2015 Prices and getting older...

[SeaStang]

Ok so let me preface this by saying that I am ordering a 2015 5.0. This will pretty much mirror my order of a 2005 Mustang GT in late 2004 after extensive forum discussions like this here :-) But at that time it was themustangsource forums which was all the rage I ended up getting A-Plan then (was only shooting for X Plan but a kind Ford employee wrote me in as a brother in law) and I had one of the first 05s made :-) I was as proud as a peach.

Anyway I was around 25 then and I'm almost exactly 10 years older now. Ordering a 15 and I have to admit the prices do bother me a bit. In 05, even without any plans, MSRP for a V6 was around 18 and a GT premium was 26. Now the GT premium is loke 36. Even inflation adjusted an equivalent GT Prem should be around 30K.

So I guess my gripe is these cars HAVE become more and more unaffordable and a greater hit to the budget even taking into account inflation. That bothers me a little. Not to the extent of not getting one but I think this single factor is the reason for the dying car culture amongst the kids. Theyre all ridiculously more bloody expensive for new cars, and with stagnant incomes and high gas prices it just bothers me. Thoughts?

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[Five Oh Brian]

Think of all the additional equipment, power, refinement, and safety equipment that the 2015 has that the 2005 was lacking. That is why pricing is higher than just accounting for inflation over the past decade. You are truly getting much more car now.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Ok so let me preface this by saying that I am ordering a 2015 5.0. This will pretty much mirror my order of a 2005 Mustang GT in late 2004 after extensive forum discussions like this here :-) But at that time it was themustangsource forums which was all the rage I ended up getting A-Plan then (was only shooting for X Plan but a kind Ford employee wrote me in as a brother in law) and I had one of the first 05s made :-) I was as proud as a peach.

Anyway I was around 25 then and I'm almost exactly 10 years older now. Ordering a 15 and I have to admit the prices do bother me a bit. In 05, even without any plans, MSRP for a V6 was around 18 and a GT premium was 26. Now the GT premium is loke 36. Even inflation adjusted an equivalent GT Prem should be around 30K.

So I guess my gripe is these cars HAVE become more and more unaffordable and a greater hit to the budget even taking into account inflation. That bothers me a little. Not to the extent of not getting one but I think this single factor is the reason for the dying car culture amongst the kids. Theyre all ridiculously more bloody expensive for new cars, and with stagnant incomes and high gas prices it just bothers me. Thoughts?

It's not just an "inflation" thing; you get a lot more car these days for that money. There's technology in the 2015 Mustang that wasn't dreamed of when the 2005's came out.

I didn't buy my first new car until my 2011 that I got at the end of 2010 -- a few weeks before my 30th birthday. Kids buying used cars is a long and storied tradition that's been part of American reality for generations, and there's nothing wrong with that. Just that the kids ten or fifteen years from now buying 2015 Mustangs when they're 22 years old will be a lot better off than I was when I was 22 and buying a 1987 Taurus.

 

[S550_Magnetic]

Ok so let me preface this by saying that I am ordering a 2015 5.0. This will pretty much mirror my order of a 2005 Mustang GT in late 2004 after extensive forum discussions like this here :-) But at that time it was themustangsource forums which was all the rage I ended up getting A-Plan then (was only shooting for X Plan but a kind Ford employee wrote me in as a brother in law) and I had one of the first 05s made :-) I was as proud as a peach.

Anyway I was around 25 then and I'm almost exactly 10 years older now. Ordering a 15 and I have to admit the prices do bother me a bit. In 05, even without any plans, MSRP for a V6 was around 18 and a GT premium was 26. Now the GT premium is loke 36. Even inflation adjusted an equivalent GT Prem should be around 30K.

So I guess my gripe is these cars HAVE become more and more unaffordable and a greater hit to the budget even taking into account inflation. That bothers me a little. Not to the extent of not getting one but I think this single factor is the reason for the dying car culture amongst the kids. Theyre all ridiculously more bloody expensive for new cars, and with stagnant incomes and high gas prices it just bothers me. Thoughts?

Could your 2005 help you with parking? Just an example of things that are out now... I am with you though on the crazy price of things now a days. I got married when I was 20 and gas was less around 95 cents a gallon. I am now 34 and gas is now almost $4/gallon.

 

[SeaStang]

Could your 2005 help you with parking?

I don't need help parking. Look the added features mean nothing significant to me. Its to be expected. In 2004 $500 would buy you a Motorola RAZR on a GSM network, in 2009 $500 would buy you an iPhone on an EDGE network, in 2014 $500 will get you a 5+ inch quad core phablet running on LTE. That is free market capitalism. Price points increasing is killing the entire industry. Look at the number of Mustangs sold in recent years. They are struggling with catering to an aging customer base rather than attracting the youth. When the average young person out there isnt making much more than they did in 2005, this is a MASSIVE problem. You cant have an exclusively aging customer base.

