Well, I did pick up the car used for about $26K last year.
The equipment goes around $11-12K retail and is a bit skewed because it's an expensive alarm, about $1,000 with all the extra features added and the navi system is like $1,700 but it's about as sweet a nav as there is. The amps, well they are PDX... That stands for Pretty D.amn Xpensive but I wanted it to be able to get louder than I would ever listen to it without getting distorted. With all the power, I can drive with the top down and still get blasted out yet still keep it sounding clean.
Here's the real thing though, with the first shop, thought I was getting a great deal, getting out for just $10K which would be great considering the equipment, but they hacked it so bad they even did about $1,000 worth of DAMAGE to the car.
So I figured that if I was gonna do it this big, I was gonna make sure the 2nd install was done right. For those not familiar with Speakerworks, they are truly a legendary shop. They have had a hand in 17 SQ world championships including, IIRC, 12 in a row between their Buick Grand National and Harry Kimura's Acura. So I knew I was in for another big bill but I knew it would be a fantastic job. I know of no other shop with that kind of resume.
To answer ChevyAudio's question, the first hack shop had it like 20 days including the two times I had to take it back for fixes. Speakerworks had it for 10 days, pulled everything out and put it all back in having to even fabricate some missing parts to get the speakers to go back to coaxial. Are there shops that woulda been cheaper, yes. Are their shops that would have charged SIGNIFICANTLY less and done as good a job, no I don't think there are.
As far as the overall cost, I coulda spent the $40K on a Porsche, noone woulda thought me stoopid for it. Basically I wanted that exact Mustang and I wanted a monster system with every bell and whistle. That's what I got. And I only drive it about 4-6K miles a year and plan to be in it for 10-15 years if not longer.
Oh yeah, the whole thing is a tax write-off too because I write off all my vehicle expenses through my business, so that effectively knocks $6k off of the final cost.
And to the red hataz... The red makes it secksy! I specifically held out for that red. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif
