How Would You Rate Your Mustang Experience?

[CarMichael Angelo]

Driving around today for the pure hell of it, as I regularly do(w/o a pretentious hat I might add). I was wondering how many of you would rate the ride on your 20+ year old car.
Expounding on that, how would rate the experience?

Having had two of the best riding(I.M.O. ) currently available late model "Pony cars" (2005 GTO's) as a reference, I have a relatively skewed comparison to judge mine against. Since I haven't ridden in any other fox mustang other than mine, I have no idea of what most of you put up with for the sake of driving an "old" car.

My car is tight, and rattle free w/ the exception of the harshest of bumps. The ride is a little stiff, and I'd say choppy due to the short wheel base. The noise level inside is good w/ the windows rolled up at 70 MPH, no wind noise to speak of, The exhaust is very audible at w/o throttle, but I can hear the cooling fan and the fuel pump while cruising or stopped at an intersection.
I get alot of heat from the firewall, around the footwells and my damn feet about bake off after the car has been running awhile. The dash heat reflection is another gripe. And of course, I frequently get blasted w/ exhaust fumes depending on whether or not I came flying up to an intersection and had to stop hard w/ the windows down.

As for the experience, taking all of the above into consideration,...I'd say it's one of the most fun cars I've ever owned, not counting the reaction it gets from the few drivers who aren't staring straight ahead. I know it won't ride like any late model regardless of what I do to it, ( short of adding another 800 lbs to make it weigh the same as the GTO)

I do know this. You pull up to a Harley, and every inch of that bike is shaking to beat hell, and it in turn is keeping the rider equally tingly purely because hes sitting on it. That has got to suck, but there are tens of thousands of Harley riders that wouldn't trade it for anything.
Maybe there'll be some negative attribute that'll be globally assigned to these cars that'll one day identify the driver of one of them as a similar masochist to a Harley rider,...
Like "look,..that guy is holding his back, he must have a fox mustang w/ the Eibach mega-sport spring package". Maybe a fox Mustang will be the new cool,.....maybe those of you that continue to own one despite contrary advice from your kidney doctor will get inducted into some club for large balled men,......... Maybe, history will mark the body style as so ahead of its' time, simply owning one of them makes you a visionary. I don't know,...it could happen

Just curious

 

[stykthyn]

the only rattle I have is my windows when they are rolled down( I havent found a way to fixt that yet.) I love it. the sound, the smell, the feel, its as close to an honest 60's muscle car as I will get these days and it ALWAYS draws stares and compliments. I dont care if I am just going to top off with gas or pick the kids up from school. The exhaust is loud,the ride with sport springs is harsh, and the rear wheels are so wide I need to take slow turns so I dont rub inner fenders, my stereo has an old motley crue cd that is stuck in it and I have no antenna. I wouldnt trade any of this for any other car. My experience would be a 7 out of 10. It would be higher but it will never replace the 71 T/A that I used to have. It is and always will be the car I miss the most.

 

[jrichker]

I have been driving 5.0 Fox Mustangs since 1992: I have complained about the harshness of the ride and the drone of the Flowmaster exhaust system, but never about how much fun it is to drive. This is the second 5.0 Mustang I have owned. The first one got totaled when a hit and run driver tried to pass me on the LH side when I was making a LH turn onto the street I lived on at the time. That ended the 16 years and 230,000 miles that I personally put on the car. I was very disappointed when the insurance company totaled the car, but they did me a nice check. That check , another $1500 and a wife who saw how much I missed the car and took it to heart, are the reason for the second 5.0 Mustang. She searched the Auto Trader high and low until she found an 89 5.0 LX, same exterior color, gray interior and 5 speed. That was 4 years and 17,000 miles ago. I plan to keep driving it until they either take my driver's license away or gasoline becomes prohibitively expensive. At some point in time, I will have a nice paint job done and it can become a garage queen, only driven on weekends and fair weather.

There is still a 3.55 Turbo Coupe rear axle, an Explorer intake manifold and a set of Ford Racing SS shorty headers and a lot of other parts left over from the first Mustang. I bought it back from the insurance company and stripped off all the good parts I had put on it. That has served me well since if I need a part, it often turns out that I just need to dig through the stack of old boxes in the garage. Some day I will get energetic and ambitious and put the rest of the goodies from the first Mustang onto the current one. That will be even more fun...

