Lifeexplorer

I am considering buy a GT, preferably 2010 and on. I'd like to get a sense of its quality. Most of reviews I read focus on how nice it looks and how much fun it drives but hardly any on its quality.

Frankly I don't want to buy a car that will do bi-monthly visit to the dealership beyond just routine maintenance. Just as a comparison. I have a 12 years old Accord which never gave me any problem. 12 years later, no rattle or vibration of any sort and still drives and feels like a new car.

In comparison, I used to have a 96GT. In the short time it's under my custody, first its water pump broke and I spent $800 to fix it, and then it wouldn't start randomly. I spent $$$ to have it towed a number of times and the dealer couldn't figure out what was wrong. It got to a point that I was scared to drive it because I never knew when it would quit and leave me stranded. Then a few months later, some illegal immigrant ran a red light and totaled my GT.

How is the new GT?

Lifeexplorer

I forgot to say that the 96GT I had was only 4 years old. The problems were on top of its driving-me-insane rattles. It seemed its interior parts were all coming off.

jdmcbride

The 2005+ GTs (designated S197s) are a much better car than previous models. Mine is still rattle-free with 59,200 miles. There are a few S197s that have well over 100,000 miles and have had minimal problems, if any. I plan on keeping my car for at least 3 more years, and probably longer!

Nuke

Although the domestics have improved over the past decade or 2, they're still not up there with most of the imports. I'd never expect the reliability from my Ford's like I do my Toyota's. But overall, I'm pretty well pleased with both Stangs, even though mine isn't my DD and my wife doesn't put a lot of mileage on her's, which IS a DD.

Entaille

I am tired of taking my car to the dealership personally.

rough shift issue (2 visits, had to point out a TSB to get action performed)
differential leaking (1 visit, TSB prepared in advance)
paint issue (1 visit)
now I'm having an electrical issue, head units defaulting to AM 600 when the car starts, and my MyColor options are flaking out and picking the wrong colors.

I really don't want to see the dealership again for a while .. maybe I've been lucky, but my accords, 350z, wrx, camaros etc .. never had these sorts of issues and were never at the dealership.

love the car, but boy do I loathe leaving it at the dealership...

Lifeexplorer

See this is the thing I don't want to deal with. Which year is your car?

I assume yours is still under warranty. Imagine you have to pay to get it fixed. :-(

imaredtuna

I've had my 2010 GT Convertible since October of 2009, it currently has 61,000 miles on it. I have had zero quality/build issues with the car to date. The only trips to the dealer have been for the routine maintenance as recommended by Ford. I am pretty picky regarding squeaks and rattles, and fixed two minor things myself. The first was a rattling sound at low speeds in the interior rear quarter trim on the driver's side, which I fixed with a bead of clear RTV along the joint between two of the trim pieces. (did the same to the passenger side just as a precaution). The other was an squeaking sound from the LCA bushings when going over speed bumps in damp weather. The short term fix for this was to use some spray lube on the bushings whenever the squeak appeared, the long term solution was to replace the LCAs with aftermarket ones that have grease fittings incorporated into their design. Otherwise everything else on the car has been rock solid and works great.

Nuke

Also, considering that the # of TSB's associated with the S197 is equal to or greater than the total # of TSB's associated with the 6 different model Toyota's that I've owned, I'm surprised I even own 2 Stangs. Damn Ford for making the S197 such a cool car...

Mishri

It depends on how well you treat your car. My brother's 2000 toyota camry he bought used rattled, had tons of issues and eventually the engine blew up, a valve broke off and scored the cylinder, this was in 2006.

I really dont think toyota or honda are making cars any better than ford does.

You will likely eventually get rattles, you can chase them all down if you like, i've never personally been in a car that didn't have a single rattle a few years, even my uncle's 6 series BMW had a couple of rattles, and i think he paid over 75,000 for the car brand new. for the most part my 2000 grand am didn't have any rattles (assuming im driving on a smooth road) but as soon as there was any roughness to the road things would start rattling, so it's relative.

But again this depends on road conditions and type of driving. I can't imagine a 12 year old accord that never developed a rattle, you must be driving it only sundays on the best roads under 50 miles per hour. My uncles BMW rattled because he lived on a dirt road and it shakes so much that things get loose. you might think well who drives a 6 series bmw and lives on a dirt road. All of his neighbors were millionaires too, ex-pro sports players and such, it was just a decent area with a lot of land.

That being said, at this point I don't notice any rattles in my 2012, i had some rattle from my dash in my 07 at certain RPMs. I've had 0 issues with either of my mustangs.

f4ifrank

I've modified mine, have 35K miles on it now. It's a 2010 and the only issue I have right now is a cam shaft sensor error that nobody can tell me where it's coming from. It runs great though.