z31maniac

I'm ditching the '13 GT Mustang and picking up an early NC as my DD.

50k miles, good price, Grand Touring, 6 spd.

It will leave a ton more money for vacation, track time with the '90 and other stuff, while still keeping my 30% savings/401k contribution amount.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

If you don't care about torque I don't think you'll miss it.

I know going from a 380wtq subaru to a 100wtq miata I had withdrawals for weeks.

z31maniac

I think more the sound of the Coyote. To be completely honest, the car is sometimes no fun to drive on the street because it's SO FAST.

Throw in $1700 sets of Pirelli's and $150 DIY Oil changes (9 quarts of Ford Full syn 5w-50) and it's just not worth it for a DD.

The money saved this year alone puts a standalone/VVT, I/H/E/Squaretop in the track car over this coming winter.

(I'm slamming Vodka telling myself, it's worth it)

18psi

iTrader: (76)

well when you put it THAT way, it actually does sound like its worth it

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

You're insane. Drove a '14 GT today, first time driving a current-gen GT. Holy unbelievableness batman. Thing was just sooo smooth, fast, comfortable, quiet but throaty, rode awesome, tractable... amazing.

But your logic works too.

2ndGearRubber

Future NC daily crew checking in.


I seen almost no appeal to the mustang. Of course, I don't really care for overly powerful cars. Buy nice used car, with low power and weight. Add suspension, nicer but still OEM style wheels, get good MPG, and wring the cars' neck without killing yourself or your insurance rates.


R-Package daily>NA daily> NB daily>NC daily> who the **** cares?

z31maniac

It's a Track Pack car too, so 3.73 Torsen instead of 3.31s, HUGE Brembo's, etc.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

The one I drove was a track pack car as well.

Anyone who says the Mustang has no appeal to them has never driven an '11+ GT. Or they belong on CR.net.

z31maniac

I completely agree. Even with a stick axle the cars are really pretty amazing.

I put as much in savings every month as the car costs to drive, but the $850 a month for payment/gas/insurance just isn't worth it anymore. Cutting that down allows me to bump up the savings and still go to the track.

(I do realize I'm becoming obessed with saving)

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

That's a lot of money monthly. Why not just another older vehicle? Like, say, an '05-06 GTO with low miles? That'd bring your costs down considerably it would seem...

If you're not a power monger then yeah the NC would be great as a daily. I just think you'd want more power. But I could simply be seeing myself instead of you.

2ndGearRubber

Or they don't think they're all that good looking, or all that fun.

z31maniac

True, but it doesn't really change fuel/tires. I figured if I'm going to give up the muscle car, another muscle car might be a smaller payment, but the running costs will be similar.

Opti

I'd Keep the GT. There is alot of good reasonably priced choices instead of the pirellis (Sumi HTRZ IIIs, Ventus V12s, or BFG Comp 2s) or some better stuff for about the same price (Bridgestone S04s and Michelin PSS). The PZero is an old tire but its not a leader anymore, and its still expensive as hell.

For a street tire I have always liked the invo but Im not sure what they are going for nowadays.

Ive heard horrible stuff about the MC 5w50, are there any good alternatives out yet?

Opti

It does change the price for tires because the goat will either use a 245/45/17 and 235/40/18 which are normally considerably cheaper than a 255/40/19, but as much as I like them I would never recommend one.

Two friends own/owned them.

First was an 06 bought new and drove to like 130K miles. It was pretty reliable for a gto, but notice how I said for a GTO. He still had to to struts, rather early, the ignition stuck and GM had to put a whole column in and it took like a month to get one, his rear seats started to split at the seams, had an o2 go out and it broke a piston rather quicky, but it was a H/C car, luckily his dad is a great LSx mechanic and had it tore down and back on the road in like a day.

2nd is an 05, he still has it and bought it used with about 60K miles. He has had to do all the bushings in the front end (common problem and they arent cheap), had the carrier bearing go out (also a common problem, and they arent serviceable so you have to do a conversion or buy a whole drive shaft also not cheap), needs struts and aftermarket **** isnt cheap but you can also do OE and have the same problem, had to do a compressor and a w/p, ignition cylinder locks up regularly and requires replacement/rebuild, he has fixed it so many times he has priced having a custom piece machined to stop the wear that causes them to lock up.

Everything for them is expensive and they arent easy to work on. He just put a shifter on and said he had to lower the trans. Most parts are a pain in the *** to find, last time I tried to track down outter tie rods, GM told me they weren't serviceable and had to buy a whole rack, they most definitely are serviceable but to get around having to have 3 different part numbers they only sell a complete rack. So many common service items have to come from Australia where the platform is more common.

My modified 169K mile LT1 has been far more reliable than his 8 yr newer 100K less mile GTO.

The 1st guy who sold his loved his car but said he would never recommend one to someone.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Ehhh they're too heavy. Would be much better if they got back to what they weighed back in 1965, or even 1985. And because solid rear axle they dont make sense to have as a race car (unless drag racing is your thing) and they're not nearly practical enough to be a 2nd car when a miata is your first car (or to be a first car when a miata is your 2nd car). If I am buying a daily to support my fun miata its either going to be able to tow the miata, haul many parts for the miata and get decent gas mileage, or get really damn good gas mileage and be cheap as **** to buy/run. If I wanted a pony car I'd be trying to find a 4th gen F body with an LS, at least those seem to handle worth a damn in-spite of the 3rd world rear suspension, get 27ish mpg on the highway with bolt ons and a tune (with tuning software I already own), and arent stupidly heavy (still kind of porky).

Opti

The new GTs are pretty close in weight to the 4th gen fbodys about 3600 lbs. The 4th gens handle decently but definitely not as well as a new GT with the track pack.

z31maniac

^Shipping weight on the title of the GT said 3505 IIRC. I'll check later, it's out in the car.

I've driven on the Sumi's and the Ventus..................the P-Zero's have a hard time keeping up, putting on something with less grip is a terrible idea. The car really needs 285s Extreme Performance tires all the way around.......it barks 4th stock.

Meh, lots of people like to complain about what the factory chooses. I think Amsoil's current recommendation is their 10w-40. I've read something about the Track Pack computers variable valve timing being calibrated for the thicker oil, but I don't know if it's true.


In the end, I can afford the car, easily. I just don't like dropping that kind of coin on a DD.

Leafy, goal is to have the NC paid off in 18-20 months, then if I'm still enjoying track time, think about a used tow rig. Then have a tow rig for the track car, and enjoyable, cheap, paid for DD to get to work and run around on the weekends.

AlexL

Sell the GT, get the NC, buy a motorcycle. They're faster than your Mustang. You can still take advantage of Suzuki 0% financing until March 31st, hurry!

z31maniac

I've already had a sport bike, bought an '04 R6 new off the floor, sold it after 30k miles and a nasty wreck at Hallett.

I'm well aware of sport bike speed, I've ridden tons of liter bikes, some Italian twins, watched a good friend get killed in a wreck where 4 of us went down, etc.

If I were to get another bike, it would be a Super Moto.........but I refuse to let myself get one because I know I would get myself arrested with it.

AlexL

Sorry about your friend, sounds like you have lots of experience here. There are old riders and bold riders but no old, bold riders. I've been down before but I picked the bike up and rode 20 miles to the hospital. I've slowed down a lot since then.

Carry on