Logical decisions...

[Rook79]

I've been a long time lurker...not much posting, but I love this site and want to share my thoughts on the '05 Mustang.

I currently drive a 2001 V6. It's modified, but still, I'm desparate for more power. Never buying a V6 stang again.

So, I have been really amped up about the new '05's coming out. I was estatic on January 4th when they were unveiled, and honestly, wasn't disappointed about any changes they did from concept to production. I love the body style, like the headlights, like the hood, rims, seats, dash, you get the picture.

What I don't like is the price. 27k to start is insane. I know I know, this car has 300hp and I should go out and find another car with 300hp for 27k. Well, it doesn't exist in the stock version, that's for sure.

Here is where you groan.

I have started looking around for another vehicle to satisfy my need for hp/torque and I think I found it. The dodge SRT-4. This thing has 230+ hp off the lot with 250 or so ft/lb of torque. For about 1100 dollars you can put this up in the 290+ / 300 ft/lb range. Now, that's after you have spent 20k on it. Anybody else checked this thing out? Anybody own one?

Here is a link: http://www.allpar.com/neon/neon-srt-4.html

 

[jrstang]

A dodge over a Stang? LMAO

 

[66Satellite]

It's very fast but it's FWD, which kills the deal for me (and I've got a Mopar bias ). There has been talk of a sub $20k V8 05 Mustang but nothing has been confirmed. If you want hp, though, you should be able to pick up a brand new 04 GT or Mach 1 for cheap right now. And they should be practically giving away used 99-03 Mustangs in the next year (look for a Bullitt if you want it to retain some of its value over time).

 

[Sir Hacksalot]

Dude, just be patient.

When the Mach I's came out, they were stickered at $29K or so. The two ford dealerships in Des Moines recently had them on sale for $23.5K...a HELL of bargain IMHO.

When the new GT hits the market, they will be hot hot hot, and will go above sticker, yada, yada, yada. I will predict that in september of 2005, a year or so down the road when the 2006 GT and SVT's are coming out, you will be able to pick up a 2005 GT for about 23-24K out the door.

With the timing of the expiration of the our truck's lease, I could go and pre-order a 2005 GT, but we aren't. We are waiting to see what kind of rebates come out, aftermarket items, etc. I expect about a year from the day the first 05 GT's hit the market, we will be buying.

Sir Hacksalot

 

[Boss351]

I wouldn't mind the SRT as a daily driver / winter beater but not to replace any Mustang for HP needs. It will never add up to a Mustang. I bet a stock V6 Mustang is more fun to drive. But that's my opinion as I never really fell in love with the whole idiotic FWD deal...

 

[TrueBlueCajun]

I only had my car for 2 years. I'll wait for all the models to appear before I trade mine in. Variety is the spice of life!!!

 

[GelatiCruiser]

Don't buy a Neon.....you'll be utterly disappointed with FWD. If you're going to wait for the '05, but want to spend $27K on serious power.....then my advice is to wait for the '05 and scoop up an '03 or '04 Cobra....390/390. They're around $31.5K now, and should probably drop a bit when the '05 hits the streets, and should bottom out in a few years when the '06 Cobras hit the streets. But you do what you want, it's your money.

 

[jadesville]

Don't buy a Neon.....you'll be utterly disappointed with FWD. If you're going to wait for the '05, but want to spend $27K on serious power.....then my advice is to wait for the '05 and scoop up an '03 or '04 Cobra....390/390. They're around $31.5K now, and should probably drop a bit when the '05 hits the streets, and should bottom out in a few years when the '06 Cobras hit the streets. But you do what you want, it's your money.

agreed..

 

[Omegalock]

The SRT-4 is a wonderfully performing car and the looks are subjective(you either love it or hate it) and it'd be hard to beat the power for the price. However....66 had the best idea for your situation IMO. The Mach 1 they are dang near giving away and will only go lower in the near future. Likely low enough that it'll be pretty much exactly the same cost to get a Mach as it is to get an SRT-4(jeez that's saying a lot...makes you reconsider buying an 05 GT for a brief second)give or take say 500 bucks. The Mach is definately faster stock hell even after that 1000 bucks worth of mods like Stage 1 and a Wastegate you'd likely still be faster. Then start modding the Mach 1 and forget about it. The only draw back is you'll be in the old bodystyle. In a very very fast car in the old bodystyle but still....the old bodystyle.

