As of now, i currently have a 1999 Mustang GT. I love muscle cars to the death and love spinning tires and sliding around. Lately I have been considering purchasing an 03 Cobra. My friend has an EVO and is always talking about how good they were so i decided to check them out. I drove one the other day and let me tell you, I like it. It handles very nice, the seats are comfortable, the brembo brakes to the trick when it comes to stopping, and i love the turbo. However, i dont like that its a 2.0 4 cyl. i guess because im used to driving a V8. My buddy who has a 1993 Mustang 5.0 has been giving me **** all day about how he cant believe im converting over to Japanese cars and that the car is a piece of crap that has reached its maximum potential (power and speed wise) when it came out of the factory. In your opinion is this car worth buying? I think its not only fast, but AWD is nice and it seems like its a practical car. I would appreciate your input.

 

#1 Your friend has the stereotypical "domestic" owner attitude... don't listen to him.

The car is definetly worth buying if it fits your bill. It's an excellent daily driver, handles awesome and provides great power. Mods are extremly plentiful and the engine can handle alot. The car is also as you stated very practical being 4 doors and all.

The Cobra is an awesome car aswell, but more of the same of what you are used to. If you just want to upgrade yourself into a meaner muscle car, go for the Cobra. If you want to try something a little different with more practicality and precision, get the EVO. Just be aware they are two different types of animal... both very capable, but through different means.

 

Go figure, I sold my 99 GT to get my evo, and I was also considering the 03/04 cobra. And all of my friends drive muscle cars too and give me **** sometimes.

I will say this about the cobra- its fast. But when I was considering the purchase, I realized that it was basically my car, only faster. And if I really wanted to, I could have made my GT just as fast as a modded cobra for much less money. So essentially, I was going to be paying between 25 and 30k after trade in for a car that handled pretty much the same, looked nearly the same, had the same uncomfortable interior, only just faster. I said **** that.

So I drove and evo. And I really liked it. The lack of low end torque is difficult to get used to, but I only miss it for drivability reasons.

And as far as converting over to a "ricer" is concerned, I got over it pretty quick. Since you are even considering the evo, it sounds like you would too. And your friends may not love your car, but they will respect its capabilities. At least thats the way it is with me.

And after a year of driving, I am SOOO glad I didnt not get that cobra.

 

You're asking us is it worth buying? Haha, come on now. The answer will be a resounding, 100% YES from all of us, so you should change the question.

Your 5.0 buddy is dead wrong about the Evo's potential. In fact, they are so detuned from the factory that you can do ONLY a tune of some sort (Flash, piggyback, etc) and gain 20-30whp and be easily into the 12s with good driving. I did 12.8 at 106.3 with just an S-AFC. It takes a helluva lot more than that to get a '93 5.0 into the 12s. Hell, it takes a lot more than that to get a 99 GT into the 12s!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The stock turbo with the proper supporting mods can be pushed to _400 WHEEL HORSEPOWER_. This is on a 3200lb car with AWD traction that can effectively put that WHP to use. You ask your friend how much it takes to get his 5.0 to 400whp and then ask him how he's going to make use of that power with RWD. Now, a more realistic figure on the stock turbo is around 330-350whp with all the basic bolt-ons + cams, and that's just on pump gas. This will blow away just about anything on the road while still seating 4 comfortably, safely holding a baby seat, easily holding lots of groceries in the spacious trunk, and beating ferraris on the road course and auto-x.

I must admit, though, that the 03 Cobra owns us. We may beat them in twisties, but there is really no comparison in terms of power. We have the one infamous 600whp Evo that beat several heavily-modded 03 S/C cobras in street race vids, but that Evo was far from realistic...

 

The motor 4g63 has so much potential. It has been around for almost 2 decades now and there is so much knowledge on how to tune this motor well and there are so many shops and tuners who support the Evo.

Overall, I am 100% satisfied with the car. If you like straight line speed and muscle, this may not be the car for you. If you want a car that excels in all aspects of performance, then for the price, the Evo is THE car to get.

Also, who cares where the car was made, Japan/US/Europe, if its a good car, its a good car. PERIOD.

 

I think you are in the right path if you get the EVO. Please don't be fool by the 4cyl turbo thing, yeah, I know thatyou always hear that there is nothing like having a large displacement on you engine, that is not always the case.

The technology does a lot, while the EVO is a just a mere 4Cyl and only 2.0l always remember this engines are not the typical desastrous product of the american car industry, these engines are made to squeeze the max:

4 valves per cilinder
hydraulic lifters(maintenance free/self adjusting
hollow cams
high horsepower output engine
high torque output engine
reasonable good mileage compare to the competitor(camaros z28,Tram ans, tngs GT)
oversized valves with huge air flow
best 4cyl turbo unit ever sold on any 4 cylinder car

You have no choice but to admit that the typical American Mustang GT is years light of the performance of the EVO.

