You made a great point. I've had ventshades on my trucks and seen folks install them on vehicles so they can smoke without ashes coming back in but have never seen one on a mustang. That's why I originally posted "do you smoke?". I didn't mean to offend you.

You'll have to grow some skin if you frequent forums and don't let folks comments get to you. You seemed to handle it pretty well. ;-)

 

Thanks Rubrignitz ,I have them on my Jimmy and I think it looks naked with out them. Some vehicles look better and some look stupid, it all in the eye of the beholder. And as far as smoking I used to but I quit over 25 years ago and I'm proud as hell that I did, thats why I kind of took offense with the smoking reference I think it's the best thing I have ever done and I think it's the nastiest habit anyone could have , I won't even date a lady who smokes it's like kissing an ashtray. Now to who ever it was that brought up the modding for handling and performance I've done a few mods and if I keep this car suspension is on the top of my list and I've thought about forced induction but the 4.6 block isn't as strong as the 5.4 thats why ford didn't just throw a blower on the 4.6. When I was at Pascals body shop awhile back he had a friends endurance racing mustang in the shop and they run a naturally aspirated 5.4 that they got from ford not the supercharged motor from the gt500 so for the money I may go that route although I'm sure ford is very proud of those price wise or If I want supercharged I would probably get one out of a wrecked gt500 for the durability but thats only my opinion

 

you may want to reconsider that. the 5.4 is an iron block whereas the 4.6 is an aluminum. 150#'s difference in weight over the front of the car. the 5.4 cobra engine is stronger due to the fact it has a forged steel crank/rods and forged aluminum pistons (not to mention the iron block).

For a street car I would stay away from the heavy iron block and build a 4.6 aluminum with forged internals for better handling. You won't see an iron block 5.4 used in either 600+hp formula drift cars or miller cup, GT4 cars due to the weight.

 

You make a valid point a 150lbs is a lot of weight.

 

A 600whp street car is MORE than enough and can be attained with an aluminum block/forged internal 3V. You'd be looking at suspension upgrades far before that point anyway.

Personally, I'd rather have a 600whp car that can run on a track with the best of them than a drag car with much more hp. But that's just me.

 

And I'll be honest I'm not totally disappointed in my mustang, I love the way it looks, but in stock trim ford left a bit to be desired in handling and performance which is all correctable at a price. When I was shopping since I was paying cash I couldn't justify more then 32 grand. I looked at and drove about everything worth having the charger was the worst of any I didn't even get out of the dealers lot before I knew it was not for me it's just a 4 door boat and a stick wasn't even an option. The best handling of all and the sweetest shifting was the honda s2000 but no back seat the 350z came in second handling was almost as good and it will out accelerate the mustang by a good bit my roommate at the time had a 07 Z and proved it as often as he could even after UDP's cold air and a tune but again no back seat and even worse no trunk for the beer cooler. the infinity g37 was my car of choice it has the suspension and the motor of the Z and had the back seat and the trunk but the price tag was almost 40 and it didn't look as good as the mustang which like I said was the best looking of the bunch. I couldn't find a leftover gto with a stick let alone black which I wouldn't budge on the color. I even thought about a a 2 year old vette but I really wanted new and the no back seat there were a few others that aren't even worth mentioning. so I did do my homework contrary to what someone brought up.. And in the end I ended up with my mustang. And some of my disappointment may be nitpicking but the biggest issue is with ford itself, I have a popping noise in the left rear if I go over a double bump and the gas tank fueling issue that even turning the nozzle upside down doesn't help most of the time and you know what ford headquarters told me TUFF **** they're not even gonna try to fix it! So now everyone here knows the reason for my disappointment. Weather anyone agrees with me or not I cant help feeling this way about a brand new car.

 

Well, for what it's worth, you can browse over to all the other car forums and they like to use the Mustang/S197 as a benchmark. Stock it's no performer. Hell, when I test drove it I wasn't impressed at all (the salesman was. lol!).

The aftermarket is better for this car than any other and every mod increases it's potential. That's why I own one...

 

I also agree with handling over strait line performance. I've got 46 years of experience ridding motorcycles street and dirt (never a harley)and going in a strait line never did anything for me that's why I said earlier in this thread that the turn at the end of the strait-away separates the men from the boys.

 

It's all about what your looking to attain.

 

I don't know where you live I just move back to Orlando from Atlanta, but if you like the twisties and live anywhere near North Carolina ant the very southwest part there is a section of mountain road called Deal's Gap where there are 318 turns in 11 miles and it is AWESOME!!! check it out http://www.tailofthedragon.com/