Might be shopping for an 05-09 GT soon

[07gts197]

My 07 gt has been to hell and back lol. I had the clutch plate grenade while driving, but there was a tsb on it I found afterwards... It needs a new slave cylinder so its hard to shift but its still going until I can install a new one. If going for a stick, I would get at least poly shifter bushings and poly motor mounts. Oh and the original evaporator core leaked but I was able to replace it in my front yard for about 200 bucks. But thats unheard of with these cars so dont sweat it. It has about 140k miles on it and all is well. These are pretty trouble free cars imo, even when modded.

The spark plugs arent that bad but many people have had a worse experience than I when replacing them. I only broke 1 plug and that was with no penetrating oil, a cold motor and using a 30" breaker bar. Luckily I had a cool buddy on another forum lend me lisle spark plug extractor tool for shipping.

And I dont track my car but Ive screwed around on the streets and its still going strong. Sure its not a coyote but these are still great cars and run pretty well with just bolt ons.

 

[Paulluap]

1969 is my absolutely favorite year for the Mustang
The headlights along with the fog lights really make the 1969 stand out among vintage stangs. Along with so many options that year for different types of Mustang you wanted.
V6, convertible, grande, mach 1 with a 351 390 and 428, gt, boss 302, boss 429 and I think some Shelbys too if I'm not mistaken. Mach 1 has always been my favorite car. But the last year for the good stangs in the vintage era was 1970 imo. When 71 came out it was as though Mustang tanks had invaded the US lol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

Yes the 71 was very different.
I am very happy with my 06GT but if I win the lottery (or when the kids leave home and I can sell my house and live in a shed) I am going to order a 1969 from here - http://brandnewmusclecar.com/
Brand new with all the latest gadgets (I like gadgets)
That should see me out.

 

[NUTCASE]

I think I see some of the OPs point now. But the thing is a lot of us either blow our motors up or build it for power before anything like a tapping valve would have a chance to do damage.

But like I said my motor made those noises at 30k miles and now after adding 70k miles of nitrous huffing red lining hell it still makes the same exact noises and runs just fine.

kind of like how you can drive a GM 5.3 or 6.0 250k miles with piston slap and some other motors burn oil their whole lives I am sure with care you could run a 3v to a very old age with the valvetrain rattling away. Further more there are F150s and explorers driving around with 250k miles on the same exact valvetrain.

I think a creative question at this point is how many miles do you plan on buying one with and how long do you expect to go with[or without] beating it before she needs a new motor.

 

[lindertw]

Furthermore, I'm looking for another Mustang to use as a daily driver and have been considering finding a lower mileage 05-09 to serve that purpose. Nice cars...

how do you feel about the color green? lol... 26k miles on my 05, I can even swap the 4.56's out for the OEM 3.55's if desired

 

[NUTCASE]

If there was an award with going the furthest with the least investment, this guy would have the gold.

The car is surprisingly stock so you have a ton of room to do as you please.

 

[46addict]

If there was an award with going the furthest with the least investment, this guy would have the gold.

The car is surprisingly stock so you have a ton of room to do as you please.

To be fair, there was negative DA, excellent track prep, and a factory freak car playing in his favor. But yes, his results have been impressive.

 

[lindertw]

To be fair, there was negative DA, excellent track prep, and a factory freak car playing in his favor. But yes, his results have been impressive.

I can't help the fact that I'm surrounded by kick ass tracks

 

[077tango]

Obviously I don't have the newest or fastest, but I really like my 2006 and I'm having way to much fun playing like a teenager. I smile every time I start the motor and feel a tad bit cocky when I punch it a little. Yes I have done a few mods, taken it to the strip and planning on a few hpde's starting January. I get comments from young and old everywhere I go (especially from women). This is what I could afford and have no regrets buying my Legend Lime Mustang.

 

[83-88T-Bird Guy]

I have had great luck with my 05 GT in my sig.
I got it in April of this year for $ 4,500 with 35K miles and stock wheels.
Runs high 12's with a stock auto trans and rear gears.

I want another 3valve but I prefer the 2010 because of the body style

 

[83-88T-Bird Guy]

If there was an award with going the furthest with the least investment, this guy would have the gold.

The car is surprisingly stock so you have a ton of room to do as you please.

I agree ^^

Tom's car is amazing considering what little mods have been done to the engine.
He definitely has the suspension dialed in.

 

[Brick]

I have a 2005 V6 and also a 2005 GT that I have been pretty pleased with and have been good cars. The V6 I bought in 2008 with 20k miles on it. It now has 98k and the only maintenance I have had to do on it are fluids, filters, spark plugs, and tires. It has been a very trouble free car and gets 24mpg on my 66 mile round trip commute each day.

My 2005 GT has also been a good car. I bought it in 2014 with 25k miles, it now has 33k. As you mentioned, there are some issues to be aware of, particularly with the early 05 and 06 models, such as the timing components. Although as said earlier in this thread, most of the issues people have with the timing system is when aftermarket cams and springs put more stress on it, or when an oil other than 5w20 is used.

Ford did a lot of revisions and refinements over the production run, most of them beginning in the 2007 models. Under the hood, those include updated cam phasers and lash adjusters. They also revised the cooling hoses to provide easier access to the thermostat and give the engine bay a cleaner look. In 2008 they revised the heads, going to a 1-piece spark plug design and eliminating most of the broken spark plug issues.

In the later years, they also added more interior options, such as heated seats, navigation screen, ambient lighting, and the glass roof option.

Issues that can plague all the years are the manual transmission not being the best, and the fan resistor can wear out and melt some wires in the fuse box. Replacing the stock fan with the 13/14 GT500 fan can prevent that issue ($200, 15 minute install). The transmission can benefit greatly from the 13/14 GT500 master cylinder ($85, half a day install) and an aftermarket shifter like the MGW. Assuming the transmission isn't on it's last leg to begin with, those items can make it perform pretty well for daily driving and some weekend fun, until you start making big power.

In stock form, any year of these cars are pretty reliable. I bought my 2005 GT because I love the mineral gray color and that was the only year it was available. However, I am in the process of doing a lot of those revisions and updates myself for piece of mind, or when I'm doing another mod and it's a convenient time to update. For example, I just put in a set of cams earlier this year, so I went ahead and updated the timing components while I was in there working.

If I were you, I'd look for a 2008 or 2009 model unless you really love one of the colors that was only available on an early model. It will have all the revisions that Ford did (except for the 13/14 GT500 parts) to give you great reliability and piece of mind with routine maintenance, and you also have the ability to get one equipped with some of the other comfort options that were only available in the later years.

 

[NUTCASE]

Issues that can plague all the years are the manual transmission not being the best,

The transmission can benefit greatly from the 13/14 GT500 master cylinder ($85, half a day install) and an aftermarket shifter like the MGW. Assuming the transmission isn't on it's last leg to begin with, those items can make it perform pretty well for daily driving and some weekend fun, until you start making big power.

.

yeah, my 3650 is pretty thrashed. Aftermarket clutch, aftermarket slave, new master, CHE bracket, JPC clutch line, UPR shifter, and shifting gears is still the weakest link in my 1/4 mile.

If I had gotten an auto like 95% of the GTs around me were I would be so much faster today.