Forget fuel prices, go buy that V8 Mustang! It's a great time to buy that 2026 Ford Mustang and Ranger Raptor and here's why | Opinion 

Despite petrol being more expensive than caviar right now, it could be an opportune time to buy that Ford Mustang or Ranger Raptor, as car dealers will be fighting an uphill battle to persuade customers into high performance cars.

I’m well aware that my CarsGuide colleague Tim Gibson has penned a story citing the Mustang and Raptor as two of the biggest petrol blackholes in the known universe but my question to you is: since when was a high performance vehicle a rational purchase? 

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I’m not suggesting you buy an old petrol car, not unless you like being let down by a car that doesn’t see driving reliably as a priority, but I do think it’s about to be a very good time to buy a new petrol one. See if this situation continues or gets worse, car dealers will start to have rapidly aging stock in their forecourts and that gives you bargaining power. 

We’re approaching the end of March and that’s significant for three reasons. 

First it’ll be one month since the Iran war started and fuel prices started to climb, indicating that this thing might not be over as soon as some suggested. 

Second, the end of any month is known for being a smart time to buy with dealers under the pump to get their sales figures locked in. 

And third, dealers are still doing plate clearance sales in March — which means they are trying to get rid of 2025 model year cars before nobody wants last year’s model.

Combine all of these factors with more people than ever thinking maybe now is the time for electric vehicles, and those car makers without many or any EVs might be starting to stress and dealers feeling the pressure to drop prices on petrol models to encourage buyers.

Ford has only one electric car — the Mustang Mach E SUV — and a very limited passenger model range really only consisting of the Ranger, Everest and Mustang sportscar. We’ve been saying for yonks that despite Ford selling enormous numbers of the Ranger, only one hiccup to the model could be a big problem for the brand, which counts on it almost entirely.

And now we have the hiccup, which is fuel being outrageously expensive, and Ford not having a decent hybrid or electric version of the Ranger for buyers to go to while other brands such as BYD have the Shark 6 and MG with its soon to launch MU9 EV ready to swoop into the space.

What I’m saying Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Honda and even Toyota will likely be under pressure to lower prices and that could mean picking up a Mustang or Ranger Raptor, Mazda MX-5, Nissan Z, Honda Civic Type R or Toyota GR Yaris for less.

Having been through plenty of fuel hikes in my time I can tell you that providing the war doesn’t escalate completely out of control then petrol prices will recede to around what they were before now. 

Besides with the surge in electric cars and the limited infrastructure in place to charge even the current number, you might find EVs aren’t the perfect solution to avoiding high petrol prices.

Don’t get me wrong, EVs are fantastic and make far better city commuter cars than those with combustion engines, but I think the knee jerk reaction going on is pretty severe.

And we’re feeling the pain of high petrol — we have a regular family car that we drive every day and it costs $150 to fill its 55L tank. We’re more conscious of fuel consumption than ever and it’s making us use the car less. 

So with this information you might be in a position to get a good deal on a petrol car that you would have bought anyway if you were already in the market.  

It’s easy to get caught up in the panic and want to ditch petrol for electric. Psychologically we’re designed to follow what everyone else is doing, so it makes sense especially when fuel costs are rising so high. 

Moving towards electric is the right way to go long term, but right now if you’ve always wanted a petrol performance car then buy the Mustang, save some money and catch the train until petrol prices return to normal. Which, of course, they will.