 

[S550_Magnetic]

I don't need help parking. Look the added features mean nothing significant to me. Its to be expected. In 2004 $500 would buy you a Motorola RAZR on a GSM network, in 2009 $500 would buy you an iPhone on an EDGE network, in 2014 $500 will get you a 5+ inch quad core phablet running on LTE. That is free market capitalism. Price points increasing is killing the entire industry. Look at the number of Mustangs sold in recent years. They are struggling with catering to an aging customer base rather than attracting the youth. When the average young person out there isnt making much more than they did in 2005, this is a MASSIVE problem. You cant have an exclusively aging customer base.

I don't ever remember paying $500 for a razr and I had one... I think maybe I paid $150-200. On top of that, you can't get a new iPhone under $649 if you just want the phone outright without a contract.

Your pricing is skewed somehow... There is no such thing as free market capitalism in the USA anymore and there hasn't been for awhile. This is now a socialist country where our government tells you what you need to spend your money on. What do you think is going to happen to the price of the Mustang when our great president/king decides that ever person in the USA should receive $15/hr as minimum wage?

 

[SeaStang]

I don't ever remember paying $500 for a razr and I had one... I think maybe I paid $150-200. On top of that, you can't get a new iPhone under $649 if you just want the phone outright without a contract.

Your pricing is skewed somehow... There is no such thing as free market capitalism in the USA anymore and there hasn't been for awhile. This is now a socialist country where our government tells you what you need to spend your money on. What do you think is going to happen to the price of the Mustang when our great president/king decides that ever person in the USA should receive $15/hr as minimum wage?

You didn't pay 150 or 200. You paid 150 to 200 subsidized. About the same prices the iPhone and Galaxies sell for today with subsidies.

 

[S550_Magnetic]

You didn't pay 150 or 200. You paid 150 to 200 subsidized. About the same prices the iPhone and Galaxies sell for today with subsidies.

I bought it new without a contract, it wasn't subsidized... Either way I don't remember what the heck I paid, that was a long time ago. I probably got it a year after it came out and that's why it was so much cheaper.

 

[Free Agent]

When you compare Mustang pricing to whatever else is out there, Mustang is a SCREAMING BARGAIN!!! These cars are NOT overpriced for what you get. Ford has done an excellent job in pricing in my estimation.

Its a sign of the times. Everything costs more. It is unfortunate and without getting into anything political I don't see it slowing.

 

[S550_Magnetic]

When you compare Mustang pricing to whatever else is out there, Mustang is a SCREAMING BARGAIN!!! These cars are NOT overpriced for what you get. Ford has done an excellent job in pricing in my estimation.

Its a sign of the times. Everything costs more. It is unfortunate and without getting into anything political I don't see it slowing.

100% agree!

 

[SeaStang]

I bought it new without a contract, it wasn't subsidized...

No you didn't. The MSRP retail for a RAZR or any V series Motorola phone in the early 200s was the same as high end phones today. Roughly 500. You got a contract and the subsidy hidden in or you bought it used from a dumb seller or youre lying or have forgotten but you're wrong on that.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

I don't need help parking. Look the added features mean nothing significant to me. Its to be expected. In 2004 $500 would buy you a Motorola RAZR on a GSM network, in 2009 $500 would buy you an iPhone on an EDGE network, in 2014 $500 will get you a 5+ inch quad core phablet running on LTE.

Yeah, see, this thought actually flitted across my mind for a half-second when I was initially responding to your post -- you and I are roughly the same age, and so for us it's easy to think of "features go up while prices stabilize or go down" because it's always been that way with computers and electronics... but it's JUST been that way with computers and electronics, because electronics is a nascent industry. All nascent industries see price declines in real terms as production methodologies improve and materials sourcing improves and product design improves.

Automobiles, on the other hand, are a mature industry -- while certain components in the electronics system are still in their early stages, most of the manufacturing processes are already where they're going to be. Once a product / manufacturing process is mature, price inflation happens even in stagnant product offerings, let alone advancing product portfolios. That's just basic economics.

 

[Free Agent]

100% agree!

Exactly. Show me one new vehicle with 435 (or more) horsepower that you can buy for around $33K MSRP besides the Mustang.

It doesn't exist.

Mustang GT is the rock bottom on "bang for your buck". And now on top of that value we are getting a wonderful new chassis and updated and upgraded materials. This new Mustang is a BARGAIN!!!

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Your pricing is skewed somehow... There is no such thing as free market capitalism in the USA anymore and there hasn't been for awhile.

Just stop. There's no political discussion here; this is an automotive forum.

 

[S550_Magnetic]

Just stop. There's no political discussion here; this is an automotive forum.

I'm done with it and didn't plan on taking it any farther than that.

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