Good news about my new Cobra.

[Dave Schotz]

Hey... I thank Ford too... I OWN ONE!!!

However... I don't thank the IDIOTS that chose to put an IRON Block on the NOSE of an already ILL Handling CHASSIS!!!

And I guess when people refer to 'I beat a Mustang' they MUST be referancing the V6 models... because everyone CLEARLY knows a GT is a GT... and a Cobra is a Cobra!

Anyways... This should be compared to a Z-28... that is it... And lets go that route... an SS or WS-6 (which really make nor more power than typical Z-28's or T/A's.. Make 320 HP 340 TQ... In STOCK trim... to the REAR!! And wiegh 3400 lbs... vs. say 360 HP & TQ to the Rear (giving the benefit of the doubt that it is in fact underated)... for the '03 Cobra... and a curb weight of 3665... it is going to be closer than people think!

Also... Every time Evan gets in an F-body... he runs 12's in them STOCK! I am sure he will get the same out of the '03 car... I just hate to see it compared to Vettes... because IF you truly owned a C5... you would know there is no comparison... C5's are not Drag Strip Warriors... yet still run 12's in the Quarter Stock (Non-Z-06's)... and they take corners and brake like NOBODY'S Business!

Again... yellow horse... you are right... Thank you Ford for sticking it out with a 6spd... and IRS... and even though blower... but NO THANK YOU... to that FRIGGIN BLOCK!

Dave

 

[Randee of the Redwoods]

zm_zm... You wrote "Yea. Step 3. He said that Ford tried to make it to Step 2 but couldn't. Now THAT part I don't believe. He mentioned about $1500 but I have yet to confirm that. My dealer has no knowledge of that or so he says. He knows more than he leads on.

Now maybe you'll believe I may know a bit more too?

Fine, Dave. Whatever. I'm just a stupid moron. You apprantly know more than me and always will. Pardon me for my excitement and posting info that I DID NOT know and DID NOT already see posted here. I just won't post here anymore. Heaven forbid I should be wrong.

 

[Yellow Horse]

Dave, I wish it did have an aluminum block. But is doesn't and I respect Ford's engineers to make the right decision most of the time. I guess the Lightning has an iron block and I don't hear to much complaining about the weight of the block by itself. Just the weight of the whole truck.

We will just have to wait and see how it turns out.

 

[Randee of the Redwoods]

Originally posted by Yellow Horse
Dave, I wish it did have an aluminum block. But is doesn't and I respect Ford's engineers to make the right decision most of the time. I guess the Lightning has an iron block and I don't hear to much complaining about the weight of the block by itself. Just the weight of the whole truck.

We will just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Here, here! I second that.

 

[C_Record]

We will just have to wait and see how it turns out.
__________________________________________

That's all we can do. I'm sure we all agree we'd prefer the aluminum block(and have another feature to shove in the Chevy boys faces). The important thing is now we'll have to work on making this thing quicker and better handling.

 

[103]

Uh, Yellow Horse, you are comparing the fastest production truck to the Cobra. Come on. Think about it. Where would Ford get an aluminum Triton 5.4L. They do not have them. Why change something that is tried and true anyway? Oh yah, they did for 2003... :lol1:

 

[COBRAJIM9999]

Reaction to above slander

:burn: I can't get over what some people wrote in these forums. I am both an SVT owner and SVT, Saleen and Roush salesperson. I do not lie to customers since that only comes back to haunt you. Maybe you folks out there deal with some rookies but I routinely sell over 200 cars and trucks per year and I have great relationships with my customers. I have a 2001 Cobra convertible and I am trading it in for a 03. The main reason is that I am sick of black so I ordered torch red and the idea of 390 ft/lb of torque is exciting to me. I can't believe how many people are aruging and bitching about aluminum vs cast iron engine block. You can't change it so except it. I believe it was done to cut down costs so as not put a cobra coupe at 40k. I think the 03 cobra has a tremdous performance to dollar ratio. Ford with its current economic turndown could of killed svt but instead is still improving the product. Ford should be applauded in its constant strive to give better cars for us to enjoy. Now cobra's are not perfect and their faults I find with my own car but overall its the best car I have ever owned and its a constant source of enjoyment. :bash:

 

[fangstang]

