulge:
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MrCincinnati

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Hey guys. First post here and not entirely sure how the user interface works, so forgive me if any formatting or things like that are off on my post. I currently don't have a Shelby, and have never even owned a Mustang, but I'm very much looking forward to joining the (Shelby) club. I live in South Bay, CA (kill me :headbonk: ), and tried getting one through the Frontier Ford dealership in Santa Clara, but they're not budging below $20,000 ADM. After asking around on the Mustang subreddit I was made aware of a dealer in the midwest that would order the car for me without any ADM at all. I'd basically just have to pay for sticker + the shipment cost to CA.

Now, a few basic things about me; dunno if it matters but I'll say them anyways. I'm 26, make ~115k as an Engineer (just graduated with my Masters), $900 for rent, have no kids or gf, and have roughly 23k left on student loans which I just put $500/month towards with an occasional larger sum every few months. I don't do much but work here since I'm originally from LA and don't really know anyone up here. I'm saying these things because I just spend money on bare necessities, rent, and student loans, and I'm losing my mind to boredom. Now, I'm not looking to get a Shelby JUST cause I'm bored; I've wanted one ever since the 2016 came out, and I've been absolutely obsessed. I know that if I get this car I'm going to enjoy the f**k out of it and treasure it :headbang: .

What worries me is that I'd make a terrible mistake buying a car that costs half of my gross salary (according to the 20/4/10 financial rule for buying a car) and driving it as a daily. Given the fact that it has a high-sprung motor and machining tolerances are significantly lower than the Coyote V8, wouldn't reliability be low? I know there's warranty and everything, but if I get the car I'd want to drive it basically forever, more or less. On top of that, I've read that maintenance costs are roughly $180 for DIY oil change 10-10.5 quarts, $350+ for OEM pads, $1000 for OEM rotors, $1200 tires, ~$700 registration in CA, $250-350/month insurance (clean record & 26 y/o), bad gas mileage with terrible CA quality 91 fuel, $1000-2000 to clear bra the front of the car, gas guzzler tax, etc etc. What else should I be aware of besides these regular maintenance costs?

I know the typical GT350 owner on this forum definitely doesn't worry about these things, and I know I'm setting myself up for comments like "if you're worried about xxx then don't buy the car" for example, but I'm looking for other bits of advice, I'm not really sure to be honest. I've also noticed that a large percentage (or so I see on YouTube) of people that own this car don't live in CA and live in inner states. Being in the most expensive area of the most expensive state to live in isn't exactly encouraging me to buy the car lol. I know it's a bit of an awkward post, but any comments or bits of advice are greatly appreciated :cheers:
Don’t do it.
Wait til you’re secure enough in your life situation that you don’t need to post your financials on a public forum for strangers to tell you what you should do.
 

Zcobra1

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If you thought a 18 PP1 Stang felt like a boat to you, better do a extended test drive of a GT350......yes they are different, but the boat comment seems to indicate a like for smaller nimbler cars. Try a Carmax or other dealer and test drive a used one first.
 
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aram_g

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If you thought a 18 PP1 Stang felt like a boat to you, better do a extended test drive of a GT350......yes they are different, but the boat comment seems to indicate a like for smaller nimbler cars. Try a Carmax or other dealer and test drive a used one first.
The reason i said boat specifically is because it didn't feel tight/direct. Couldn't really feel where the tires were through the steering wheel. From what I've heard PP2 is far better, and like 80-90% of the way towards the ride feel of a 350, but the dealer didn't have one available, otherwise I definitely would have tested it. As far as driving or being in one, someone on this thread was nice enough to let me give it a go, or at the very least sit in the passenger :love::cheers: haha
 

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From age 20-36 I never bought a new car, never had a car loan, and never drove a boring car, either. When I bought my R I could have paid cash for 3 of them (I still financed because the interest was cheap and I'm letting the money work for me.)

My advice: wait. These cars won't depreciate too badly, but they won't skyrocket in price right away either, and most are being well cared for. If you want one in 3 or 5 years, you'll be able to find a great used one anywhere.

In the meantime, drive good used cars that are off the steep part of the depreciation curve, learn to do your own wrenching if you don't already, and you can have really nice hardware for far less than the price of a new Shelby. No shortage of interesting and fun machines available for under $30k that you can buy, drive for a few years, and sell at a minimal loss. You don't want to be in a position where, if your earning or living situation changes, you are stuck holding the bag on a car you can no longer afford.
 

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I am also in the Bay Area (work in Sunnyvale).

I purchased my GT350 from a dealer in Oklahoma (found through a member on this forum), bought the car over the phone and flew out there with my dad and drove it back together. Did need to pay the ~$7000 in sales tax when I registered it in CA (since OK has no sales tax).

Now have about 30,000 miles on the car. It is awesome, but there are some things to think about if it is going to be your DD.

