Kohrs93

I'm 17 years old and i currently own a 1994 jeep wrangler which i love. But seeing as it's a brick on wheels with a 2.5L engine, I decided to graduate a semester early in order to get a full time job and pay it off, then hopefully get a new, faster car. I've had my eye on getting a 96-04 Mustang GT or Cobra because I love the body style. I definately want it to be a 5 speed. It will most likely be something that i have for a long time and put alot of work into. It probably won't be till next july/august until I buy it but I figured i would get started now. I'm looking for any information/tips/advice you can give me. Should I buy from a dealer or private? What price range would i be looking at? What are problem areas that i should be checking out?? Anything, and I mean ANYTHING else you can tell me would be great. I can tell you quite a bit about jeeps, due to being on a wrangler forum for about 7-8 months and putting over 60 hours worth of work into mine so far, but I don't know much at all about muscle cars. So anything helps

Soldier GT

Most importantly congrats on graduating a year early. As far as the car's concerned the Cobra is by far the superior New Edge Mustang. I really don't know your finacial situation but the Cobra will cost a pretty penny compared to a GT. You can get a nice GT for around 8 grand I would guess (depends on what part of the country you're in also)..What I would do is compare prices.. Go on ebay, craigslist and autotrader and you can get a really good idea on how much these cars cost.. Good luck young man..

Kohrs93

Thanks for the info. I paid $3,000 for my jeep and its building me credit, so assuming i dont miss a payment I should be fine for getting a $10,000+ loan with my parents co-signing for it. That's just a guess though i could be way off. And I live in Illinois right by the mississippi. I've seen them on craigslist around the chicago area for around 7-8grand in pretty nice condition. And when i buy it i'm hoping to have $2-3,000 for a downpayment as i plan on working full time january-july when i start college. Any idea on what insurance would run for me on say a gt? I haven't had any accidents yet.

sonicx

Congrads w/ the early Grad

It depends on which insurance company your covered with. Assuming that your GPA is good, they'll knock it off a little for that, no accidents nor having any moving violations also helps. But your age is going to be a huge factor against you.... it'll be higher compared to someone whom is in their mid 20's. Best bet is to call your agent and ask directly. Then also are you going to be under your folks insurance plan or your own insurance? Because there going to be a huge $$$ between the two.

Hangwire

Make sure you get a 2003-2004 GT with less than 50,000 miles if you plan to build on this car and own it for a while. By 2003 Ford had all the bugs worked out that the 1999 New Edge had, such as switching to an aluminum coolant crossover on the intake manifold instead of plastic. There are threads on the changes in the past but I dont feel like looking them up lol.

To afford a decent 03-04 Cobra you're going to need 16-20k cash. I wouldnt suggest starting off with a supercharged Mustang as my first, but if you do I would start off slow and get used to driving it and learning about whats under that hood and how it works before you mod.

Kohrs93

Thanks guys. I think I will probably be under my insurance. I was thinking a rough estimate would be around 150 a month?

And thanks for the suggestion on what year, that's exactly the kind of information I'm looking for

HasABetterSN

I went from a Wrangler to my GT also, what a difference that was!

I pay $5 more a month for my GT than what I paid for my Wrangler, but I'm 21 and have had no accidents/tickets. Hopefully it will be about like that for you

Best of luck!

Rokgtar

I agree with HW above... get an 03/04 GT with as low miles on it as possible. That will give you a solid, reliable platform to work with. Buy an older car and you start worrying about reliability, etc... Buy the newest Stang you can with the least miles.

piledriver

For 10 large you can get your hands on a 01 - 02 Mustang. I would get one that is stock or near stock, so you can mod it your way. I would try to get a low milage car, an '02 is 8 years old, so say 80K miles.
Or you can buy mine for 15K, check my Signature, she's ready to go, never driven in rain or snow, she's in pristine condition, 64K miles on the car itself, 10k on the Cobra Shortblock with forged internals.
Ran a 11.97 last year.

Kohrs93

If your willing to wait till next summer that might be a possibility :P

I won't be getting it till next summer around july/august when i have my jeep paid off and have 2-3,000 saved up. But thanks for the info guys. It really helps me out alot