I'm sure not all salespeople are liers and I've run into a few truthfull ones myself. Let me ask you something since you say that you are a salesman; Do you work at McCarville Ford, and if so, are you guys gonna overprice the new cobra too? I realize that this is a business and nothing between the customer and dealership is personal, BUT, I thought that the point of having a successful business is having good relations with customers. If I were to go to a dealership tomorrow and I was treated unfairly, than there is no way in hell that I would purchase a car from them even if they were to give me a good deal on it. You ever hear of ' first impression is everything'. A customer likes to feel as though they are being treated fairly and with respect. So I ask you salespeople out there, How can you sit there and cheat people out of a chance of owning something that to begin with is so expensive(for a mustang)when you have a chance to have a relationship with customers which in tern will help with returning customers. Brand loyalty goes so far; If someone were a dedicated Ford fan and all of a sudden they go one day to purchase a new Ford vehicle and they have a bad experience with a few dealerships, then what would stop them from going to the enemy(chevy) to go buy a vehicle. I think Ford, including others lose a lot of money when it comes to customer service. And now that the economy is very low, I think certain dealerships should reconsider the scheming ways so both parties are happy.

 

[bassin247]

Originally posted by fangstang
If I were to go to a dealership tomorrow and I was treated unfairly, than there is no way in hell that I would purchase a car from them even if they were to give me a good deal on it. You ever hear of ' first impression is everything'. A customer likes to feel as though they are being treated fairly and with respect.

I couldn't of said it any better myself. I have done business with 3 different ford dealers in my area. I will NEVER EVER EVER buy another car from Rodman Ford after the experience I just went through with my Saleen. Quirk Ford is a bunch of greedy punk b!tch mofos! No wonder why they have 3 tbirds sitting out in front of their dealership... they want 7k over sticker. The other dealership I bought my tbird from in 96 isn't a SVT dealer, so that ruled them out.

On my quest on searching for a SVT dealer taking orders for 03 cobras at MSRP, I found some dealers that are scandlous. Bonnel Ford wanted 3k over sticker, Quirk was getting in 5 different color combos that they picked and was going to have "bidding wars" on the ones they order when they come in, Rodman had no damn clue (Rodman is a joke now that my salesman left for Rizzo), and I finally found Jannel Ford which is the Closest SVT dealer to me AND most importantly is taking orders at MSRP!

 

[VintagePorscheG]

I have to put in my two cents here. I have been buying cars new for almost 20 years and have had Chevys, VWs, Porsches, Fords and Pontiacs. I often find that car salesmen and saleswomen will lie. (or tell you something wrong). I will even test them. The minute I am lied to I get up and excuse myself saying, "I am sorry but I must leave now." and I leave.

For example, I made a call about this most recent car '03 Cobra to a dealer here in Cincinnati (Beechmont Ford) and asked for a salesman recommended by a co-worker. The salesman didn't recognize the name of the previous client but pretended to because he asked how "they" were. (Its a single female). What ever, anyway he told me that they only had one convertable '03 Cobra left to sell and couldn't get more so if I could come down after work he would do me a favor and hold it for me....

I told him I would have to call him back and hung up.

I called Planet Ford near my home in Dayton during lunch and talked to a rookie salesperson. He didn't lie to me. I went in and met with him and we did the deal and I put down a deposit. I told him and his boss that I couldn't deal with anyone telling me a lie and that I would rather hear "I don't know right now but I will find out and get back to you". Anyway, the salesman no longer works there but the deal is in writing, so here I sit waiting for final pricing to be announced. Please let us know here as soon as anyone finds out actual pricing.....

 

[Cobra-R]

Re: Reaction to above slander

Originally posted by COBRAJIM9999
:burn: I can't get over what some people wrote in these forums. I am both an SVT owner and SVT, Saleen and Roush salesperson. I do not lie to customers since that only comes back to haunt you. Maybe you folks out there deal with some rookies but I routinely sell over 200 cars and trucks per year and I have great relationships with my customers. I have a 2001 Cobra convertible and I am trading it in for a 03. The main reason is that I am sick of black so I ordered torch red and the idea of 390 ft/lb of torque is exciting to me. I can't believe how many people are aruging and bitching about aluminum vs cast iron engine block. You can't change it so except it. I believe it was done to cut down costs so as not put a cobra coupe at 40k. I think the 03 cobra has a tremdous performance to dollar ratio. Ford with its current economic turndown could of killed svt but instead is still improving the product. Ford should be applauded in its constant strive to give better cars for us to enjoy. Now cobra's are not perfect and their faults I find with my own car but overall its the best car I have ever owned and its a constant source of enjoyment. :bash:

I agree 100%. If you are as honest with your customer as you say you are(and I am not doubting you at all) Then that is great!!!! You do have to admitt that you are in the minority. I am lucky enough to have a salesperson(Tommysaleen) that is good to deal with and it really does make the buying experience much more pleasant.

