You are wrong.

I do like the redesign of the Mustang, but it's still a Ford with Ford's poor build and parts quality. I just don't feel like Mustangs are a good value for the money. V8's are overrated. If you're really itching to drop $26g + your RA's depreciation on a car, upgrade to an Evo RS. In another year, the new Mustangs will be all over the place, and there won't be anything special about them. RA's and Evos are still rare and turn heads.

I should point out that I've owned two Fords. A 1962 Ford Falcon and a '94 Explorer. The Falcon gave me no problems after the engine rebuild; but I imagine that was because the car was so incredibly simple that there really wasn't anything that could go wrong. The Explorer, on the other hand, was a nightmare. I had to put way too much money into keeping that thing running smoothly, POS!!!

The new v8 mustang is a beast, and it looks great. And dont get me wrong I love my mitsubishi, but to say that Fords reliability/parts/quality is somehow worse than mitsubishi is misinformed.

The reason I would never get it though is because it's a V8 and with the price of gas and the declining quality of the environment I could never justify driving it, when I could have a much cleaner cheaper 4cylinder.

lets put it this way. a friend of mine has a v6 1999 mustang and did a good bit of work to it.....my RA cost me much less and i have done much less to it and i am still faster. sure its a mustang and everyone has one and every mechanic knows how to fix one (lots of practice), but i really dont like being part of the crowd. i would rather be in front of it HP isnt everything

I had a 64 in 1998-99. There is a mystique about Mustangs, but in my mind only the actual 1964 through maybe 68 or 69. I think they look good, and the horsepower is fun. I think the new ones turn heads now, but will be (as has been said and should be said again and again...) common as dirt in a year or two. Besides, I think front wheel drive or AWD is the way to go for real highway fun , but what we drive makes us feel the way we do about driving. You should get the car that makes you feel the best for your money.

And that is the only real reason I like the new Mustang. They brought the original vintage style back. The first models are really the only ones I like. The early 90's aren't too bad, but when they made the change in the mid 90's they made me wanna puke. The fact that I get the look of the original Stang with the flare and extra's of the new millenium is why I would want the car. It really has nothing to do with the HP, engine, or the fact that just about any mechanic could work on it.

And to the guy that said to get an EVO instead. I would love to have an EVO, but this isn't about finding the best car for the money. It would be about getting something that I've wanted since I was a little kid. No offense but I didn't grow up having dreams of driving an EVO.

No, it's not gonna happen. I love my RA too much to just let it go (hence the title of this thread). But pipe dreams will be pipe dreams.

If you're love is for vintage Mustangs, save your pennies and buy one You can buy unrestored ones rather inexpensively, and they're very easy to work on and parts are everywhere. Could take your time working on it, if you enjoy that sort of thing You'll probably get better reliability out of a 1st gen Mustang than you would a new one. Few gadgets and feeps to break.

Point: Any mustang ever will never handle as well as your RA, especially not the new ones...the reason they're so cheap is Ford went cheap on the suspension and steering set-up, it's a regular American Muscle car, straight=fast, turning=it can't...stick to the RA cuz like everyone has said, it can be faster with a bit of money put into it

I wouldn't say that... have you driven the new 05's?? It takes a lot to push it past it's limits and the RA is far behind it without some suspension upgrades. Trust me... i twisted the nuts off one as i've been thinking of picking one up. I've found them for under invioce but you must have connections to do so as the V-8s are not out there in big quantity. They are trying to sell the V-6's more. Also they are only going to hold the body style for 2 years. This will make the value hold quiet well for the car.

In the end though it's a V-8 that sucks the life out of your wallet and is still about 28-29k after tax/license. I've been able to find several stock 03 evo's with less than 15k miles for 18-20k. I've decided that i'm going that route since there is way more advantages with the evo than the mustang... my only interest in the mustang was body style.

While i'll never be the fastest evo i'll certainly be able to make it faster for cheaper than the mustang could accomplish. That is my take on this. Good luck but i feel your pain as the 05 mustang is trully a beautiful car.

Yeah, thats what I plan on doing one of these days. I just don't know a lot about cars and I wanted to wait till I knew more about them before I took on a project like that. Plus the feeling you get after you're done is way better than you can get from just modding a newer car.

You're missing my point. Check out Arithmetic's comment's on how he feels about the Skyline in the "Why we bought the RA" thread. That's how I kinda feel about the Stang.

No better way to learn than to dive right in!

Put another 5 grand and buy yourself an Evo. But if it was between an RA or a Stang, I would take the Stang. I would take WRX over a RA and it costs about 24 grand.

I don't quite understand the allure of 'Stangs... big heavy cars with live rear axels that just can't hang with other cars in or near it's class like the Evo or 350z or something (although the z isn't much lighter.) I know styling is a purely personal thing but I really am not liking that either. Plus, my whole family has had a slew of Fords that were just big rolling problem beds; thus I could never recommend a Ford product to anybody. It's like the old saying goes:


"Friends don't let friends drive Fords."