About Ready to take the plungs - '03 'Vert Comments

Hi Ken,

I own a 2001 GT 'vert and couldn't be happier with it. It's a blast to drive and the car has held up very well mechanically so far in the two years I have had it. In regards to price, shop around. I was able to find a dealer who sold me my vert for $500 over invoice in the dead of summer. They even found the car in the right color scheme I wanted. Took a few days, but they found it a few hundred miles away at another Ford dealership.

Good luck with your purchase, Larry

economically

I just bought a new GT 'vert and I'm very happy with it (but only 500 miles so far....)

The best money I spent was getting an online report from Consumer Reports which shows excatly what a dealer pays for the car in your area, plus the dealer cost of all the options. Armed with this, go in to your local dealer and negotiate. Even their invoice cost contains almost $900 of profit as a dealer holdback. I was able to get mine at $100 over invoice, which meant that the dealer made about $975 on the car, but I figured that was fair. That worked out at being almost $5000 under the sticker price.

Try to buy your new car at the very end of the month, or even better, the quarter.

Good luck!

I rented one while in CA a couple of weeks ago. It was very comfortable, handled well, and drove very nicely. I liked it a lot. Made me want to buy one. Car was equipped with the Mach 460 stereo with 6 disc CD changer in the dash. With the top down, you can't hear anything. So I can't speak on sound quality. I found the V6 to noisy, rough, and gutless. Not happy with it at all. It gets slightly better gas mileage than a V8, but not by much. The 3.8L is the same technology as the 5.0. The plan years ago was to use the 4.6 Modular motor as the basis for a V6 and a V10. But that never happened. Rumor has it that the new V6 for 2004 will be a lot better. The auto behind the V6 was terrible. A lot of hunting and searching while in the hills. No ability to lock out OD. Didn't like it at all. If you insist on the V6, get the five speed.

I think you will find that the V6 isn't all that bad. It has nearly the same HP as the "big" 5.0 V8 of a decade or so ago.

I can tell you from my own experience, the > I'm not much of a speed guy ... so I'm pretty much set on a

I could be wrong but I think you're off by about 50 horses. Torque is what plants your ass in the seat and I believe you'll find a pretty significant difference in the ass planting factor between the current V6's and a 87-93 5.0 The V6 makes it's peak HP at a higher RPM (4000?) and has considerably less torque especially at lower RPM's. (I'm sure the experts in here can provide concrete numbers).

Well, I believe the '03 V6 is about 195 HP and the '94 5.0 was about

210 HP? That would be the difference closer to 15 than 50 horses.

Go back another decade, and the 5.0, or as then 302, was > I could be wrong but I think you're off by about 50 horses.

The new V6's are 190 bhp and the Fox 4 5.0 was 215 bhp. These are peak numbers, and contrary to popular belief don't really mean much. The real difference you notice is the torque. The 5.0 and 4.6 are both around 300 lbft compared to the V6's 220 lbft. Even the '83 Mustang GT 5.0 rated at 175 bhp was still pushing 245 lbft of torque, and by '85 it was at 210 bhp / 270 lbft of torque w/the 4v carb. Back in '79 the first Fox 302 was 124 bhp /

247 lbft but the '80 & '81 V8 was a 255 cid (4.2L) V8 that put out a tiny 119 bhp / 193 lbft. So, off the show room floor a '79 - '81 V8 would loose to a new V6, an '82 - '84 would be close, but an '85 or newer would still have the advantage.

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 23:32:33 -0700, "Ken" wrote something wonderfully witty:

Well you got me a tad beat in the age department, but I'm a retired AF teenager as well. My tastes run a little more towards the Stones, but I know what you mean. Keep on keepin on.