Black is the New Orange - Traded-in My 2007 Mustang GT

So it has finally happened.  After years of moaning and complaining that I wanted something else in my garage I finally made my choice.  I purchased a 2014 Mustang GT500 Shelby Cobra.

A couple weeks ago I narrowed down the choices between the 2014 GT500 and a 2016 GT350.  The GT500 was in Nova Scotia and the GT350 was being shipped from Ford to a dealer here locally.  Both were black which isn't a color I get excited about but both are damn hard to find so it's hard to be picky about the color.

2016 GT350

The GT350 is of course an awesome car and has all the hype around it this year.  Everyone wants one and I was lucky to have found one.  But a few things bothered me about it.  First the car had been ordered by a guy who ended up getting divorced and canceled his order.  So the car coming to the dealership wasn't something I would pick.  Like I said it was black, no stripes, and had the technology package rather than the track package.  Why someone would rather have the nav and fancy stereo than the extra cooling for racing I have no idea.  They had no others so I couldn't come for a test drive.  So I told them it wasn't really exciting me.  Then out of the blue they said a guy that had ordered an orange GT350 was thinking he'd rather have black so there was a chance he would want to switch.  Well I was all over that idea.  If he wanted the black one I would happily take the orange one.  But in the end he decided to stick with orange.  I gave the dealer another chance saying, "If the black one just had the GT350 stripes I'd want it."  But they either didn't take the hint or weren't interested in adding them because he said, "Well you can do that yourself later."  I looked up the cost of adding a stripe to the car and it was around $900.  So awesome car but no sale.  I called other dealerships, the best I could find was one dealer willing to take a deposit to order a 2017 GT350 when available.

2014 GT500

The GT500 was also black but does have matte black stripes which looks pretty mean.  It's also fast as hell with that 662 hp 5.8L.  This particular car only had 4000 miles (6000 km) so is basically new.  It has the track package but not the performance package.  Personally I'd rather have the extra cooling than the adjustable dampeners so I was fine with that. Carson Exports was willing to take my '07 as trade-in which would bring the car's price down to $63,000, not bad for a car selling for $68-69k here in Canada.  The biggest bummer was that the car was clear in Nova Scotia.  So I wasn't going to take it for a test drive or anything.  I had driven one locally last fall and really like it so I had an idea of how the car drove.  What really made my decision to get the GT500 was Carson Exports.  Such a great bunch of guys!  Really easy to talk to and very down to earth.  They even offered to ship the car and pick up my trade for free!  To be honest I was pretty wishy-washy at first on whether to get it or not and they were super patient with me.  No pressure.

In the end I had to just be realistic about it.  Both these cars are super expensive for my modest income.  Cars are my passion so I'm willing to have this expense on my budget.  But due to the extreme expense this is likely to be my last "fun car" purchase ever so I wanted it to be a good one.  The GT350 is a track car, it's slower 0-60 and slower 1/4 mile than the GT500.  The GT500 is a street brute and the GT350 is a driver's car.  But the question I had to honestly answer was would I really use the track capabilities of the GT350 or would I most likely just drive to work on sunny days and cruise around on the weekends?  The real answer was that the GT350 would be wasted on me.  Currently I haven't gone to a track day since I got to Canada and the few times I might go the GT500 would be loads of fun.  So I went with the GT500.

And another thing I had to admit is that if I owned a GT350 there would always be a little voice in the back of my mind reminding me that somewhere out there is a GT350R that is a lot better. ;)

So my GT500 should arrive in a few weeks.  It's going straight into storage until all this Canadian snow and salt is off the roads and gone.  Here are a few more dealer shots.

Car Wash Shortcuts

Here is a little video I took at the Petro Canada station here in Newmarket on Mulock and Cane Parkway.  Other stations don't do it which is way it stands out so strongly to me and frankly it doesn't make much sense.

You or course pay a little more in the no-touch wash includes a wax spray.  However this station skips the rinse cycle after the soap and just sprays the wax on top of the soap and rinses it all away. Much or the wax never touches your car. Other stations spray soap, then rinse, they spray wax so it actually touches your car before rinsing the wax off.

I realize in reality that spray wax doesn't do much but if it never gets a chance to touch your car it does even less, plus you're paying for it.  How much could they be saving by skipping one rinse?  Well I suppose they are saving hot water, power, and time and I'm sure it adds up.  They are being a little cheap and nobody is complaining so why stop?

