Problem with new mustang

ghettocar said:
If I've got $26,000 in cash I can earn a much better return on it than the typical new domestic 0-3.9% interest rate.

If your credit is in order and you qualify for zero financing it makes absolutely no sense to buy a car with cash.

It makes sense because it means the bank doesn't have my balls in their pocket. Yes, It does make sense to finance at 0% but only if you've got the money to back it up. Otherwise, if you find yourself in some kind of financial pinch over the course of the 3-5 year finance period, your'e screwed. If you can look out the next 5 years and say with 100% certainty that you won't get laid-off, have the house burn down, have some medical emergency in your family that sucks you dry, my hat's off to you.

Wouldn't your ability to bargain go up if you approached a dealer with cash? Isn't the option of having a big wad of cash money in the dealers coffers more appealing than a little money trickling in over some period of time? Am I wrong?
 
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I don't think the mustang will go the way of fwd. There seems to be a movement in domestics underway now reversing the trend of fwd. Also, the probe was supposed to be the mustang replacement when it was coming out. Never happened. As for the pricing on the GT, it will not get sticker plus dealer markup. Anyone who would pay that is a fool. It may get close to sticker for a while, but a mass produced car will be discounted quickly. And everyone on here keeps bitching about the price, but then bitching about not having enough hp, IRS, and etc. You can't have it both ways. Horsepower costs money. IRS costs money.
 
shatner saves said:
It makes sense because it means the bank doesn't have my balls in their pocket. Yes, It does make sense to finance at 0% but only if you've got the money to back it up. Otherwise, if you find yourself in some kind of financial pinch over the course of the 3-5 year finance period, your'e screwed. If you can look out the next 5 years and say with 100% certainty that you won't get laid-off, have the house burn down, have some medical emergency in your family that sucks you dry, my hat's off to you.

Wouldn't your ability to bargain go up if you approached a dealer with cash? Isn't the option of having a big wad of cash money in the dealers coffers more appealing than a little money trickling in over some period of time? Am I wrong?

Do you not buy a house unless you can afford to pay cash? I don't like financing furniture and never finance the full amount of a car, usually put down 30% or so, but lets face reality. Not everyone can do that. So if your financing or even renting a place to stay, its no better than financing a car.
So if you pay cash for everything you own, then my hats off to you. Also your bargaining ability with the dealer does not change because you have cash. They don't care, they get their money from the people who finance you. The dealer does not finance you. As for losing your job, you can get insurance on your loan for a buck or two a month tacked on to your payment that will pay your loan in the event of hardships.
 
shatner saves said:
If you can look out the next 5 years and say with 100% certainty that you won't get laid-off, have the house burn down, have some medical emergency in your family that sucks you dry, my hat's off to you.

If I had those kind of fears I wouldn't put $25,000 cash into a fast depreciating asset.

:shrug:
 
mp67 said:
Do you not buy a house unless you can afford to pay cash? I don't like financing furniture and never finance the full amount of a car, usually put down 30% or so, but lets face reality. Not everyone can do that. So if your financing or even renting a place to stay, its no better than financing a car.
So if you pay cash for everything you own, then my hats off to you. Also your bargaining ability with the dealer does not change because you have cash. They don't care, they get their money from the people who finance you. The dealer does not finance you. As for losing your job, you can get insurance on your loan for a buck or two a month tacked on to your payment that will pay your loan in the event of hardships.
You make some good points.

No, the vast majority of us will never be able to pay cash for a home. However, a lot of the same principals apply. Make a big a down payment as you can and pay it off as fast as you can handle. It's all a matter of good judgment. I know of a few people that are paying off mortgages for homes they had absolutly no business buying. Crunch the numbers on the difference between a 20 year and 30 year note for a home. Or what one or two interest points does. It's amazing.

The big difference with a home is that you are building equity in something that is going to have a payoff in the end. In a lot of cases, it makes more sense to buy than to rent. It all depends on how willing you are to keep up with the Joneses.
Also, where does it stop? I know people who have had a perpetual car payment for the last 10 years, having gone through a number of vehicles, and it's not going to end anytime soon. I would hazard a guess that most of them were not lucky enough to get 0% financing. The way the economy is improving, that will be harder to come by for those of us with less than great (or non-existent) credit. That's just pissing money out the window IMO.

As for "If I had those kind of fears I wouldn't put $25,000 cash into a fast depreciating asset." It's obviously my choice to make. Not Ford Credit's, not GMAC's etc.
 
ghettocar said:
If I had those kind of fears I wouldn't put $25,000 cash into a fast depreciating asset.

:shrug:
The thing is everybody should have those fears especially in this ecnomic environment. I gotta say maybe it's just a different mindset but I agree totally with shatner. I'll get an 05 as soon as I can but I'm gonna be saving up for it now so I can put as much money on it as I can. Financing and credit has screwed up so many people in this country it's not even funny. It's basically destroyed nearly two generations of Americans now because a lot of us don't know how to save money. Instead of a big bank account people get impressed if you flash a giant platinum credit card. Debt in any way shape or form is bad period. I don't care if you can afford it persay at some point it has a good chance of biting you in the ass. The person that can pay cash for a car or that pays their car off quickly is in better shape in the long run. The car is their's and not the bank's so yes worst case scenario something DOES happen you don't have oddles of debt stacked on top of other debt all collecting intrest.
Oh and the 0% thing...I know a lot of people with sterling credit who have tried to get the 0% APR and couldn't manage anything more than 3% from the lowest dealer quote after multiple dealerships. It's a hook to get you in the door nothing more.
 
another point that has not been addressed is that cars these days will last atleast 2 times as long as cars from the 70s. ok you have a 65 mustang with 8 million miles on it and never had a problem, but all acuality cars last longer now. period. If you double the price of older cars and add inflation what do you have?
 
