sublime1996525

Yeah, those 220 hp can really get away from you.

yeller z06

Slight digress: I remember watching an in-car video of a guy driving a WRX at VIR. In the camera view, you can just see part of the rear view mirror. As he's going up the esses, at probably 90 MPH (WAG) you can see the rear wing fall off. Unfortunately, those wings are effective, and he lost all traction in the next turn and went off in a most spectacular and probably painful and surprising manner. Oh wait, found it. 148 MPH.
Stuff like this makes me rethink going back on the track. LOL.

Rebel Yell

The '18 Mustang GT base (cloth interior), manual trans with the performance package is right up your ally my friend. It stickers at approx. 39K, and with the '19's on the lot you can find one right in your budget. And, if you looks close enough you may even find a Premium trim (leather with other goodies) w/PP close enough to your budget to make you happy. The brides '18 GT premium w/o the performance package handles great, and the PP puts the car in the sweet spot for the track. The 5.0's in the S550's are brutes, and the 18's with 460 hp/400 lbs torque will get you there quicker than you can think. IMHO

Being in the Raleigh area you can reach out into the Charlotte region easily also. Check out Green Ford up your way. I've been looking for an '18 base to replace my old GT, and they sometimes have very good deals. But, that's all I know about that dealer. The Capital Ford dealers have some decent deals also.

A little more info: The bride has had 3 GT's (10,13,18), and all have been very reliable cars. I have an '06 GT with 97K miles as a DD, the car still runs great, and it's given me no problems of any consequence.

MVR 155

Another vote for the Mustang GT, the 2015+ cars have the newer/updated interior that looks great. You should be able to pick up a gently used one with some options without breaking your budget.

yeller z06

More good ideas, thanks fellas. I've had 3 M5s, the E90/E92 M3 are really holding their values strong, plus a 10 year-old BMW is typically an adventure in unexpected electrical failures, and all those Mercs are autos. DB7s also disturbingly hold their values, and can be very expensive to maintain. The CTS-V isn't really my cup of tea.

I stopped and looked at the Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazda 370Z last night and as I feared, it's nearly as difficult to get out of as the Corvette is - actually more so in the Mismo edition, with "racing seats" that have huge side bolsters. And after looking at what is still a cheap Japanese interior, it just made the Mustang look better. I've driven the Z years ago, and it's a fun car, but the V6 isn't all that it should be. I had an old 280ZX back in the day, and that inline 6 was very nice.

Prices on late model GTs make a leftover 2018 more attractive to me, so I'm going to try and get a deal on a leftover.

Deepdiver

yeller z06

For us old guys, it will always be a Datsun. I don't know how I got so confused thinking it was a Mazda. Oh, wait, yeah, I'm an old guy.

Zoom, zoom.

_thecarjerk_

Your kidding right? You must not have seen one recently.
The showstopper red Recaro's are gorgeous...



I owned a 2017 5.0 and I can tell you it was really fun to drive! And with all the track apps, launch control etc... it's really a fun car to be in.

yeller z06

Thanks to all that responded.

After great thought and consideration, I decided that I just can't deal with the interior quality of the Mustang. The lying, deceitful and manipulative dealers don't help either. I've been spoiled by years of Porsche, BMW and Corvette ownership.

So I threw the budget out the window and bought an M2.

Deepdiver