Went to look at 05 Mustang Today...my thoughts pictures...sticker shock

First off - the only two mustangs at the store were both 6cyl and AT; neither motivated me enough to ask to drive them.

Here's the car I looked at:



VERY nice looking, IMO; was very pleased with how those obviously aftermarket rims looked - TERRIFIED when I saw the mark-up on them, however...more on that later.

As I slid behind the wheel, the plastic-chrome really jumped out at me.



The plastic trim around the vents felt VERY cheap. It seems like it's a set-up for a rattle-prone dash. The vents are straight out of the Mazda6, except felt 'cheaper' when opening/closing/turning them. The steering wheel felt pretty nice. Everything a driver needed was within reach.

A closer look at the speedo



I had been worried the numbers on the speedo were too close together, and too small to read easily. However, I feel after seeing them in person, I'd have little trouble knowing instantly if I were going 55...43...or 130.

As my next car will have to fill-in should our regular family car die (95 Nissan, 175K miles), I was concerned about rear seat room for Child seats. I meausred about 18" from the seatback to the front of the lower seat - about the same as in our Nissan. However, the mustang seat is 'dug out' sorta...where the nissan has a flat cushion. I measured 31" from the seat cushion to the roof. Our kids are 5 and 3 years old, so that'd be no problem. I measured almost exactly 4' across the rear seat, side to side.



I noticed very little room (as expected) between the front seat back, and the rear seat cushion.


The Truck has a pretty high, narrow opening at it's lowest point, and the highlighted area sort of raises up. I found that odd. I didn't notice, but it apprears to have fold-down rear seat backs.




Here's the biggest issue with the car. The sticker price. I nearly shat myself upon seeing the 'final price'. I remember walking away thinking "I bet somebody is going to get VERY ripped off."



For that price, one could get a nice 5sp GT. MUCH better.

All-in-all, I'm not turned off by what I didn't like; I hope to go down and crawl thru a GT to compare the interior quality changes, if any...and maybe get a test drive.

Thanks for reading.


- Darin

I like that $1,999.00 Adjusted market value. What a lode of crap!

haha 2600 for rims and tires... and another 2000 for the bend over feature.

what size where those wheels, because if they were the same size as stock that is an even bigger joke because the stock ones (ignoring their size) are way better looking.

I got my loaded GT Premium for $27000,,,, thats bull,,,,

I'm not sure what size the wheels are - but frankly, the stock Mustang wheels are pretty ugly in my opinion - the bullet/crager/style wheels look pretty good - but from what i've seen of the optional polished/shiny wheels? No thanks. If any of you have the new C&D, those are the wheels which I don't care for one bit.

Nice - I'm trying for a base Mustang GT with 500 Stereo for $26K out the door.

We'll see. heh..

I got my GT loaded with a 7/60,000 extended waranty and lojack early warning system for 30k taxes/fees included.

I'm sure it is a simple clerical error.

The Market Adjusted Value is supposed to be -$1,999.00, which would bring it down to invoice, which is what you should be paying.

I saw a real sharp all black 05 GT last night at a local dealer. It was around midnight when I was on the lot, so nobody to **** to, but they had a "market adjustment" of $3300! I like to crapped right there! They took a 26k and change GT and made it 30K! I'm like WTF, in a couple of months, these things will be all over the place, and Ford will probably have incentives on them to boot, and these assclowns are trying to rip people off with their stupid "adjustments", their heads need the adjustment!

Today was the first time I saw an 05 on the road. Silver GT.... Looked quite nice but a little vanilla.

I'm going to try to head over in the next week or two and take a look at the westrenz sema stang. I like what I saw online and I have a good friend who keeps inviting me over to the builder's house to see it.

I will admit the first few we sold were at sticker. But now we are nolonger asking that anymore. I have ordered a number of them for only 500.00 over invoice. You are right its just another Mustang but alot cooler! If anyone needs any help let me know. I will be more than hapy to help.

How much to ship one to 98375??

You think $2k is bad...

Here's a GT, $4k markup at the dealer near me, with a MSRP of $28,550 BEFORE the market increase. This car sold in 1 - 2 days. Oh, and a $100 processing fee on top of the markup.

(click the pic for a 1600x1200 version)

Has anybody used the X-plan on one yet?

Nah, I used the A plan. Plus I'm in the Military over seas so I got a bithin deal.

The dealership in Kansas City (Shawnee) is doing this markup crap as well. The price for a premium GT was about $29K, then they added $3K "added market value". I love this car but not for $32K. Very frustrating....

Well when all the smoke clears, and these cars are more plentyful without dealer markup. And you are ready to buy, only buy from a dealer who has sold at MSRP or lower from the very beginning. That will teach the other dealers to think twice about adding market adjustment next time a new model comes out. Voice your opinion and let them know where they stand.

Just an FYI - Van Bortel Ford in Victor NY (near Rochester and Buffalo) is selling the '05s at invoice. The don't have any on the lot though :-( You just have to order your car.

That price is completely ridiculous and shows how arrogant that dealership is.

Thats exactly what I did. I had ordered a mustang from a dealership that was asking to much for me to afford off the lot. Let me use my Xplan on the ordered model and were very helpful. After almost 4 weeks of waiting though and no car the wife demanded I go buy a car.

I was even going to buy an 04 from the dealership. Then overnight I started getting really pissed and questioning why should I give any of my money to some greedy ass dealer that owns 2 lots and has markups on both lots.


I called every ford dealer from houston to Austin. Even the small dealers in the middle of nowhere had markups or no 05s in stock.

By this time I am so burnt out on trying to buy an 05 that I am willing to take anything just to get my car buying experiance over with. The wife is on my ass the kid is doing the exorsist in the backseat. I just want it to stop.

I call Lawrence Marshall in Hempstead TX and ask to speak to their internet person. Tyler Alexander picks up the phone and I ask how much mark up on an 05 mustang on your web page. Tyler pauses for a second, I ready myself for the standard 3k markup reply. Tyler then slowly says "Lawrence Marshall does not mark up our vehicles".

I bought the car the following morning and I feel really good about myself and about Lawrence Marshall in Hempstead.