[commart]

This is my first year of Mustang ownership, a 2000 3.8 / 6 with now about 65,000 miles on it (up from 60k when I picked it up a couple of months ago) , so a) consider the source of the note and b) the source is inclined to go very slowly as regards saying anything about the breed.

1. I believe my ride -- note the word "believe": man, am I going to hedge! -- possibly yours too, has a computer that works with you to optimize the vehicle's response to your driving habits. Whether you lose data or alter systems ecology, the computer will try to work through its algorithms.

2. I have a senior mechanic I believe in and trust, and he has a young employee who has Mustang mod projects of his own going in his off duty hours. As a know nothing, I could not ask for better, more experienced, and focused support. My approach at the moment is to consider modifications only if the proposal works front-to-back through the system primarily affected and makes sense with associated functions.

With a stock machine, I have the V6 ride designed by Ford engineers and the line's design and marketing teams. It's been a pretty good show. For the first time in my life, I am driving for the sheer pleasure of it (I can afford the car and gasoline: I'm not so sure about the waterfront restaurants where it likes to cool down while its driver does the same). I don't know enought today to avoid making changes that affect variables of which I am not yet aware and that may result in degraded efficiency, feel, or reliability even while kicking up performance power.

3. Mid-life crisis: for sure -- and may the Pony work its magic on it, lol. I'm getting 65MPH at 2,000RPM; at least one 4.5 hour open highway benchmark of 28.5MPG (that's a tank range above 400 miles): why oh why oh why would I want to fool myself into thinking she's an 8 with a baseline 300HP? That's age talking, of course. And I may want a more powerful vehicle in a couple of years (when I'm old enough), but right now, because of her looks and throat, no joke, I've had bikers pulling wheelies and muscle cars revving behind and 8-cylinder sedans getting itchy, also one tractor trailer (I wasn't competing, but he thought he was) that passed me on the approach to the PA Turnpike--I passed him back 20 minutes later while he was keeping company on the shoulder with some guy in a patrol car-- and I really want to say to all of them, "It's a @*&#* six!"

Just call me "Slo-Pony".

In my defense, I apprecate power pulling into the passing lane; I "get" the competitive urge; and because it's a very smooth ride, and because half of North Carolina's drivers believe they're in some kind of weird two-lane NASCAR thing, I've caught the needle (once) in the very stiff fine range: however, only if I can get modifications that improve gas mileage and horsepower together, that hold up between 105-degrees ambient and down to -5 degrees F, or otherwise take some of the wobble out of the back on washboard, or put a little more "sit" on corners, will I consider a performance mod. I guess that might change too, but right now, I am very much enjoying the Ford engineered version of the ride.

--Jim