2004 Ford Mustang Coupe from North America - Comments

Front brake rotors were rusted and warped when car was bought brand-new. Dealer machined the rotors at no cost instead of replacing. A year later rotors were warped again and I had them machined again. This time I'll have to replace them myself.

Steering rack mounts got squeaky after a while - car sounded like an old wooden ship when turning. Fixed myself by lubricating the rack mounting bolts twice. Easy to do when you're a mechanic and have all the tools.

Parking brake cable would freeze on cold winter days (Below -10 C) and not release the brake pads. Will end up driving with parking brake on until it smells. Dealer said it's normal and there was nothing they could do.

I didn't think it was normal.

Ended up pumping the parking brake cable full of grease, which was hard to do and required special equipment and custom-made fittings. Never had the problem again.

Various squeaks and creaks heard from the center console when driving on bumpy roads. Attempted to fix by placing electrical tape between the center console bezel and the panel. Worked partially well. Still squeaks.

These are relatively small issues.

Engine feels unbalanced when revved up beyond 3,000 RPM. Very unpleasant feeling.

Lots of transmission whine inside, very annoying noise.

Driver's seat has no solid surface inside - it's just a rectangular frame stuffed with foam. After 1.5 years started causing back pains over long drives. Ended up fixing myself by installing a metal plate inside.

Cruise control malfunctions: when 'Resume' pressed while the car is in Neutral, engine starts revving up all the way to redline not knowing that the car isn't in gear. Scared me a couple of times.

Stock gear shifter makes very difficult to get into 3rd gear. This is a known problem. I've tried both Steeda Tri-Ax and MGW aftermarket short shifters. Steeda is insanely noisy. MGW much better, but still not completely quiet.

Clutch pedal position too close to driver to allow for the large travel it's designed for.

At the same time gas pedal is placed much farther, and brake somewhere in between.

Took me a long time to get used to this awkward sitting position.

No headrests in the back - can be very dangerous in case of rear-end collision.

Front seat headrests are flimsy and set too far back. Probably won't do any good in a collision.

Winter driving is very tricky even with best snow tires and a limited slip differential installed.

No attachment points anywhere at all: if you find yourself in a ditch or in a situation where you need to be towed - there's nothing to attach the tow rope to without braking or bending the bumpers.

Headlights poorly designed for side illumination - hard to see the turns or side of road at night.

When air flow selector is in the Windshield, or Windshield/Feet position, A/C automatically turns ON. This is a waste of gas most of the year when it's not hot enough to run A/C. If airflow position in a different place, windshield fogs up. I believe there should be a separate A/C button in a properly thought-out design.

The car looks great and turns many heads. But this is not the most important thing to look for in a car.

It's impractical with a tiny trunk and a small opening, a very small and uncomfortable back seat, very noisy inside and isn't that fast at all. Hard to maintain a conversation over all the noise - engine, transmission whine, wind noise, past 100 km/h.

Old-design single-cam pushrod engine produces only 49 HP per Liter of displacement, which is ridiculous by today's standards.

This car will only make sense as a second/weekend vehicle.

I'm very disappointed in my decision to buy it new. Now two years later the warranty is gone and the value of the car had plummeted to 50% already. I owe more than I can get back for it. And noone wants to buy it.

Originally I thought that being a mechanic I can deal with anything myself at half the cost, and still enjoy the image of the car.

But over time it gets annoying and very expensive to improve. It's not a sports car. It's just a big sporty-shaped vehicle.

Solid rear axle handles bumps very poorly, and is jerky at times. This is the 21st century - time to move on! There are better ways of building cars now.

You don't know what you're talking about. Perhaps it is because you bought a V6. Should have bought the GT. I've got a 2004 GT convertible with a Saleen Supercharger. The car is fast, gorgeous and I've had complete strangers come up to me to express how much they like my ride.

I do agree that the center console squeaks, but I suppose I don't really care considering my GT is so loud that I barely even notice.

It's a sports car, so all those ergonomics shouldn't surprise you. Then you went and got the V6 engine... shame on you.

You expect too much out of a car you should have researched and actually test drove.

