To Buy or Not To Buy

[rickisapilot]

Located a new GT that I'd want to buy, but I've never owned a "supercar". Only had a Vette once & now an SLK. I pilot Boeing 777's & not at all concerned about my driving ability. BUT . . . This forum's lists of problems with the GT, especially the debilitating ones like the halfshaft bolts breaking, has just about killed my desire. I want a car that I can drive weekly & reliably. Infact, the GT I was going to purchase would require a 650 mile drive home. Seems like everyone's saying that part of the "supercar expereience" is maintenance issues (whether a Lambo, Ferrari, GT, etc). I would have no qualms about buying a new Vette or Mercedes and driving it 1,000 miles home carefree. Doesn't seem like one can expect that from a $170,000+ / 550HP+ car of any make? Roadside assistance & 3yr warranty from Ford is protection, but what about after that? The stuff you guys are having fixed now under warranty would cost a fortune after year three! I have little confidence that I could even drive the first 600 miles (just to get home) without having a roadside issue & tow. Is this "par for the course" for the "supercar experience"? Are there just as many good stories as bad? From used car ads it looks as though most owners drive their "supercars" less than 1,000 miles per year. I'd likely drive a GT about 8,000 per year. Is this unrealistic? Should I stay with something more "conventional" (like a Mercedes SL . . . albeit quite a different animal from the GT) to avoid the "supercar headaches"? This forum has been quite informative & benefical to me. THANKS TO ALL! Comments on this thread would be much appreciated!

 

[fjpikul]

Naw, you're seeing the exceptions to the rule. Many buyers have bought from far off dealers and driven them home. One of us drove almost coast to coast in winter weather to boot. You'd have that worry with any new car. Many of my friends have quit buying Mercedes because of quality issues. Many people use them as daily drivers and have 10's of thousands of miles on them. And remember, almsot any Ford dealer can service, something no other exotic can offer.

 

[Neilda]

Think of a supercar as bit like an Arab thoroughbred horse - and other cars as donkeys.

The Arab will be nervous, twitchy and expensive, the donkey will go on for years on a single carrot. Which is more fun to look at and drive?

Supercars are not really designed as daily drivers, but something to lust over in the garage, something to treasure and, when you do take them out, heads will turn and you'll have the most thrilling drive available.

The downside is that, on occassion, things can go wrong. Many of us here (me included) have a few other supercars and they need a lot of expensive attention. But I would say that the GT is a little different, it's not as fragile and is far more useable than most.

If you can afford it, if it 'moves you' - go get it. Life is rather too short not to own this car.

 

[Kingveloce]

Neil's right, life's too short not to own one. Over here in England, one of the 101 cars is run by P1, a supercar club: you pay your money then chose your weapon for the weekend. P1 runs Aston, Lambos, Ferraris and so on. It also has a GT. This car is now almost a year old and has covered more than 36,000 miles. In other words, it's out all the time.

Now for that to happen, it has to be reliable... and it is. It's looked after properly, sure, but has little other than regular oil change services every 5,000 miles. In contrast, the typical Italian exotic needs a clutch change at those sort of intervals!

The GT has been so strong and so popular that P1 is now negoiating to buy another.

In contrast, one other 'famous' GT in the UK is owned by a TV star - and that has had problems. If you dig deeper, though, you'll find most of those problems are self inflicted. If you don't use a car for any period, the battery will go flat and the car won't start... it's not the car's fault when an owner neglects to ensure the battery is trickle charged when not in use.

In summary, the GT is probably the most usable supercar ever designed. Buy it!

 

[FrankBarba]

With you being a pilot you understand the maintence issues. I've sat at the gate in planes because of maintence issues, i've have had flights canceled because of maintence issues....life is too short.

 

[eshrink]

Supercar ownership presupposes that one can live with the potential of recurrent problems. It is like a supermodel with aperiodic acne. You have to decide if you want to deal with that or marry the lady at the bus stop carrying a paperbag and wearing support stockings.

I drew the analogy to someone last night that owning the GT is very much like owning an S-class Mercedes:

To wit, someone buys a top-of-the-line Lexus and says "this is nice if not nicer and I saved a bundle." Then he rides in a friend's S-class and gets the point. Is it worth the dollars difference? Do you really want to pay that much for just an oil change?

