Shopping for a comfy soft top 4 seat convertible with a stick. Opinions?

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My wife picked that 2017 up at the Alpa Romeo dealer while out looking for a new 4 door sedan last summer .. car is a fully loaded GT premium automatic with 6000 miles... she worked the sales team down to $26500 US over about a 2 hour period which was entertaining to watch...
 
i'd forgotten they are sellings alfa's stateside again
do they have ragtops?

i always liked them (my first weekend job was at an alfa romeo garage)
and nowadays, an alfa romeo self identifies as a a mopar, no?

(and if not a full blown mopar, then at least its sister...someone que a scene from Joe Dirt)
 
67autocross said:
My wife picked that 2017 up at the Alpa Romeo dealer while out looking for a new 4 door sedan last summer .. car is a fully loaded GT premium automatic with 6000 miles... she worked the sales team down to $26500 US over about a 2 hour period which was entertaining to watch...
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Yeah, deals are everywhere on low mileage used ones so that's what I'm working on now. Amazing that cars with $50k window stickers sell for $8k to $10k off new and another $8k to $10k off in a year with less than 10k miles.
 
diymirage said:
i'd forgotten they are sellings alfa's stateside again
do they have ragtops?

i always liked them (my first weekend job was at an alfa romeo garage)
and nowadays, an alfa romeo self identifies as a a mopar, no?

(and if not a full blown mopar, then at least its sister...someone que a scene from Joe Dirt)
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No rag tops at Apla that I spotted... she was actually looking to get a 4 door sedan to replace her 2012 mustang 5.0 when she spotted the black convertible on the lot...and it was half the price of a new Alpa.
 
watchdoc said:
Yeah, deals are everywhere on low mileage used ones so that's what I'm working on now. Amazing that cars with $50k window stickers sell for $8k to $10k off new and another $8k to $10k off in a year with less than 10k miles.
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Been saying that for years in a prior thread. Some people didnt 'get' it. Especially mid level Euro stuff. "Oooh a Jaguar for cheap!" Yeah, until you get a repair bill. Rear carrier bearings were like $1200 to R&R. Just stupid expensive stuff on those cars.
 
pishta said:
Been saying that for years in a prior thread. Some people didnt 'get' it. Especially mid level Euro stuff. "Oooh a Jaguar for cheap!" Yeah, until you get a repair bill. Rear carrier bearings were like $1200 to R&R. Just stupid expensive stuff on those cars.
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HA!

i had the stealership quote me $1400 bucks to R&R both the rear wheel bearings on my mazda CX-9 (which is simply a rebadged ford edge)
so i asked him how much the parts were, and he said $400.00
i said thanks, and went home, ordered the bearings online for half that much
then i watched a few videos and found out i need a "special tool"

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60 bucks for that stupid thing, which is basically a T60 someone hit with a grinder
so, i bought a T60 ($10.56 off ebay) and did just that, hit it with a grinder
then, i got to wrenching

took me 3 hours to do the first side, and figure out the trick (loosen the axle nut, tap the axle back as far as possible)
other side took me almost an hour
i figured, the stealership must know this trick, so i got to believe they could do it in 2 hours, that means they wanted to charge me $500.00 an hour

wanna know whats really funny?
the reason you need a special tool and it is such a pain to do these is because the bolt circle is too narrow so you cant get the tool on the bolts without the socket hitting the CV joint on the axle
(if they had increased that bolt circle diameter by a half an inch, this would be a 30 minute job per side

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sorry, what were we talking about?
 
I think we were talking about how a car company saved 10G by using the same part but realizing the bearing was too small so they adapted it to use a bigger bearing and then realized they needed a special tool to get the original design bolts on...Carry on. Some year Jag water pump $900. And that's just for the part...from Autozone! Counter guys were laughing at the poor guy when they saw the price.
 
Lots of YouTube videos on the dangers of buying cheap used European cars. Unless it's in perfect shape you'll quickly spend as much in parts as you did on the car itself, possibly more. My brother's TDI Passat is a 2005 and parts for that thing are definitely more expensive than for a comparable Japanese or American car, and that's just a "lowly" Volkswagen.
 
I'd have a Highland Green 2020 Bullitt Mustang right now if I didn't live in the snowbelt. They don't go in the snow, but otherwise I can't find one thing wrong with that car.
 
