Is the Mustang a Reliable Car?

[stwatson]

Alright guys...ive heard all the crap about how ford cars fall apart and arent reliable. Ive never owned one but I wanted to ask people who have actually owned one and have had to do repairs themselves. On average how often to things break on this car (normal things like brakes, radiator, transmission, clutch, alternator...etc). How much does it cost to fix these as well. I just want an honest opinion on whether or not spending 14K on a GT mustang will be worth it or not depending on how many times the car is in the shop. thx guys...lata

[6speed]

$14k? i know where you can find a 01 saleen for only 3k more.
depends all in how you drive it. if you beat the piss out of it everytime u drive it like me...well ive gone through 2 clutches, a rear, a motor, and soon a tranny. probably cost me over $10k now in repair bills, but then again im always upgrading too.

[stwatson]

ummm...i would love to have a saleen...where in the world are these prices?? I mean I want it to have 30K miles or less on it so its got some time left before the normal stuff starts breaking. I realize that when you drive it hard...stuff like the transmission, clutch, and rear will begin to break but the question I am asking is how is the normal wear and tear on the car. Do they hold up better than other fords? I know ive had to drop several hundreds of dollars into my Lincoln to replace the radiator, oil pump, alternator, suspension sensors, other sensors that I dont even know why they are in the car...stuff like that. Are there small bells and whistles that will end up costing me hundreds of dollars to fix down the road that arent needed?

[6speed]

they dont just fall apart at 50k if theyre taken care of and regular maintenance done the car can last up over 100k w/o any major issues. there arent many anemities to a stang that will break on you; its a shell with a big motor in it. the rest of the stuff is for dd cars. if your abs takes a shit...pull the bulb...its a muscle car. thats the way i look at it

$18k OBO
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=550467

$17k
http://saleenpower.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1577

$16.5k
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-...QQcmdZViewItem

[TheStang00]

mines not a gt, but it has 83k on it right now. i have never had to do any type of repair period, only normal things like new brakes once, tune ups and oil changes.

so yeah ive had a great time with mine as far as reliability

ive heard people say sometimes that mustangs are built extra tough because people take them to the track and stuff, but i dont know how true that is. we have a ranger, and its been really reliable too. we had to fix it when we bought it though cause the guy that owned it before us managed to jump it or something. a ball joint was completely fucked. my first car was a 1990 escort, which was also my brothers first car. that sucker was insanely reliable, because we both beat the shit out of it. after 240k miles when we got rid of it, it still worked fine. after all the stupid shit we did to it, like getting stuck in snow drifts and running over parking blocks, and driving down the sidewalk...

[RBrandon]

My wife had a '93 GT when we got married 8 years ago and I am currently driving it to work, as I have done on and off through the years. It has 163k miles on it and is running strong. The guys are right when they say it depends on how you drive it. My wife learned to drive a stick with this car so I had to put a synchro kit in the tranny early on. However, I put a valeo racing clutch in it a few years ago and I punish the heck out of her and she does well by me. (her being the car, not my wife...) The only trouble spot I ever encountered was a few years back when it kept eating alternators. I finally went to a parts store in Texas while we lived there and talked to a good ol' boy and he showed me that they actually kept in stock, the damn plug that goes to the back of the alternator. Apparently there are a few years worth of models that have a notorius problem with the oem connector. Once I replaced it, the wildstang stoped feeding on alternators.

As with any car, you get what you put into it. Take care of it, keep clean fluids in it and you will do fine. I will testify by mobil1 full synthetic oil. I have run it soley in my wife's stang and my jeep grand cheeroke for 7 years each now and the engines are solid despite my hard take-offs. I tend to forget the jeep isn't built like the stang, but it has 250k+ and only now has it's tranny given out. (but not the engine) I will drive these vehicles until I have to take out a loan to pay for the gas...

[sidewinderl]

I haven't gotten my hands on a Mustang yet (getting there...), but our stock '94 F150 went 200k miles without any noteworthy problems, and was driving as well as it had ever driven until a semi decided to run it off the road. It even did a full 360 at 70-80 mph and didn't flip...I wasn't there, though, since I didn't go on the hunting trip

[stwatson]

sweet...thanks for the info guys...this really helps my decision on the purchase...I guess i'll stick to the stang then!! Lata