RE: 2005 Mustang
Discussion
scaff said:
Looks lovely from the outside, but the live rear axle sounds very dodgy and the interior has some of the cheapest looking plastic I've seen in a long time.
I may be mistaken but it looks like it would last about 10 minutes before trim started to rattle and fall in your lap, still I guess for the money it's hard to complain and you can always rip it all out to save weight.
I have to rush to defend American interior build quality. Sure, it's bad to begin with but I had a 1987 Camaro Z28 with a truly awful interior but after 15 years, it might have rattled as good as new but it didn't break. The build just allows the interior to move round a bit.
Given that I got almost 15 years (1989-2004,RIP) and 130k miles out of my last Mustang, I may have to get another after all. As to handling, I had a lowered (Eibach) suspension, and if the live axle worries you, have a search for Griggs Racing, and look at their kits. I'm betting that they and others will have a lot of very trick bits available within a couple of months of the introduction.
As to road quality, or lack thereof, I thought it was much of a muchness - I lived in Atlanta, New England, North Yorkshire and now Lincolnshire. If the government spends the money, the roads are fine; if they're busy ripping us off, well, you know who you are, Gordon and Tony, and you should damn well be ashamed of yourselves.
Biggest disappointment was visiting California, hearing about "canyon carving", then finding out that the speed limit was 35 mph. When my host was surprised that I was underwhelmed at his hot car's performance, I had to explain that he was still going slower than the posted national limit here, and if he didn't get faster, he'd get blown off by some 17 year-old in a clapped out Nova. Reply: "What's a Nova?"; he'd never heard of Peugeot, either.
If you do import a Mustang, don't expect a lot of help from your local Ford dealer, but joining the Mustang Owner's Club GB will take some of the sting out, they all pull together, a great lot.
As to road quality, or lack thereof, I thought it was much of a muchness - I lived in Atlanta, New England, North Yorkshire and now Lincolnshire. If the government spends the money, the roads are fine; if they're busy ripping us off, well, you know who you are, Gordon and Tony, and you should damn well be ashamed of yourselves.
Biggest disappointment was visiting California, hearing about "canyon carving", then finding out that the speed limit was 35 mph. When my host was surprised that I was underwhelmed at his hot car's performance, I had to explain that he was still going slower than the posted national limit here, and if he didn't get faster, he'd get blown off by some 17 year-old in a clapped out Nova. Reply: "What's a Nova?"; he'd never heard of Peugeot, either.
If you do import a Mustang, don't expect a lot of help from your local Ford dealer, but joining the Mustang Owner's Club GB will take some of the sting out, they all pull together, a great lot.
smele said:
Who on earth demanded a live rear axle? Most be those poeple who live in Texas with no corners in their roads.
A friend of mine who is a Ford Employee used to drag race Mustangs for Ford (it was actually part of his job). I know for sure that he strongly advocated the latest 390 bhp Cobra being fitted with a live rear axle so that owners could drag race it - which is the majority of competition the Mustang sees.
you guys have to realize that here police are everywhere so when you race it is from one light to the next maybe a mile at the most what you need is full all out acceleration over time i've had a 96 500SL, a 03 XK8 and neither could keep up with my 92 mustang at least in the straight runs. anyone who needs cornering can go to steeda.com pick up a g-force kit for $1500 and out corner a ferrari i don't see why all you guys keep whining about the cornering issue, it is a no brainer: pick up a mustang for $24,000 take it to saleen or steeda add $6,000 in engine mods like a gt-40 intake and heads,throtle body, headers, mass air flow sensor,and a kenne bell supercharger, throw in $1,500 in g-track suspension and you will not only out accelerate anything without fire coming out of the tailpipes (even then put in $300 for a NOS system and you can even eat them up) but out corner cars that are more than $100,000 you just may not get the chicks....peace
"there is no substitute for cubic inches" gearhead motto
as a summary: -benz is ok but too "old man" style
-jag like the XK all else goes down hill
-BMW highly over rated grossly underpowered (tested M3 before getting the XK)
-Porsche love them just can't fit i'm 6-1
-corvette great but even the c6 is same old crap just repackaged. anyone at gm have any original ideas?
-mustang best if you like to customize and i do but if you want it all out of the dealer it isn't worth your time
-anything else is too rich for my blood or i haven't driven it
"there is no substitute for cubic inches" gearhead motto
as a summary: -benz is ok but too "old man" style
-jag like the XK all else goes down hill
-BMW highly over rated grossly underpowered (tested M3 before getting the XK)
-Porsche love them just can't fit i'm 6-1
-corvette great but even the c6 is same old crap just repackaged. anyone at gm have any original ideas?
