Should I Buy It?

[Mooman333]

My girlfriend wants a fun car to drive to work.... so we settled on 2011+ V6 stang with a manual. Not very easy to find around me. I found one at a dealer, it has about 50k miles on it, 6 speed manual, deep impact blue paint, premium package (leather and heated seats). Complete maintenance records, all look good, one owner car. It is at a Ford dealer and is listed right around $18 grand, so pretty fair price.
Here is the dilemma... when I went to see it they came out to sadly tell me the motor was knocking horribly. Long story short, the service manager just found out as they were getting it ready for me. They took it in on trade and said it was fine. They serviced the car (changed oil) and there are 12 miles on the car since oil change. So the manager is saying someone took it out and instead of driving it to the detailer, beat it to death and blew the motor. He seemed very frustrated. The sales woman called me back and said Ford is covering it under the powertrain warranty. They are putting in a brand new short block... Should i be looking at this as a steal of a deal with basically a "new engine"? I realize they will be reusing original heads. Should i be worried in any way about buying this car? If you think it is a good idea to buy the car and not to worry about new short block as potential future problems, should i also ask them to replace the clutch, slave cylinder, and throwout bearing since they will already have it apart? Parts for that will be pretty salty, a grand... kind of makes me want to just wait until it actually needs it.
I'm not seeing many issues with these engines online so i am assuming they are pretty reliable... it also makes me ponder what someone could have possibly done to the car to junk the motor like that!

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks!

 

[Paul G]

There is nothing that I can think of that would cause what you explain, other than a cam or push rod got bent, perhaps someone red lined it for a very long time. I'd be skeptical of metal flake in the engine, rings, valves etc... If that's the case, I'd also be skeptical of what condition the transmission is now in. I'm sure it got pretty hot!

Have you already closed the deal on the car? Have you taken possession of the car?
Check with your state, some some states offer a 3 day right of rescission. You may have to contact an attorney.

Honestly, it's really not starting off on the right foot with this automobile. I also doubt that the engine replacement will ever make it to a CarFax report since it's being done by the dealer and there hasn't been a title change yet.

If you decide to take the car, rather than negotiating all those other things, I'd negotiate a 3YR 36K bumper to bumper warranty on the entire car! But honestly, they probably wont budge on any of your offers because they'll sell the car to the next guy who comes along if you don't buy it.

Good luck, let us know what you decide. If it were me, I'd walk away. Let them feel the pain for their foolishness.

 

[Mooman333]

I put a deposit down on the car yesterday, so I will be buying it once it is fixed.
I saw the motor torn down. It spun a rod bearing on the second cylinder from the rear. The heads were really clean and did not show any signs of metal wear or flakes from bearing. It looks like it was run very little once the bearing spun. The tech said the ECU showed not codes for over rev or anything. The clutch still looks new, no odd markings on flywheel or pressure plate (no heat stress). I will still have 12,000 miles of factory powertrain warranty. I'm confident with that I guess.
I am curious as to what will show up in carfax report, I think it will show that it had short block replaced under warranty. I ended up getting the car for $17,700 (KBB shows $20,xxx dealer retail). The original sticker was $28,xxx. It is for sure the best value of the other ones I have seen and it was priced before they even realized the motor had an issue so that is not even part of the price equation.
There is no way they would negotiate a 3yr 36k warranty! This car is hard to find around here, if I don't buy it under current terms, someone else will. I have been looking for months, and frankly, I'm tired of looking. It is at a legit Ford dealership, so I have faith in them and everything as been very open and honest, very good customer service so far.
The car is very clean... has borla exhaust and weather tech floor mats.
The very WORSE case scenario, if something fails in the future, these engines are cheap. I can get one off of ebay for $1,500 and swap it on a Saturday BUT, I'm pretty sure it won't come to that.

 

[Paul G]

I'd make sure they first use new engine break in oil.. Run it, then during the next oil change make sure there is no flake.

Sounds like your heart is set on this car and mechanically inclined to handle any unlikely issues.

Good luck, post some pics when you get it!

 

[chgovfk]

Get your money back and pass on this car - $18k is not like a small amount of $$ - you could get an even lower mileage 09' / 08' V-8 for that kind of money - if low mileage, clean cars are hard to find by you - go out of state - fly in ....buy the car and drive back - get a rust free example - I'm here in the SW and I have friends all the time call me to check out a decent car for them -- just my two cents - I just don't like the fact that the car is starting out w/major problems - if it was just a $5k car - well then oh well - but $18k you could find a really nice example of a pampered car w/low miles -

 

[1987stangman]

Actually I just bought a 2010 GT 5sd with 62k for 18000, which of course ended up at just under 20 after taxes and tags and dealer BS fees.

As far as the whole engine deal from start to finish would have made me mad as hell. If your getting a decent power train warranty from Ford then make sure it covers everything under the hood because sometimes those warranties only cover just the drive train and that's it, no alt, no power steering, you get the idea.

 

[Paul G]

Spoke to a friend of mine who now has his own shop and used to be a service manager at a dealership.
His take was, if it was going to go, the timing couldn't have been better. Better to have happened while under their roof, than yours. He thinks you'll be fine with getting a new short block.

Now throw a twin turbo on it and have some fun!

 

[chgovfk]

At the end of the day - you should be very happy with Your "deal' and the car you are buying - if this works for you - then do as Paul G. says - Go have some Fun w/it