General Comments:
The car is beautiful inside and out. Ford really likes to jack mustangs up in the air for the 4X4 look so it needs to be lowered a little. For 20k it's a great car so far. The SVT people are much better to deal with than some of the normal Ford people (others were pretty cool).
Handling is great with the independent rear suspension, but at high speeds it feels tippy. I really have no reason to be taking corners over 80 (mph) but when I do its obvious it needs to be lowered a little for a little less overall travel in the suspension.
Its just fun to sit in the driveway an rev the engine too.
For a daily driver the ride is almost perfect. Speed bumps aren't harsh, but are noticeable.
It's a decent body with a great engine (it even looks good). Engine needs a little more grunt at the lower end. There are tons and tons of after-market parts for this car. I have my eye on some shinney new wheels and a TDC turbo kit.
In short I would buy it again.
Its exactly what I thought I was buying.
20th Oct 2004, 07:06
I have a '99 Cobra also. I also experienced the rear end "pop". Turns out the ring and pinion were destroyed. It seems to be a fairly common problem with the IRS 8.8" rear end. Cost me over $600 to replace the rear end (over 3/4 of it was labor). 3rd gear syncro also was going bad. I replaced the transmission with one from an '01 GT and have had ZERO problems with it since then.