-mustang best if you like to customize and i do but if you want it all out of the dealer it isn't worth your time
-anything else is too rich for my blood or i haven't driven it
drrich said:
anyone who needs cornering can go to steeda.com pick up a g-force kit for $1500 and out corner a ferrari i don't see why all you guys keep whining about the cornering issue, it is a no brainer
Hi there and welcome,,its something us American car followers have had to put up with for years in the UK,,they see Frank Cannon bounce around in his pimp mobile and listen to no Brain car testers comment about American car handling and its one of the 1st things that spring to mind when you mention American cars...they dont know about Plymouths doing speeds of up to 200+ around Talladega in the late 60's and how some Stangs,vettes and Vipers can handle straight from the factory and with very little spent in comparison can 'Really'handle.....Still! i love the art of surprise
thanks, i've loved muscle cars all my life because of the acceleration it wasn't until later that i learned to apprecieate the finer points of making a turn so my credo is speed before turns....ah yea talladega i'm not that old but i've seen the footage great cars. i built a 65 mustang coupe a few years ago started with six cylinder donor and put in a 93'cobra block and heads with a performer rpm intake, DUI racing distributor and ignition, rear end of a 71 mach 1, disc conversion, a poly bushings and shelby suspension, southside lift bars, weld wheels, and had the body shaved in to smooth out the edges. a friend of mine painted it pearl white with a top coat of gray powder, and black leather interior with a massive autometer tach...i miss it most, sold it to pay for med school.....can't wait til i'm done and get the first real check to take to my local ford dealer....cheers over there in the uk
WarningSLO said:
2005 Mustang V6 - 200 hp - less than $20,000 -September 2004
2005 Mustang GT V8 - 300 hp - around $25,000 - September 2004
2005 Mustang SVT Cobra - not until midyear 2005
Just to check.
$25000 @$1.88=£1 means £13298
plus $900 to ferry it over = £500
plus £1000 to get it through its SVA and registration.
I'm assuming you'd keep the car in the states for at least 6 months so as to be exempt from VAT (Value Added Tax, the UK equivalent of state sales tax).
The total... £14798, about 15 grand on the road say.
Is this right. Can I import a 300hp V8 saloon car for about 15k????
Whats the competition at this price? A Ford Focus STi? A Mazda Mx5? A Seat CupraR?
I don't think there is anything at this price which can match it. Of course you can argue over handling etc and the live rear axle, but its a small price to pay to have such a car. Nothings perfect.
Andy
Some dodgy info in this thread about duty on personal imports
If you have lived outside the UK for 12 months and are a returning resident (and can prove that) and have owned the vehicle for 6 months (and can also prove that), then there's no import duty to pay
Otherwise, it's 10% import duty on the car and on the shipping costs, then VAT on the car and on the shipping costs and on the import duty (reckon 20%total tax to pay on import)
You also need to pay US sales tax (between zero and about 10% depending on state) and will need to register the car in the US to establish title (which requires a US address) unless you can wangle a military export
Anyone who has found a way of getting around any of this, please let us all know!
Mike
If you have lived outside the UK for 12 months and are a returning resident (and can prove that) and have owned the vehicle for 6 months (and can also prove that), then there's no import duty to pay
Otherwise, it's 10% import duty on the car and on the shipping costs, then VAT on the car and on the shipping costs and on the import duty (reckon 20%total tax to pay on import)
You also need to pay US sales tax (between zero and about 10% depending on state) and will need to register the car in the US to establish title (which requires a US address) unless you can wangle a military export
Anyone who has found a way of getting around any of this, please let us all know!
Mike
I think the dealer can register the car to himself as the "first owner". My enquiries tend to suggest that you may not have to pay sales tax if the vehicle is to be directly exported. In reality though, you'll be looking for a dealer near a port to save on transportation costs.
There is another point about the Mustang which nobody is really picking up on but which can be gleaned from looking at some of the advance pics and that is the fact that this is an American car which is going back to it's roots. The first Mustang was a very basic vehicle with a million options you could choose to make the car the spec you wanted.
The new Mustang will be cheap because you don't get a fully loaded Mustang, you get a "base" Mustang with a very long list of options which traditonally come in "packs" so if you want the sports suspension, you must have the performance axle, the extra instrument pack and so forth which pushes the price up.
The Americans still do this today with many of their cars. You can go to the US right now and buy a "base" Corvette for $37000 but it has no options, it has the cooking suspension and by the time you spec it up, you can be looking at nearer $43000 which you can buy a new fully specced Z06 for. Deceptive.
This also raises an interesting anomaly. In Europe, the Corvette and Camaro mainly came "fully loaded". A "cheap" American model can actually be far inferior in terms of specification so be careful what you import and be careful you know what options the car has.
There is another point about the Mustang which nobody is really picking up on but which can be gleaned from looking at some of the advance pics and that is the fact that this is an American car which is going back to it's roots. The first Mustang was a very basic vehicle with a million options you could choose to make the car the spec you wanted.
The new Mustang will be cheap because you don't get a fully loaded Mustang, you get a "base" Mustang with a very long list of options which traditonally come in "packs" so if you want the sports suspension, you must have the performance axle, the extra instrument pack and so forth which pushes the price up.
The Americans still do this today with many of their cars. You can go to the US right now and buy a "base" Corvette for $37000 but it has no options, it has the cooking suspension and by the time you spec it up, you can be looking at nearer $43000 which you can buy a new fully specced Z06 for. Deceptive.
This also raises an interesting anomaly. In Europe, the Corvette and Camaro mainly came "fully loaded". A "cheap" American model can actually be far inferior in terms of specification so be careful what you import and be careful you know what options the car has.
Base spec might not be as bad as all that. I had a 2000 mustang cabrio, came with air-con, auto box, metallic paint and alloys as standard. Only options I paid for were the Mach stereo (excellent) and leather (total cr*p, I would recommend buying a set of Katskinz aftermarket covers instead...)
Mind you, I did trade it in quickly because it cornered like a raft...
Mike
Mind you, I did trade it in quickly because it cornered like a raft...
Mike
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