Advice/Questions on purchasing a 96-98 Cobra

[Nvidia]

How are the 96-98 cobras? I'm considering buying one soon, but I see A LOT of them for sale, and quite a few around my town that regularly change hands pretty quickly, so I was wondering if there was a reason for it.

How does a stock one feel, power-wise? I'm sure it would be a bit of a step back compared to my 88GT, down low, but modular motors make much better power after 4k, which is why they needs gears, correct? How much of a difference do the bolt-ons for these cars make? TB? Gears? Pulleys? Exhaust?

They also have the T5? Or is it a different transmission? Are they prone to breaking at all, or are they stronger?

Are there any problems with them besides the 96 Cobras with the cooling system recall? I wanna make sure I'm not buying a bad apple that's gonna give me problems for the whole time I own it, as I'm going to make this a DD.

Mileage? There's quite a few going pretty cheap around here, but the ones under 8k all have over 100,000 miles on them. With these motors, how quickly do they tire out? I don't mind buying a higher-mileage one, as long as it's not gonna come back to bite me. What's the usual limit on these things before they need a rebuild or start to break down? My dad was gonna throw me a grand or so to help me get into one of these as a graduation present, but he's extremely squeamish about the higher-mileage ones. "That's 100k of someone beating on that car" he says. I think he makes sense, but I don't know these cars at all, so I'll ask you guys.

Anything in particular I should look for when I examine one before I purchase? Any spots prone to rust, any way I can see if the car's been beaten down?

Thanks for reading, and I hope to own one soon. :SNSign:

 

[BlackOnBlackCobra96]

These cars are pretty solid, even after 100K miles. I'd watch out for de-modded ones that had nitrous, etc. Try to buy from an old guy if you can. The 96-98 Cobras have T-45 transmissions, which is just a modified T-5. The tranny still will eventually break with slicks or heavy abuse. I haven't seen too many rusty ones, so that isn't an issue. The leather on the seats can look old fast. These are great cars. I still love mine after 7 years of ownership.

 

[1994Vib.RedGT]

I dunno, down low they still feel pretty good; I currently own a 5.0 and my friend has a bone stock 97, and down low it feels pretty similar.

 

[NoSlowsn95]

I've owned 4 mustangs, and I would never go back to a GT after owning the cobra. Everything about it feels better than the GT's do, especially the power. I bought mine with 118K on the odo, and the previous owner said he had replaced the engine not that long ago. It was a used one from ford, so there was no telling how many miles it had on it, but bone stock it made 261rwhp/260rwtq. Thats a tad bit better than what they were rated at. I've used mine with the charger on as a daily driver for over 2 years and not had any major problems, although I do baby it compared to most. The only things that suck about the car is the cost of things. It's expensive to repair and mod, because there is only a fraction of them compared to the GT's. You have to run 93 octane (I'm sure you already do in yours), you should run full synthetic oils, 17" tires are not cheap, and you can't run anything less than 17" because of the 13" front brakes. Stuff like that can add up, but once you own one, you'll realize it is definitely worth it.