It's time to trade it in

It's an 05 and has 71500 miles on it....mainly I need to trade it, because I need an automatic. I'm moving to SF with my girlfriend. She can't drive a manual, and teaching her to be comfortable on the hills in city traffic would take a bit.


I've read pretty much the entire internet, looked at a few cars in person, and took a test drive today. The only automatic that makes me happy is the 2011 Mustang GT (return of the 5.0).

The stealership is giving me 15k for my car That's "good condition" on KBB trade in value. I could probably get another 2grand out of it private party, but it would take work and time.

I'm having my Headers, 3" Borla Hush, and COBB Accessport removed this afternoon at Speed Element. I don't have anyone lined up for this stuff, and I may just make some kind of swap the parts back and keep them deal.




The car has been great to me for 6 years now! Not a single issue.....really. Not one f'ing problem. Oh, the left rear strut clunk (fixed with a new spring install and strut lube...at Speed Element ...those guys rock).


This is still my favorite car forum on the net. It's been really rough actually finding a good Ford/Mustang forum that deals with the Bay Area. Any suggestions on that? What about speed shops? I'm probably going to do a gear swap when I get the car and go rip some mid 12's at the track lol.

 

Whatelse you have? I have stock STI parts..

 

My cousin is a big Ford/Mustang guy so I'll check with him today on what local shops are good to deal with. I know NexGen is big, but heard unless you have a Cobra they aren't the best in customer service. Only other speed shop I know of is Golden West Mustangs on Clawiter in Hayward. I don't have any personal experience with them, but I'm up and down that street a lot and see a lot of very nice Cobra's, GT's and 5.0's that a lot of them look like they either drag race or put down some serious power.

I don't know if you've looked up mods for the 2011 5.0, but people are getting good power cheap and easy and running some fast 1/4 times. I think they're hitting 11s fairly easy if I remember correctly.

Other thing I just remembered, isn't the 2011 STI being offered in an automatic? Or is that just in Japan?

 

Stock cat back from a WRX for the Borla Hush? Haha long shot, but I may as well try.

 

I have my stock parts still, so I shouldn't need anything. I'm going to be at Speed Element this afternoon. I'm assuming my used parts aren't worth more than a couple hundred bucks. I'm hoping to just work out getting the labor covered to swap my parts back to stock, so that means covering the labor to have the parts changed.


The 2011 5.0 does seem pretty easy to get to the 11's. I've done quite a bit of video watching. From what I've seen, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect 11's with 4.10 Gears/CAI/Exhaust/Tune. It's pretty silly considering all I'd need to do driving wise is press the pedal lol. Maybe I won't miss shifting.

Have you seen this video yet? Motor Trend compared the 2011 GT 5.0 to the 2010 BMW M3. The 5.0 lost to the M3 on a road coarse (pro driver) by .1 seconds. I was not expecting that. It finished the 1/4 faster. I was impressed and went for a test drive shortly after....obviously the sales dude never saw the vid, because he about sharted his chones on a few of the turns. I was trying to call BS on the review...it's legit. The car doesn't feel as "tight" as my STi, but I have a few suspension mods. Time will tell with experience and modding I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOwSPccbzl4

 

automatic eh? if you want to stick close to your roots, you can look into the EVO X MR, i still think those are automatic, no matter how much they boast that SST transmission to "manual like". the CHEAPER GSR MODEL is FASTER (at least in a straight line, than the X MR) Thats why reviews against the STi is so skewed in the 1/4 mile. Of course on the road track its more sharp and precise compared to the Sti with the obvious less understeer of the current Sti model.

Don't know if you've been keeping up with it, but the X 4b11 takes very well to mods... oh the joys of the dark side going to a Mitsu. a few mods and a flash and your power is up there already, more so and easier compared to past/current STi, and you still retain the 4drs and AWD.

But I guess if you are keeping it STOCK, then all this is irrelevant. the only way to really enjoy the EVO is to put mods on it hah

 

If they are giving anything close to KBB, then they are giving you a descent amount actually.
I hope you can live with scratched up bumpers. I've seen cars less than 2 years old in the city that look like they need paint jobs. Seriously, people don't know how to park there. I would never buy a new car for the city.

 

The EVO X MR was an option, but I kinda wanted to jump away from the "4 models over base" thing for this car. I did get a little tired of trying to explain how "Yes, it's a Subaru Impreza - not a 2.5 RS->-WRX->STi." It also has a very narrow after market and community. Narrow as in mostly just young guys, which made looking to sell something like my STi a pain.

Having every D-bag on the street trying to race me didn't help either. I feel that with something like a Mustang you're at more of a known quantity. If someone wants to race you, they're still a D-bag...but you feel less like rolling down your window and laughing at them. They probably know what your car is.

The EVO is a great car to drive and mod. If I wanted to actually track the car on a road course, I would have really looked into it. I had my STi for 6 years, and the only track days it saw were all the sweet on/off ramps for 880 lol.



They are giving me the "Good" category for "Trade-In Value." That's not the greatest, because private party is almost 4k higher. In that 4k is where they may have to replace tires/brakes...which I did this summer already

I won't be parking it on the city streets anytime soon. It will be garage kept and public transport taken to places in the city. I figured out the bumper thing. The people with the really bad rear bumpers ARE THE ONES DOING THE BUMPER CHECKING. I've watched them do it...back up until they stop (on the other car) then pull forward. It's like they can't parallel park, so they overcompensate and brute force it in there.

 

15k isn't too bad considering used STi's are going for 17k. Is an extra 2k worth your time and hagging with people on CL for the price? I say take it. Less of a headache.

 

Go drive the 2011 v6 mustang its a tire fryer! and 31 mpg on the hwy! I plan on picking one up for my wife next year! I wont buy the first model year after a major change.. good luck with the 5.0 its a beast!

 

How about buying her a used car? Or she can buy one for herself. Also, I do like new 5.0. I did see that YouTube with M3 vs 5.0. Ford did a great job.

 

That's why I did it. The deal is done. Not having to deal with CL is worth it. Also, I'm worried about someone trying to scam with bad financing. Not many people will buy a car in that range for cash.

I didn't even drive the v6. I'm sure it's pretty quick. It has the same HP as last year's GT haha. I saw you could get one for in the $22k range at the dealer.

The problem is parking in the city and time of use. She already rides a Vespa to work. The parking stall in the apartment building is $200/month. That would be way too much for just an extra car that would see little to no use. The auto trans isn't so bad. It's a 6 speed model in a truck casing. Seems fairly beefy.

 

holy hell. $200/mo for parking? that's insane

 

Apparently, I don't live in city.

 

Not really..the f'ing insane part is she already pays $2100 a month for rent...it's a 1 bedroom. Now you're talking $2300/month for rent and 1 spot. On top of that the water/sewage/trash is an extra $100/month. I have no idea why it's that much. The city is ridiculous in some places...She does live like 2 blocks from the Giants stadium though.