When I got the car the plugs needed to be replaced, had to remove intake manifold upper half to get at drivers side plugs
the clutch was shot (i mean SHOT) easy to fix by myself in about a day
replaced clutch cable in an hour, another easy fix
one of the studs on the exhaust manifold to exhaust pipe broke (while fixing the clutch) and ford no longer make the stud. finding a way to fix this as the hot exhaust gas heats up my air intake hose and causes the car to run horrible (with horrible gas mileage)
replaced timing belt at 108k, so easy a caveman could do it
ashtray door broke, but a small drill bit and 5 minutes fixed that
replaced all the tires (should have done it sooner) because having bald tires in the rain will help you crash, like I did
replaced differential fluid and cover gasket at 90k, it smelled horrible
replaced fuel pump around 105-110k which died from running it dry many, many times. another easy fix with a junk yard fuel pump, but if I had the money at the time I would have got a new one
speedometer seems to work when it wants to, but only after driving around all day, not sure if its bad or the cable isn't on right/all the way
while stored away in my friends yard for the bad clutch a tree fell on it and cracked the windshield all up, and put a ding in the roof panel.
When I first got this car I didn't know how to drive a manual transmission which helped wear the clutch out a bit faster (plus a little racing, too) driving this car hasn't cost me much money on repairs, which were easy to do and learn to do on this car. one thing I like about the car is the gas mileage isn't bad (about 32-35 hwy) and the insurance is cheaper than I expected it to be, being a mustang and all.
People say these cars don't handle well in the snow without tires and weight, but I didn't had a problem (much of a problem) driving in 8 inches of snow. never had the valve cover off for anything yet, but a lifter has been sticking and making a ticking noise so that will have to be done soon, plus the pan gasket on these cars fall apart and clog the oil pump screen so clean your screen and replace the gasket if you can (not easy fix).oddly, when I crashed the car at about 115k for not having good tires in the rain the airbag never went off even though I was traveling about 35mph when I hit the guard rail on a sharp turn. all in all the car has (and still is) giving me relatively trouble free driving and I would recommend it to any one looking for a car that
is easy to work on/easy to learn on
gives good fuel economy
and is rear drive, domestic and oddly Reliable!
Might as well buy a Ford Tempo. They have the same 2.3L 4-banger motor. The 5.0 Mustang of this generation was a beast, an absolutely incredible vehicle.. if you like a cheap thrill the early-90's 5.0 Mustang was and is unmatched for performance vs price. For the first time in decades Ford built a REAL muscle car worthy of the Mustang name.. then they roll out a 4-cyl model. WHY?? A non-V8 Mustang is like decaf coffee or non-alcoholic beer, it'll remind you of the real deal, but really whats the point? The V6 is a bad enough compromise and they threw an economy-oriented Tempo motor in the mix? Why was that even an option on the Mustang? The SVO 4-cyl Mustang of the 80's was turbocharged so it at least had a purpose. Heres another thought.. The motor in the Turbo-Coupe Thunderbird they made during the same vintage should have been the only 4-cyl engine available in the Mustang. The Thunderbird body was way too heavy for a turbocharged 4-cyl to have any kind of performance.. what were they thinking? They should have put that motor in the Mustang instead, which was light enough to allow a turbo 4 to do its job right. Just another example of Ford having everything backwards. They hit the nail on the head with the 5.0 but the base model was a joke, a sheep in wolf's clothing.
The mustang didn't start out as a performance car, it was meant to be a sporty economical a-to-b car.
As for the four cylinder thing some people liked getting 30-35mpg in a sporty rear driven American car, even if the performance wasnt there.
As for getting a 5.0, I've had one and I liked it (to a point) but when I wanted something to drive with some pull and slide I got in my 93 Rx-7 (r1) which satisfied me fine on that end. oddly, both cars seemed to get the same gas mileage (about 21mpg) when I wasnt beating on them.
Also, incase someone reads this thinking so thought I would comment on the "mustang has the tempo motor" remark.
The mustang does NOT have the same motor as the tempo's hvc 2.3. all they share to my knowledge is displacement.
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