Hello all,
I went to the local Saleen dealer to check out a S281, and I swear I'm not trying to be a troll, but I was dumbfounded by the apparent lack of quality of the Saleen parts. Now it's my understanding that the cars are assembled by Saleen and then shipped to the dealer. (The salesguy was new and admitted he didn't know much about the cars) The fit of the body kit was terrible. The side skirts seemed too long for the car. On one part there was paint runs and air bubbles, in some spots on the front the paint was so thin you could see through it, and worst of all on the pointed corner of the rear spoiler on the passenger side, all that was there was primer - it wasn't even painted! A test drive revealed a rattle in the suspension that surfaced over every bump that sounded like a loose shock or sway bar. This was not something I noticed the first time I drove a stock GT. In fact I was VERY impressed with how well put together the Mustang was considering the amount of plastic in the interior. I mean I couldn't find a creak or rattle in the stocker even on Michigan's wonderful roads. Honestly the only rattle I heard in the Saleen was the rear suspension. Again, kudos to Ford for tightening everything up. The kit fit problems seemed consistent over the half dozen or so Saleen's that they had on the lot.
What distressed me was that these Saleen's, especially in SC trim, close to doubled the price of a stock GT. This was my first time seriously looking at a Saleen. Is this typical of the Saleens, or did I find the ones that were leftover on the lot for a reason? I wanted to like it - I really did. After all, I love the regular GT and figured one all souped up would be better. But my god - that much money for something that didn't even seem to be assembled correctly? It made me wonder how little care went into the other mechanical mods. Am I being unreasonable to expect that a car that adds tens of thousands to the price over a stock model should be put together darn near perfectly? Has anyone else noticed this?
I went to the local Saleen dealer to check out a S281, and I swear I'm not trying to be a troll, but I was dumbfounded by the apparent lack of quality of the Saleen parts. Now it's my understanding that the cars are assembled by Saleen and then shipped to the dealer. (The salesguy was new and admitted he didn't know much about the cars) The fit of the body kit was terrible. The side skirts seemed too long for the car. On one part there was paint runs and air bubbles, in some spots on the front the paint was so thin you could see through it, and worst of all on the pointed corner of the rear spoiler on the passenger side, all that was there was primer - it wasn't even painted! A test drive revealed a rattle in the suspension that surfaced over every bump that sounded like a loose shock or sway bar. This was not something I noticed the first time I drove a stock GT. In fact I was VERY impressed with how well put together the Mustang was considering the amount of plastic in the interior. I mean I couldn't find a creak or rattle in the stocker even on Michigan's wonderful roads. Honestly the only rattle I heard in the Saleen was the rear suspension. Again, kudos to Ford for tightening everything up. The kit fit problems seemed consistent over the half dozen or so Saleen's that they had on the lot.
What distressed me was that these Saleen's, especially in SC trim, close to doubled the price of a stock GT. This was my first time seriously looking at a Saleen. Is this typical of the Saleens, or did I find the ones that were leftover on the lot for a reason? I wanted to like it - I really did. After all, I love the regular GT and figured one all souped up would be better. But my god - that much money for something that didn't even seem to be assembled correctly? It made me wonder how little care went into the other mechanical mods. Am I being unreasonable to expect that a car that adds tens of thousands to the price over a stock model should be put together darn near perfectly? Has anyone else noticed this?