2001 Qvale Mangusta from North America - Comments

Tiny hole in a plastic valve cover within 300 miles. The check engine light went on and I thought to myself, "oh no, here we go!" The counter was that I was about to put to the test, what the dealer had stated as fact, that I could bring it to any Ford dealer and they could plug it into their OBD2 computer and figure it out. I did, and after a few minutes of hesitation to do it, they did and within 90 seconds the service guy was under the hood and replacing the 5 cent piece and didn't even charge me (or Qvale). It was that simple and off I rode.

Just like others wrote, there are some minor issues with leakage around the seal where the window meets the 'A' pillar. There is a free recall on this scheduled for June, 2005 which will fix this problem.

WOW! Designed by Lamborghini's Gandini & hand built in Modena, Italy, a concept fostered by Mr. Qvale & Mr. De Tomaso (70's Pantera Fame), hard top - targa top - full cabriolet all in the same car with 2+2 seating, with a Ford Cobra engine and an American reliability (over Italian) & serviceability in any Ford dealership with a bumper-to-bumper, unlimited mileage 1-yr warranty (3 more years purchasable for $1000), all in a package that had only 289 ever built, looks like $150K car, known to have $100K of parts and sells for much less... This is IT!

Leather everywhere inside & on the outside, this car is seriously fast and handles like it's on rails.

If you want to be anonymous, do not by this car! Owners from Lexus to Lambos, Fords to Ferraris, Mercs to Mazdas will all want to know what it is!

And the dealership will stand behind this car with ANYTHING you need!

I would just like to say that if you didn't notice, the car uses plenty of 1999-2004 Ford Mustang parts, which goes to say it doesn't have the $100,000 worth of parts you say they are, but instead the same parts from a $17,000 car. Oh, and by the way, my new 2005 Mustang GT automatic can make it it's daddy in the 1/4 mile and 0-60 times (Qvale-6.0 sec Mustang GT auto-5.1 sec), all at about 1/3 the price, depending on what you paid of course. None the less, glad to see you are happy with your purchase, that's all that matters.

Wow, way to rain on his snooty parade.

This is certain, but never the less your mustang gt will look like a gipsy car for the flock in few years and the Qvale or Detomaso will be always an exotic classic with a far better looking interior exterior and better handling as well in 20 as well as in 30 years. You are just considering acceleration in strait line, but take your car to a circuit with some curves and will see. The body frame of Mustangs are very week and the suspension system from a Jurassic era. The same difference that pass from an Indy car (very fast indeed) and a formula 1!! Much cheaper to build an indy then a Formula 1 but put them together in some sort of serious circuit (not a strait line or a tedious oval) and ………… well…..No history sorry.

Jesus I hate people who brag about mustangs.

Well, irregardless of price-point or speed (0-60 or 1/4 mile), I just find the car's exterior styling more obnoxious than that of a Citroen DS or Honda Insight. Ughh. Even the doggish, late-model Chevy Cavalier looking headlights Jag stuck on their new XK are more appealing than those of this Qvale.

But, hey, whatever floats your boat. I've never been one to follow the crowd in terms of styling either. But there's more than one reason that only 300 people in the U.S. will own one.

Nice car it may be, it's let down for the DeTomaso purists like myself who knew of this car during its inception. When still developed and owned by DeTomaso, it was called the Bigua, looked as it does today, but was never intended to resemble or be even close to the pedigree of the original DeTomaso Mangusta. Our hearts sank when the project was shoveled, only to be picked up by Qvale - not a bad thing at all, but when renaming it the Mangusta I felt it was merely an effort to ride historical Mangusta coattails, and felt like a slap in the face. Still, I'd own one. If you look closely on some of the earliest new Mangustas you can detect through the paint where the original 'Detomaso' emblems were affixed. If I had one, I'd replace them for what was intended - DeTomaso emblems.

Did someone say irregardless?

I own the #178th Mangusta built out of less than 300. My husband and I only drive it on weekends/special occasions. It's true that wherever we go, we are hounded by people who want to know what it is. You'd think after car design changes over the last 6 years, that this car would no longer stand out, but it's impossible to drive it without getting attention. Both of us love the way it drives and handles. We took it over 150mph on a deserted stretch of road and it seemed to beg us to go faster. We could never have afforded to buy one of those exotic cars that is mentioned in some of the other comments, but we were lucky to pick this one up for less than $30K at an auction. I just don't think the sellers really knew what they had in those days. It is pricey to fix and we've stockpiled tires/rims and other parts in case they stop becoming available. (Only one mfg. place in San Francisco still has some parts to sell.) We were able to meet the other 8 owners on the West Coast about a year ago at a car show. It really was a site to see! We stole the show from all the Gallardos. There's a reason that Jay Leno has one in his collection.

Just wanted to say hi to my fellow Qvale owners. I just purchased the 2001 model after a mind blowing test drive the other day. I thought my Infiniti G35 was pretty darn good until I drove this car. I've been in 'vette's, gini's, alpha's, maserati's, but this one is for all the five senses! Let me know about the next West Coast Qvale get together and me and my shadow will be there! cheers.

Is irregardless a word? I think not. But the car is very nice.

Is irregardless a word? I could care less.