A GT and a Corvette are both "transportation." How much am I willing to spend after purchase to be in one?

Each makes his/her own decision.

When someone compares a Z06 Corvette and an SRT-10 Viper, there are seemingly enough similarities to make that a viable discussion.

Yet...the GT is incomparable. The admission price to this movie is very high. They do not ventilate the theater sufficiently, they keep charging you after you are seated, and now you find yourself looking away from the screen because you are certain you saw a supercharger over your shoulder.

 

[AZGT]

Ditto what centerpuch said. Unless you are the only passanger and carrying a very small flight bag, storage will be the issue.

It is a supercar, but very driveable. I go over spped bumps on my street in 3rd gear at 10 MPH, and accelerate with ease and no chugging. I can also smoke the tires.

Best of both worlds.

 

[Neilda]

That's a good point White, we don't post after a great drive or trip - why would we. Forums are a magnet for issues or questions, making the ownership experience seem somehow fraught. A bit like measuring an entire community on the basis of seeing the contents of the local hospital.

 

[abolfaz]

Is the ford gt any worse than the italian carsor the other high end cars? I've had ferraris that have caught on fire, lamborghinis whose ignition system takes a $hit if you wash the car the wrong way, lamborghini's whose expensive shocks start to leak whether you drive the car or not, maseratis (the new ones) that break as youre driving out of the dealership (9 months of ownership, 72 days in service), Aston Martins (2002) with suspect electrical glitches (even though they are made of mazda/ford/jaguar parts), Porsches (the newer water cooled cars) that have engines that can't stop leaking oil and then end up locking up (I've had two), etc...

Is the Ford GT really that bad? I've had more than my fair share of problems with my car (trust me), but I don't think its any worse than any of the cars that we're comparing it to.

 

[dbtgt]

I had 2 SL's as daily drivers (a 500 and a 55 - got that out of my system!!) and they were both at the dealer for issues frequently. My GT has so far been better than either of the SL's in that regard. I agree with White Petunia that we don't post all the good times we have with this car but we do usually speak up about the bad ones.

 

[StuM]

Good Advice

Capn' Rick, All good advice from the owners here. This is a great car and if you look at some of the objective ownership polls, you'll see it scores well vs other supercars regarding M&R. It's also in the supercar league, without the overly hefty price tag of some of the others. Take care of it well, drive it for what it is, NOT a true daily driver, but more of a frequent and pleasing cruiser, and you'll truly enjoy the car.
I recently also bought the new ZO6 and it's fun too, but in no way does it really touch the GT regarding manners, driving pleasure and that very unique feeling and show the GT puts on.
Go forth and enjoy. :cheers
By the way, the 777 is a nice way to take us overseas. You "drive" a nice plane!

 

[PL510*Jeff]

To Buy Or Not Buy -

No unbiased opionions on this forum.


In one word:BUY

Do it today. That way you can enjoy it for Memorial Day :usa

Drive it in Good Health.

 

[rickisapilot]

Is the ford gt any worse than the italian carsor the other high end cars? I've had ferraris that have caught on fire, lamborghinis whose ignition system takes a $hit if you wash the car the wrong way, lamborghini's whose expensive shocks start to leak whether you drive the car or not, maseratis (the new ones) that break as youre driving out of the dealership (9 months of ownership, 72 days in service), Aston Martins (2002) with suspect electrical glitches (even though they are made of mazda/ford/jaguar parts), Porsches (the newer water cooled cars) that have engines that can't stop leaking oil and then end up locking up (I've had two), etc...

Is the Ford GT really that bad? I've had more than my fair share of problems with my car (trust me), but I don't think its any worse than any of the cars that we're comparing it to.

