Table of Contents
What You Should Know Before Buying A Muscle Car
Are you thinking about buying a muscle car but are wondering what other expenses come with owning one? Muscle cars are fun but can cost more to maintain than typical passenger cars. Maintenance items like tires, brake pads, and oil changes will typically cost more on a muscle car. You can also expect to pay more for your car insurance rates and on trips to the gas station.
With all the added expenses, is owning a muscle car worth it? The answer is yes, as long as you can afford it. If you are trying to save money and pay down debt, right now may not be the best time to buy a muscle car. However, if you are in good financial shape then owning a muscle car can be fun and enhance your driving experience.
This guide is about making sure that you have covered all of your bases before you take the plunge on buying a muscle car. That way you know what you are getting yourself into before you pull the trigger on a new ride.
1. They Can Be Loud
Everyone knows that muscle cars usually have larger engines that are equipped in your mom’s minivan. Larger engines will sometimes mean louder exhaust depending on the exhaust setup. While having a loud exhaust can be fun when you are out driving country roads it can be disturbing to your neighbors if you live in a quiet neighborhood.
The good news is that on modern muscle cars they have an exhaust switch that allows you to switch between a loud exhaust tone and a muffled exhaust tone. This is accomplished by using electronic baffles in the exhaust that can route the exhaust through the muffler or push it out bypassing the muffler.
This means that you can start up your car in quiet exhaust mode as to not disturb your neighbors in the morning and still have a loud exhaust that you can enjoy. This is really the best of both worlds because you can choose what exhaust tone you want to have at that time.
If you are feeling tired and have a long drive ahead of you then you may want to drive with the exhaust toned down to help prevent exhaust drone. Then if you want to be able to drive spirited and hear your V8 engine you can press the exhaust button to open up the exhaust so that you can hear the full tone of the engine.
2. Insurance Costs Will Be Higher
Depending on how old you are and your previous driving record muscle cars may be more expensive for you to insure. The cost to get insurance on the car is also going to come down to what other people have done to them and the overall price of the vehicle.
A Corvette costs more than a Mustang from the factory so you can expect to pay a bit more in total insurance costs to get insurance on a Corvette than on a Mustang. Another factor that plays into insurance costs is the materials used to make the car.
Keeping with our Corvette vs Mustang example the Corvette uses an aluminum frame, fiberglass body panels, and comes with carbon fiber hood, roof, and door panels. When looking at the Mustang however it mainly uses steel body panels and frames.
Replacing carbon fiber parts are going to be way more expensive to replace when compared to steel car parts. If it costs more to replace the parts on a car than on a standard car then it will typically cost more to get insurance on that same car.
The exception to this comparison is the Shelby GT 350 Mustang that comes with carbon fiber body panels and wheels. The moral of the story is to compare insurance costs before purchasing a muscle car because you may not be able to afford the insurance on a new muscle car.
3. Storage May Be Lacking
Most people know that muscle cars are somewhat lacking on storage space inside them. This really comes down to the design of muscle cars. Muscle cars are typically designed to be good to look at from the exterior while not giving much thought to practicality.
With most muscle cars they will only be two doors, most will still have back seats for storage it may just be a bit trickier to get access to. The trunk storage space on muscle cars can also be lacking. While there may be a decent amount of space in the trunk the problem in my experience is being able to slide things into it.
The problem I had on my old Mustang was that the opening of the trunk was somewhat small in comparison of the rest of the trunk. If the opening were a bit larger then I would have been able to fit more things inside but the way the trunk opening was designed you could barely fit much more than a suitcase in it.
The trunk space in muscle cars can also be restricted based on the type of muscle car you go with. If you decide to go with a convertible muscle car you can expect your trunk space to be even smaller. This is because the convertible top has to go somewhere when you put it down, which ultimately leaves less trunk space.
4. They Don’t Get Around Well In Winter Months
Depending on what kind of muscle car you end up going with it may not be that fun to drive in the winter. This is because the majority of muscle cars are going to be rear-wheel drive. If you live in the northern states and have driven a rear-wheel-drive car in the snow before you know they don’t get around great in snow and ice.
With rear-wheel drive muscle cars, there is no real weight over the back tires to be able to hold them to the road. When your back tires start to slip in a rear-wheel-drive car it can be hard to correct and may cause you to slide out of control.
If you do live in an area that regularly gets snow it may make sense to get a muscle car with all-wheel drive like the new Dodge Chargers. Another option would be to have a second vehicle that is front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive that you can drive around in the winter months.
If you aren’t able to afford to have another second vehicle to drive around in the winter months and are set on getting a rear-wheel-drive car you should look at investing in snow tires. You can get a set of snow tires that you can swap onto your muscle car in the winter months and then have another set of tires to use in the summer months.
5. Muscle Cars Use More Gas
With most muscle cars sporting big V8 engines you can expect them to use more gas than a Toyota Prius. This is really down to the nature of muscle cars. Muscle cars are supposed to be more performance-oriented than worried about fuel economy when compared to a normal economy car.
