[Shotimes] OT New car for me? (long)

[Steve Tatro]

There's been a car at a local used car dealer for 5-6 months that's been
catching my attention.  So, on my way back from AutoZone (after spending
more money on an oil filter than on the oil itself) I decided to stop by
and finally take a look.  Oh, it's a 2001 Mustang GT, yellow with black
leather interior, 5-speed, 3400 miles, Mach, power seats (including
lumbar).

I looked around, and the thing is brand new.  Can't find a blemish.
Salesman came out (little old guy) and asked if I wanted the keys.
Sure!  He brought them out and started telling me all about the car.
302 engine (I corrected him), DOHC (I corrected him again), premium
sound (I explained the Mach 460 to him), etc.  Finally, I asked him to
be quiet as I obviously knew more about the car than did he.

I fire it up, he tells me to take a look at the engine.  I didn't know
why, as with only 3400 miles there couldn't be anything to see, hear,
feel, etc.

He asks if I want him to ride along for the test drive.  I kindly reply
"no thank you".  A quick copy of my DL and insurance card and I'm off!
I pull out of the parking lot, there's a stoplight.  I'm turning right
on red.  Decide to light up the back tires a bit (I didn't abuse it, it
was only part throttle).  Before I even made it up to my cruising speed
(which I had planned on testing it up to 90-100mph once I got to I-75) I
saw the pretty red and blue lights in my mirror.  Pull over, turn the
beast off, put the keys on the dash, put my hands on the wheel, turn the
radio off and turn the interior lights on.  Nice older officer comes up
and asks "why in the world did you burn up the tires back there?"  I
calmly explained that, as he could see by the dealer plate on the back I
was test-driving a car, and wasn't very good at driving a stick-shift,
especially one with so much power and rear-wheel drive.  He seemed to
buy that excuse and took my license to run my info.  Came back a few
minutes later and said "no problems.just take it easy and learn how to
control that thing if you decide to buy it".  Nice guy.

Anyhoo, I get back to the dealer and I'm talking price with the
salesman.  "What's the price on the car?" I ask.  "We have it marked
down to $18995" he says.  "I know, but how much can I really buy it
for?"   I explained I had the funds already secured and no trade-in.  He
proceded to tell me a cute analogy; something about how if you go to
Meijer or Wal-Mart you can't negotiate the price of things.  I politely
responded "that's why I don't buy cars from Wal-Mart".  He didn't like
that very much.

So, I told him I'd go home, do some research and get back with him.  Or,
if his boss decides to accept $16k (or thereabouts) to give me a call
(left him my business card).

Anyway, what should I be aware of if I do decide to buy this GT?  I
know, the Cobras are better: more power, IRS, DOHC, blah, blah, blah.

General consensus is probably to wait and find a nice, higher-mileage
Cobra for similar money, right?  Any opinions appreciated.

Later,

Steve Tatro
Red/Black '93 with 163k miles
Cincinnati, Ohio
www.picturetrail.com/stevetatro

P.S.  That Mustang doesn't have the "soul" my old SHO does ;^)