Faults:

Car is an absolute champion.

I race constantly, dropping the clutch.

At around 2800 revs - this car is the.

Best. All the Camaro's and Firebirds.

Get totally written off with this sort.

Of reckless disregard.

General Comments:

The car isn't quite as fast as I'd like it to be. Sure, its fast. I can take on most people with all motor engines and win. Cars with turbo's, such as the subaru WRX's tend to be me by about a car length on the quarter mile, but lower end sports cars like the Mitsubishi Eclipse (1997), owned by a mechanic and running 15 pounds of boost get a real good run for their money.

The best thing about this car is the reputation. People generally respect the mustang breed, "ooh you have a Mustang!?" Hard core import racers think it's a peice of crap, but that's because they get sick of seeing the tail lights as I pull in front of them after a thorogh sloughtering at the lights.

This car does not handle well. It has taken me a quite a few months to learn to maneuvre a rear wheel driven vehicle with a 4.6L liter motor in the front and very few pounds in the back.

Watch out for snow! I was really lucky a few nights ago when the car randomly went sideways as I was driving on a straight, in fourth gear at about 45 mph - putting along a 4500 revs.

If you like to do doughnuts, this is an awesome car. When you drop the clutch, you lose traction completely and are free to do whatever you want.

Unfortunately, the platform is quite old and the maneuverability isn't that great. Drifting and quick e-brake turns are a little hard, the handbrake is for parking in this car, nothing else.

Driving the manual is much like driving a truck. The clutch is nothing like that of a japanese vehicle. There is a very fine friction point, not a gradual release.

The first mod you should do is get either a Tri-AX or Pro 5.0 Shifter. There is a long throw with this vehicles shifter - that's OK though, I'm doing fine at the moment as its not really an issue.

Faults:

My top has a couple tears in it from the hot Nevada climate.

Car runs hot even on mild temperature days and this is after the cooling system upgrade from the recall.

General Comments:

This vehicle is a great value for the money. The smooth high reving DOHC has gobs of torque at most rpm ranges. I did add an aftermarket 4.10 rear gear to help the off the line acceleration. The exhaust note turns heads and the looks are timeless.

An excellent Cobra ('96 - '98) can be had for under $15,000 as most owners take very good care of them. For those out for nice performance a stock Cobra does the job. For those looking for a nice base to build on, these vehicles have tons of aftermarket goodies to go to extremes.

Faults:

The main things that have gone bad on this car were the usual wear and tear items.

The original starter just went out at 79000 miles.

The head gasket was replace due to the numerous recalls that ford has on them (Cost of repair was covered by Ford)

General Comments:

This car has been very reliable and somewhat fun to drive.

Even with the car being driven very hard it still runs like it is brand new.

The two things that I wish for are a little more power (I'll get the GT next time) and also needs a little more leg room.