Evo has Brembo brakes
Recaro seats
track tune suspension
better gear shifting mechanism( not like the GT with the bent stick shift)

Cmon man, you know what I mean, the 05 EVO pulled 2 full seconds on the Z06 405hp at willow Spring. The MR out run the Z06 on slalom and braking, need to say more? and remember, it is just a 4 cyl 4 doors.

Please don't get things confuse. Going from a 99GT Mustang to a 05 EVO is a win to win situation

 

It owns us if you compare every track evo to every track cobra. there is also more then one evo with 600 whp though and I didn't think they were so bad they were infamous. j/k. there is certainly limitations to the evos power in comparison to a cobra if that is what you mean. cobras do have 2 1/2 times the amount of displacement. you can make cobras and mustangs in general into real dragsters that would smoke any evo on the strip. i doubt this guy is taking about spending that kind of money on either car though i would bet daily drivers to daily drivers would be comparable, surely no ownage. i mean how many 9 sec cobras are daily drivers in the winter and there are plenty evos and cobras in the 10s and 11s that daily drive it year round. like i said though, cobras can be way faster and that tq makes you fell like your in a rocket, but that should have nothing to do with this guy's decision. at least i hope you are not concerned with how fast your car could be if you had 100gs. cause the answer is fast no matter what car you have.

 

Sorry, man, but it is definite ownage. In stock form, many of them dyno as much as 390whp/390wtq. That right there means we can't even begin to match them without all of the basic bolt-ons and cams. Once they upgrade even a LITTLE BIT (exhaust, intake, pulley), they are so far beyond us that we can only keep up with a well-tuned setup with an upgraded turbo. There are many daily-driven, lightly-modified Cobras that trap 120mph. The only person to trap 120 in an Evo on the stock turbo was Curt Brown and that was with tons of modifications elsewhere on the car.

There is simply no comparison between the Evo and S/C Cobra in terms of power.

 

horsepower smorshpower. we are taking about times not who is the bigger dyno queen. hp obviously does not necessarily translate into better 1/4 times. furthermore you dare to compare trap speeds between rwd and awd. what? are we are taking about who finishes first over a distance, or who is spinning there tires more. a cobra is what a 1/2 second quicker stock to stock all else being equal, that's not ownage. and sorry you don't need all the basic bolt ons + cams to run mid 12's. 05s need exahust and a tune to reach that. all the basic boltons, clutch, cams can put you into the 11s, or so called ownage territory compared to a stock cobra. like i said, straightline speed, a cobra is faster. a cobra has more potential to run insane numbers. a cobra comes faster then an evo. evos can out handle a cobra. i rather have awd all year round then that much rwd tq. you can't make a daily driver cobra awd, but you can make a daily driver evo plenty fast.

 

Blah! We don't like Evo's here!

I went from an 8-Cyl to the Evo...it's a different kind of fun!

 

Don't fall into the EVO and trap!

 

i went from a 95 mustang gt to the evo and never looked back. my mustang is still fun to drive sometimes but now i let my mom drive it, hahahaha. my moms mechanic said the same thing, y did he go from a mustang to an evo. then he drove it. his response was the only bad thing is after having that car everything else will feel slow. hahaha.

EDIT: he drives a tight old camaro, and i dont care about engine size or numbers, i care about end perfromance. and the evo performs thats all i can say

 

well thanks for all the replies guys. i like the car and i think i would enjoy having it, besides my friends talking **** and one guy saying me considering buying this car is a "kick in the nuts" to all of them. oh another quick question ...what is the most you would pay for like a used 03 with around 24000 miles?

thanks

 

Join the club! I still have a GT Convt and still prefer the Evo. I test drove the Evo, and right away fell for it. It's driving capabilities and spirited driving is second to none no matter the weather! There is more to it than straight line driving.......

 

Sorry, man, I like you and all, but you're way, WAY off base. I am not talking about dyno queens. I'm talking about cars that will absolutely RAPE our Evos with absolutely MINIMAL MODS. You do realize that a Cobra can just put on a set of drag radials and cut better 60's than Evos, right? You just have the Evo blinders on like most do. I have absolutely no reason to speak highly of Cobras, and you know that I know what 05 Evos are capable of...I'm sure you are aware of what I've accomplished on such few mods. Even so, a stock Cobra driven with equal skill could on a good set of tires could still kill me.

Here's a few examples:

1) 11.48 @ 119.9

2) 60 1.763
330 4.916
1/8 7.564
mph 94.11
1000 9.815
1/4 11.708
mph 119.55

Mods: 2.93 pulley, drag radials, exhaust and tune.

3)1.70 60ft
7.92 1/8th
12.36@111 1/4

Stock with BFG drag radials.