I also agree that we are lucky to be getting the 03 Cobra. The fact it isn't comming with the aluminum block probly isn't that big of an issue like you say. The controversy I believe, is people are thinking that Ford is lying to them and covering it up as a strength issue instead of a cost issue. It's not what the possible lye is, it's just the fact that they lyed.

Again, we are just speculating here, but kudo's to Ford for giving it to us.

 

[COBRAJIM9999]

A tip of the cap to our moderator

First i wish to thank mr holland for being open minded enough to read my earlier comments. Second Ford Motor Company has not and I mean not publicly stated that the reason for the engine block change was due to durability. This whole arguement is heresay developed from the M/T article. A lot of journalists wouldn't know a crank from a cam and most can't drive performance cars. However since the car companies can't bite the hand that feeds them they are reluctant to go after reporters. If indeed the aluminum block long term didn't hold up I am happier that they chose an iron block over aluminum to increase durablity. Some people have stated that the aluminum blocks have held up under vortec and other types of supercharging as evidence that its strong enough. Ford testing procedure is to run an engine at full throttle for over 300 hours and than rip it down to examin it. Most people who are running their s/c cars are maybe running a few passes at the drag strip which maybe means full throttle for less than 2 minutes for a whole day. That is not a long term answer on durability to me. I for one would rather hear a little complaining now than risk future engine problems. In hopes of making a long term difference I volunteered to be the activities director for my local SVTOA chapter. Since the chapter is just getting off the ground it will be interesting to see what may be possible for our group to get done. As Mr Holland noted there are alot of unprofessional salespeople. This is a shame but the car sales industry has a very high turnover and since job security is based on sales, it leads some to say anything in order to keep their jobs. Though it seems that Mr. Holland has had a positive experience with a salerperson with whom he has had dealings with. I have told other svt owners look for someone you are comfortable with and stay loyal to them and they will be loyal to you. We got an allocation of 9 cobra's for the year 03. Some were sold for 2k over msrp but we sold any prior svt owner at msrp. It was done to reward those who purchased cars in the past. As of today 8 out of 9 are sold. I have been working for my dealership for 13years this month. I was initially hired to run the Ford Motorsport Parts operation but moved into sales in 1993. I would love to see the svt community happier than it is today. We have had the problems of the 99 cobra and the intercooler probs on the lightnings and the pinging probs of some of the 2001's. I have been involved with 2 svt owners attempting to have their cars purchased back by Ford. One owner waiting for an 03 to replace his 01 convertible and another ongoing negoiation. I wish it was just a happy experience for everyone but sometimes its not. However we can hope for a better situation and I feel BON is not and I mean not a help. Hopefully the 03 release is smooth and problem free but I am happy to both own and sell these products. One thing SVT and FORD MOTOR COMPANY could learn to do is comunicate better, if there is a problem, just come out and say this is the deal and I think many would be happier. I think that alone would cut down on all the negativity that is so rampant currently. I will be going to SVTOA training in AZ. in April and will be relaying that though to all FMC and SVT people I meet. Talk to you soon Jim Maloney

 

[SVTNICK]

Pricing

I talked to my SVT dealer today about pricing on a new 03 Coupe. He said it has yet to be announced what the official pricing is going to be, BUT he will be selling them for $2000 plus over list..no matter what the pricing is. HE already has 5 orders, and they all know they are going to pay 2000 plus over list, they just dont know what the final price will be. I hate this run around crap..why do dealer want to stick it to us when we know that FOrd is going to produce over 10000 of em... Im really pissed off.

Could you imagine if the MSRP is 38000 and they start charging 40000 plus for this car ....what are they thinking...has anybody else who inquired about the car at their dealer gotten the same answer about the 2000 over list BS???

 

[SVTNICK]

im a moron..i should readl all the posts before opening my mouth..i can see that there is alot of people with the same experience...