This was my point exactly. Don't get me wrong, as a yet-non-owner I LOVE the GT! From what I've seen & heard, I don't even want to consider a Ferrari, Lambo, etc. If I want a "supercar", this is THE ONE. Not sure if I want the "supercar experience" though if it's going to be problematic. Notwithstanding Albolfaz's heart-wrenching halfshaft problems, his list of supercar problems with various makes & models led me to ask in my first post, "Is this all 'par for the course'?" If so, I'd happily "bow out" of the club & continue to love YOUR cars & respect the patience & tolerance you all seem to have for your passion! Wish I could be more like that, but at the same time, I'd hate to pass on a "no-worse-than-a-Vette-experience", however, if that's what I can expect. A few warranty tweeks is OK to get to know a dealer, etc., but halfshafts, transaxle & supercharger leaks, coolant blowouts, door latches hanging up, etc are things I've never had to deal with & IMO not, for ME, worth the weekly country drive. In fact, if simple "over-torquing" of two bolts caused all of Albolfaz's problems, and the transaxles (some?) are known to have this problem, and Ford is just waiting for those to show up as they break at the appropriate mileage interval (vs. a recall), how does that make the rest of you feel while far from home and late at night (or on the track!)? Are there GT's out there that haven't had ANY warranty issues after 10's of thousands of miles? Maybe I'm lucky, but that's been mostly my experience with new cars . . . no warranty claims. But never paid well over $100K for a car, either. YOUR MESSAGES IN THIS THREAD ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. MORE ARE WELCOME. TRYING TO LEARN AS MUCH AS I CAN BEFORE "JUMPING IN". MANY THANKS! ----Rick

 

[Viper 1]

I have had my GT for almost a whole week and love it. Everything is fine with it at this point. So I don't have a long track record for reliability. However, I would NEVER use it for a daily driver. You don't buy a car like this for a DD. There is no room for cargo etc. as others have stated. I also have an Sl and an SLK55. They are more suited to DD use. They are nice cars and no one pays any attention to them. You can park them most anywhere with no problem. You can't do that with a GT, Viper etc. Any supercar is meant for fun use not work use. You'll just have to decide what you want.

 

[B O N Y]

I have owned/own them all, the Ford GT is in it's own league. Buy it now. :biggrin

 

[MAD IN NC]

Capn Rick - In 12 hr's since your first posting there have been ~20 posts from Forum members all stating their pleasure with the car. After flying over 3.8 Million miles, I have spent more time in a plane on maintenance delays that awaiting for the GT to be serviced.

It is different than a vette. There are no frills.. But there is nothing as sweet as stepping on the pedal and feeling the power of the GT.

I have an old Cadillac's convert and an old Mustangs which are fun but nothing compares to the pleasure I get from driving the GT.... :biggrin



BUY IT


BTW - last weekend at 2:30 AM Sat morning the wife and I jump in the car, drove to the kids in college (4 hrs.) had breakfast and drove back. It's a sweet ride over the 600 miles that we did there and back- no concerns about taking it out for a drive - no matter how fast and hard you go or how hard you hit it! :cheers I'll take the same car to Detroit in Aug ~ 750 mi away one way and I pray it doesn't rain for the weekend since I can't clean it! :biggrin

 

[kosupply]

another consideration...

LAMBOS,FERRARIS,ETC.....and I have owned them all , will not appreciate...we have a good chance that in a few years after production ceases...this will be a cheap car to own!!!

 

[abolfaz]

...this will be a cheap car to own!!!

I HOPE NOT!

 

[rickisapilot]

Thanks much!

Thanks to all who commented on the supercar ownership experience. I really love the GT and it really stands out from the typical Ferraris, Lambos, etc. (I've always been in love with the GT40 styling!) The purhase price is doable for a guy like me, but I'm not sure about the ongoing upkeep costs. I'm somewhat getting used to such things as a $1,600 clutch plus 15 hour labor charge (every 30K miles or so?), etc. Also, trying to assume that most warranty issues will be minor. (You know, pilots have taken a HUGE hit in all the airline bankruptcies over the last few years.) So, although I still have not decided, your comments (and any more to follow) have been of great help to me and very much appreciated. Thanks for sharing your experiences & comments. For those of you who travel with me over the oceans and up over the North Pole on the 777, . . . aren't you glad to find out how thorough, and anal, and risk averse the pilots are? :bored

 

[GTMark]

I've owned a GT for a few weeks and put over 600 miles on the clock. I intended to drive to work once a week and take it out on sunday for a polish and drive. Last week I drove it much more than planned - difficult to stay away - I get withdrawal symptoms when I dont drive the GT for a couple of days. My 911 is very ordinary now. I've had absolutely no problems - this car is amazing - you can take it easy and its very easy to drive give it a poke and you will soon know why its special. Buy it - its truly stunning and you will not regret it.