 

[jadesville]

The SRT-4 is a wonderfully performing car and the looks are subjective(you either love it or hate it) and it'd be hard to beat the power for the price. However....66 had the best idea for your situation IMO. The Mach 1 they are dang near giving away and will only go lower in the near future. Likely low enough that it'll be pretty much exactly the same cost to get a Mach as it is to get an SRT-4(jeez that's saying a lot...makes you reconsider buying an 05 GT for a brief second)give or take say 500 bucks. The Mach is definately faster stock hell even after that 1000 bucks worth of mods like Stage 1 and a Wastegate you'd likely still be faster. Then start modding the Mach 1 and forget about it. The only draw back is you'll be in the old bodystyle. In a very very fast car in the old bodystyle but still....the old bodystyle.

i dont think thats much of a drawback, i think that body style looks alot better than srt-4's

 

[(&)]

I wouldn't badmouth the SRT-4 just because of FWD. The Neon is, and always has been, an autocross god. I'd be worried about torque steer, and FWD definitely has limitations at some point, but the SRT-4 is a wonderful *all-around* performance car.

But after rebates set in, GTs will be cheap and it will make the choice easy.

 

[Avenger]

Can anyone provide an official link where the 27k starting price is confirmed ?

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Get the MACH1. It's a much better car than the Neon. It's much faster and has more torque if you compare it stock for stock with the Neon.

 

[Rook79]

If I can get a mach instead of the neon I would. Prices are not anywhere close at this point though...that and I'd hate to have the old body style after the new ones come out.

SRT-4 has limited slip diff as standard equipment in '04.

 

[GelatiCruiser]

Don't go the Neon route....you'll be a lot happier in the long run.

 

[KidTwist51]

I drove an SRT-4 this summer. I gotta admit, it impressed me in a few respects. The seats are awesome, the brakes are like running into a wall, and the shifter was better than I thought it would be. But the thing is still not that fast, I'm sorry. They make a lot of noise but the only reason it's respectable is because it's light. And sorry, but it's still a NEON. My taste is a car that doesn't have to strain to be relatively quick in normal driving. Cars like those and ricers, you gotta wind them up to 7,000 rpm to even think about the power they love to think they have. I much prefer moving along very swiftly and still shifting at 3-3500 rpm. It not a bad car, better than I expected, but IMO take Sir Hacksalot's advice, Ford is easily gonna come up with something much more attractive all around than this Neon on it's best day.

-Chris

 

[TampaBear67]

Dude If You Dont Wanna Spend the Bucks.....

Dude if you don't wanna spend the bucks for a GT Stang, DO NOT BUY A NEON! I Have a friend that bought one and has regreted it almost from the moment he drove it off the lot, they are GARBAGE! I know since Chrysler and Mercedes have merged, that their quality has improve somewhat but also Mercedes quality has dropped. If you buy the neon you will spend WAY MORE MONEY on repairs than you'd spend on the difference of an 05 Stang GT. Remember When you go messing around with a NEW CARS ENGINE You VOID the Waranty! So You Spend $22k. on a Neon after your "Performance Enhancements" and say for example the tranny goes out because your enhancements make more torque than the tranny was designed to take, Guess What you just bought youself a $1500 Tranny because Chrysler WILL NOT COVER THE REPAIR! If you do not want to spend $27.5k on a GT Stang buy a V6 stang with 203+ Horses and get your Ford Dealer to install any Ford MAnufactured PErformance Parts,ie: a Turbo or Supercharger, and Not only will you be at or near that 270 hp figure or about the same as the Neon Srt4 but you'll be driving a Much Better Built/Better Looking car than the Neon and alot of Ford Dealers will stand behind the waranty if they install the parts!
Personally though I'd Wait till the end of 2005 and get a discount on a leftover 05 GT and have More Horsepower to Start With than you'll ever achieve out of the Neon or a Blown V6 Stang for the Same kind of Money!

 

[2kflamedlude]

I wouldn't badmouth the SRT-4 just because of FWD. The Neon is, and always has been, an autocross god. I'd be worried about torque steer, and FWD definitely has limitations at some point, but the SRT-4 is a wonderful *all-around* performance car.

But after rebates set in, GTs will be cheap and it will make the choice easy.

LMAO.. Autocross god.. Right.