Just for your your own info..my SVT dealer(Jack Trebour Ford) sells on volume..not commission..it actually makes the negotiating environment relaxed and the service is good..but still..selling these cars with 2000 plus over list is a bit much.

 

[quick01snake]

Re: Pricing

Originally posted by SVTNICK
I talked to my SVT dealer today about pricing on a new 03 Coupe. He said it has yet to be announced what the official pricing is going to be, BUT he will be selling them for $2000 plus over list..no matter what the pricing is. HE already has 5 orders, and they all know they are going to pay 2000 plus over list, they just dont know what the final price will be. I hate this run around crap..why do dealer want to stick it to us when we know that FOrd is going to produce over 10000 of em... Im really pissed off.

Could you imagine if the MSRP is 38000 and they start charging 40000 plus for this car ....what are they thinking...has anybody else who inquired about the car at their dealer gotten the same answer about the 2000 over list BS???

I talked to two dealers in the area (I believe we have 5 or 6 SVT dealers within 20-30 minutes) and one said they would sell to me for list, since i've bought two vehicles from them in the past , plus X plan discount, and one told me they were going to mark up 1500 bucks. The second one is a dealership that i wouldn't buy from anyway, so i don't think it should be too hard to find a dealership that will sell for list.....

 

[SVTNICK]

I think my problem also is that i paid under MSRP for my 01 and walked out the door with it for under 30 grand with a 7 year warranty..with that said..i cant see myself paying 40 grand for the same car just cause it has a supercharger from the factory...but who knows..we still dont know final pricing.

But damn I am tempted...lol

 

[TIAMAT]

Bang fo the buck

Everybody's going freak'n nuts over the arrival of the new cobra. I'm a genuine ford guy but this car is way overpriced. The best bang for the buck will be the new Mach 1 when it comes out. It is supposed to have 320+ (maybe) HP and a solid rear axle. The problem with the mach 1 will also be the mark up. I'm sure it will be even more limited prod. than the cobra. The only thing ford has changed on the cobra is the addition of the supercharger. It's not worth the money. Hopefully ford has learned the tuning secrets of the new s/c motor. EVERYONE: GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEW COBRA. NOW YOU CAN PICK ON VETTES!

 

[VintagePorscheG]

What ever, buy a Mach 1, like any of us care what you drive.

And if you want us all to say you did the "smarter, wiser, more wonderful thing" then here you go.

"Oh you are so much smarter and better looking than we are and you made such a better decision with your money than we did and you are so much better than us and you are right we are sad and stupid for wasting our money and getting excited over our toys that we paid too much for... blah blah blah...."

Leave us alone. We aren't hurting anyone and I don't really care what you drive. I just like sharing my excitement with others who feel the same as me, not being put down by an outsider....

thanks again for "sharing".......

:burn:

 

[Undy]

I just ordered my new 03 yellow coupe under the X-Plan. My dealer took my order gladly.. It's the same dealer that I got stellar treatment buying my 01L. He said it'll be in the low 32K range.

On the block issue there's another item that's not been discussed. I'm sure everyone remembers the 99-00 Lightning leaking intercooler issue.. Many a L owner dumped their baby over that fiasco and the jury's still out whether the fix worked for good. That being said, everyone knows aluminum lacks the structural rigidity of iron. The intercooler leaks were blamed on torsional "twisting" of the manifold and partially the block. Could it possibly be Ford experianced some intercooler leaks on prototype aluminum block.;-) I'll gladly suffer the added weight to keep my intercooler from puking glycol into my engine..... just MY .02:lol:

 

[Dave Schotz]

First I want to start off by saying I owe ALL '03 Cobra LOVERS AN APOLOGY!!!

Seriously!!! SORRY for bad mouthing the '03 with the IRON block... At the recent SVTOA Event at California Motor Speedway... I got to drive many Roush Supercharged mustangs, and SVT Lightnings....

I LOVED THEM!!! THEY HANDLED EXCELLENT!!

I was very impressed... and came away from the event saying... if they can get a 5400 lb truck to handle... they shouldn't have any problems with a 3700 lb Cobra!!!

I went into the event turning down an opportunity to get an '03 for a great price... after just a couple runs in the Roush Mustang, and SVT Lightning trucks, I went up to the friend who can order the '03... and said DO IT!

So... after Nationals this year... I will plan on getting an '03 Cobra... and campaign that next year!

I think they are going to be great... and am over the Iron Block thing!

Thanks Ford!!!

Dave