satur9poet

Noob here. I'm seriously considering purchasing my first Mustang this year. I've always loved the way these cars look and drive, and some of my friends have 'stangs and absolutely adore them.

I'm not interested right this moment in fancy mods and gear; what I mostly want is a nice reliable car that's fun to drive that's also not an endless money pit. The most likely model I'm considering is the V6 automatic due to insurance costs and gas.

So, how reliable are these cars? How are they maintenance-wise? What kinds of problems have you encountered with your car? What should I be on the lookout for when car shopping? I don't want to get stuck with a POS!

Thanks muchly for your responses!

Xeno

i bought my '05 used, and i am usually a little leery about buying a car that has been completely re-vamped for that year. but so far, i have had no 'major' problems with it. i've had a couple of the tsb's done on it, but the newer models pretty much have the problems the tsb's cover fixed. overall, unless you buy a lemon, you shouldn't have much if any problems

i will say, check the insurance rate for a gt, depending on your age, it may not be that much of a difference from a v6 (i was 22/23 when i traded my 02 v6 for my current 05 gt, and the difference was only about 100 bucks a year). plus, the gt's don't really get that much worse gas mileage (i have a long term average of 17 city).

good luck

fosman77

Get the 4.6

Nuke

First off, the GT gets only about 2 MPG less than the V6. I average about 22 -23 MPG with about 90% highway driving. I think you'll be sorry if you don't get the GT.

As far as reliability, hey, it's a FORD. Give it time. There are a minor few of those out there with S197's that have racked up enough mileage (at least 100,000) to lend any credence to reliability claims. Anyone that raves about great reliability before 100,000 miles is someone that doesn't know what REAL reliability is.

Since the '05's were the first of the S197 model year, those may have been plagued with a few more problems despite the total # of TSB's for ALL model years so far.

I've had 6 Toyotas, nearly all of which were virtually trouble free beyond 200,000 miles. I've spent more $$ troublshooting the 3 or 4 domestic vehicles I've owned before any of them had 100,000 miles than I spent in my total maintenance in over 900,000 miles on the Toyotas. So I suppose reliability is a matter of perspective. I only have 27,000 miles on the Stang with no problems but that's just broken in by my standards.

I bought my Stang to have fun. I really don't expect to keep it too long.

Oh, and the money pit WILL occur but more from modding (which is addictive) than maintenance.

Legion5

The insurance costs of the GT and v6 are about the same as is the gas millage. The GT has variable valve timing which makes gives it great gas mileage and makes it much more efficient than the v6 for it's size. FYI I've driven both.

All modern cars uniformly with very little variation last 10 years and 100k miles between all brands except for exotics and land rovers, this is due to modern engineering principles. They have an average of 2-3 problems costing an average amount to fix. Unlike just 10 years ago where the make and model of the car determined it's reliability now the previous and current owners are the single most important factor in determining reliability.

So pretty much just do the exact opposite of everything you wanted to do in your original post. =P

MrSandman

He didn't ask if he should get a GT or v6.. just asked if they were reliable. His insurance may or may not be the same.. that varies greatly on location.

The only "problems" I have had with my car were my own doing. I am very satisfied with regard to reliability and the solid feel this car has. All you really have to do is change the oil and rotate the tires.. that's it.

As far as gas milage goes ... the v6 and GT can get a wide range.. and it depends entirely on how you drive the car. I can get 27-30 mph on the highway if I go around 60mph.. or I can get 19-21 mpg .. just depends on how aggressive I drive.

dschmink

Can't complain with as little work as I've done with this car. The only major thing aside from tsb's and routine maintenance that has happened is I blew a power steering pump getting the car out of snow. Dunno how, dunno why... but I left a nice pool of mustang blood on the snow. That happened at 19.5k miles.

Buckshot Barry

When you go shopping for your 2005+ Mustang, I would suggest that you take a close look at the passenger side floor board and search for dampness or a musty smell.

There has been a notorious leak problem in this area. What's worse, it is right in the area of major electrical components. Often it is seals that were not properly made at the factory, but sometimes it is attributed to the drain holes in the cowl getting clogged up with gunk from trees and such.

This problem may have been blown out of proportion because of the Internet, but I would surly check this one item out.

Now this leak may have been intentional, as I found a good article about 65' to 68' Mustangs with similar issues. The 05's+ are retro, so you gotta take the good with the bad j/k

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/projec...air/index.html

owero01

Got 82,000 miles and no problems. I'm very modded and the only maintenance is regular oil change and tire rotation. I know there is a owner on the forum that has well over 100k and still going strong.

str8wick3d

My 05 so far,

Transmission broke.. Had to replace, Gas tank doesn't fill up at all pumps, tachometer broken, e-brake broken, and throttlebody needed to be replaced.

fun car....