First, it gets pretty shitty fuel economy unless you are only cruising on the hwy. It gets old going to the pumps every 250 miles.

Second, as others have mentioned, driving a car frequently can lead to it losing the special feeling, especially if it is as high strung as a GT350 and you are always reigning it in. If you have a chance to open her up, it's epic, and it still feels special in traffic, but over time it will accumulate squeaks, rattles, vibrations, etc, so you just need to be aware so the special feeling doesn't wear out.

I now have a hybrid mini-van that I drive a few days a week, and take my 350Z one day and the GT350 another (or sometimes two, or three, especially since the weather is getting very nice). Having another car to switch off with makes the GT350 always feel amazing.

Regarding the floaty feeling, I think the GT350 is a little floaty in normal mode, but feels very good in sport mode. There are a couple spots where normal is better for handling due to poor road conditions, but in general I will drive in sport mode. I think a PP2 Mustang GT would be an excellent choice as well, and while the Mt82 has a bad reputation on the forums, I think the vast majority of units are actually very good. I test drove one before getting the GT350, and the MT82 was actually smoother shifting during daily driving. Don't know how well it works on track, but most magazine reviews have great things to say about it. I think the problem is that some are not as good as others, and those are the ones you hear most about. I guess I'm saying that I wouldn't give up on a PP2 GT simply due to the shifter.

-T
 
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aram_g

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From age 20-36 I never bought a new car, never had a car loan, and never drove a boring car, either. When I bought my R I could have paid cash for 3 of them (I still financed because the interest was cheap and I'm letting the money work for me.)

My advice: wait. These cars won't depreciate too badly, but they won't skyrocket in price right away either, and most are being well cared for. If you want one in 3 or 5 years, you'll be able to find a great used one anywhere.

In the meantime, drive good used cars that are off the steep part of the depreciation curve, learn to do your own wrenching if you don't already, and you can have really nice hardware for far less than the price of a new Shelby. No shortage of interesting and fun machines available for under $30k that you can buy, drive for a few years, and sell at a minimal loss. You don't want to be in a position where, if your earning or living situation changes, you are stuck holding the bag on a car you can no longer afford.
Do you actually have a GT-R and GT350R?! You my friend, are in the heavens lmfao :hail::hail::hail::hail::hail: two of my fav cars lol :coolphotos:

I'm going to take your advice and wait, even though I've been reading other bits of more liberal advice, which I do appreciate. I'm just going to ride out my lease and enjoy my Infiniti, it's cheap ($300/month) and pretty damned fast with this cheap piggyback stage 1 tune. Close to 400bhp/tq, not too shabby. I'll just place my chips on a 350 whether used or new in exactly 25 months when my lease is done bahahaha. :cool:
 

oldbmwfan

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The GT-R is a friend's; we snapped that pic on a drive through Hocking Hills in Ohio. We were swapping cars, and that one is a beast too - just totally different from the 350R.

I daily a Fiesta ST, which is low power but super fun. I'd say more fun in the city and at normal speeds than the 350R, because you can actually use it.

The last car I bought prior to that, to give an example of relatively cheap thrills, was a 2009 BMW 135i with a few mods and a GIAC stage 2 tune. 375whp, 3300 lbs, Konis, springs, etc. $20k, had only 50k miles, and is a massively fun car that, 3 years later, is still worth $15k+. Driving good, fun, 10-year-old premium cars is way cheaper than driving new cars and is generally not less fun. But financially I'm quite conservative. Based on my finances, the banks would tell me I "could afford" a mortgage that's twice as high and a couple of premium vehicles, but I'm not comfortable living at the edge of my means. On the plus side, we saved nearly 40% of our income last year and if I lost my job tomorrow, I could go on without pay for a year+ without breaking a sweat or having to sell everything I own.

At your age and with your income, you could get a huge jump start on savings, and given the power of compounding, putting off a big purchase for a few years will pay for itself several times over.
 
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aram_g

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The GT-R is a friend's; we snapped that pic on a drive through Hocking Hills in Ohio. We were swapping cars, and that one is a beast too - just totally different from the 350R.

I daily a Fiesta ST, which is low power but super fun. I'd say more fun in the city and at normal speeds than the 350R, because you can actually use it.

The last car I bought prior to that, to give an example of relatively cheap thrills, was a 2009 BMW 135i with a few mods and a GIAC stage 2 tune. 375whp, 3300 lbs, Konis, springs, etc. $20k, had only 50k miles, and is a massively fun car that, 3 years later, is still worth $15k+. Driving good, fun, 10-year-old premium cars is way cheaper than driving new cars and is generally not less fun. But financially I'm quite conservative. Based on my finances, the banks would tell me I "could afford" a mortgage that's twice as high and a couple of premium vehicles, but I'm not comfortable living at the edge of my means. On the plus side, we saved nearly 40% of our income last year and if I lost my job tomorrow, I could go on without pay for a year+ without breaking a sweat or having to sell everything I own.

