To buy or not to buy

[96Fleetwood]

Wow, so my Father priced his pretty good. He is asking $35K obo for his Loaded '07 SuperBee SRT8 with 8K miles.

[Sandy]

The SRT-8 Charger would cost me $ 21,000 "new" money. $21,000 + the $20,000 for the Town Car = $41,000 the cost of the Charger including NJ sales tax. So.... I'd be spending $21,000.

Today, I took out the Town Car, for a ride. Truth be told, I cannot bring myself to sell her.
I love everything about her, short of having more ponies underhood.

I mean, I have a soft spot for gadgits. I click the remote, the doors unlock, the seat changes from
my wife's posistion to mine, via the remote, the stereo station pre-sets switch from hers to mine,
the power trunk also power closes itself, from fully opened posistion and the thing has a
single slot in Dash CD, a Cassette, and a remote controled from dash trunk mounted 6-disc CD.
The only car that I have found that has more "toyzz" is the Volvo S-80 AWD V-8 with its Personal Car Communacator feature and the rest of the stuff.

I went again & looked at the SRT-8. I do not blame anyone for wanting one, but I just can't give up my TC. If it was giving me trouble, well then....yes. But, it is not. I just got the New Car buzz I guess.
I guess I'll just take 2 Aspens and call ya in the morning.

Sat is the big Caddy Show. I'll be there (I hope & pray). It will be the FIRST time my Sixty will have left the garage since last October. I got it going this AM. Charged up the battery real good. She's got a full tank of $2.25 Premium Gulf from last October, and was under velvet wraps. Love Blooms. Mikleage is 9,908.

[AMGoff]

Did you use any additives/stabilizers in the gas?? I've never found it to be a good thing letting gas sit for 6+ months, especially over winter... not that it necessarily goes bad, but seasonal changes do have an effect on it over time.

[Sandy]

I used to put in a can of stabilizer, but I stopped doing it when someone at show told me it could do more harm than good. I have had zero trouble.
[i] filled the tank with Mobil Premium and disconected the battery, covered her with 2 soft lined quilts and then a nylon-like car cover. She shares the garage with the Town Car, who also avoids old man winter. Wife & I share her 2001 Jeep Cherokee (XJ) Limited 4x4 from Nov. thru April. Garage is tight as a vault, no windows nor foot passage doors. Double wall construction, insulation and a 7 year asphalt roof. Electric Door with no windows in it.
Jeep lives in driveway along with son's '07 Mazda 3 G.T. Driveway has motion sensor 3 High Intensity lights.

What Caddy needs is a nice long ride, without stop 'n go traffic. Easily found at 6AM on a Sunday morning ! But....I have been too sick, as of late to muster up the GO GO GO I used to have. It seems to have WENT WENT WENT

[caddycruiser]

SO...what will be the next car to give you dirty thoughts about the TC?

I'm going through "that thing" still with the Fleetwood, even being 13 years and 132k old...even in looks alone, it's just special. But then also still an old, crotchety beast due for quite a bit of work, not super efficient, etc. It's a trade-off, just like with any car.

So you've done DTS and then Charger SRT-8...hmm...

[Sandy]

My other 2 favorites are a Mustang GT Convertible and the Volvo S-80 V-8 AWD Premier Edition. But, I am gonna hold on to Towniee, for now.

[70eldo]

Originally Posted by Sandy

My other 2 favorites are a Mustang GT Convertible and the Volvo S-80 V-8 AWD Premier Edition. But, I am gonna hold on to Towniee, for now.

I bet you will end up selling the TC for the Camaro next year

[Sandy]

Do not bet ! (Hint) I would NEVER own a Camaro. They might be nice, even great, but the brand just turns me off, totally. Ditto, the Javelin, & the Cougar. and the Firebird. The only ones I liked were the 'Cuda, the Challenger and the Mustang.

They may look nearly identical, but the 2003 T.C. was the T.C. high water mark. Beginning 2004, onto 2005 & 2006 as well as 2007 & 2008 Ford in each year decontented the car, in only ways that a 2003 owner would discover.
I learned this because evey time I took her in for service, they gave me a new one to drive home. With each following year, I found designed in features that were missing or "plugs" over holes where prior controls had been located. Therefore, I have much more appreciation for my 2003 "The Limited" and I am gonna keep it a while longer. Wife is (naturally) against the Charger SRT-8 and is drawn to the Lucene or a DTS .... or a Grand Marquis.

[Sandy]

Just a small example:

In 2003 the glove box is lined on all surfaces with a felt-like material. In 2004 that thin material was deleted. Then the interior of the glove box is hard smooth plastic. Stuff constantly slides around in there and bumps around hitting the sides of the glove box.

In 2003 the reverse warning alert was BOTH audible AND visable. The audible was a pleasant but firm chime, and located above the interior rear window was a bank of 6 LED red lites. Think of them like this 000 000 and call them 1-2-3-4-5-6. When you are 2 feet from whatever is in back of you # 1 & 6 illuminate, when you are 1 foot away #s 2 & 5 JOIN 1 & 6 and when you are 6 inches away #s 3 and 4 join in making the entire OOO OOO illuminate. For 2005, they did away with this visable warning leaving only the audible alert.

In 2006 the carpeting went from honest to goodness GOOD carpet with a 3/4 inch nap TO a PREMIUM felt, similiar to the stuff they lay UNDER your carpet at home ! The 2005 leather was of somewhat less premium...

2007 saw the demise of the number of paint colors from 13 down to 9 and the mid-year dropping of the fog light option....

2008 saw the dropping of the Power MoonRoof, the Navagation, the THX Stereo, paint color choices down to 7 No Fog Lights, El Cheapo headlingng material and only 1 model (or series)....

So, you can see it just got a bit less each year as the price continued to climb. The 2003 was the ultimate of the 1988-2008 group.

[96Fleetwood]

Those "gadgets" on the TC are pretty commonplace now and I think you would be amazed at what the European and Japanese luxobarges offer as far as options. Even my fiancee's Father's Chevy Trailblazer LTZ has that remote option. He has remote number 1 and his wife has number 2, and it changes all the seats, mirrors, presets, etc with the click of a button.

The SRT-8 brings go fast fun for a reasonable price with a few frills. No other sedan but the CTS-V can bring you that much HP for under $50K.

The other sedans that match that with tons of luxury & gadgets are the BMW M5, Mercedes E63, and Cadillac STS-V... but they all cost double.