theautomaton

Hi everyone. This is actually my first post here.
I had no plans on buying a "new" car, but totaled mine completely last week and now find myself in the position to buy a new old car (ha). I found a '97 GT that I pretty much fell in love with for a pretty decent price, but it has 137K miles on it. This doesn't really bother me as my wrecked car was a '97 (though not a Mustang) with 190K and it ran great, so I'm not scared of high miles, but I figured I should try to connect with people who own high mileage Mustangs.

This car is beautiful. Leather and so clean. It's like the day it was built it's so clean and pristine inside and the outside has one tiny ding. I was blown away by the condition of the car and I really think that if someone babied the thing to that extent they probably took care of the parts that mattered too, but anyway.

Does anyone here have a Mustang with over 150,000 and are they prone to any specific problems that don't plague any vehicle? For example, Saturns seem to have an unfettered hunger for alternators that I have never noticed in other cars. Ha.

getafewlives

Im just shy of 240,000 kms (150,000 miles) on my 1999.

I have had it for over a year and a half and driven it for about 20,000 kms. I have had nothing but good experiences. Car runs great, and nothing has really broken. I have only had to do routine maintenance things like front brakes.

Keep in mind, the car was bone stock and the old owner mostly used it for work. So he wasn't some punk beating on it. Also he always did royal purple synthetic oil changes.

Z28KLR

If it's been taken care of the way you suspect it has you should be ok. Maybe have a mechanic look it over for any maintenance issues or signs that things aren't what they seem. Like most, these cars have a fairly long life (I have family members with 4.6's in their cars that went 250 -300K no problem) if they've been properly cared for and not overly abused.

JC316

Dude, you are in Texas, 137K is LOW here. My odometer stopped working at 156K miles and my car is still great. I had a 96 S10 Blazer with 199K miles on it and it still looked and drove like brand new. My mom had a 90 Towncar that had 189K on it and it was fine. Hell, my dad's 98 Dodge ram has 210K on it and it's still going strong. All in how it was maintained.

atrain59

I had a 96 gt that went 200,000 plus and the only problem i had out of it was the thermostat changed it and it was fine

Chris98Gt

Check the coolant crossover on the intake, they WILL crack and leak if they haven't been changed to the upgraded aluminum piece. With that many miles it has either already happened or is about to. When I got my car it was bone stock with 168k on it and within 3 months the crossover cracked. Not a big deal to change though, just a bargaining chip if it still has the fully plastic intake.

00blk4.6

ive got 162,000 and running fine. the plastic neck on the intake like chris said is the only problem ive heard of

theautomaton

Thanks for the advice on the crossover. I am not particularly mechanically inclined, so that helps a lot.

We went and looked at it and it did not start. The people working there were all imbeciles and knew absolutely nothing about cars in general and the Mustang in particular. It was astounding. Does anyone remember the kind of people who used to be car salesmen? I mean, yeah, it was annoying. They were horrible, high-pressure people, but at least they pretended to know something about the stuff they're selling. Now if you ask how many tires the car has they have to go to the window and try to read the print-out taped there before telling you four.

We actually found a much nicer Mustang that we are going to look at tomorrow and see what it is like and if not we'll go back to the non-starting '97 as the incredibly mechanically inclined, Mustang obsessed family member I took along was sure it was something we would be able to fix easy in no time.

Thanks for all the replies! I really appreciate it.

And yes, that is pretty good mileage for Texas. Like I said, my old car had 190k and I know for a fact she could have kept going and going for at least another two or three years easy if it wasn't for the wreck.