Faults:

Since purchasing the car it hasn't required a dollar of maintenance that wouldn't be considered routine. When I bought it I had the power steering fluid flushed, and I replaced the fuel filter; other than that I've done a few oil changes.

The person I bought the car from had full service history (original sales brochure and window sticker, and even all oil changes) and it was the same story for him. He had receipts for brake pads, and a drive belt. In almost 12 years this car has needed less than $1000 maintenance INCLUDING oil changes, I'm impressed.

Everything works perfectly; power door locks, heater in -30C, A/C in 40C, stereo, power seats, engine never skips a beat, no rattles, squeaks or nuisance noises, nothing!

General Comments:

I think the car is nice to look at, not BEAUTIFUL, but far from the ugliest thing on the road. I'm definitely not embarrassed to be seen in it.

I love the power seats, they're the most comfortable seats I've ever had the pleasure of sitting in. The girlfriend and I did a 10 hour/day in the car road trip and my butt never got sore for a second, I love these seats. You'd have to adjust them to your preference though.

I'm an average height guy at about 6 feet, and I fit perfectly in this car. Seat is adjustable for leg room so taller folks should be comfortable too.

Engine performance is pretty good. Obviously not the fastest car you can buy, fast enough to be fun though. Passing on the highway is easy enough, drop it into 3rd and you're right in the power at 3000-3500 rpm, you'll probably be going 80-90mph the next time you look at the speedo again (if you were doing the limit in the first place). I don't understand the point in debating Mustang vs Camaro vs anything-else-with-wheels if you're not racing, so I'll leave that out. Suffice to say, anyone buying a Mustang probably knows exactly what they're getting speed wise; where it sits in the whole performance spectrum.

I have read that typical 0-60 times are 6 - 6.5 seconds, and 1/4 mile times are typically 14.5 - 15 seconds. I have never tested my car though, this is information I've found online. This is roughly what you'd expect from 215hp, it seems like a reasonable claim.

Some people say these engines live to 200,000 miles and more, but again, my car has no where near this mileage and I have no evidence of this, just online rumor and gossip. Every vehicle is different of course, and if the owner abuses the car or doesn't do maintenance then the life of the vehicle is of course going to be shorter.

And on a side note I would also like to mention! The importance of maintaining your vehicle! In my teenage years I worked doing lube and tire changes, easy maintenance type work on cars, and I've seen the results of neglect vs good maintenance hundreds of times. Some cars barely run at 200,000km because the oil was changed all of 4 times, others run like new at 800,000km because the owner DID THE MAINTENANCE! Power steering fluid, coolant, fuel filter, synthetic oils in the engine, tranny, diffs and transfer cases in trucks! I swear synthetics work 100x better than conventional oils, I've seen it so many times, IMHO they are worth twice what you pay.

You'll never escape all maintenance, but you can avoid a lot of big ticket repairs. I've seen cranks and bearings and cams gouged to inoperability because an owner won't check their oil! These things should never happen! A few quarts of oil or a new engine... New power steering fluid or a new steering rack... New coolant or corroded head gaskets... I've seen pistons melt because of detonation due to a head gasket that was eaten by corrosive coolant. Coolant lines and oil lines manage to merge with the cylinder bore and all of a sudden you need an engine; instead of an $80 coolant flush.

I hope my complaining was a bit helpful, or at the least entertaining. It's true though. No right to complain when the owner is at fault.

Faults:

Transmission has a quiver in it when it changes gears. Slowly getting worse and cannot drive it in overdrive anymore because of it.

Radiator overheated and cracked leaving me stranded.

Head gaskets got to hot and warped when radiator overheated. Had to be replaced.

Seats are wearing pretty badly. They have foam sticking out where there is a lot of wear.

Convertible top leaks around the doors and around the rear window.

Kind of bad on gas mileage, but I've had worse.

Back seat is very cramped. Many of my long-legged friends cannot fit in the back seats!

It doesn't stop as fast as I would like. I have almost had a few collisions because I underestimated it's stopping time, but I have heard that this is common in Mustangs.

General Comments:

I really enjoy this car and, although I have had quite a few problems in the year I have owned it, I think that the problems are due to the poor care it had before I purchased it.

It handles great on curves and is truly a sports car. It's hard to go the speed limit in a car like this!

It looks great and the interior is holding up well.

Overall, I would buy a Ford again and I would recommend a Ford to others. My other car is a Ford Taurus and I love it.