I felt compelled to rant a little about my very recent experience in buying a muscle car. I have already let the cat out of the bag that I ordered a 2021 Challenger Hellcat Widebody Redeye yesterday.
I actually started out looking to buy a 2021 GT500 when 13COBRA posted up that he had some available for $3,500 over MSRP. I decided to do my due diligence and see if I could find a car closer, as Nick is down by Kansas City and I am in Central MN. Holy cow, what a shit show. From dealers flat out refusing to sell to someone not from their state (dealer in SD) to irritation at being bothered about "the" GT500 again to sales managers yelling at their sales person loud enough for me to hear on the other side of the store.
I actually lay the blame for most, not all, of the dealer behavior on Ford. They put their dealers in the position of scarcity selling. Nick, in the end, had the best deal and the best sales experience hands down and it wasn't close. My wife and I decided that with everything we have going on this spring that we just couldn't give the time needed to drive down and then drive back to take advantage of his deal, if I had decided to go with a GT500.
So after dealing with the yelling sales manager, I was pretty irritated and then I saw yet another ad on TV with a Dodge doing a burnout, LOL. I thought to myself, self, theirs a company asking for your business and proud of their hotrod. So I hopped online and low and behold, a local dealer had a fully loaded Hellcat to look at. Went up and sat in it to scope out the vision sightlines and general feel for the car.
I then asked if it was possible to order a car to spec and the salesman said sure! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy! I said what! I don’t have to stick my hand in a tank boiling with piranha’s to pick up a magic key! Sales guy said nope! With a twinkle in his eye.
I was shocked! I thought for sure it had to be some kinda scam! Sit down and order a desirable 800 HP muscle car and not get clapped! It’s a trap! OH MY GOD, I get a $6,000 rebate! And I get a dealer $2,110 discount! Run away! If the rebates get better before my car arrives, I GET THEM! Augh!
So, I spent a couple of days of friendly dickering and made a deal.
Latest numbers I could find on Hellcat production was 2019. They made around 6,900 of them. Ford is gonna make around 5,000 GT500. Granted, Challenger been around a long time, so not exactly apples to apples.
All I can say is that Dodge figured out a way to make ordering a high performance muscle car easy and Ford figured out a way to piss off many many customers. I shouldn’t have to drive 700 miles for a good dealer experience. Ford needs to improve their game, A LOT.
I actually started out looking to buy a 2021 GT500 when 13COBRA posted up that he had some available for $3,500 over MSRP. I decided to do my due diligence and see if I could find a car closer, as Nick is down by Kansas City and I am in Central MN. Holy cow, what a shit show. From dealers flat out refusing to sell to someone not from their state (dealer in SD) to irritation at being bothered about "the" GT500 again to sales managers yelling at their sales person loud enough for me to hear on the other side of the store.
I actually lay the blame for most, not all, of the dealer behavior on Ford. They put their dealers in the position of scarcity selling. Nick, in the end, had the best deal and the best sales experience hands down and it wasn't close. My wife and I decided that with everything we have going on this spring that we just couldn't give the time needed to drive down and then drive back to take advantage of his deal, if I had decided to go with a GT500.
So after dealing with the yelling sales manager, I was pretty irritated and then I saw yet another ad on TV with a Dodge doing a burnout, LOL. I thought to myself, self, theirs a company asking for your business and proud of their hotrod. So I hopped online and low and behold, a local dealer had a fully loaded Hellcat to look at. Went up and sat in it to scope out the vision sightlines and general feel for the car.
I then asked if it was possible to order a car to spec and the salesman said sure! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy! I said what! I don’t have to stick my hand in a tank boiling with piranha’s to pick up a magic key! Sales guy said nope! With a twinkle in his eye.
I was shocked! I thought for sure it had to be some kinda scam! Sit down and order a desirable 800 HP muscle car and not get clapped! It’s a trap! OH MY GOD, I get a $6,000 rebate! And I get a dealer $2,110 discount! Run away! If the rebates get better before my car arrives, I GET THEM! Augh!
So, I spent a couple of days of friendly dickering and made a deal.
Latest numbers I could find on Hellcat production was 2019. They made around 6,900 of them. Ford is gonna make around 5,000 GT500. Granted, Challenger been around a long time, so not exactly apples to apples.
All I can say is that Dodge figured out a way to make ordering a high performance muscle car easy and Ford figured out a way to piss off many many customers. I shouldn’t have to drive 700 miles for a good dealer experience. Ford needs to improve their game, A LOT.