Faults:
I have owned this car for about a year and a half. I have had to replace the entire rear-end. Although that sounds as if it is horrible, when I first bought the car there was a lot of after-market parts on it. I believe that even though it is in beautiful condition, whoever owned it previous to me beat up on the mechanics of the car. After replacing the rear-end I ran into a few minor problems. Although they are nothing really worth making a big deal out of, I will still list the minor problems I came across.
The convertible top had a leak in it. I first found this problem during the winter months. My back seat, driver's side floor mat was literally a sheet of ice. New seals completely solved the problem and is no longer an issue.
The last problem I ran into was in the driver's side door. The door bushings had went bad and the door was bouncing up into the door jam. Although it was not that bad, I love my car and therefore took the time to replace them.
Overall, for a 7 year old car, it has held up really well over the years.
General Comments:
As I mentioned before, the car is in beautiful shape. With the exception of a few stone chips on the front, and one scrape on the hood (due to a cat that decided my car was a good place to catch some sun) the body of the car is pretty much perfect.
I did at one point decide to buy touch-up paint for the hood and had a problem finding the correct color. I ended up having to go to the dealership for the "performance red" touch-up paint which ended up costing me a very considerable amount of money.
The car handles very well around turns. It hugs the road better than any other car I have ever driven. However, the car is not a good idea for in the snow or on icy roads. I have the traction control option, but it is still quite the task to drive in the winter. I have however driven the GT version of the car, and my car is much easier to both control and get started in the snow. I would like to add however, that the GT version I drove did not have traction control.
The back seat in my car looks as if it has never been sat in although there is good reason for that fact. The few times I have had individuals in the back seat, they have been very uncomfortable and I would not recommend buying the car if you plan on having grown adults in the back seat.
My car is also a manual and the first 5-speed I have owned. I learned how to drive a manual transmission on a 1994 Ford Ranger and believe that my mustang is much easier to drive. There have also been two other individuals who have learned how to drive a manual on the mustang, and the car seems to have held up to the torture admirably. I would like to state however that the friction point of the clutch is very far out. The clutch is almost completely disengaged before it grabs.
Although an opinion, and an opinion I obviously hold if I purchased the car, I believe the car is very attractive. With the added pleasure of being a convertible, it is capable of turning many heads.
One thing I do hear a lot from other people is their disliking in the car due to it being a V6. The differences in pricing due to insurance makes the V6 a very attractive offer in my opinion. As a 21 year old female, I cannot afford to double my insurance and the car is a beautiful vehicle for my daily driver.
In addition, although 190 horsepower is not something you would take out to the track, it has plenty of power and is very capable of starting quickly with its torque.
Overall, I love my car. Recently I have been taking an interest up in foreign cars, but I still don't think I would be willing to give up my "little red mustang" as this point in time.
31st Jul 2009, 22:11
Just a point to note: There is no such thing as an SRS Mustang. SRS stands for Supplemental Restraint System, it means you have an airbag.