At your age and with your income, you could get a huge jump start on savings, and given the power of compounding, putting off a big purchase for a few years will pay for itself several times over.
Well, even if I had a lot more saved up when my current lease is done, I don't think I'd buy the 350 cash regardless. Probably put a slightly larger down payment, but I'd still want some cushion, plus saving up for a down payment on a house in CA is going to take a while.
 

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Well, even if I had a lot more saved up when my current lease is done, I don't think I'd buy the 350 cash regardless. Probably put a slightly larger down payment, but I'd still want some cushion, plus saving up for a down payment on a house in CA is going to take a while.
And the house is the better long-term investment. Basically my opinion is, don't buy any car until it would be trivial to pay cash for it. Whether you actually do pay cash for it or not is irrelevant; that's just a math problem (is the interest more or less than you can earn on that money in another investment)?

Never borrow money on a depreciating asset unless it's either financially beneficial (low interest and you could easily afford the thing anyway), or an absolute necessity. Otherwise, just don't buy it at all.

But like I said, I'm pretty conservative with stuff like this. Hasn't stopped me from getting into racing and the like, but I think experiences are more valuable than things ... and experiences enabled by cool things (like race cars) are best of all. ;-)
 
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And the house is the better long-term investment. Basically my opinion is, don't buy any car until it would be trivial to pay cash for it. Whether you actually do pay cash for it or not is irrelevant; that's just a math problem (is the interest more or less than you can earn on that money in another investment)?

Never borrow money on a depreciating asset unless it's either financially beneficial (low interest and you could easily afford the thing anyway), or an absolute necessity. Otherwise, just don't buy it at all.

But like I said, I'm pretty conservative with stuff like this. Hasn't stopped me from getting into racing and the like, but I think experiences are more valuable than things ... and experiences enabled by cool things (like race cars) are best of all. ;-)
I mean, as far as interest goes, anything at ~3% or lower is beneficial, right? Considering that's roughly the average rate of inflation for the US dollar. If a 3% APR isn't possible, then sure, buying cash is the better option if we're thinking about being as financially conservative as possible, which I usually am since I don't spend my money on anything but bare necessities.

If I was 40 living in Kansas, as an example, on a double income with a $250,000 5 bedroom 3000 sqft house payed off I would be able to get this car without breaking a sweat. If I'm going to buy a house in CA or even a condo, I'm going to need ~$200-250k as a down payment for something worth getting. On top of that, I'd need to have a safety cushion in case I lose my job or for an emergency situation. Sure, a house is a great investment, but these prices are just asinine and I don't want to live out my 'better' years saving and saving and saving and saving until I'm too old to enjoy things like this, or until I have my own family and other things to worry about, know what I mean?
 
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aram_g

aram_g

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I am also in the Bay Area (work in Sunnyvale).

I purchased my GT350 from a dealer in Oklahoma (found through a member on this forum), bought the car over the phone and flew out there with my dad and drove it back together. Did need to pay the ~$7000 in sales tax when I registered it in CA (since OK has no sales tax).

Now have about 30,000 miles on the car. It is awesome, but there are some things to think about if it is going to be your DD.

First, it gets pretty shitty fuel economy unless you are only cruising on the hwy. It gets old going to the pumps every 250 miles.

Second, as others have mentioned, driving a car frequently can lead to it losing the special feeling, especially if it is as high strung as a GT350 and you are always reigning it in. If you have a chance to open her up, it's epic, and it still feels special in traffic, but over time it will accumulate squeaks, rattles, vibrations, etc, so you just need to be aware so the special feeling doesn't wear out.

I now have a hybrid mini-van that I drive a few days a week, and take my 350Z one day and the GT350 another (or sometimes two, or three, especially since the weather is getting very nice). Having another car to switch off with makes the GT350 always feel amazing.

Regarding the floaty feeling, I think the GT350 is a little floaty in normal mode, but feels very good in sport mode. There are a couple spots where normal is better for handling due to poor road conditions, but in general I will drive in sport mode. I think a PP2 Mustang GT would be an excellent choice as well, and while the Mt82 has a bad reputation on the forums, I think the vast majority of units are actually very good. I test drove one before getting the GT350, and the MT82 was actually smoother shifting during daily driving. Don't know how well it works on track, but most magazine reviews have great things to say about it. I think the problem is that some are not as good as others, and those are the ones you hear most about. I guess I'm saying that I wouldn't give up on a PP2 GT simply due to the shifter.

-T
What do you do in the bay? Lemme guess Google or Apple hehe ;)
 

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What about the 500??
We'll see when it comes out. But typically, I'm all about the naturally aspirated stuff. FI is fun, but mostly for street and drag racing. For GT500 money and a proposed street use, I'd be tempted by the offerings from other manufactures.
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