For the original poster; it sounds like a lot of your comments are just from the general discomfort of the vehicle itself. There are some problems yes, but didn't you test drive this vehicle first? Perhaps not feeling comfortable during a test drive would have answered your question right away on whether or not you should buy this car. And this car is a rear wheel drive. What did you expect during the winter time? All wheel drive to kick in? Sounds like this Mustang you bought was a last minute buying decision.

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.I bought a $20,000 car and it doesn't feel or perform like a BMW 8 series. That platform was introduced in 1979.Sure it has issues and Ford milked it for all it was worth, but, you bought it. Should of bought a Mach I or Cobra.

For a mechanic your discription's and comments are beyond a joke you should have done your research first and what clown would re-engage cruise control whilst the car is in neutral??? honestly this person has no idea what they're on about.

Learn to drive first.

I bought a Black 2004 Mustang V6 5spd with nothing more than the power options package for the locks, windows and driver seat. My car is a total peach. Since I do contract work, this baby has been up and down the East coast from Miami, Fl to Toronto, ON, CA; then out to Dallas. Half of my 40k miles are from the highways. In snow, yeah it sucks, but that's easily remedied with 150lbs of sand bags and $1200 Goodyear GW3 V-rated tires like the cops use. Living in Rochester, NY, there's nothing, but snow and ice in winter, and I didn't have any problems.

I haven't had a single major issue yet, knock on wood. But, I'm very meticulous about the care of the engine and components. Oil change every 3k miles and a full inspection every 10k miles along with other general maintenance.

The few issues I ever have are the wiper fluid nozzles spraying fluid at random, when I use my turn signal; cd player refuses to give me my cd back sometimes; shifting gears is easy unless you're trying to haul flat out, then 2nd and 3rd gear can be tricky. 3rd gear especially, but from what others have told me, 3rd in most mustangs has this issue.

Ford moved off the fox body platform in 1994 to the SN95 body type in mustangs.

I want to buy a Mustang, but can’t decide if I want a V6 or V8. Despite the fuel efficiency, I also heard that V6 is better than V8 in terms of good quality. But, V8 is certainly more fun. Can anyone please answer my question?

Best place to start is your insurance company. There may be a huge difference in premiums that will more than make up for any "fun" factor you might have with the 8 cylinder.

18th Feb 2007, 19:26

I want to buy a Mustang, but can’t decide if I want a V6 or V8. Despite the fuel efficiency, I also heard that V6 is better than V8 in terms of good quality. But, V8 is certainly more fun. Can anyone please answer my question?

SN95 is really a heavily revised version of the Fox platform. This is why certain powertrain parts are interchangeable from '79-'04, as opposed to say, '87-'93 and so forth.

The 4.6 SOHC V8 has a lot in common with the engine used in the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis. You may know the CV from its roles as Police Interceptor and taxi... the engine can go 300K+ without major service. It's a very solid piece.

I've driven an '04 GT on numerous occasions, and it's precisely the reason I'm settled on a '99-'04 GT when my time comes.

It tells you in your manual that in Neutral Cruise control will do that so watch out. Also you car sucks in the snow because you have LSD, it makes both wheels spin so that it just spins out. I have the same car without LSD and its perfectly fine, gets a little loose, but that's how it is with RWD in the snow.

I have one with no problem at all. There is nothing wrong with a solid rear axle. It's a Mustang not a BMW. A mustang is built to be driven on paved roads, not really intended to be used for what a truck is for.

I have a 2004 V6 Mustang that I bought used in 2006. It has been a very reliable car and I am pretty hard on cars too. It has some squeaks, rattles, and other funny noises, but that is just the way it is. After all, it is a cheap car. My only real complaint is that the low speed acceleration is very slow. I have owned a lot of Fords in my life and for some reason all Fords seem to have this problem when compared to competing models from other car companies. I also have a 1998 Pontiac grand Am that has a lot less horsepower, but is much more responsive and picks up speed much quicker in the lower speed ranges. My Grand Am will smoke the tires pretty good if you just punch it, but my Mustang with a much larger more powerful engine will not do anything like that. I should have bought one with a V8, despite the much worse gas mileage. Either that or an SS Camaro.