Before I start this rant, the opinions expressed are mine. If I offend anyone, tuff! Stop reading. First and foremost I am an avid Ford and Mustang advocate and believe that Ford has done an exceptional job through the years with respect to the Mustang. History could have very easily gone the other direction with the Mustang dying a slow death instead of the Camero. Do I agree with everything Ford has decided with respect to the Mustang? No way. But you have to admit that Ford continues to carry on the tradition we all have come to love and respect.
Which brings me to the reason for my post. I sold my 8500 mile 03 Cobra last week for $26000, which was virtually payoff. This car was flawless. Never driven in the rain or abused. This sum in my opinion was well below market value and in large part due to negative press and posts that have been proliferated throughout this and other Mustang websites. I am of the belief that the incessant and continual ranting and finger pointing some have directed at Ford and the 03 - 04 has caused the re-sale value of the these Cobras to stagnate. While I do acknowledge that the new body change is partly to blame it is not the major factor. I advertised my car in the Autotrader and only received one inquiry after 6 weeks. And that was from a broker from a local leasing company that was seeking a stock low mileage un-molested 03 Cobra for a client. After visiting with me, he immediately drove to my home to view the car and put a retainer down. He stated that he found plenty of 03 – 04 Cobras for sale, but that the majority of them had been modified or had evidence or mods or were high mileage. I purchased my Cobra in Oct of 03 long after they had been unveiled and with a 2500 rebate. I decided from the start to keep my car stock. I did not experience any of the issues that seemed to plague many. A majority of the issues in my opinion are the direct result of abuse and mods. I know! Some of you out there are yelling at your monitors because you also chose not to mod or abuse your car, but have experienced issues anyway. I think we can all agree that every new design or first issue car will most likely experience some issues. That is a given. But when a majority of the owners of a particular model decide to modify the car beyond or above what the car manufacture intends, there are going to be issues. And when the vast majority of owners abuse, race, modify, melt the tires just to impress, bump up the boost etc. you are going to cause stress to any car which in turn causes problems. Again some of you are yelling and screaming at your monitors saying “ But this car is made for racing, it should be able to withstand any punishment I dish out” or “Ford should have made this car more bullet proof. They knew full well the market and car that we fellow mustang owners demanded” And on and on and on. While all of these may be true, Ford from the start stated that they would warrant the car with a 3yr/36000 warranty as long as the car was used as intended. Everyone out there understands this. Some of you have made the choice to mod saying that you will take the chance if something goes wrong. That is the responsible attitude to have. Which brings me back to the reason for my post. The stagnate resale value is due to various issues, but 98% of those issues can be put at the feet of 03 / 04 Cobra owners. All one has to do is peruse the various post over the last year or so to see the constant bitching and griping and finger pointing exhibited on this forum. It never ceases to amaze me when someone would comment with excitement upon seeing my new Cobra and after asking the usual questions would eventually pose that one question I knew was coming “ I hear these cars have a lot of issues or problems.” This my fellow cobra owners speaks volumes coming from non-mustang owners or casual observers. You’re kidding yourselves if you think that Ford Corp, Dealers, non-mustang, Camero and Vette owners don’t read our forums. They do so on a regular basis. Several times upon taking my car in to the local dealer for service my service rep whom I’ve known for several years would comment about a post from this or other mustang forums. You can’t expect them to turn a blind eye or ear away from our incognito mods or cover-ups when some of you mod or abuse your cars and then try to hold Ford responsible.
Am I through with Mustangs? I dare say NOT. As you can see from my signature I still own two mustangs and have my sights set on the 07 Cobra. I will continue to give credit were credit is due whether it be Ford or Ford Dealers or owners. But I also reserve the right to criticize those same people when I perceive them to be causing harm to our grand pony. Hopefully we owners and enthusiasts of one of the top five greatest cars in history will learn that negative comments, attitudes, opinions usually only end up hurting us and our pocket books and that is evident by the present re-sale values or lack there-of.
Which brings me to the reason for my post. I sold my 8500 mile 03 Cobra last week for $26000, which was virtually payoff. This car was flawless. Never driven in the rain or abused. This sum in my opinion was well below market value and in large part due to negative press and posts that have been proliferated throughout this and other Mustang websites. I am of the belief that the incessant and continual ranting and finger pointing some have directed at Ford and the 03 - 04 has caused the re-sale value of the these Cobras to stagnate. While I do acknowledge that the new body change is partly to blame it is not the major factor. I advertised my car in the Autotrader and only received one inquiry after 6 weeks. And that was from a broker from a local leasing company that was seeking a stock low mileage un-molested 03 Cobra for a client. After visiting with me, he immediately drove to my home to view the car and put a retainer down. He stated that he found plenty of 03 – 04 Cobras for sale, but that the majority of them had been modified or had evidence or mods or were high mileage. I purchased my Cobra in Oct of 03 long after they had been unveiled and with a 2500 rebate. I decided from the start to keep my car stock. I did not experience any of the issues that seemed to plague many. A majority of the issues in my opinion are the direct result of abuse and mods. I know! Some of you out there are yelling at your monitors because you also chose not to mod or abuse your car, but have experienced issues anyway. I think we can all agree that every new design or first issue car will most likely experience some issues. That is a given. But when a majority of the owners of a particular model decide to modify the car beyond or above what the car manufacture intends, there are going to be issues. And when the vast majority of owners abuse, race, modify, melt the tires just to impress, bump up the boost etc. you are going to cause stress to any car which in turn causes problems. Again some of you are yelling and screaming at your monitors saying “ But this car is made for racing, it should be able to withstand any punishment I dish out” or “Ford should have made this car more bullet proof. They knew full well the market and car that we fellow mustang owners demanded” And on and on and on. While all of these may be true, Ford from the start stated that they would warrant the car with a 3yr/36000 warranty as long as the car was used as intended. Everyone out there understands this. Some of you have made the choice to mod saying that you will take the chance if something goes wrong. That is the responsible attitude to have. Which brings me back to the reason for my post. The stagnate resale value is due to various issues, but 98% of those issues can be put at the feet of 03 / 04 Cobra owners. All one has to do is peruse the various post over the last year or so to see the constant bitching and griping and finger pointing exhibited on this forum. It never ceases to amaze me when someone would comment with excitement upon seeing my new Cobra and after asking the usual questions would eventually pose that one question I knew was coming “ I hear these cars have a lot of issues or problems.” This my fellow cobra owners speaks volumes coming from non-mustang owners or casual observers. You’re kidding yourselves if you think that Ford Corp, Dealers, non-mustang, Camero and Vette owners don’t read our forums. They do so on a regular basis. Several times upon taking my car in to the local dealer for service my service rep whom I’ve known for several years would comment about a post from this or other mustang forums. You can’t expect them to turn a blind eye or ear away from our incognito mods or cover-ups when some of you mod or abuse your cars and then try to hold Ford responsible.
Am I through with Mustangs? I dare say NOT. As you can see from my signature I still own two mustangs and have my sights set on the 07 Cobra. I will continue to give credit were credit is due whether it be Ford or Ford Dealers or owners. But I also reserve the right to criticize those same people when I perceive them to be causing harm to our grand pony. Hopefully we owners and enthusiasts of one of the top five greatest cars in history will learn that negative comments, attitudes, opinions usually only end up hurting us and our pocket books and that is evident by the present re-sale values or lack there-of.
