The only one in my price range has close to 50k miles (I cant see paying $45k+ for an 08), Im having trouble getting past that. Even if I put the car away for the winter I'd imagine youd have to peel me out of it and Id put 8-10k miles/yr. So in 4 years I have an 85k+ mile car. The repairs/maintenance/depreciation is scary.
I guess I come from a different background of V8's and "pony cars". Its hard for me to imagine that ~300hp could be considered to much power, heck you can get a Ford Taurus with 365hp these days. There are plenty of stop light, on ramps and back roads that can easily take short blasts of what an S can dish out. A base car doesnt put you back in your seat but in an S you can actually feel it when you press the pedal down! For giggles I went and test drove a '13 Mustang GT tonight, 420-ish HP stock, now that car is fast (in a straight line).
I'm NOT in ANY WAY saying the base cars bad cars. They are beautiful, amazing handling, balanced driving machines and anyone who owns is fortunate. However the S is everything the base car is times 150%.
While I could swing $50k+, Im very comfortable in the $30-35k range. I think an 09 S would be the sweet spot in terms of depreciation, warranty, features, updates, electronics, power, etc but Im not having much luck finding one under $40k. I just really want to have the car paid off in 8-12 months.
I think its getting to the point of "shut the heck up and buy a dang car already!"
Im starting to get tired of listening to myself, LOL!