The screw up was that that the 99 was not making the reported 320HP. Most of those 99's were fixed free of charge. However if you own a 99 you shouold have it checked out by Ford. Ford screwed up so bad on the 99 with HP claims that they did not have time to fix it for the 00 model thats why the Cobra did not come out in 00 it came back out in 01 with the all the HP issues corrected from the factory. It was some minor stuff. I think the they worked the exhaust and some other breathing things to get the car to the claimed 320hp at the crank. As far as your choice it all depends on what you are looking to do. IF your heavy into str8 line performance go with the 96-98. They have the solid rear. Saves you the trouble of having to covert the New Edge. If its a daily driver or you are looking to autocross or somthing type of racing that involes lefts and rights then you can't beat the IRS. Although it is a little heavier unsrpung weight is reduced with IRS and thats what counts anyway. Either car is a great car because it is a Cobra. I say its WIN WIN for you. Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the help. I'll probably just get an 01 so I know the problem is corrected and I could probably find one with under 50,000 miles pretty easily. Hopefully I can find one for under $15,000 as well. I'll the IRS unless I f*ck it up and need to swap to a solid axle.

 

Like I said,I haven't had any problem with my IRS,although I don't have a low 12 second car,It will run high 12s and I really don't see that there would be any problems running low 12 with the IRS.

 

If you like the looks of the 99 and up go with it. The IRS isn't that big of a deal for drag racing. Mine does just fine, if you are worried about wheel hop just get the urethane bushing kit for the rear.

Mine is a daily driver, and the ride benefits and handling are awesome. Also, the 99 - 01 will hold their resale value better. By the way the 99-01 came with 15 extra horse (99s after the recall.)

 

i have a 99 mustang cobra and love it, couldnt decide bt 98 or 99 glad i went with the 99 i have yet to be beat by a chevy, high 12 in 89 degree weather with my car i love it, my car has been fixed and with the upgrades my put down 308 rwhp.

 

The '98 is supposed to have the most aggressive computer tune............but I guess that doesn't matter now with tuners. The '96s had a lot of cooling problems that were supposedly fixed with TSBs, but by '97 and '98 the kinks were worked out.

Aesthetically the '98 lost the dash clock and the clock was put back where it belongs.........in the radio. To me the '98 is the obvous choice if you want to hold onto the car and own the last year of the body style. My '98 was "born" on 06-12-98. Can you say TRUE '98 build!

 

Dude steer clear of the '99s. I am sorry to the '99 owners, but that year will forever go down in history as a bona fide LEMON. It set Ford back so far they didn't even produce a Cobra in '00. The '01 is teh OBVIOUS choice between those two. That "fix" that Ford sent everyone to dealerships scrambling for was a fiasco. As a matter of fact I bought my '98 in October of '99 just to stay away from that mess!

 

There are plenty of low mileage cars out there. My'98 has 27K on it and below is the link to autotrader.com where you will find a '98 with 6k on it! I'd say the average mileage is 70k but if you look hard enough and are willing to pay the money you will find one. No offense to you guys with daily drivers but my two Cobras were sought after by mea for a while. I bought my '98 in '99 with 1900 original miles on it from a collector. Sure I paid him exactly what he wanted but I got basically a NEW car. i just did it again two months ago after deciding I didn't want that POS Shelby that I had a deposit on and autortrader.com once again came to my rescue with it's narrow searches and I found an /04 Cobra with 343 miles on it!!

Decide what you want, a project car, a daily driver that will get beat to ****, or a garage queen like my two that I'd ratehr see in mint condition in the garage than out in the elements.

Good luck on finding one for less than $15k though if you want a prize. No offense but most of these cherry '98's look to be in the $15s!

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...first_record=1