1980 Ford Mustang review from North America

The air conditioner compressor blew about 1987. After replacing it, it blew again around 1991. I gave up after this and have just been hot for the past 11 years or so!

In 1989 the engine started smoking REALLY badly, producing huge clouds of opaque blue-white smoke. It also started loosing several quarts of oil from time to time. It turned out that the PCV valve had clogged up, sucking oil straight into the engine where it burned. This was easy to fix, once it was diagnosed correctly.

Around 1991 the power steering pump had to be rebuilt because it was leaking badly.

The alternator has been rebuilt or replaced 3 times.

The heater core blew 1997 and had to be replaced.

The shifter for the automatic transmission had to be fixed in 2001. A radiator hose blew this year, too.

This year the accelerator cable had to be replaced.

Now, at about 140,000 miles, I think the engine is finally wearing out.

This car has just been too dumb to die. Yes, there have been some problems, but nothing major for about 22 years!

Most problems have been relatively cheap to fix, too.

The car has been very sturdy--I've been rear-ended 3 times in it, and rear ended one person, and there has been almost no damage to my car.

On the other hand, to seats have limited adjustments and are only passibly comfortable.

Handling is tolerable, but acceleration with the 2.3 liter 4 cylinder engine has always been lousy. (0-55 in 17 seconds!!)

On the other hand, for hauling stuff it has been quite good. I filled the car up with books and cinder blocks once when moving a library, and drove it up a steep hill (bottoming out on every bump) with no problem. A more agile, less heavily loaded Nissan Sentra almost didn't make it.

Note that this line of Mustangs also had fairly poor traction on wet roads for some reason.

No real rust or major paint problems given the age of the car.