So I was one of those guys who gave modern Mustangs a hard time. I always thought they were very cool but I likened them to a medieval club in a world of scalpels. I always respected the 2011+ cars though because they had pretty good power plants at even better prices. I never thought I'd buy one though, especially not a V6. I wanted a cool car, with a stick, that had lots of modding potential and could get through the 1/4 in the 13s. I ended up with a very rare Saab 9-2x Aero 1,000 miles from home that had been previously modified. I loved it... at first. A very popular Youtube personality and S197 driver reviewed it on my drive home (still 700 miles from home now), and it spun a bearing during the review. I replaced the engine and the turbo and only then did I realize how awful it was to have very little confidence in your daily and simultaneously pour outrageous sums of cash into it.
It was at this point I tried to buy an Ecoboost premium with sport package. That didn't work out. I ended up in a 3.7L '12 base model with the 6 speed. It was great on paper but at first, I didn't really like it that much, and I only viewed it as a stepping stone to the S550 when I could afford it later on. Eventually, I realized how much fun these things could be once you started driving them properly and stopped trying to drive them like an AWD turbo car. At this point I love my crappy little V6 way more than I ever thought I would, so with that, let the mods begin!
This is the day I bought the car. I got a great deal on it and it was even in my home town. It had 40k miles and was fully serviced (being sold at a GMC dealer) and I ended up paying a bit over 15k out the door. I didn't love the ingot silver, nor the basic interior, but I've come to terms with both lol.
Time to hit the track and get some baseline runs. I did 8 runs I think and by the end of the night I knocked out 2 14.3s in a row, followed by a 14.2, but my GF wanted to leave and she had been very patient with me so I honored that request lol. I'm confident the car had another 1/10th or 2 to give. It was still enough to worry this Roush Stage 2 3V haha. He only got me by about 1/10th (My reaction was .4 better than his)...
Finally the "mods" begin. I got custom Boss 302 style gauges because I hate the overly retro design of the standard S197, a pretty standard JVC head unit with the Scosche dash kit, and I attempted to dip the decklid black instead of paying the 50 bucks for a panel. That didn't turn out great if I'm honest...
The next round of mods (real mods this time lol) are in the mail now, and I can't wait to see how it turns out!!
It was at this point I tried to buy an Ecoboost premium with sport package. That didn't work out. I ended up in a 3.7L '12 base model with the 6 speed. It was great on paper but at first, I didn't really like it that much, and I only viewed it as a stepping stone to the S550 when I could afford it later on. Eventually, I realized how much fun these things could be once you started driving them properly and stopped trying to drive them like an AWD turbo car. At this point I love my crappy little V6 way more than I ever thought I would, so with that, let the mods begin!
This is the day I bought the car. I got a great deal on it and it was even in my home town. It had 40k miles and was fully serviced (being sold at a GMC dealer) and I ended up paying a bit over 15k out the door. I didn't love the ingot silver, nor the basic interior, but I've come to terms with both lol.
Time to hit the track and get some baseline runs. I did 8 runs I think and by the end of the night I knocked out 2 14.3s in a row, followed by a 14.2, but my GF wanted to leave and she had been very patient with me so I honored that request lol. I'm confident the car had another 1/10th or 2 to give. It was still enough to worry this Roush Stage 2 3V haha. He only got me by about 1/10th (My reaction was .4 better than his)...
Finally the "mods" begin. I got custom Boss 302 style gauges because I hate the overly retro design of the standard S197, a pretty standard JVC head unit with the Scosche dash kit, and I attempted to dip the decklid black instead of paying the 50 bucks for a panel. That didn't turn out great if I'm honest...
The next round of mods (real mods this time lol) are in the mail now, and I can't wait to see how it turns out!!
Last edited:
