Possible Mustang Purchase
 

I am looking to buy a newer car for my wife and I to drive. I am
especially interested in 96- mustangs with the modular V8. I am wondering about reliability though. My wife will be using it as a commuter, and I really don't want her to end up stranded. My previous experience with GM products has turned me off to american cars altogether, but I have hear good things about the mustangs. I am only really interested in V8's and manual transmissions. We are budgeting between 7 and 8 thousand for a car... can a good one be had for that? What kind of life expectancy do the cars have? What should I look out for? My wife is a small asian woman, will she have any problem with the stock clutch? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

all mustangs are good cars.

I'd say it would be a good commuter, it runs very smoothly on the highway.

Mustangs + regular maintenance = reliable

What's up GreenGoblin? I know you from EastBayRacing!

Revenant: Mustangs are very reliable as far as the engine is concerned. My 00 has some rattles and stuff but I deal with it cause I love the car overall. My mom drives a Lexus ES300, it's 7 years old, and she has NEVER had one problem with it. Then again, it's slow, and doesn't handle well at all. You make the choice. Also, for 7 or 8 grand, it might be tough to find a 96 or newer GT. Even if you do, the 96-97's have intake problems, and if they haven't already, they will explode. Make sure you find out whether the intake has been fixed yet before you buy. I had a 97 GT for 2 months, and when it blew, it sucked. My best advice would be to pick up a 98 or 99 if you can afford it.
The 98's had a few more horses then the previous years, but are still almost a full second slower than the 99's. If you care about modding it, or about speed in general, definitely spring for the 99. If speed is not that big an issue, the 98 will do nicely: It's fast enough, and IMO, looks very nice. Good luck, and let us know what you get.

If you're gonna stick to that price range, you're better off looking for a reliable 94-95 5.0 GT. They are very hard to find in nice shape now, but the engine is a workhorse you can expect 120,000-150,000 out of before it could really use a rebuild. Some people push them to 200,000mi+ My 87GT 5.0 has 161k on it. Never had an engine problem.

How often stuff breaks depends on maintanence, driving style, and modifcation.

hey sup Stoplightwarrior, I see we roam the same websites, and we live in the same area.

thats cool, how often do you go to the oakland runs? if you go that is.

btw- which runs faster? your 2000 GT or your 94 cobra?