SVTdriver said:
Actually that's not entirely true. For example if you are in debt to buy a house. But you are renting that house for the same or more than the mortgage. That is not bad debt. It will earn you money.
I agree. I get a nice tax break, and eventually I'll own this house free & clear, and that'll be peace of mind.

Also, if I could borrow 150k against a house that I already owned, at say 5.5%, I'd do it in a heartbeat. There are all kinds of investments that routinely earn more than 5.5% (historyically the stock market does 11% over the long haul, which is the only way you should invest in it ...). Now that's good debt :)

Dave
 
id wait till we see how reliable the new engine is. i havent followed the 05 closely at all, but i hear itll be quite a bit more complicated. now, dont get me wrong, i love our fords, but you gotta admit ford's first-model-year recall rate is not exactly impressive (focus, escape, etc)...*shudders* i remember the first-year ford focus i had :notnice: . i think ford ususally gets it right in the 2nd or 3rd year though
 
That's not exactly the point. If you could afford to buy it with cash, you *wouldn't have* to take out a loan. You might decide to do that if you could invest that money and get a higher rate of return than you would pay interest on a mortgage. Combine that with the fact that interest on a home mortgage is tax deductable and the deal get's better. In the case of a home, You might have to wait a lifetime to be able to pay cash for one, so the point is moot.

A car on the other hand is a different story. To "keep up with the Jones's" it is tempting to but the thing when you can't really afford it. Your other option is to wait a year or two and get it over with in one shot.

Let's use mp67's example of paying 30% up front. Call it 3.0% over 3 years (just as an example)

30% of 26k (est. base price of an '05) is $7800. that leaves 18200 to finance over 3 years.

Monthly Payment = $529.28
Total Payments = $ 19,054.08
Total Interest = $ 854.08

If that doesn't sound like a lot of money to any of you; would you like to give me $854.08? Respond to this post and I'll give you my address so you can FedEx it on over. No checks, please.
 
Yes $800 is a decent amount of money. But the reality is no one is taught how to save money. Same a swe are not taught to invest the money we make. Merely spend it and go in debt. Now maybe I am misunderstanding you. But do you mean wait a year and then pay cash outright? That's not usually going to happen.
 
SVTdriver said:
Yes $800 is a decent amount of money. But the reality is no one is taught how to save money. Same a swe are not taught to invest the money we make. Merely spend it and go in debt. Now maybe I am misunderstanding you. But do you mean wait a year and then pay cash outright? That's not usually going to happen.


If that's the case then some of you on this board can consider yourselves educated. If that sounds condescending, I apologize.

Here is the loan calculator: http://www.interest.com/hugh/calc/missing.cgi

And yes, I will wait 'till next year so I can pay cash for my car.
 
You may be able to wait a year. But the reality is most people who haven't saved up money. Likely won't be able to save it for several years. But you have to also understand that it's all in your priorities. Some people don't mind paying the extra. And if they can afford it. Well then so be it.
 
FredKwan said:
I'd gladly pay 22 extra dollars a month to own a 2005 in 2004. 800 dollars isn't worth the wait. IMO

Don't get hung up on the $850 number. What I described was a pretty reasonable scenario. Look at the worst case: 10% down, 5 year note, 4.9% financing:

10% = $2600, leaving a pricipal of $23, 400, to be paid off over 60 months.

Monthly Payment = $440.52
Total Payments = $ 26,431.20
Total Interest = $ 3,031.20 (!)

How many people do you think will fall closer to this scenario? Does it sound better, or worse?

In the case of the '05, waiting a year has the added benefit of letting ford sort out the inevitalbe production problems/improvements before the build my car. I hope I'm wrong, but let someone else be the guinea pig.
 
and if you save all your money you'll never have fun. I'm not disagreeing completely though. I would love to lay down cash for an 05. Also that 10% down and 5 year loan is more money than I would be willing to lose. I think we are all on the same page just slightly different points. I also find it really intresting to listen to everyone point of view. Its the best way to learn.
 
FredKwan said:
and if you save all your money you'll never have fun. I'm not disagreeing completely though. I would love to lay down cash for an 05. Also that 10% down and 5 year loan is more money than I would be willing to lose. I think we are all on the same page just slightly different points. I also find it really intresting to listen to everyone point of view. Its the best way to learn.

Sure. This all gets back to the original point of people complaining that their money doesn't go far enough any more. In a lot of cases, I believe they only have themselves to blame. Would I go into debt? Sure. A new house, student loan, stuff that makes sense. Would I finance a car over 5 years? Hell no. I'd rather spend that money on myself, not give it to the bank. They already have enough IMO.

...and I have lots of fun BTW.