 

[Omegalock]

The SRT-4 won't get it's warranty voided IF he uses the PVO performance stages. Well at least if he uses the Stage 1. I think the Stage 2 will void it and the Stage 3 will definately void it. And I won't knock the SRT-4 on reliability issues because from what I've seen they aren't devolping any problems and there are several people that run these things hard and often.
Save for the idiots crashing them left and right.

If I can get a mach instead of the neon I would. Prices are not anywhere close at this point though...that and I'd hate to have the old body style after the new ones come out.

SRT-4 has limited slip diff as standard equipment in '04.

Well I'd still suggest waiting. If you car can take it it only helps you as you will
1)Have more cash saved up.
2)Your car won't depreciate much more than it has now in the next 8-9 months.
3)The Mach 1 will DEFINATELY have come down in price and likely you'll be able to get a decent deal on an 04 SRT-4. So the prices may be closer than you anticipate and you'll have a Ford dealer by the nuts because they'll be just dying to get rid of their 04s to start marking up their 05s.
I mean the Machs even if you don't look very hard are getting a 3k discount from Ford and a lot of dealers are tossing another 1500 on top of that. 24k Machs can be found very easily. I fully expect them to be in the 22k range soon.

Now about the not wanting to have the old body style in the Mach 1 think about these two little things.
1)The Mach is probably the most unique looking of all the SN95 Stangs. Shaker,chin spoiler...I mean the odds of you running into another Mach 1 aren't going to be that great compared to all the GTs running around and you would have a collectors item.

2)The SRT-4 will have a different look as well in 2 years. They are going to be going over to the Lancer platform and will likely receive a major redesign. So you may still get stuck with the "old" bodystyle in less than two years.

So you have to ask yourself do I want to get a Mach 1 and have something that will be pretty much timeless and be faster and have more potential for about 2k more or do I want to get an SRT-4 who's looks will very likely look extremely dated in about 3 years won't be as fast and will spend the extra 1k to just catch up to the Mach 1 in the first place that all but the most hardcore car people will pretty much view as...a riced out Neon.

 

[jadesville]

The SRT-4 won't get it's warranty voided IF he uses the PVO performance stages. Well at least if he uses the Stage 1. I think the Stage 2 will void it and the Stage 3 will definately void it. And I won't knock the SRT-4 on reliability issues because from what I've seen they aren't devolping any problems and there are several people that run these things hard and often.
Save for the idiots crashing them left and right.

Weird, I heard the otherwise, from what I was told they some people are having a head gasket issue, as well as some erroneous MIL & DTC's, but from other than that, they have been reliable so far..

Well I'd still suggest waiting. If you car can take it it only helps you as you will
1)Have more cash saved up.
2)Your car won't depreciate much more than it has now in the next 8-9 months.
3)The Mach 1 will DEFINATELY have come down in price and likely you'll be able to get a decent deal on an 04 SRT-4. So the prices may be closer than you anticipate and you'll have a Ford dealer by the nuts because they'll be just dying to get rid of their 04s to start marking up their 05s.
I mean the Machs even if you don't look very hard are getting a 3k discount from Ford and a lot of dealers are tossing another 1500 on top of that. 24k Machs can be found very easily. I fully expect them to be in the 22k range soon.

Now about the not wanting to have the old body style in the Mach 1 think about these two little things.
1)The Mach is probably the most unique looking of all the SN95 Stangs. Shaker,chin spoiler...I mean the odds of you running into another Mach 1 aren't going to be that great compared to all the GTs running around and you would have a collectors item.

2)The SRT-4 will have a different look as well in 2 years. They are going to be going over to the Lancer platform and will likely receive a major redesign. So you may still get stuck with the "old" bodystyle in less than two years.

So you have to ask yourself do I want to get a Mach 1 and have something that will be pretty much timeless and be faster and have more potential for about 2k more or do I want to get an SRT-4 who's looks will very likely look extremely dated in about 3 years won't be as fast and will spend the extra 1k to just catch up to the Mach 1 in the first place that all but the most hardcore car people will pretty much view as...a riced out Neon.

Just imagine what the price of an 03 mach 1 will be later this year, they'll basically be paying you to take them off the lot.. And just like you said, the Mach 1 is collector, unlike the SRT-4, which I dont think people are going to collect a neon SRT-4.. plus now how its marketed to the teenager, the insurance is being raised daily with all the accidents

Mach 1's =