Would you buy a tuned car?

[GrayS550]

I would recommend to stay away. I bought my 2018 GT used at 19k miles. Dealer told me it’s just straight piped.

Some time and a lot of money later, I found out the car had:
- A tune (when you flash a new tune onto the car, it saves your stock tune. Well it stored the previous tune in place of the stock tune, so when the car broke down later and I flash it back to stock, it wouldn’t turn on and the dealer couldn’t connect to it) (I had to pay $$$ for them to take it out and flash a stock tune)
- Longtube Headers (This isn’t a problem for me, but the O2 sensors connections weren't properly tucked and there is damage in the wiring) (CEL always on)
- Aftermarket clutch (This clutch failed. Previous owner didn’t install it properly. My warranty couldn’t cover this repair. Stupid expensive for Ford to install an OEM clutch)
- FP Struts and Lowering springs (Don’t really mind these, but I have no idea what other suspension mods were done) (Ford won’t touch the suspension of the car due to “aftermarket suspension,” so no warranty)


Stay away from tuned cars unless you have a detailed list of all the mods and receipts from who installed it.

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[Kabayo]

Local dealer has a 2019 PP2 with resonator delete and long tube headers, so I'd assume it's tuned as well. Short throw shifter installed. Back tires are brand new and mismatched from the fronts so I'm assuming the car was ran hard...like all Mustangs are. I'm pretty sure the upper intake is aluminum...the engine cover was off. I don't think it was that silver plastic.

Not seriously interested in the car but it has me thinking. Not knowing who tuned it or how long the parts have been on the car, etc makes me leary...but then again, it's a bunch of money that I wouldn't have to spend to upgrade the car.

Thoughts? Car has 33k miles. 4 owners, the first one put 2100 miles on it and the last one bought the car in Jan of this year and already traded it.

Pre-Owned 2019 Ford Mustang GT 2 Door Coupe in Warner Robins #TK5138011 | Five Star Ford Warner Robins (fivestarfordga.com)

4 owners in 5 years? To me that’s a big red flag and you might just be buying someone else’s problems.

 

[fast306stang]

Talked to the salesman who could have just been blowing smoke, who knows...I asked who tuned the car, he told me the dealer did it, yeah right.

Regardless they have it sold to someone coming up from Miami.

 

[fast306stang]

I guess the market is picking up bc they also sold the 2019 Grand Sport I wanted to look at and someone sent a truck to pick up the Dark Horse I wanted to look at in the showroom.

 

[Qcman17]

Talked to the salesman who could have just been blowing smoke, who knows...I asked who tuned the car, he told me the dealer did it, yeah right.

Regardless they have it sold to someone coming up from Miami.

They will be posting on here for help with it soon enough no doubt.

 

[Balr14]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but at some point you will want to sell the car and selling a tuned/modded car is not easy and brings a poor price. Whatever you saved by buying a tuned/modded car, you will lose at least as much selling it.

 

[sms2022]

I guess the market is picking up bc they also sold the 2019 Grand Sport I wanted to look at and someone sent a truck to pick up the Dark Horse I wanted to look at in the showroom.

Market is picking up. Carvana is offering me what I paid for my car in January, sight unseen. It’s up 10k since when I originally submitted the inquiry. I figure it’s a good, low effort way to keep tabs on my cars value lol.

 

[Oakley]

too much risk. the value would need to reflect that.

 

[GregR]

To answer the question, yes, and I just did. I purchased a 2019 GT Premium from a private party, he purchased it from the dealership. I did my due diligence though, ask the right questions, found and talked to the previous owner who did the modifications and was very happy with what I heard. I know the shop that did the modifications as well and they are very reputable. So far I've been very happy with the car.

 

[Dave2013M3]

I would buy a tuned car, depends on what was done to it. A Ford Performance tune with an xpipe and some mufflers I would have no issues with. Whats funny is people feel if they buy a car that isn't modded it hasn't been driven hard. I would look at the whole condition of the car, I think that will be a better barometer on how the car was taken care of. My car was tuned and had no issues selling it.

 

[tdstuart]

Depends on how much you trust the dealership and how many guarantees they can give you. And I would probably send it to a performance shop to do a good lookover aswell as do datalogs to make sure the tune is right and do compression tests to make sure engine isn't badly hurt.

 

[GregR]

I also sold my previous tuned and modified car, a 2008 N54 BMW. I did some of the modifications and tune myself, I paid a shop to do others. I kept all of my receipts as well as the old parts to give to the new owner.

I pay the dealership to do a pre purchase inspection of my private party purchase 2019 Mustang as well.

 

[ORRadtech]

I also sold my previous tuned and modified car, a 2008 N54 BMW. I did some of the modifications and tune myself, I paid a shop to do others. I kept all of my receipts as well as the old parts to give to the new owner.

That's great for the guy you sold it to. But what about 2 or 3 more owners down the line with the paperwork getting lost along the way and finding it on a dealer lot?
Most on here have said they would buy a modded car from a single owner with history. The issue comes in with a newer car where the only history is it's got mods and 4 previous owners. That's much scetchier.

 

[GregR]

My experience with cars like ours is folks buy them, keep them for 1 to 2 years, then get bored with them, especially in my case where it's not my primary driver. I saw quite a bit of this when looking for my next weekend driver car recently. Expecting the paperwork and receipts to carry forward to new owners is not reasonable.

I don't think any of this necessarily means the car was run hard or not hard. I think we should expect previous owners of our cars to have run them hard, like we tend to do, at least that's why I have mine but I also take care of it. I didn't buy my 2019 Mustang GT Premium to cruise on the highway at highway speeds.

So yes, I would still buy a tuned car, and did, based on the original posters question and comments. I would do my due diligence though, and not make any assumptions.

 

[Wiley Marmot]

Multiple owner cars are problematic. The more people it's been through, the greater the chance it's been modded, and the greater the chance is you'll get little to no info about what or how it was done. Do you like (or not mind) trouble shooting and paying for other people's ? If so; roll the dice!

I place a much higher emphasis on the mechanical and cosmetic condition of the car (and mileage) than the number of owners. Although I allow for exceptions to that operating principal. Like the 19,500 mile 7 owner/2 accidents 2017 GT350 I recently inspected and walked away from!How did the fly by night Used Car Dealership that had this gem get it? Bought it sight unseen over the internet and had it transported from FL to MI. While it's good to learn from one's mistakes; it's a lot less painful and expensive to learn from someone else's!

If the "tuned/modded" car is for sale from a "real" dealership (e.g. Ford, Toyota, etc) and has been fully inspected/corrected, and perhaps coming with a short warranty (e.g. 3 month 3000 mile) I might consider it.

Same same if the car was a private party, and I knew them and their "car values" were "in tune" with my own.

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