Need some real opinions
 

Hey everyone, so I've been looking to replace my Monte for a little while now. I have pretty much got it narrowed down to a Mustang. I was going to do a Camaro or a Firebird. But I need a little more room then those have to offer. I also still want the V8 but I want better gas mileage then the 5.7l has to offer. I could go with a V6 Camaro or something but I know I would hate not having the deep sound of a V8. I know a lot of people on here don't care for Fords all that much, heck I used to not car for them either. But I've slowly turned into a "Car" guy rather then just a chevy guy, or a mopar guy like I used to be. If it has wheels and a halfway good looking body and sounds good, then I pretty much like it lol.

Anyway, I found this mustang here.

Honeycutt Auto Sales

It's a 1 owner 2004 Mustang GT with 110,000 miles. It looks like a pretty good car. But I wanted some other peoples opinions. I know this is a Monte Carlo forum. But from a car guy to other car guys, I want to know what you think. As a car, does it look like a pretty good deal?

We have plenty of people here with car passions beyond the Monte and beyond Chevy/GM. A few people moved from Monte to Mustang. I'm a "GM Fanboy" but not a "GM Purist". Generally speaking, I like GMs the most, but I can look at other cars and not feel dirty for enjoying them for what they offer.

My wife has an '01 v6 Mustang convertible (same body as that '04). I'm about 6ft 2in and tend to not like how I feel in the car. I feel like I'm looking at the top of the windshield, not through the windshield. The cock pit is rather tight for my liking (keep in mind, my passion is with '82-'92 Camaros, interiors were pretty spacious).

As for the deal, miles don't bother me, but my gut feels like the price is high at about $9k. That is a 9 year old car with 110K on the clock. Now, it's not apples to apples, but I paid $9k (plus tax, title, license) on an '04 Monte SS with 52K on the clock in 2008. Again, not apples to apples.
My BEST advice, got to KBB.com and look at the private party values on that car. Don't use this as a "rule" for it's value, use it as a "guide". This tells you what a blue book is, a base line. Next, do what I call a "reality check". Look for a comparable car on Craigslist, Autotrader, classifieds, other dealerships (if you look at eBay, focus on cars with bids, anyone can throw a car on eBay and ask something crazy thinking it might happen in the world wide audience). Checking those resources will give you a rough idea of actual value (and you can compare it to KBB and see how far off it is). Using all that data gives you some feed back.

Also, if you wish to pursue this Pony, find out what it's maintenance is. At 110K on the clock, you want to know have plugs been changed, trans pan dropped and fluid/filter change. FYI, I did a pan drop last spring on the wife's Mustang, Ford has a way to drain ALL the fluid (including what's in the torque converter, not just the pan). I admit, I did not drain the TC (I did not have the seal they mentioned to replace). Also, unless someone puts it back in, Ford leaves a surprise for you to find and clue if the pan has been dropped. During assembly, they leave a plug where the trans dip tube goes. When the tube is put in, the plug falls and stays in the trans pan!! Found that surprise and had to figure it out when I did this on the wife's Mustang. So unless someone put it back in, if you find it, then trans was never serviced (I was tempted to put it back in to keep it "original" lol).

If you do some good research and your homework on the car, your gut will tell you if it's a good deal or not more then we can.

Thanks, that's some good information. This one is a manual, would that trans pan trick still apply?

Honestly, not sure (and I saw the manual shifter in the pics, completely forgot about it). Since my experience with Fords is limited (and manufacturers tend to have common themes in their engineering), I am not sure if this applies to manuals. If the trans has a dipstick, then yes, I would say it does (but I don't think most manual transmissions do).
I had to Google search it to find my answer (as I could not figure out what this goofy ball with a stem and o-ring was). I found pics asking about the same thing on forums for many different Ford cars and trucks.

-Putting my Stang dislikeness aside for a sec-
I know you can make a 4.6L Mustang sound quite bada$$ so you wont miss the V8 rumble with a bit of exhaust work on that.
It's up to you man it's your car you gotta drive and see everyday, not ours :D

the 4.6 has the awesome unique "mustang" sound that i think sounds awesome but from what ive seen there not as fast as what people think. not sure if being fast matters to you anyway lol. and i do like the looks of them TBO

Yea in all honesty this is going to be a daily driver so I don't need 400+hp or anything like that. If I were to do that then I would certainly look into going with a car that has an LS1 or LS2 such as the Camaro/Firebird, or the GTO. I would certainly do some mods to wake the 4.6L up. But as long as I have a car that looks and sounds good then I am pretty much happy lol

My big concern would be maintenance on the engine and tranny. Being a GT, you have to assume the car wasn't just driven to church on sundays. I'd be more concerned with the transmission and clutch.

Ford has been doing that "tube in the transmission pan" trick since hte mid 60's..... I thought they would have moved away from doing that by now!

The 4.6 has a very distinct sound from any other engine... personally, I think it's the greatest sounding engine ever produced, but that's just one mans opinion.

I went with a Mustang, but being the fan of old muscle cars I am, I had to get the retro body! I went newer and V6 for hopefully more reliability, plus the new 3.7 puts down a lot of power...

The 4.6 in those cars was fair, and Ford left a lot of room for improvement. It was mysterious that when Chevrolet brought out the Camaro, Ford mysteriously found another 125 hp out of theri modular V8, and found another V6 capable of producing nearly 100 more horsepower.


I think if you haven't done so already, you need to find one... go to a car dealer or something and drive one. Drive it a lot. Take it out on the interstate, take it around town. If you're thinking manual, drive it through town a few times and see how it feels.

If you move up to the 05 body, you'll find they have a lot more front seat leg room and head room too.

My Dad has an 02 GT, 5 Speed. The 4.6L has been a bullet proof engine thus far and his has 150K on it. Original Tranny and Clutch too. And as mentioned, they sound awesome. My Dad's has Magnaflow catback.

The Mustang all together has been a pretty sound car, normal maint really, minor issues.

I am 6'1, so personally, I've always found driving it a tad cramped and I'm always looking for the seat to go back farther than it does.

I also think the clutch is ridiculously stiff in that car. Makes traffic/ city driving pretty crappy after a while...and I usually don't mind a stick in traffic, but the Mustang GT clutch in that year range is a bit stiff for my liking.