 

[foxna6]

I wouldn't trade mine for the world though it has its quirks it loud stiff super clean people go out of there way to check it out smile thumbs up or what not soccer moms think its a race car and roll up the Windows so as not to smell the fumes and hear the noise there kids can't stop looking I just love it and I built it right here in my garage with my 2 hands I also have a sn-95 it get no where neer the same looks so that being said 10 out of 10 Fox4life

 

[Vaz88GT]

When I was a kid our family car was a 1972 Impala Custom. I get the same good old feeling from my 88 fox even though its 16 years younger

 

[wythors]

Every winter, after my convertible has been off the road for about three months, I start to think that I should probably sell it. After all, I only put about 1,000 miles a year on it. Then, on the first nice day it starts up on the first crank, I drop the top and I punch the throttle. As I shift out of second and into third, a get a huge smile on my face and I realize that this car will be with me until the day I die. 10/10

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Compared to my F150, my Fox feels like a hay wagon. I didn't buy it for the ride or the build quality....because quite frankly it sucks.

As a fun little head turner, it get's a 9/10
As a daily driver it gets about a 5/10

I fell in love with certain aspects of the car (the light feel, torque, looks, colour, sound, reputation) for very particular reasons, but hate it for just as many reasons (ride, fit and finish, reliability, rattles, it's ability to nickel and dime me to death, etc).

 

[Shakerhood]

My car is a blast to drive and helps me relax, any quirks it has just adds to it character!

 

[Bullitt95]

A new Mustang GT might be worth 10 times as much as mine but it isn't anywhere near 10 times as good. Performance-wise mine isn't a million miles behind the new GT and the handling is excellent, the ride is acceptable, the car is virtually rattle-free, build quality is good, noise is well-suppressed, and the car is fun to drive.
I get a lot of bang for my buck and I wouldn't trade it for a new one.

 

[Ozz]

I have a couple tiny rattles in mine, but so does my '03 G35. Being a convertible though, it does get pretty noisy even w/the top up, but that's not much of a problem as the Vortech and exhaust are loud enough to help disguise it anyway. When the top is down, the system is cranking out some metal, and the car is screaming there's nothing better.

 

[Vaz88GT]

The only rattle I have is my speedometer shaking

 

[No.11]

I've considered selling my fox several times, especially when something breaks. but then once I get it back on the road there is no better feeling than punching the throttle and hearing that rumble and watching heads turn. oh yeah when I'm coming, people know it. and I seem to get respect from the cops on my area, I guess since I don't drive like an asshat all the time.

 

[95BlueStallion]

I do miss the feel of my past foxes, and my '95, but the excitement has not worn off yet of my new car. I loved how muscular they felt, and the attention they drew. I wish I could have kept the '86 T-top, but it had been severely molested and needed a lot more work then I was willing to put into it. Had I bought it restored, there would have been no better feeling than cruising around in it with the tops off.

 

[fiveohwblow]

There should be no ranking system for greatness.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

A new Mustang GT might be worth 10 times as much as mine but it isn't anywhere near 10 times as good. Performance-wise mine isn't a million miles behind the new GT and the handling is excellent, the ride is acceptable, the car is virtually rattle-free, build quality is good, noise is well-suppressed, and the car is fun to drive.
I get a lot of bang for my buck and I wouldn't trade it for a new one.

Hard to compare the stock performane of a new GT to a mofidied Fox and be objective.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Hard to compare the stock performane of a new GT to a mofidied Fox and be objective.

That's cause he's probably never been in a new GT. I'd have a hard time getting back into my car after driving one. I'd call anybody a liar that says they wouldn't do it, if there was some fairytale finance program that would let anyone trade in their fox for a new 5.0, and only have to pay 99.00 a month, and have to pay no additional ins premium.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

That's cause he's probably never been in a new GT. I'd have a hard time getting back into my car after driving one. I'd call anybody a liar that says they wouldn't do it, if there was some fairytale finance program that would let anyone trade in their fox for a new 5.0, and only have to pay 99.00 a month, and have to pay no additional ins premium.

Yeah.....love for ones Fox is one thing, but like I said once before. If the opportunity presented itself, I'd drive my Fox straight to the crusher if it mean I was leaving in a brand new GT.

There are plenty of go fast goodies and flashy parts being sold for the new cars that would keep my mod bug satisified for years and years to come.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I absolutely love it. I get just as much enjoyment out of a late night summer cruise down some back roads as i do racing it. We've been together a long time though, we've grown on each other. After so many years it becomes more than a car, it's part of the family.

 

[wythors]

I could get up tomorrow morning, drive over to the Ford dealership about two miles from my house and drive home in my pick of any Mustang on their lot, if I so chose. BUT, the new Mustangs don't do a thing for me. They're just a car. If I was to buy a new muscle car, it would probably be a Challenger. That said, I have no desire for a new toy car. I drive a Fox by choice because I love them, not because I can't afford anything else.

 

[95Vert383AOD]

I like my 95...."LIKE" But i "LOVED" My Lincoln Mark 7. The build quality was so much better. If i find an unmolested one i would buy it in a heartbeat. Only downside is people used to tell me i had a nice Cougar.