While manufacturers have started to push smaller engines that are turbocharged the majority of muscle cars are still going to sport a big ole V8 engine. Take for example the Dodge Hellcat or Demon, they are taking an already large V8 engine and strapping a supercharger to it to squeak out even more horsepower.
Now, do you think that a Dodge Demon is going to get good gas mileage if it was designed to run on a drag strip? If this sort of thing does concern you then you could opt for a V6 or turbo 4 cylinder muscle car but you are losing some of the magic of muscle cars when you go that route.
6. Tires Are More Expensive
Another thing that people don’t think of when buying a muscle car is tire costs. Muscle cars will typically have wide back tires to be able to get more grip with their rear-wheel-drive setup. To be able to get the most grip as possible you want to have as wide of rubber that can fit on the car.
This is because the tire manufacturer has to put in more development into a tire that is rated to go 200 mph versus a tire that is rated to do 120 mph. Muscle cars will also usually come equipped with low profile tires which you may or may not know are more expensive than typical tires you would see on a Toyota Corolla.
7. Gas Is More Expensive
While you may be expecting to make more trips to the gas pump to fill up your muscle car, I’m actually talking about premium gasoline. Most people expect to pay more to continuously fill up their muscle cars because of their low fuel economy.
However, one cost that some people don’t take into account is the cost of premium fuel versus standard 87 octane gasoline. One thing that you should be researching before making a muscle car purchase is the type of fuel that is recommended to be used in the engine. To learn more about what octane ratings mean and what octane gasoline is right for your car, be sure to check out my other article.
If the muscle car that you plan on going with does require premium fuel you can expect to pay a bit more at the pump at every fuel stop. The actual numbers will vary by where you live and what the current prices are when you go to fuel up but typically premium fuel will cost 20-40 cents more per gallon than 87 octane.
8. Can You Drive Manual or Stick Shift?
One thing to take into consideration when purchasing a muscle car is if it has an automatic or manual transmission. While most new muscle cars are going to be equipped with automatic transmissions there is still a decent amount of muscle cars that will be equipped with a manual transmission.
If you have never driven a car with a manual transmission then you would need to learn to drive using a manual transmission before being able to take the car on a proper test drive. If one of your family members or friends has a car with a manual transmission then you may ask them if they mind teaching you how to drive it.
If you are planning on learning to drive a manual transmission car it’s going to be a better idea to learn on something with 200 horsepower versus a muscle car with 500 horsepower. This way you can be prepared to take the car on a test drive to make sure that it doesn’t have anything wrong with it.
9. Muscle Car Engines Have Larger Displacement
Going back to the performance aspect of muscle cars you can expect most muscle car engines to be larger than an engine in a typical economy car. Most muscle cars are going to come with a large V8 engine or large V6 engine. What do I mean by large? I’m talking about the amount of space inside the engine.
With most engines in the United States, you will see a liter number next to the engine indicating the displacement of the engine in liters. This is the amount of internal space inside the engine measured in liters. If you have a 5.0 V8 Mustang the engine has 5 liters of engine displacement.
Most economy cars will only have around 2.0 to 2.4 liters of displacement. This also means is that maintenance will be more expensive on a larger engine. With a larger engine, you will have more spark plugs to replace and it will take more oil to fill the engine to capacity. These sorts of things can add up in the long run.
10. They May be Lacking Luxury Features
When making muscle cars most manufacturers are going to be focused on how the car looks, how much horsepower the car has, and how fast it can go. Muscle cars then may not have all of the luxury features that you expect like in other cars.
Muscle cars are typically designed to offer a good amount of performance for a somewhat cheap price. To do this muscle car manufacturers have to cut costs from another area of the vehicle the interior.
Interior options on muscle cars can be sparse or sold as options so be sure to check over the muscle car you are looking to purchase to make sure that it has the features you want on it.
11. They may only have Two Doors
Only having two doors is another common thing that muscle car owners overlook. If you have small children that you are planning on transporting all the time you may want to look at getting a muscle car that still has four doors. Muscle cars like this on the market are the Dodge Charger.
This way you can have your muscle car but still, be able to fulfill your duties of being a parent. If you are single and this is going to be your only vehicle you would want to look at the interior space of the muscle car you are planning to purchase to make sure it will have enough space for your daily life.
If you plan to only take your muscle car to pick up groceries and to take you to and from work then you should be fine. However, if you own a house and need to regularly transport items from the hardware store to your house you may want to look at purchasing a second vehicle like a truck or SUV.
Things To Know Before Buying A Muscle Car- In Conclusion
Hopefully, by now you are aware of all the different aspects that come along with buying and owning a muscle car. Buying a muscle car can be a fun experience as long as you know what you are getting yourself into.
Muscle cars can be more expensive to maintain than typical passenger cars. Expect things like tires, insurance, and gasoline to cost more if you plan on buying a muscle car in the future. But the enjoyment you can get from owning a muscle car can outweigh the added expenses.