The Dream Is Dying

The guy that was selling the 2014 Mustang GT500 I wanted told me he was going to store it until spring before he listed it for sale again.  I was really hoping I would be able to find a buyer for my Mustang before spring so I could have first shot at it.  Just for the hell of it I thought I would take a look online and I see he has listed it again.  Apparently spring wasn’t soon enough for him and the car has been listed for the past 6 weeks.  I'm really disappointed.  I really had my mine set on this car.  Of course nobody has bought it yet but I assume it's just a matter of time.   

My Mustang being a car from the States has really screwed my ability to sell it off in Canada.  Realistically trading it would be the better option but I don't really want a new car.  

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Ford/Mustang/MAPLE/Ontario/19_9022415_/?showcpo=ShowCPO&orup=2_15_3

Newmarket Mitsubishi is The Worst Kind of Dealership

UPDATE: After posting this article I was contacted by the dealership's manager.  He feigned concern and claimed he wanted to help but they still have done nothing.

Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dud.  Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dealership that's a dud.  If you’re really unlucky you get a dealership and a car that's a dud.  This is what my girlfriend was unlucky enough to receive when she bought a new 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander from Newmarket Mitsubishi.

When we went out to look for a new car I stressed to her that we should look around at several cars before settling on something.  The first dealership we went to was Newmarket Mitsubishi and the first car we checked out was the 2014 Outlander.  When I saw the car I was instantly ready to keep looking because I’m sorry but that car is UGLY!  She however loved the 7 passenger seating, all the nanny controls, and the 0% financing Mitsubishi was offering.  Paolo the salesman seemed a little sleazy to me but aren’t most car salesmen?  So needless to say she came home with a 2014 Outlander.

When she left they gave her two key fobs.  One was a regular key fob and the other was a key fob with remote start.  I asked her, “Did they give you a second fob that I could carry?”  So we tried to get the car to work with just the remote start fob and it would not work, insisting that the other key be present.  So the two key fobs wouldn't work when separated?  Well one would work independently the other with the remote start would not.  It was like a completely different fob just for remote starts and nothing else.  What sense does this make?  So she called and they said, “Oh so sorry I could have sworn we gave it to you two that worked separately.  We we'll get you one.”  Great!

A second problem was that often when you remote start the car and then get out there and put it in drive it would die.  Then you have to put it back in park and start it again and it would be fine.  After a service appointment the problem still happens.

Now most recently the auto hatch no longer goes up and down but instead just beeps at you and waits for you to do it manually.  So for me the build quality for that car is bad.  It seems that Mitsubishi really can’t handle long term use of fancy and unnecessary electronics. 

So now talking about the dealership.  As I said above she called Newmarket Mitsubishi and asked for a second key fob for the car.  Weeks later still no key, months later, still no key.  She finally decided that she should resort to calling almost daily and rather than helping her they ignored her calls and just wouldn’t answer.  To test this she called on her phone and it would ring and ring forever.  Then she reached over and tried a company phone with a different caller ID and they answered instantly.  I was shocked to hear they actually refused to take her calls.  What kind of business does this?  You sell a car and then kick the customer in the ass and hope to never see them again?  I’ve heard of this asshole service from dealers when the person has a used car but never when it’s a new car is still under warranty.  What kind of bullshit is this?

So currently we still don’t have the correct key fob and the automatic hatch lid is still broken.  I would strongly discourage anyone from buying a Mitsubishi and even more strongly discourage them from buying it from Newmarket Mitsubishi 301 Mulock Dr. Newmarket.

Something New In The Parking Lot Tonight

I'm not the greatest at defining hot rods but I think it's a Ford?  The guy that owns this seems to flat black spray can everything he drives.  Not sure it's working here.  Sorry about the photo quality, my phone isn't the best.

Better Late Than Never

With over 5000 views my '07 Mustang GT's for sale ad is starting to generate interested.  I've gotten quite a few messages about it.  Unfortunately I don't think people realize that the car would need imported into Canada.  It is a US car, registered in the US.  So people are interested but then seem to lose interest when they realize the import thing.

Still it's good that something is happening even if it's not a sale.

If you're interested the ad will still be up for another 45 days.  And don't forget the US/Canadian money conversion.  The ad is in Canadian dollars, the price in US dollars would be cheaper.

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Ford/Mustang/NEWMARKET/Ontario/19_9060475_/

Just Putting This Out There

courtesy of Road and Track