Mustangs are actually great winter cars... just add good tires.
 
So here's a question for the forum...

Would you buy a new 2019 Mustang GT Premium convertible 6 speed for $8k to $10k off sticker (low $40's) with 0% for 36 months OR a used 2018-2019 with less than 15k miles for $30-$35k?

There certainly isn't a shortage of either and the discounts on the 2020's will be coming in very soon.
 
watchdoc said:
So here's a question for the forum...

Would you buy a new 2019 Mustang GT Premium convertible 6 speed for $8k to $10k off sticker (low $40's) with 0% for 36 months OR a used 2018-2019 with less than 15k miles for $30-$35k?

There certainly isn't a shortage of either and the discounts on the 2020's will be coming in very soon.
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I'd go for used but that's my general preference on cars anyway, plus I haven't yet been in a position to afford a nice car made after about 2010 lol
 
69_340_GTS said:
I'm not sure I can agree. But in any event, it's too nice of a car to put through Winter's hell.
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My wife daily drives 5.0 Mustangs here in Winnipeg...with good winter tires she never has gotten stuck once and goes to work in the worst weather.
Now I agree that the Bullitt is a bit nice for hard winters... I did drive a 2020 last November it’s a great car for the money...I would say they are my favourite Mustang.
 
These are currently the best deals I've found. This black one isn't my favorite color and I would prefer the digital dash. They offered it to me for $29k plus tax, tags, and doc fee. OTD price of $30,688. Their doc fee is $699.

2018 Ford Mustang for Sale in Grimesland, NC - CarGurus

This is the next best deal I've found and I like this car alot more. Only 911 miles, a year newer, and I like the color and options better. BUT it's in Texas so I would have to have it shipped. I'm negotiating with them and I think we will end up around $34k plus tax, tags, doc, shipping. Their doc fee is only $150 but shipping is gonna be expensive. Shipping quotes are coming in around $650 for open transport or $1000 for enclosed.

2018 Ford Mustang for Sale in Grimesland, NC - CarGurus

I estimate the difference between these two cars would be 6-7 grand. Despite what the link says, the blue car with 911 miles is a 2019.
 
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The black is super hard to keep clean... I have a Oxford White 2019 and it is way easier to keep looking decent...

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The white one is a base model 5.0 with the following options... 10 speed automatic, Mach wheels, rear spoiler, rubber floor mats and a block heater... picked it up in September and my wife drove it all winter. She says that she likes the 2017 better especially the 6 speed automatic vs the 10 speed automatic... she feels the 10 speed is always hunting for gears to much... she also claims that you have to push the throttle a lot further on the 2019 to get the car moving so either the engine makes less bottom end at the drive by wire tuning is not great.
None of that matters if you buy a stick...
 
I'm definitely getting a stick. Did she get digital dash? How does she like the navagation and stereo?
 
watchdoc said:
I'm definitely getting a stick. Did she get digital dash? How does she like the navagation and stereo?
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No digital dash... the stereo is great in the Black Premium car although it might be a bit base heavy... probably good if you are into rap music.
The white 2019 has the low end stereo and it’s terrible, I was actually thinking of changing the speakers ... also the 2019s don’t have CD players which I would have liked.
I’ll ask what she thinks of the navigation system later today...
 
So after a couple months of looking, I decided to buy a used Mustang instead. I just couldn't justify the gigantic depreciation hit the new mustang take the first 2 years. I ended up with a 2011 Mustang GT 6 speed California Special in Ingot silver. Came with every option except backup camera which isn't available on the CS due to the dumb giant spoiler. 55k miles, clean carfax, all keys, manuals, original brochures, old man enthusiast owned, blah blah blah. Paid $14k, spent $100 to fix a few dings, $150 on updated NAV maps (they were original), and $85 on a road force balance since the tires were out of balance. I already had a Diablosport Intune I-1000 so I reflashed it to the 93 map which makes it stupid fast. So far I'm really happy with it.

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Sold my Dart. After all this mess is over. I’m going to look for a nice used GT hardtop. Like the 05-07 model the look more like the 69/70 era.
 
Picking this one up Saturday. 06 GT, auto, leather, pretty loaded up. 77k miles. Spent most of its life in GA. Really nice. Like this body style. I was surprised how well it road and decent performance. AC what a concept That’s going to be nice this summer.

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