Misbehavin

I agree. There's always been one in my garage for over 21 years now. I could have had many different cars throughout the years. However the Mustang is the only car that really interests me.

Mustangmaster

Mustangs, especially 05-10 are just flat out the best looking cars out there...imho. I have my dream car right now. If I sat in any other car daily, I would be wishing I was sitting in a Mustang. I'm so glad I live in the time when this car is introduced. If I had the money, I'd buy another one. Probably a 2010 in either gold or white.

TPony

Good to go!

1morepart

glad you decided to keep the stang, but you will be hard pressed to enjoy it like the vettes you test drove

Burrosito

Ditto. I had my Mustang in the shop recently doing some body repairs, and so I was driving an '08 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Bottom end, with a whopping 163hp! Auto!

I felt so ashamed for driving it. It was a hard two weeks to get through...

Bmr4life

Oh, I see what you're saying. You'd have other cars, but you would still have A Mustang. I would NOT have an S197. I'd have an old Boss or Shelby. My daily driver would be a completely debadged and stock looking (other than wheels) Renntech Mercedes.

S281 E

Glad to hear you decided to keep it. Once you get the mods on you'll be happier with it.

cummins cowboy

ditto that, I could easily see how a turbo setup could suck, heck all the pics of the ones I see here even the nice chromed out ones have the air filters sitting openly right in the engine bay drawing tons of hot under hood air.

however many folks have great luck with the many supercharger kits out there, no amount of money spent on N/A mods will get you to 450 RWHP better than a SC, you will save money in the long run, plus your car will be at an advantage at those higher altitudes, you will be able to beat up on all those stock fast cars you drove, well maybe not the ZO6 but it will be much closer of a race and maybe one that could go to the better driver. don't waste all that money on cams and other stuff, at the end of the day you will spend thousands to be at 325 rwhp, if you are at 5000' elevation, for likely the same money you can sport 450rwhp and blow the doors off stock camaro's and challengers and catch some vettes off guard, that would bring the fun back in driving the car.

Nuke

Compared to the other cars you list that you test drove, I'd be surprised if you thought the Stang was up there with them since they cost about 50-100% more. But the Stang, dollar-for-dollar, is one of the best bangs-for-the-buck and being so highly "modable", you can't strike it from the list. Plus, I find the Stang as "head-turning" if not more than the Corvette and much more so than the others you mention.

breathegood

Despite what anyone else may tell you about newer vs. older or early problems that have been solved by STS, the oil return system on the STS kit is the weak link. Period. I had problems with oil return and STS treated me like a$$. I'm more upset with their level of support (or lack thereof) than I am with the product. If you want the detailed story, I've posted it in other threads.

I live at 6200' and drive down to 5200' three days a week. I know and understand the pitfalls of staying N/A at this elevation. I don't street race, and I don't take it to the track. I use it as a fair-weather-only daily driver. For the month and half that the STS kit worked like it was suppose to, the car was wicked, scary fast. I could rip the tires loose in 4th gear at 65mph.....but I had to be in boost to enjoy it. I just don't drive the car that way. My other vehicle is a 2002 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with S/C, headers, 7th injector, piggyback computer, tune, lift, tires, gears, etc., etc., etc. I've been down the S/C road before, so I thought I'd go down the turbo road......that didn't work out so well on this car. The tuner told me he could fab up an underhood set of manifolds and install and tune my leftover STS parts for ~$4500 which is reasonable, but I'm past that now (not to mention a little gunshy of turbo setups), and that would have dipped deep into the suspension and stereo part of my budget. I don't intend on keeping the Mustang forever, just until the time is right to get myself into the Porsche that I've been dreaming about since I was old enough to recognize a nice car when I saw one.

As for why the 'stang doesn't thrill me.....Stock, it might as well be a Taurus. It doesn't cradle you or handle like a true sportscar, and I find the driving experience is just bland. It doesn't have enough horsepower to compete with the larger powerplants offered from the ram and bowtie, and it doesn't have the handling finesse to feel like a sportscar. But my biggest complaint is fit and finish. At 5000 miles, the car had more squeeks and rattles than my Tacoma with 130,000 that I use and abuse on and off the pavement....that is just unacceptable for a brand new car that gets pampered, babied, and only driven in good weather. That being said, I LOVE the look of the car, and the options that came with the C/S package make it a pretty damn nice car. With a little more umpf, and tighter handling, it will be much more pleasing to drive.